JP2002059057A - Apparatus for applying treatment liquid - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for applying treatment liquid which applies the liquid uniformly and instantly on a substrate by preventing the generation of development nonuniformity by the scattering of the liquid widely from a desired application area and the breakage of the development place of the substrate by impact applied to the substrate during the application of the liquid. SOLUTION: The apparatus 10 has a treatment liquid storage part 30 for storing the liquid (d) supplied by a treatment liquid supply part 20 and a discharge part 40 which is formed in the approximately longitudinal direction of the apparatus in a size exceeding the whole substrate across the advance direction of the substrate and discharges the liquid (d) stored in the storage part 30. The apparatus 10 is arranged above a substrate conveying apparatus (not shown in Fig.) such as a belt conveyer onto which the substrates are supplied in turn and applies the liquid uniformly and instantly on the substrate.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a developing or etching solution for a substrate to be processed in a pattern developing step and a pattern etching step when a pattern of an electrode such as a transparent electrode plate of a liquid crystal display device is formed by photolithography. The present invention relates to a processing liquid application device that applies a processing liquid such as a liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When an electrode pattern of a transparent electrode plate is manufactured by a photolithographic method, I
A transparent electrode film such as a TO film is applied, a photoresist is applied thereon, and the electrode pattern is exposed. Then, a developing solution is applied to the pattern-exposed glass substrate by a spray method to form an uncured portion (or a photo-decomposed portion). Is dissolved and removed with the developing solution, followed by washing and drying to form a transparent electrode pattern of a patterned ITO film on the glass substrate.

[0003]

A conventional spray type developer application apparatus 1 as shown in FIG. 4 is applied to a surface of a substrate 2 to be processed which is transported at a constant speed on a transport apparatus CD as shown by an arrow A. The developer d is sprayed from the shower nozzle 3 to apply the solution. At this time, a part of the applied developer d scatters to a portion other than the desired application position, and the scattered developer d
Has a possibility of adhering to portions other than the desired application position on the substrate 2 to be processed. In this way, the portion to which the processing liquid is adhered is developed first, resulting in uneven development, and the obtained product may be defective.

In the conventional spray type developer application apparatus 1, since the developer d is ejected from the shower nozzle 3, the impact of the developer d colliding with the substrate 2 to be processed is strong.
For this reason, the developing solution d has a possibility of destroying a development site of the substrate 2 to be processed by impact, and a product obtained by the above-described processing may be defective. I have.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made under the above circumstances. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method in which a processing liquid scatters over a wide area from a desired coating area to cause uneven development, and an impact on a substrate to be processed when the processing liquid is coated. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a processing liquid applying apparatus for preventing a developing portion of a processing target substrate from being destroyed and applying a processing liquid uniformly and instantaneously to a processing target substrate.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, a processing liquid coating apparatus of the present invention is configured as follows.

In a processing liquid coating apparatus for coating a processing liquid on a substrate to be processed, a processing liquid storage unit for storing the supplied processing liquid, and a processing liquid storage unit provided over the entire direction crossing the traveling direction of the substrate to be processed are provided. A discharge unit that discharges the processing liquid stored in the processing liquid storage unit onto the substrate to be processed, and the processing liquid supplied in excess of the allowable storage amount of the processing liquid storage unit. The process liquid is applied onto the substrate to be processed by discharging from the discharge unit.

[0008] With the above configuration, this treatment liquid coating apparatus is
Since the processing liquid is discharged from the discharge unit and dropped toward the substrate to be processed by using gravity, the processing liquid is applied in the direction of gravity without applying extra force to the processing liquid, and the processing is performed from a desired coating area. This prevents the liquid from scattering over a wide area, resulting in uneven development, and the impact of the processing liquid on the substrate during the application of the processing liquid to prevent the development portion of the substrate from being destroyed. The present invention provides a processing liquid coating apparatus that uniformly and instantaneously applies a processing liquid to a substrate to be processed because the processing liquid is provided in the entire direction crossing the direction.

Further, the discharge section may be provided so that the opening area can be adjusted. With the above configuration,
This processing liquid application apparatus can freely select the amount of the processing liquid applied to the substrate to be processed.

