CN112742631B

CN112742631B - Nozzle assembly, jet printing device and jet printing method

Info

Publication number: CN112742631B
Application number: CN202011546691.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 何睦
Original assignee: Xiamen Tianma Microelectronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Xiamen Tianma Microelectronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-12-24
Filing date: 2020-12-24
Publication date: 2021-12-28
Anticipated expiration: 2040-12-24
Also published as: CN112742631A

Abstract

The application discloses shower nozzle subassembly, spout seal device and spout seal method, this shower nozzle subassembly includes: at least one shower nozzle unit, the shower nozzle unit includes a first shower nozzle and at least one second shower nozzle, first shower nozzle has first injection direction to have a first injection zone, the second shower nozzle has second injection direction, the second shower nozzle connect in week side of first shower nozzle, wherein, first injection direction with the second injection direction is crossing, just the second injection direction points to first injection zone. The application provides a shower nozzle subassembly, spout seal device and spout seal method, can guarantee to spout the homogeneity of seal shaping luminescent material membrane thickness on the base plate.

Description

Nozzle assembly, jet printing device and jet printing method

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of display, and particularly relates to a spray head assembly, a spray printing device and a spray printing method.

Background

An Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display has the advantages of low power consumption, fast response, high contrast, being Light and thin, and being easy to bend, and is increasingly widely applied in the display technology field. In the process of mass production, the efficiency of mass production is low because the pixels formed by the evaporation method are limited by the influence of the evaporation precision and the utilization rate of the evaporation material in the process of manufacturing the OLED display panel. Therefore, a manufacturing method of realizing a pixel by a technique of inkjet printing has been produced, which forms a light emitting material on a substrate surface in the same manner as the principle of a conventional inkjet printer. However, due to the limitations of current printing capabilities, among a plurality of light-emitting materials formed on the same substrate surface, the thickness of the film-formed light-emitting material is not uniform, and the film-forming accuracy is low.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to: the uniformity of the thickness of the luminescent material film sprayed and formed on the substrate can be ensured.

In a first aspect, to solve the above technical problem, an embodiment of the present invention provides a nozzle assembly, which includes at least one nozzle unit, where the nozzle unit includes a first nozzle and at least one second nozzle, the first nozzle has a first injection direction and has a first injection area, the second nozzle has a second injection direction, and the second nozzle is connected to a peripheral side of the first nozzle, where the first injection direction intersects with the second injection direction, and the second injection direction is directed to the first injection area.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an inkjet printing apparatus, including the inkjet head assembly described in any one of the above descriptions.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for inkjet printing, including: providing a substrate to be jet-printed; adjusting the nozzle assembly of any one of the above descriptions to a target area of the substrate to be jet printed; forming a first sub-film layer on the target area through the first showerhead of the showerhead assembly; and forming a second sub-film layer in the target area through the second sprayer of the sprayer assembly, and superposing the first sub-film layer and the second sub-film layer to obtain a target film layer.

By adopting the technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention, the first spray head and the second spray head are arranged, and the relative position of the first spray head and the second spray head is set to be that when the first spray head sprays to the first spray area along the first spray direction, at least the spray of the second spray head along the second spray direction is required to be ensured to be directed to the first spray area, so that the materials sprayed by the first spray head and the second spray head have an overlapped part. The first nozzle sprays the jet printing material to the first spraying area along the first spraying direction, the second nozzle sprays the jet printing material to the first spraying area along the second spraying direction to form an overlapping part with the material sprayed by the first nozzle, and the overlapping part sprayed by the second nozzle compensates the edge position where the thickness of the luminescent material is thinner so as to ensure the uniformity of the thickness of the formed film.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments of the present invention will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a TFT substrate for forming a luminescent material by inkjet printing in the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a top view of a substrate to be printed in cooperation with a jetting assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a top view of another embodiment of the present invention showing a substrate to be printed in cooperation with a jetting assembly;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a simple structure of a head unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic view of a simple structure of another head unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a front view of a nozzle assembly for applying a print to a substrate to be printed according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a portion of the first nozzle of portion A of FIG. 6 in cooperation with a substrate to be printed;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a portion of the second nozzle of portion A of FIG. 6 in cooperation with a substrate to be printed;

fig. 9 is a partially enlarged view of a portion a in fig. 6;

FIG. 10 is a partial enlarged view of portion B of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a schematic top view of a first nozzle and a second nozzle of a simplified structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic top view of a first nozzle and a second nozzle of an alternative embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a schematic view of a simple structure of still another head unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is an enlarged view of a portion C of FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a top view of a substrate to be jet printed according to an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 16 is a top view of a substrate to be jet printed after a first sub-film layer is jet printed by a jet printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 17 is a top view of the substrate to be jet printed after a portion of the second sub-film layer is jet printed by the jet printing device according to the embodiment of the invention;

fig. 18 is a top view of the substrate to be jet printed after the remaining portion of the second sub-film layer is jet printed by the jet printing device according to the embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

1-a substrate to be jet printed; 11-target area; 12-a first sub-film layer; 13-a second sub-film layer; 2-a spray head unit; 21-a first spray head; 211 — first injection direction; 212-a first via; 213-first ejection hole; 213a — first hole center; 214-a first body; 215-a second end; 216-a first end; 217-sliding part; 218-a connector; 218 a-body; 218 b-telescoping section; 219-a swivel arm; 22-a second spray head; 221-second spray direction; 222-a second via; 223-second ejection hole; 223 a-second hole center; 224-a first sub-showerhead; 225-a second sub-sprayer; 226-a second body; 227-a third end; 228-a third sub-showerhead; 23-a first virtual plane; d1 — first injection zone; d2-film forming region.