The pre-discharge storage section has a partition wall facing the processing liquid storage section, and the partition wall is provided with a uniform amount of the processing liquid over the entire partition wall. It is also possible to provide a processing liquid uniform introduction means for guiding the processing liquid from the processing liquid storage section to the discharge section. With the above configuration, the processing liquid application apparatus is supplied with the processing liquid uniformly over the entire discharge unit, and enables stable application of the processing liquid to the substrate to be processed. It is also possible to provide a processing liquid uniform discharge unit that discharges a uniform amount of the processing liquid toward the substrate to be processed over the entire discharge section. With the above configuration, it is possible to prevent the processing liquid from being intensively discharged to only a part of the opening on the processing target substrate side from the discharging unit, and to uniformly apply the processing liquid to the processing target substrate. .

The discharge portion may be provided so as to extend from the discharge port toward the substrate to be processed so as to have a predetermined slope with respect to a horizontal plane, and may have a processing liquid guiding slope. It is.

With the above configuration, it is possible to more easily and uniformly apply the processing liquid to the substrate to be processed.

[0013]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 to FIG.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
Hereinafter, a processing liquid coating apparatus 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

(Structure) Processing liquid coating apparatus 1 of the present embodiment
0 is a processing liquid supply unit 20 for supplying the processing liquid d to the processing liquid coating apparatus 10, a processing liquid storage unit 30 for storing the processing liquid d supplied by the processing liquid supply unit 20, In a direction (width direction) orthogonal to the direction (indicated by the arrow B in FIG. 2), the processing liquid storage unit 30 is provided over a substantially entire longitudinal direction of the processing liquid coating apparatus with a dimension exceeding the entire processing target substrate S. And a discharge section 40 for discharging the processing liquid d stored in the substrate onto the substrate S to be processed. Treatment liquid coating device 10
Is disposed above a substrate transfer device (not shown) such as a belt conveyor to which the substrates S are sequentially sent, and is disposed at a predetermined distance (height) from the surface of the substrate S to be processed. )have.

The processing liquid supply unit 20 includes a processing liquid coating device 10
A supply port 21 connected to a processing liquid supply source (not shown) storing a processing liquid d is provided at one end, and a processing liquid supply source is provided at the other end. A supply port 22 for providing the processing liquid d supplied from the source to the processing liquid storage unit 30 is provided. The processing liquid supply unit 20 includes a known flow rate control unit 23 such as a valve, and the flow control unit 23 supplies a desired amount of the processing liquid d from the processing liquid supply source to the processing liquid supply unit 20. Controlled to be supplied. In the present embodiment, the processing liquid supply unit 2
0 is disposed at the upper part of the processing liquid coating device 10,
As long as a desired amount of the processing liquid can be supplied to the processing liquid storage unit 30, the processing liquid may be provided on the side or the lower part of the processing liquid coating device 10, and the arrangement is not limited.
The arrangement and number of the supply ports 21 and the provision ports 22 are not limited.

The processing liquid storage unit 30 includes the processing liquid coating device 10.
Side wall 11 (left side wall in FIG. 2), both end walls 1
3, formed by the bottom 12 and the partition wall 31,
It is formed so that a predetermined amount of the processing liquid d can be stored. In the upper part of the partition wall 31, for example, triangular continuous and regularly spaced irregularities as shown in FIG. 1 are formed, and in this embodiment, the continuous irregularities are formed. Constitutes a processing liquid uniform introduction means 32 for guiding a uniform amount of the processing liquid d from the processing liquid storage section 30 to the discharge section 40 over the entire longitudinal direction of the partition wall 31. The processing liquid uniform introduction means 32 can eliminate uneven supply of the processing liquid d to the discharge unit 40 by flowing the processing liquid d into the discharge unit 40 from recesses at regular intervals.

If the processing liquid storage unit 30 can store a desired amount of the processing liquid d, a processing liquid d formed separately from the processing liquid coating apparatus 10 and capable of storing the processing liquid d is partitioned. It may be attached to the wall 31 to form a processing liquid storage part,
The shape of the processing liquid storage unit 30 is not limited.

The processing liquid uniform introduction means 32 is formed in a continuous uneven shape at the upper end of the partition wall 31. At a predetermined height position of the partition wall 31, a plurality of processing liquid uniform introduction means are provided. The processing liquid d can be formed by a hole, and if the processing liquid d can be uniformly distributed without uneven supply to the discharge unit 40 over the entire length of the partition wall 31, the shape and arrangement are limited. Never.