Detailed Description

Features and exemplary embodiments of various aspects of the present invention will be described in detail below. In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. The following description of the embodiments is merely intended to provide a better understanding of the present invention by illustrating examples of the present invention.

It is noted that, herein, relational terms such as first and second, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Also, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising … …" does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

For better understanding of the present invention, the inkjet printing assembly, the inkjet printing apparatus, and the inkjet printing method according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 1 to 18.

With the wide application of the OLED display in the display technology field, the OLED display is gradually manufactured in batch production in order to meet more use requirements. In the process of manufacturing an OLED display, generally, a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) backplane is manufactured, anodes arranged in an array are manufactured on the TFT backplane, a spacer layer for isolating the anodes from a pixel defining layer is manufactured on the anodes corresponding to each unit, the pixel defining layer is manufactured, the pixel defining layer and the spacer layer are patterned to form openings, light-emitting materials are formed at the positions corresponding to the openings, and the light-emitting materials are connected to the anodes exposed after patterning through the openings, so that a TFT substrate required for manufacturing the OLED display is obtained.

Referring to fig. 1, in the manufacturing process of the TFT substrate, when the light emitting material is formed at the opening position, the evaporation device is used to simultaneously evaporate the evaporation material to a plurality of corresponding opening positions on the TFT backplane, and the evaporation method is used to simultaneously evaporate the light emitting material at all corresponding opening positions on the TFT backplane, so that special attention is needed to the evaporation precision and the utilization rate of the evaporation material, and the formed TFT substrate is prevented from being scrapped, thereby increasing the time for forming the light emitting material, which is not beneficial to mass production.

Therefore, in order to avoid the limitation of the deposition accuracy and the deposition material when forming the light emitting material at the opening position and to improve the efficiency of forming the light emitting material, an alternative scheme of forming the light emitting material by a jet printing technique is provided to avoid the deposition accuracy required for depositing the light emitting material and improve the efficiency of forming the light emitting material, thereby facilitating mass production. The current spray printing technology generally adopts a mode which is the same as the principle of the traditional ink-jet printer, the mode is limited by printing capability, the area of each luminous material sprayed and printed in the spray printing process is small, and the thickness of a film formed by the luminous material is uneven when the luminous material is sprayed and printed to an opening, so that the display effect of the OLED is influenced.

When the light-emitting material is formed at the corresponding opening position of the TFT backplane by inkjet printing, the light-emitting material may be inkjet printed by organic vapor or may be inkjet printed by liquid, which is not specifically limited herein. For example, when organic vapor jet printing, the organic material for forming the light emitting material is internally subjected toSublimation followed by hot inert gas (N)₂Or He) to form high-pressure mixed gas, spraying the mixed gas to an opening position at a high speed, and quickly condensing the organic vapor after the organic vapor contacts the room-temperature TFT backboard to deposit on the surface to form the luminescent material. When the liquid is sprayed and printed, the liquid spraying and printing material is sprayed at the opening position of the TFT backboard after being pressurized, the liquid material has certain fluidity after contacting the TFT backboard at room temperature, and the liquid material is solidified and formed after a certain time.

No matter which way is adopted for spray printing, when the spray printing material is quickly sprayed to the TFT backboard under high pressure, the material parallel to the pressure direction can be further accumulated at the opening position to form the uneven phenomenon that the middle is thick and the edge is thin, even if the material sprayed and printed on the TFT backboard is liquid, due to different external factors, the free flow has larger uncontrollable factors, and the final uniform film forming can not be caused according to the flowing performance of the material, so that the optical characteristics and the efficiency of the OLED device are influenced.

In order to ensure the uniformity of the film formation of the light-emitting material formed on the TFT backplane, the following description will be made in detail by using organic vapor jet printing as an example.

The embodiment of the invention provides a spray head assembly, which comprises at least 1 spray head unit 2, wherein the spray head unit 2 is used for spraying a spray printing material to a substrate 1 to be sprayed and printed (the TFT backboard with a plurality of openings mentioned in the above is not separately emphasized in the following) so as to form a plurality of required film layers on the substrate 1 to be sprayed and printed.

Referring to fig. 2 to 3, as for the nozzle units 2 used for spraying and printing on the substrate 1 to be sprayed and printed to form a film, the number of the nozzle units 2 can be set to 1, and the nozzle units 2 are controlled to move to different opening positions relative to the substrate 1 to be sprayed and printed one by one, so that each corresponding position on the substrate 1 to be sprayed and printed is sprayed and printed to form a required film layer. Or, shower nozzle unit 2 also can set up to a plurality of shower nozzle units 2, a plurality of shower nozzle units 2 can be arranged into a set ofly along the plane array of spouting of waiting to spout seal base plate 1, spout seal base plate 1 relatively and move to different positions through controlling a set of shower nozzle unit 2, make every shower nozzle unit of group 2 can both spout the seal formation rete to a plurality of injection positions simultaneously, and finally move to different positions through drive unitized shower nozzle unit 2, and then realize that whole a plurality of injection positions of waiting to spout on the seal base plate 1 spout the seal respectively and form corresponding rete. Or, the arrangement form of the plurality of nozzle units 2 may also be correspondingly arranged according to the layout of a plurality of films that are required to be jet-printed on the substrate 1 to be jet-printed, and is not specifically limited herein.

Referring to fig. 4 to 6, the head unit 2 includes a first head 21 and at least one second head 22, the first head 21 having a first spray direction 211 and having a first spray area D1, the second head 22 having a second spray direction 221, the second head 22 being connected to a peripheral side of the first head 21, wherein the first spray direction 211 intersects the second spray direction 221, and the second spray direction 221 is directed to a first spray area D1. In order to pass through the first head 21 and the second head 22, and to set the relative positions of the first head 21 and the second head 22 such that the first head 21 sprays into the first spray region D1 along the first spray direction 211 thereof, it is necessary to ensure at least that the spray from the second head 22 in the second spray direction 221 is directed toward the first spray region D1 so that there is an overlapping portion of the materials sprayed from the two heads. That is, the first nozzle 21 sprays the printing material in the first spraying direction 211 to the first spraying region D1, and the second nozzle 22 sprays the printing material in the second spraying direction 221 to the first spraying region D1, so as to form an overlapping portion with the material sprayed by the first nozzle 21, and the overlapping portion sprayed by the second nozzle 22 compensates for the edge position where the film thickness is formed to be thinner, so as to ensure the uniformity of the film thickness.

In a specific embodiment, referring to fig. 7 to 9, when the nozzle unit 2 is controlled to spray and print on the substrate 1 to be sprayed and printed, in order to ensure the uniformity of the thickness of the film formed by the film, when the first nozzle 21 and the second nozzle 22 spray and print, the compensation material at the edge position in the film is controllable, so that under different conditions, the relative positions of the first nozzle 21 and the second nozzle 22 can be conveniently and quickly positioned, and the film formed during the spraying and printing process can ensure better uniformity. As shown in fig. 7, the first ejecting direction 211 of the first ejecting head 21 is set to be perpendicular to the substrate 1 to be ejected, the first ejecting head 21 can eject the film on the surface of the substrate 1 to be ejected in the film forming region D2, and the film forming region D2 is located in the range of the first ejecting region D1 and does not exceed the first ejecting region D1 at most. By setting the first spraying direction 211 to be perpendicular to the substrate 1 to be printed, the film layer formed in the film forming region D2 when the first spray head 21 sprays the material onto the substrate 1 to be printed is in the tapered convex hull structure with a thin middle convex edge, as shown in fig. 8, and when the second spray head 22 sprays the material onto the first spraying region D1, the position of the second spray head 22 relative to the first spray head 21 is adjusted until the second spray head 22 can drop the sprayed material into the film forming region D2 along the second spraying direction 221 at least at the position corresponding to the thin edge part of the tapered convex hull structure, so as to compensate the material of the thin part of the film forming structure in the film forming region D2, so that the formed film layer is in the form shown in fig. 9, and the film thickness of each film layer is uniform.

Optionally, for the formed film formation region D2, the area occupied by the film formation region D2 relative to the first spraying region D1 is determined according to the area of the film to be formed, and according to the size of the area of the film layer, the distance between the first spraying head 21 and the substrate 1 to be printed can be adjusted, that is, the first spraying head 21 can drive the second spraying head 22 to approach or leave the substrate 1 to be printed along the first spraying direction 211, so as to adjust the area proportion of the film formation region D2 in the first spraying region D1, and further adjust the area of the film layer formed in the film formation region D2, which is not described herein again.

And, the first nozzle 21 can drive the second nozzle 22 to move along the direction parallel to the substrate 1 to be jet-printed. The second nozzle 22 is fixed or hinged on the first nozzle 21, the first nozzle 21 is connected on a moving device, the moving device can generate displacement relative to an objective table, and the substrate 1 to be printed is placed on the objective table. When the opening position of the substrate 1 to be printed is printed, the control device can control the moving device to drive the first nozzle 21 to generate a horizontal position relative to the substrate 1 to be printed, so that the first nozzle 21 moves to the position above the corresponding first spraying area D1, and meanwhile, the second nozzle 22 also generates corresponding horizontal movement through the movement of the first nozzle 21, thereby realizing the simultaneous movement of the first nozzle 21 and the second nozzle 22.

The structure of the first head 21 and the second head 22 will be described in detail below by taking the example in which the second head 22 is provided in plural.

As an embodiment of the present application, referring to fig. 9 to 12, when the second showerhead 22 is provided in plurality, the plurality of second showerheads 22 are provided around the first showerhead 21. When the first spraying direction 211 of the first spraying head 21 is enabled to spray materials to the substrate 1 to be sprayed and printed vertically, when the middle part of the film layer formed in the film forming area D2 is convex and the circumferential edge is thin, the second spraying heads 22 arranged in a surrounding manner are used to make the plurality of second spraying heads 22 respectively compensate materials for different parts of the edge position of the film layer, and the second spraying heads 22 do not need to rotate circumferentially around the first spraying heads 21 to respectively compensate for different parts of the edge position, so that the film forming efficiency of the film layer is improved, and at the same time, when the second spraying heads 22 spray materials to different parts of the edge position, more material compensation is not easily caused between the adjacent parts, the thickness of the overlapped part is higher than the maximum thickness of the film layer sprayed and printed by the first spraying heads 21 in the film forming area D2, and the uniformity of the thickness of the film layer is ensured.

Specifically, referring to fig. 9, 10, and 13, the first and

second heads

21 and 22 for forming a film layer having a uniform thickness on the substrate 1 to be subjected to inkjet printing are designed to ensure a good film forming effect. The first nozzle 21 includes a first ejection hole 213, in the first ejection direction 211, an end portion of the first nozzle 21 close to the substrate 1 to be printed is a first end 216, the first end 216 is provided with a first through hole 212, a side of the first nozzle 21 away from the first end 216 along the first ejection direction 211 is a second end 215, an axis of the first through hole 212 coincides with the first ejection direction 211, the first through hole 212 has the first ejection hole 213, and the first ejection hole 213 is located on an end surface of the first end 216 facing the substrate 1 to be printed, the end surface being perpendicular to an axis of the first through hole 212. The second head 22 includes a second ejection hole 223, in the second ejection direction 221, an end portion of the second head 22 close to the substrate 1 to be printed is a third end 227, the third end 227 is provided with a second through hole 222, a side of the second head 22 away from the third end 227 along the second ejection direction 221 is a fourth end, an axis of the second through hole 222 coincides with the second ejection direction 221, the second through hole 222 has the second ejection hole 223, and the second ejection hole 223 is located on an end surface of the third end 227 facing the substrate 1 to be printed, the end surface being perpendicular to an axis of the second through hole 222.