The discharge unit 40 includes a discharge port forming member 50 for forming a discharge port 41 for discharging the processing liquid d toward the substrate S to be processed along the bottom 12 side (lower part) of the processing liquid coating apparatus 10.
And a position control means 60 for controlling the position of the discharge port forming member 50 in order to adjust the discharge amount of the processing liquid d discharged from the discharge port 41. Further, the discharge unit 40 has a processing liquid guiding slope 42 provided to extend from the discharge port 41 to the substrate to be processed so as to have a predetermined slope with respect to a horizontal plane.

The discharge port forming member 50 includes the discharge port forming member 5.
0 and the walls 1 at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the processing liquid application device 10.
The discharge port 41 is formed by 3 and the bottom 12. As shown in FIG. 1, the discharge port 41 extends over substantially the entire longitudinal direction of the processing liquid application device 10, and can apply the processing liquid d to the entire width of the substrate S to be processed.

The discharge port forming member 50 is connected to the partition wall 3.
1 together with the storage section 51 before discharge. The pre-ejection storage unit 51 is adjacent to the processing liquid uniform introduction means 32 (FIG. 2).
, A temporary pool 51a formed at the top).
There is a slit 51b connecting between the temporary pool 51a and the discharge port 41. The cross section of the temporary reservoir 51a is formed in a funnel shape in which the opening area of the exit on the slit 51b side is smaller than the opening area of the entrance adjacent to the processing liquid uniform introduction means 32. The slit 51b is formed by a gap between the vertically extending partition wall 31 and the vertically extending discharge port forming member 50, and has an opening area smaller than the opening area of the inlet adjacent to the processing liquid uniform introduction means 32. Are formed so as to continue to the discharge port 41. For this reason, the pre-ejection storage unit 51 is provided with
The processing liquid d uniformly supplied from the processing liquid storage unit 30 over the entire longitudinal direction of the partition wall 31 through the discharge port 4
Do not feed to 1. For this reason, the supply amount of the processing liquid d to the discharge port 41 does not depend on the application amount of the processing liquid d to the processing target substrate S, and the intermittent application to the processing target substrate S is performed. Can be prevented.

In this embodiment, the temporary pool 51
a is formed at the uppermost part of the pre-ejection storage part 51,
If the processing liquid d is stored once before application, it can be formed in the middle or lower part of the discharge port forming member 50 in the height direction, and the arrangement is not limited,
The shape is not limited. When the processing liquid uniform introduction means 32 is provided on the partition wall 31, the temporary pool 51 a is disposed corresponding to the arrangement of the processing liquid uniform introduction means 32, and is discharged through the processing liquid uniform introduction means 32. It is necessary to arrange the processing liquid d supplied to the front storage unit 51 at a position where the processing liquid d can be temporarily stored.

The processing liquid guiding slope 42 is formed by the bottom 12 of the processing liquid coating apparatus 10 extending rearward (to the right in FIG. 2) from the discharge port 41 along the traveling direction B of the substrate S to be processed. The processing liquid d flowing from the discharge port 41 is guided to the substrate S to be processed. This treatment liquid guiding slope 42 is
The discharge port 41 is provided over substantially the entire longitudinal direction of the discharge port 41 so as to correspond to the discharge port 41. This treatment liquid guiding slope 42
The processing liquid d flowing into the pre-discharge storage section 51 by the processing liquid uniform introduction means 32 is transferred from the discharge port 41 to the substrate S to be processed.
In addition to decelerating the processing liquid d from the discharge port 41 at an excessive speed, the processing liquid d is uniformly distributed over the entire longitudinal direction of the discharge port 41, and Light impact and enables uniform application of treatment liquid.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the discharge section 40 has continuous unevenness at regular intervals extending along the traveling direction B of the substrate to be processed over the entire longitudinal direction of the processing liquid guiding slope 42. It is possible to provide the processing liquid uniform discharge means 43. The processing liquid uniform discharge unit 43 enables more uniform application of the processing liquid to the substrate S to be processed from the discharge port 41. Note that the processing liquid uniform discharge means 43 is provided with a discharge port 41.
May be formed in the discharge port 41 in order to uniformly distribute the processing liquid discharged from the processing liquid guiding slope 42. The angle of the treatment liquid guiding slope 42 with respect to the horizontal plane can be arbitrarily selected as long as the flow rate of the processing liquid d can be reduced to a desired flow rate. Is not limited. The treatment liquid application device 10 applies the treatment liquid d to the substrate S by flowing the treatment liquid d from the tip of the treatment liquid guide slope 42. Is preferably set to 1 cm, so that the processing liquid d that is dropped (applied) onto the substrate S from the tip of the processing liquid guiding slope 42.
The impact force caused by falling is extremely weak. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the processing liquid d that has dropped onto the processing target substrate S from splashing over the predetermined processing range on the processing target substrate S due to the dropping, and to prevent application unevenness. It is possible to prevent the development portion of the processing substrate S from being destroyed, and to uniformly apply a desired processing liquid. In such a case, there is no limitation on the distance between the tip of the processing liquid guiding slope 42 and the processing surface of the substrate to be processed.