The cross-sectional area of the first spouting hole 213 is larger than that of the second spouting hole 223, and since the first spouting hole 213 is located on the end surface of the first end 216, the cross-sectional area of the first spouting hole 213 is the area of the shadow of the hole formed on the end surface of the first end 216, the second spouting hole 223 is located on the end surface of the third end 227, and the cross-sectional area of the second spouting hole 223 is the area of the shadow of the hole formed on the end surface of the third end 227. That is, the first head 21 serves as a main head for ejecting the printing material to the film formation region D2 of the substrate 1 to be printed, and the second head 22 serves as a sub head for compensating for a relatively thin portion of the film layer formed by the material ejected from the first head 21.

Alternatively, for the first ejection hole 213 and the second ejection hole 223, the shape of the holes on the corresponding end surfaces can affect the shape of the ejected material formed on the substrate 1 to be printed, so the shape of the first ejection hole 213 and the second ejection hole 223 can be adjusted according to the shape of the film layer to be formed on the substrate 1 to be printed, for example, the shape of the two ejection holes can be square, circular, etc., and is not limited in detail.

In a specific embodiment, when the first nozzle 21 is used as a main nozzle to spray-print a film layer with a convex hull shape in the film forming region D2 of the substrate 1 to be sprayed, the second nozzle 22 is used as a sub-nozzle to compensate for the thinner edge of the film layer with the convex hull shape, so as to make the thickness of each part of the finally formed film layer to be consistent, and the cross-sectional area of the first spraying hole 213 is at least 1 to 50 times larger than that of the second spraying hole 223, so as to avoid the material sprayed by the second nozzle 22 from exceeding the maximum thickness of the luminescent material with the convex hull shape, and affecting the compensation effect achieved when the second nozzle 22 is used as the sub-nozzle.

In a specific embodiment, in order to satisfy the requirement that the area of the film layer formed in the film formation region D2 on the substrate 1 to be printed occupies the area of the first injection region D1 in accordance with the area of the formed film layer when the first nozzle 21 is used as the main nozzle, the diameter of the first injection hole 213 is set to have a size that affects the volume of the material per unit injection, and thus the size of the film layer formed by the injection of the first nozzle 21 in the first injection region D1 in a certain time. Therefore, the first discharge hole 213 has a first diameter, the second discharge hole 223 has a second diameter, the first diameter is equal to or larger than the second diameter, and the diameters of the first discharge hole 213 and the second discharge hole 223 are different depending on the discharge time and the size of the unit discharge area of the film layer formed in the film forming region D2, and are not particularly limited. Optionally, the first diameter ranges between 1um and 500 um.

In a specific embodiment, referring to fig. 9, 10 and 13, for the second ejection hole 223 located on the end surface of the third end 227, there is a second hole center 223a, the second hole center 223a is located on the axis of the second through hole 222 and located on the end surface of the third end 227, when the plurality of second heads 22 are arranged around the circumferential direction of the first head 21, the second hole centers 223a of the plurality of second heads 22 are all located on the first virtual plane 23 (a plane formed by extending the dotted line in fig. 10), and the first ejection direction 211 is perpendicular to the first virtual plane 23. That is, in the plurality of second heads 22, in order to compensate the circumferential edge position of the film layer formed by the material ejected from the first heads 21 in the film formation region D2 by the material ejected from the second heads 22, and to ensure that the material distribution compensated for each circumferential position is uniform, and the thickness of the finally formed film layer is more uniform, the second hole centers 223a of the second heads 22 are all disposed to be positioned on the same plane, so that the film thicknesses compensated for each circumferential edge position are balanced when the second heads 22 eject the material into the film formation region D2.

Alternatively, the first spouting holes 213 have first hole centers 213a, and the first hole centers 213a are spaced apart from any one of the second hole centers 223a by a distance of 1um to 500um in a projection of the first hole center 213a on the first virtual plane 23. Since the material sprayed from the spray head assembly is used to form a plurality of film layers on the substrate 1 to be sprayed, the area of a single film layer is small, and when the first spray head 21 and the second spray head 22 are used in combination, in order to avoid the film layer formed by final spraying from exceeding the preset first spraying area D1, the distance from the first hole center 213a to any second hole center 223a is limited in the horizontal direction, so as to ensure that the sprayed film layer meets the use requirement.

In various embodiments of the present application, referring to fig. 2, 11 and 12, the plurality of second heads 22 includes at least a first sub-head 224 and a second sub-head 225, the first sub-head 224 and the second sub-head 225 are arranged in a staggered manner in a circumferential direction of the first head 21, and when the edge position compensation material of the film layer sprayed from the second head 22 to the first head 21 in the film formation region D2 is injected, the first sub-head 224 and the second sub-head 225 may be simultaneously opened or sequentially opened, that is, one of the first sub-head and the second sub-head is opened and the other is closed, which is not particularly limited herein. For example, when the first sub-nozzles 224 and the second sub-nozzles 225 are not turned on simultaneously, in the orthographic projection of the first sub-nozzles 224, the second sub-nozzles 225 and the first nozzles 21 on the substrate 1 to be printed, an included angle a formed by the connecting lines of the adjacent first sub-nozzles 224 and the first nozzles 21 is greater than or equal to 90 °, and an included angle b formed by the connecting lines of the adjacent second sub-nozzles 225 and the first nozzles 21 is greater than or equal to 90 °. That is, the first sub-heads 224 and the second sub-heads 225 are alternately arranged in the circumferential direction of the first head 21, and when the first head 21 is operated, the second head 22 is turned off to jet-print the film layer forming the first layer in the film formation region D2 of the substrate 1 to be jet-printed, and then the first head 21 is turned off and the second head 22 is turned on to compensate for the circumferential edge position in the film layer of the first layer in the film formation region D2. In the operation process of the second showerhead 22, the first sub showerhead 224 is first turned on, the second sub showerhead 225 is turned off, and material compensation is performed on the portion of the edge position of the film layer of the first layer that does not overlap each other, and then the first sub showerhead 224 is turned off, the second sub showerhead 225 is turned on, and the remaining portion is compensated by the second sub showerhead 225. Therefore, the problem of large thickness caused by overlapping of local compensation thickness when the edge position of the second nozzle 22 is compensated is avoided by the mode of compensating the edge position by time-sharing and part-dividing, and the compensation effect of the second nozzle 22 is ensured.

Optionally, referring to fig. 12, the second nozzle 22 may further include a third sub-nozzle 228, a fourth sub-nozzle, and the like, when the second sub-nozzles are arranged in the circumferential direction of the first nozzle 21, one of the nozzles is opened first, and after the first sub-nozzle is closed, the other nozzle is opened, and the nozzles are opened and closed in this order, and the number of the sub-nozzles is not specifically limited herein, as long as the adjacent nozzles of the same type are ensured to meet the requirement of 90 ° or more.

As an embodiment of the present application, referring to fig. 13, the areas of the light emitting materials to be printed may be different according to the sizes of the openings on the TFT backplanes of different models, and the thickness uniformity of the film layers formed by different films may be better in order to make the head unit 2 versatile. The second nozzle 22 can move relative to the first nozzle 21 to adjust the predetermined angle between the second spraying direction 221 and the first spraying direction 211. In a form that the second nozzle 22 is adjustable relative to the first nozzle 21, the position and the area of the film layer sprayed in the film forming area D2 by the second nozzle 22 can be adjusted adaptively through the area of the film layer formed by the film forming area D2 on the substrate 1 to be sprayed and printed by the first nozzle 21 and the smoothness of the projection formed by the film layer on the substrate 1 to be sprayed and printed, so that the thickness of the finally formed film layer has high uniformity.

Alternatively, in the structural cooperation of the second nozzles 22 circumferentially arranged on the first nozzle 21, since the unit area of the film to be formed is small and the second spraying center 221 of the second nozzle 22 is required to be directed to the film forming region D2, the adjusting range of the preset included angle can be selected from 10 ° to 80 °, which is not limited herein.

The specific structural cooperation for adjusting the preset angle of the second nozzle 22 relative to the first nozzle 21 can be achieved in various ways, and one embodiment is listed below, but the invention is not limited thereto.

Referring to fig. 13 to 14, the first head 21 includes a first body 214 having a tubular shape extending in the first ejection direction 211 and a first ejection hole 213, the first body 214 has a first end 216 and a second end 215 at both ends in the axial direction thereof (i.e., the first end 216 and the second end 215 of the first head 21 described above), the first end 216 is provided with the first ejection hole 213, the second end 215 is slidably connected to the sliding portion 217, the first ejection direction 211 coincides with the axis of the first body 214, and a first hole center 213a of the first ejection hole 213 is located on the axis of the first body 214. The second head 22 includes a second body 226 having a tubular shape extending in the second spray direction 221 and a second spray hole 223, the second body 226 having a third end 227 and a fourth end (i.e., the third end 227 and the fourth end of the second head 22 described above) at both ends in the axial direction thereof, the third end 227 being provided with the second spray hole 223, the second spray direction 221 being coincident with the axis of the second body 226, and a second hole center 223a of the second spray hole 223 being located on the axis of the second body 226. The outer sidewall of the first body 214 is sleeved with a connecting member 218, the connecting member 218 is slidably connected with the outer sidewall of the first body 214, the second nozzle 22 is connected to the connecting member 218, and the connecting member 218 can drive the second nozzle 22 to move relative to the first nozzle 21 along the first spraying direction 211. Thereby realizing that the position of the second spray head 22 relative to the first spray head 21 is adjustable along the direction vertical to the substrate 1 to be sprayed and printed.

The connecting member 218 includes a body 218a and a telescopic portion 218b, the body 218a is slidably connected to an outer side wall of the first main body 214, at least one telescopic portion 218b is circumferentially disposed on the body 218a, the second nozzle 22 is connected to an end of the telescopic portion 218b away from the body 218a, and the telescopic portion 218b can drive the second nozzle 22 to approach or depart from the first nozzle 21 on a plane perpendicular to the first spraying direction 211. The second nozzle 22 is connected to the main body 218a, so that the main body 218a can drive the second nozzle 22 to move closer to or away from the substrate 1 to be printed along the first spraying direction 211, and further, the area of the material sprayed from the second nozzle 22 to the substrate 1 to be printed is adjusted by adjusting the position of the second nozzle 22 relative to the first nozzle 21 in the first spraying direction 211, so as to compensate the area ratio of the film forming area D2 occupied by the material as required, thereby realizing adaptive adjustment. In addition, the area of the film formation region D2 to be printed on the substrate 1 to be printed is different according to different printing requirements, and in order to meet the different requirements of the film formation area, the connection portion between the main body 218a and the second head 22 is connected by the expansion portion 218b, and the distance of the second head 22 from the first head 21 in the direction perpendicular to the first ejection direction 211 is adaptively adjusted by the expansion and contraction capability of the expansion portion 218b itself, which will not be described in detail herein.