The position control means 60 includes a discharge port forming member 50.
Vertical control means 61 for controlling the vertical position of
Discharge port forming member 50 in traveling direction B of substrate S to be processed
And a horizontal direction control means 62 for controlling the horizontal position of.

Each of the horizontal control means 62 includes a rotating shaft 62a extending in the traveling direction of the substrate S above the corresponding groove 52 and having a feed screw between both ends, and a rotating shaft 62a. 6
A rotating shaft support portion 62b that rotatably supports both ends of the processing liquid application device 10 on the upper wall 14 of the processing liquid application device 10;
And a horizontal moving member 62c that is screwed with the feed screw.

One end of the rotating shaft 62a extends outside the processing liquid coating apparatus 10 in the traveling direction B of the substrate S to be processed, and constitutes a rotating grip 62d.

The discharge port forming member 50 has a pair of grooves 52 extending vertically at both ends in the longitudinal direction. The groove 52 does not open on the bottom surface of the discharge port forming member 50, but opens only at the upper end and both ends in the longitudinal direction with the discharge port forming member.

The position control means 60 is provided in a pair corresponding to the pair of grooves 52.

The vertical direction control means 61 hangs down from the horizontal moving member 62 c of the horizontal direction control means 62 and is inserted into the groove 52 of the discharge port forming member 50 and the wall 13 at both ends of the processing liquid coating apparatus 10. A fixing pin 61b which is screwed and fixed by pressing against the wall surface of the groove 52 in the column 61a in the groove 52
And

By pressing the column 61a against the end face of the groove 52 of the discharge port forming member 50 with the fixing pin 61b, the discharge port forming member 50 is positioned at a desired vertical position with respect to the walls 13 at both ends of the processing liquid coating apparatus 10. Can be fixed to Thus, the opening area of the discharge port 41 can be arbitrarily selected.

In this embodiment, the vertical direction control means 61 is constituted by the fixing pins 61b, the grooves 52, and the columns 61a, but any other known method can be used as long as it can be fixed at a desired vertical position. It doesn't matter.

The horizontal direction control means 62 rotates the rotation shaft 62a so that the feed screw
2c is configured to be movable in the horizontal direction along the traveling direction B of the substrate S to be processed. Horizontal moving member 6
The discharge port forming member 50 is connected to 2c via a column 61a. Therefore, with this configuration in which the discharge port forming member 50 can be moved in the horizontal direction via the horizontal moving member 62c, the storage capacity of the processing liquid d in the storage unit 51 before discharge can be arbitrarily selected. For this reason, the processing liquid coating apparatus 10 can store a desired amount of the processing liquid d before coating the processing liquid d, prevent the supply of the processing liquid d to the ejection unit 40 from being insufficient, and apply the processing liquid d to the substrate S to be processed. On the other hand, it enables stable application of the processing liquid.

The horizontal direction control means 62 may use another known configuration as long as the discharge port forming member 50 can be moved in the horizontal direction as described above.

(Operation) The operation of the processing liquid coating apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described below. Before the substrate S to be processed is transported by the substrate transporting apparatus, the processing liquid coating apparatus 10 supplies the processing liquid d to the processing liquid storage unit 30 via the processing liquid supply unit 20.
Is started.

Processing solution storage unit 30 by processing solution supply unit 20
The supply amount of the processing liquid d to the discharge port 41 is adjusted to be equal to the discharge amount of the processing liquid d from the discharge port 41. In this embodiment, it is 25 to 30 liters per minute.

The processing liquid d is applied to the partition wall 3 of the processing liquid storage 30.
After flowing into the pre-discharge storage section 51 from the processing liquid uniform introduction means 32 of FIG. 1 and being discharged from the discharge port 41, the substrate to be processed S is indicated by an arrow in FIG. Is transported at a predetermined speed along the direction B. In this embodiment, the substrate S has a length of 1 m in the direction B, and the predetermined speed is 10 cm to 20 cm per second in this embodiment.

The front end of the substrate S to be processed is
When reaching the curtain of the processing liquid d flowing down from above, the application of the processing liquid d to the substrate S to be processed is started.