In a specific embodiment, the nozzle unit 2 is further provided with a rotating member, the rotating member includes a sliding portion 217 and a rotating arm 219, the sliding portion 217 is slidably connected to the outer side wall of the first main body 214, two ends of the rotating arm 219 are rotatably connected to the sliding portion 217 and the second main body 226 respectively, more specifically, one end of the rotating arm 219 is hinged to the fourth end, the other end of the rotating arm 219 is hinged to the sliding portion 217, and the sliding portion 217 moves along the first spraying direction 211 to drive the second nozzle 22 to rotate so as to adjust the included angle of the second nozzle 22 relative to the first nozzle 21 to a preset included angle. On the one hand, the sliding part 217 can be used in cooperation with the body 218a slidably connected to the above, and both are driven to move in a direction to approach or separate from the substrate 1 to be printed, so that the distance of the second head 22 to the substrate 1 to be printed in the first ejecting direction 211 can be adjusted, and the area ratio of the material ejected by the second head 22 to the film forming region D2 can be adjusted, thereby adaptively adjusting the area ratio of the edge position to be compensated. On the other hand, the second head 22 is formed into an umbrella shape with respect to the first head 21 by the above-described structure, and the relative movement of the rotating arm 219 and the second body 226 is generated by controlling the position at which the sliding portion 217 slides on the first body 214. The second body 226 is rotatably connected to the first body 214 so that when the second body 226 can rotate relative to the first body 214, the second body 226 has a rotating shaft, and when the rotating arm 219 and the second body 226 generate relative movement, the second body 226 can be driven to rotate relative to the first body 214 along the rotating shaft by a corresponding angle to form an umbrella-shaped structure to open or close, thereby adjusting a preset included angle of the second nozzle 22 relative to the first nozzle 21.

Alternatively, in addition to the above-described structure, the connecting member 218 and the sliding portion 217 may be configured to be rotatable about the axis direction of the first body 214, and adapted to adjust a specific position, into which the printing material falls when the second head 22 performs printing on the edge of the film layer formed in the film forming region D2, according to different situations.

The embodiment of the invention provides a jet printing device, which at least comprises a storage unit and a nozzle assembly, wherein the storage unit is used for storing a material to be jet printed so as to continuously supply the jet printing material to the nozzle assembly, and the nozzle assembly is the nozzle assembly in the embodiment so as to improve the precision of jet printing the formed luminescent material on a TFT backboard and ensure that the thickness of the formed luminescent material is consistent.

The present application further provides a jet printing method, where the jet printing method is used to control a jet printing device to jet print luminescent materials at all corresponding opening positions on a TFT backplane, and the following detailed description will be made by taking the jet printing device as an example to jet print luminescent materials at the opening positions of the TFT backplane by using the jet printing device for organic vapor jet printing, with reference to fig. 2 to 5, fig. 9 to 14, and fig. 15 to 18:

s1: the method comprises the steps of providing a substrate 1 to be jet printed, wherein the substrate 1 to be jet printed is a TFT (thin film transistor) backboard with a plurality of openings, a display function is realized by forming a luminescent material at the position corresponding to the openings, and whether the thickness of the luminescent material is uniform or not has great influence on the display performance.

S2: and adjusting the spray head assembly to a target area 11 of the substrate 1 to be sprayed, wherein the target area 11 is a position where the luminescent material needs to be formed on the substrate 1 to be sprayed, namely, the position of the opening in the step 1 corresponds to.

S3: the substrate 1 to be jet printed is jet printed with a printing material through a nozzle assembly to form a luminescent material in a target area 11. In this step, in order to make the thickness of the luminescent material formed at the opening position uniform, it is necessary to form a first sub-film layer 12 on the target area 11 by the first head 21 of the head assembly, that is, to form a first layer of luminescent material on the target area 1 to be printed by the first head 21 in the film forming region D2, the first layer of luminescent material being a convex hull structure with a thick middle edge and a thin middle edge, and then to form a second sub-film layer 13 on the target area 11 by the second head 22 of the head assembly, the second sub-film layer 13 being a film layer formed by the second head 22 compensating the middle edge of the first layer of luminescent material, and the target film layer is obtained by overlapping the first sub-film layer 12 and the second sub-film layer 13.

When the second showerhead 22 includes at least the first sub-showerhead 224 and the second sub-showerhead 225, the forming the second sub-film layer 13 on the target region 11 by the second showerhead 22 of the showerhead assembly may include: first, the first sub-nozzle 224 is opened to make the first sub-nozzle 224 spray-print on the target area 11, so as to obtain a part of the second sub-film layer 13. In the process, the second sub-sprayer 225 is in a closed state; and then, the second sub-nozzle 225 is opened to spray and print on the target area 11, so as to obtain another part of the second sub-film layer 13, wherein the first sub-nozzle 224 is in a closed state in the process. Referring to fig. 16, in order to compensate for the film thickness in the upper edge region of the first sub-nozzles 21, the first sub-nozzles 224 and the second sub-nozzles 225 are respectively disposed in two and staggered arrangement, and the two opposite first sub-nozzles 224 correspond to opposite sides in the edge region, and the second sub-nozzles 225 correspond to the remaining opposite sides in the edge region. When the second nozzle 22 is used for performing the inkjet printing, the first sub-nozzle 224 is firstly opened to compensate the corresponding edge regions on the two opposite sides, so as to obtain the structure shown in fig. 17, then the first sub-nozzle 224 is closed, and the second sub-nozzle 225 is simultaneously opened to compensate the edge regions on the other two sides, so as to obtain the structure shown in fig. 18, and finally the luminescent material with uniform film thickness is obtained by overlapping the first sub-film layer 12 and the second sub-film layer 13.

In the process of forming a light emitting material with a uniform film thickness by spray printing at a plurality of opening positions in a substrate 1 to be spray printed by a spray printing assembly, the spray printing assembly is provided as a plurality of spray head units 2 arranged in an array in order to improve the efficiency of spray printing and the precision of spray printing when forming the light emitting material. Referring to fig. 3, when the substrate 1 to be jet printed is jet printed by the jet printing apparatus with such a structure, the nozzles are first positioned to the start point of the jet printing, the plurality of nozzle units 2 are driven to move horizontally along the substrate 1 to be jet printed at the same time, and each first nozzle 21 of the plurality of nozzle units 2 is correspondingly positioned above one opening. After the alignment is completed, the plurality of nozzle units 2 are started to simultaneously spray and print corresponding opening positions, then the nozzle assembly is started to continue to horizontally move to the next position along the substrate 1 to be sprayed and printed, and when the spraying and printing of all the luminescent materials on the substrate 1 to be sprayed and printed are completed, the nozzle assembly is driven to return to the spraying and printing starting point.

In the above-mentioned jet printing process, in order to improve the jet printing efficiency and ensure the precision of jet printing the luminescent material, when the nozzle assembly moves from the jet printing starting point to each position of the substrate 1 to be jet printed, the first nozzles 21 are first started, so that when the plurality of first nozzles 21 move to one position each time, the plurality of first nozzles 21 are simultaneously opened to form the first sub-film layers 12 in the plurality of target areas 11, and the second nozzles 22 are always in a closed state in the process. After the nozzle assembly is driven to complete one-time movement above the substrate 1 to be printed, the first sub-film layer 12 is formed at all opening positions on the substrate 1 to be printed, the first nozzle 21 is closed, and the nozzle assembly is reset to the printing starting point. And then driving the nozzle assembly to move repeatedly along the previous movement track, wherein when the nozzle assembly moves to each position, the first nozzle 21 is kept closed, the second nozzle 22 is opened to overlap the second sub-film layer 13 at the local position on the first sub-film layer 12 until the nozzle assembly is driven to complete one horizontal movement, and each opening position on the substrate 1 to be jet-printed obtains the overlapped first sub-film layer 12 and the second sub-film layer 13, so that a target film layer is obtained to form the luminescent material with uniform thickness.

Optionally, referring to fig. 11 to 12, when the second nozzle 22 at least includes the first sub-nozzle 224 and the second sub-nozzle 225, similarly, after the substrate 1 to be printed is formed into the first sub-film 12 by the first nozzle 21 and the jet printing module is driven to reset to the jet printing start point, the first nozzle 21 is closed, the first sub-nozzle 224 is opened, and the second sub-nozzle 225 is closed in the process that the jet printing module is driven to move along the last movement track from the jet printing start point again, until each position, the second sub-film 13 partially overlapped on the first sub-film 12 is driven to complete the horizontal movement of the jet printing module, and the jet printing module is driven to reset to the jet printing start point. And driving the spray head assembly to move repeatedly again, wherein when the spray head assembly moves to the corresponding position, the first spray head 21 and the first sub-spray head 224 are closed, the second sub-spray head 225 is opened, so that the rest part of the second sub-film layer 13 is superposed on the first sub-film layer 12, and when the driving spray head assembly completes the horizontal movement once, and the driving spray head assembly resets to the spray printing starting point, the target film layer can be obtained. When the second nozzle 22 further includes more nozzles such as the third sub-nozzle 228, the printing method is the same as above, and will not be described herein again.

The foregoing description shows and describes several preferred embodiments of the present application, but as aforementioned, it is to be understood that the application is not limited to the forms disclosed herein, but is not to be construed as excluding other embodiments and is capable of use in various other combinations, modifications, and environments and is capable of changes within the scope of the inventive concept as expressed herein, commensurate with the above teachings, or the skill or knowledge of the relevant art. And that modifications and variations may be effected by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the application, which is to be protected by the claims appended hereto.

Claims

1. A showerhead assembly, comprising: at least one of the head units is provided with a plurality of nozzles,

the spray head unit comprises a first spray head and at least one second spray head, the first spray head is provided with a first spray direction and a first spray area, the second spray head is provided with a second spray direction, the second spray head is connected with the peripheral side of the first spray head,

wherein the first spray direction intersects the second spray direction, and the second spray direction is directed toward the first spray zone;

the first spray head can spray on the surface of the substrate to be sprayed and printed along the first spraying direction to form a film forming area;

the second sprayer can form a second sub-film layer on the surface of the substrate to be subjected to spray printing along the second spraying direction, and the second sub-film layer is a film layer for compensating the edge of the film forming area.

2. The showerhead assembly of claim 1, wherein the first ejection direction is perpendicular to a substrate to be printed, and the film forming zone is an extent of the first ejection zone.

3. The spray head assembly of claim 1, wherein the second spray head is a plurality of second spray heads disposed about the first spray head.

4. The spray head assembly of claim 3, wherein the first spray head comprises a first spray orifice and the second spray head comprises a second spray orifice, the first spray orifice having a cross-sectional area greater than the cross-sectional area of the second spray orifice.

5. The spray head assembly of claim 4, wherein the cross-sectional area of the first spray hole is at least 1 to 50 times greater than the cross-sectional area of the second spray hole.

6. The showerhead assembly of claim 4, wherein the first ejection orifice has a first diameter and the second ejection orifice has a second diameter, the first diameter being equal to or greater than the second diameter, the first diameter ranging between 1um and 500 um.