As described above, the processing liquid is applied from the processing liquid coating apparatus 10 to the substrate S to be processed by the discharge port 41.
The substrate is transported at a predetermined speed, so that the processing liquid is uniformly applied over the entire substrate to be processed. This prevents application unevenness on the substrate to be processed.

When the application of the processing liquid d to one substrate S by the processing liquid coating apparatus 10 is completed as in the above-described configuration, the next substrate to be processed is processed by the substrate transfer apparatus described above. The liquid is conveyed to a predetermined processing position below the liquid coating device 10, and the processing liquid is uniformly applied by the processing liquid coating device 10 as described above.

In the processing liquid coating apparatus 10, the discharge port 41
The processing liquid d that has not adhered to the substrate S after being discharged from the processing liquid is recovered by a processing liquid recovery pan (not shown) disposed below the processing liquid coating apparatus 10 and then passed through a filter. It is circulated to the processing liquid supply unit 20.

Although one embodiment has been described in detail with reference to the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and is carried out without departing from the gist thereof. Including all implementations.

Although the processing liquid application apparatus of the present invention has a pre-discharge storage section, if the processing liquid can be supplied to the discharge section without uneven supply, the pre-discharge storage section and the position control means are omitted. Alternatively, the processing liquid can be applied to the substrate to be processed from the processing liquid storage unit directly through the discharge port.

In addition, the processing liquid coating apparatus of the present invention can apply a processing liquid uniformly to a plate to be processed,
It is also possible to omit the treatment liquid guiding slope.

Further, the processing liquid applying apparatus of the present invention can discharge the processing liquid in the direction opposite to the direction of travel of the plate to be processed. To place.

[0046]

According to the present invention, there is provided a processing liquid coating apparatus for preventing a processing liquid from being scattered over a wide range from a desired coating area and uniformly and instantaneously applying a processing liquid to a substrate to be processed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a schematic front view of a processing liquid application device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1B shows a cutting line Y- of the processing liquid application device of FIG.
It is sectional drawing along Y.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the processing liquid application device of FIG. 1A taken along a cutting line XX.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of a processing liquid application apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view showing a conventional spray type developer application device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 d Treatment liquid 10 Treatment liquid application device 20 Treatment liquid supply unit 30 Treatment liquid storage unit 31 Partition wall 32 Treatment liquid uniform introduction means 40 Discharge unit 41 Discharge port 42 Treatment liquid guiding slope 43 Treatment liquid uniform discharge means 50 Discharge port forming member 51 Pre-discharge storage unit 60 Position control means 61 Vertical control means 62 Horizontal control means

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Mitsuhiro Onda 1-5-1, Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo Inside Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Fumi Yoshida 1-1-5-1 Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo Inside Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takeshi Ikeda 1-5-1, Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takashi Ishigami 25 Achigaya, Shimada-shi, Shizuoka Shimada Rika Kogyo (72) Inventor Hitoshi Tatara 25 Achigaya, Shimada-shi, Shizuoka Shimada Rika Kogyo Co., Ltd.F-term (reference)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A processing liquid coating apparatus for coating a processing liquid on a substrate to be processed, comprising: a processing liquid storage unit for storing a supplied processing liquid; and a processing liquid storage unit provided over an entire direction transverse to a traveling direction of the substrate to be processed. A discharge unit that discharges the processing liquid stored in the processing liquid storage unit onto the substrate to be processed, the processing liquid being supplied in excess of an allowable storage amount of the processing liquid storage unit. A processing liquid application apparatus, wherein the processing liquid is applied onto the substrate to be processed by discharging the liquid from the discharge unit. 2. The processing liquid application apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharge unit is provided so as to adjust a discharge port area. 3. The pre-ejection storage section has a partition wall facing the treatment liquid storage section, and the partition wall has
3. A processing liquid uniform introduction means for guiding a uniform amount of processing liquid from the processing liquid storage section to the discharge section over the entire partition wall. 3. The treatment liquid application device according to claim 1. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the discharge unit is provided with a processing liquid uniform discharge unit that discharges a uniform amount of the processing liquid toward the substrate to be processed over the entire discharge unit. The treatment liquid application device according to claim 1, wherein 5. The processing unit according to claim 1, wherein the discharge unit has a processing liquid guiding slope provided extending from the discharge port toward the substrate to be processed so as to have a predetermined slope with respect to a horizontal plane. The treatment liquid application device according to claim 1, wherein