7. The spray head assembly of claim 4, wherein said second ejection orifice has a second orifice center, said second orifice centers of said second plurality of spray heads each lie in a first imaginary plane, and said first spray direction is perpendicular to said first imaginary plane.

8. The showerhead assembly of claim 7, wherein the first ejection orifice has a first orifice center, the first orifice center being in projection on the first virtual plane, a distance from the first orifice center to any of the second orifice centers being between 1um and 500 um.

9. The showerhead assembly of claim 1, wherein the plurality of second showerheads comprises at least a first sub showerhead and a second sub showerhead, the first sub showerhead and the second sub showerhead are arranged in a staggered manner in a circumferential direction of the first showerhead, an included angle formed by a connecting line of the first sub showerhead and a connecting line of the first showerhead is greater than or equal to 90 ° in an orthographic projection of the first sub showerhead, the second sub showerhead and the first showerhead, respectively, and an included angle formed by a connecting line of the first sub showerhead and a connecting line of the second sub showerhead and the first showerhead is greater than or equal to 90 °.

10. The nozzle assembly of any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the first nozzle is capable of driving the second nozzle to move toward or away from a substrate to be printed along the first spraying direction, and the first nozzle is capable of driving the second nozzle to move along a direction parallel to the substrate to be printed.

11. The spray head assembly of any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the second spray head is movable relative to the first spray head to adjust the magnitude of the predetermined angle that the second spray direction makes with the first spray direction.

12. The spray head assembly of claim 11, wherein said preset included angle is adjusted in a range of 10 ° to 80 °.

13. The spray head assembly of claim 10, wherein a connector is sleeved on an outer sidewall of the first spray head, the connector is slidably connected with the outer sidewall of the first spray head, the second spray head is connected to the connector, and the connector can drive the second spray head to move relative to the first spray head along the first spraying direction.

14. The spray head assembly of claim 13, wherein the connecting member comprises a body and a telescopic portion, the body is slidably connected to an outer side wall of the first spray head, at least one telescopic portion is circumferentially arranged on the body, the second spray head is connected to an end of the telescopic portion away from the body, and the telescopic portion can drive the second spray head to approach or depart from the first spray head in a plane perpendicular to the first spraying direction.

15. The spray head assembly of claim 11, further comprising a rotating member, wherein the rotating member comprises a sliding portion and a rotating arm, the sliding portion is slidably connected to an outer sidewall of the first spray head, two ends of the rotating arm are rotatably connected to the sliding portion and the second spray head respectively, and the sliding portion moves along the first spraying direction to drive the second spray head to rotate, so as to adjust an included angle of the second spray head relative to the first spray head to the preset included angle.

16. The showerhead assembly of claim 15, wherein the first showerhead comprises a first body having a first end and a second end at both ends in an axial direction thereof, the first end being provided with the first ejection hole, and the second end being slidably coupled to the sliding portion, and the second showerhead comprises a second body having a tubular shape and a second ejection hole, the second body having a third end and a fourth end at both ends in an axial direction thereof, the third end being provided with the second ejection hole, one end of the rotary arm being hinged to the fourth end, and the other end of the rotary arm being hinged to the sliding portion.

17. The nozzle assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 9, comprising a plurality of nozzle units for jet printing on a substrate to be jet printed to form a film, the plurality of nozzle units being arranged in an array along a jet printing plane of the substrate to be jet printed.

18. Inkjet printing apparatus comprising a spray head assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

19. A jet printing method is characterized in that: the method comprises the following steps:

providing a substrate to be jet-printed;

adjusting the showerhead assembly of any of claims 1-17 to a target area of the substrate to be jet printed;

forming a first sub-film layer on the target area through the first showerhead of the showerhead assembly;

and forming a second sub-film layer in the target area through the second sprayer of the sprayer assembly, wherein the second sub-film layer is compensated to the edge of the first sub-film layer to obtain a target film layer.

20. The inkjet printing method according to claim 19, wherein the number of the second nozzles is plural, the second nozzles include first sub-nozzles and second sub-nozzles, the first sub-nozzles and the second sub-nozzles are arranged in a staggered manner in a circumferential direction of the first nozzle, in an orthographic projection of the first sub-nozzles, the second sub-nozzles and the first nozzle, an included angle formed by connecting lines of adjacent first sub-nozzles and the first nozzle is greater than or equal to 90 degrees, respectively, and an included angle formed by connecting lines of adjacent second sub-nozzles and the first nozzle is greater than or equal to 90 degrees,

forming a second sub-film layer on the target region by the second showerhead of the showerhead assembly includes:

spraying and printing on the target area through the first sub-sprayer to obtain a part of the second sub-film layer;

and carrying out spray printing on the target area through the second sub-sprayer to obtain the other part of the second sub-film layer.

21. The inkjet printing method according to claim 19, wherein the nozzle assembly includes a plurality of nozzle units for inkjet printing the substrate to be inkjet printed to form a film, the plurality of nozzle units being arranged in an array along a printing plane of the substrate to be inkjet printed,

forming a first sub-film layer on the target region through the first showerhead of the showerhead assembly, and forming a second sub-film layer on the target region through the second showerhead of the showerhead assembly includes:

the method comprises the steps of firstly forming first sub-film layers in a plurality of target areas through a plurality of first spray heads of a plurality of spray head units which are arranged in an array, then forming second sub-film layers in a plurality of corresponding target areas through a plurality of second spray heads of the plurality of spray head units which are arranged in an array, and superposing the first sub-film layers and the second sub-film layers in each target area to obtain the target film layers so as to obtain a plurality of target film layers at the same time.