JP2002086044A - Coating method and coating tool, and manufacturing method and equipment for display member and plasma display - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a means to reduce thick area at the starting part and the finishing part of a coating film using a die coater with a constant delivery pump so that the quality and productivity of the film are improved by saving an amount of the coating solution, expansion of the effective area and shortning of the coated length. SOLUTION: In the method for forming a film on a member to be coated by supplying a coating solution to a coating tool from a fixed displacement pump and transferring at least one of the coating tool and the member to be coated relatively while discharging the coating solution from the discharge port to the member to be coated, the coating method, and the coating tool as well as the method for manufacturing the member for plasma displays and the plasma display, and the manufacturing equipment therefor are characterized in that the feed rate of the coating solution from the fixed displacement pump to the coating tool is gradually increased are reduced in proportion to the relative transfer rate to form the film thickness profile in the predetermined shape.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coating method and a coating apparatus, a member for a plasma display, and a method and an apparatus for manufacturing a plasma display. Further, the present invention is applicable to, for example, the fields of manufacturing plasma displays, color filters for color liquid crystal displays, optical filters, printed boards, integrated circuits, semiconductors, and the like. To form a coating film while discharging the coating liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, many attempts have been made to manufacture displays using a novel image forming method. Among them, one of the special attentions is a plasma display which is larger, thinner and lighter than a conventional cathode ray tube. It is. This is because a partition that extends in one direction in a stripe shape at a constant pitch is formed on a glass substrate, and R (red), G (green), and B (blue) fluorescent light are formed in grooves formed by the partition. The body is filled, an arbitrary part is illuminated by ultraviolet rays, and a predetermined color pattern is projected. Usually, the side with the partition is called the back plate, and the side with the electrode that determines the part to emit light is called the front plate, and they are bonded together to form a plasma display.

Here, as an important method for forming a partition pattern on the back plate, a partition paste is applied in a planar shape, dried to form a film having a uniform thickness, and a stripe-shaped groove having a predetermined pitch is formed. The mainstream is a method of engraving by post-processing such as sandblasting or photolithography and baking to make it strong. The thickness of the coating on the partition walls is 100 even after firing.
２００200 μm thick, and several thousand to tens of thousands cp
A screen printing method, a roll coating method, a die coating method, or the like is used as a means for uniformly applying the partition paste of s on the glass substrate.

Among these, the die coating method using a die having a slit-shaped elongated discharge port can easily apply a thick film, and (1) the die as an applicator is not in contact with the glass substrate. The quality can be improved without leaving screen unevenness like the screen printing method on the coating surface.
(2) Since there are no consumables such as a screen, there are merits such as the trouble and cost of replacement can be eliminated.

[0005] However, due to the coating on the substrate one by one (single-sheet coating) using a die, a defective film thickness region where the film thickness does not become a predetermined uniform thickness necessarily occurs at the coating start portion and the coating end portion. However, how to increase the effective product part by increasing the center thickness uniform part sandwiched between the coating start part and the end part depends on the quality,
This is an important cost point.

As means for supplying the coating liquid to the die for achieving such film thickness uniformity, a constant volume pump such as a gear pump, a mono pump, a diaphragm pump, a piston pump or the like, or a constant air pressure is used. There is air pressure feeding for feeding the coating liquid, but (1) it is necessary to operate the pump intermittently in order to apply it to each substrate, and it is easy to control the intermittent operation. (2)
Intermittently operated constant displacement pumps such as diaphragm pumps and syringe pumps are commonly used because a constant coating thickness can be obtained stably irrespective of the viscosity of the coating liquid and the time variation is small.

[0007]

In order to reduce the defective film thickness area at the coating start portion and the coating end portion and to increase the effective product portion having a predetermined uniform thickness, the coating start portion and the coating end portion are required. It is necessary to optimize the control of the application liquid discharge and the substrate movement in the section. As described above, it is desirable to use a constant-volume pump as a means for supplying the coating liquid to the die from the uniformity of the film thickness in the effective product portion. Means for reducing the area of the thick part is required. For example, in Japanese Patent No. 3048789, means for controlling the timing of the separation / attachment of the die to / from the substrate and the start and end of the supply of the coating liquid is disclosed in JP-A-8-229497.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H10-15064 discloses means for controlling the timing of starting and ending the application liquid discharge from a die and moving the substrate by using a syringe pump. However, any means
Although it is effective for a low viscosity coating liquid of 0 cps or less, a coating liquid of tens of thousands of cps such as a paste for a partition on the back plate cannot obtain a sufficient response speed, and a defective film at the start and end of the coating. The thick area cannot be reduced. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9
As described in JP-A-253563, etc., while simultaneously starting the application liquid ejection and starting the movement of the substrate,
Means for optimizing the respective accelerations until the coating liquid discharge speed and the substrate moving speed reach a predetermined value, so that the coating film thickness is controlled to a predetermined value from the start of substrate movement, and a constant pressure supply and a constant volume at the start of coating. There is also a method of simultaneously supplying a constant volume by a pump and minimizing the rise time until the discharge amount of the coating liquid at the start of coating reaches a predetermined amount, thereby reducing the defective film thickness region at the start of coating. However, although they all have a certain effect in reducing the defective film thickness region, at present, they are far from the high level required for the back plate for plasma displays and the like.

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a constant volume pump, especially an intermittent operation type, for coating a coating liquid having any property with a die coater. By providing a means for maximally reducing the defective film thickness area at the start and end of coating by using a constant volume pump, the effective product area of the substrate is expanded and the required coating length is shortened. A coating method and a coating apparatus capable of realizing an improvement in productivity and quality in a die coater by reducing the amount of an expensive coating liquid to be used, and a member for a plasma display and a plasma display using these apparatuses and methods It is an object of the present invention to provide a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a coating method according to the present invention comprises supplying a coating liquid to a coating device from a constant-volume pump, and applying the coating liquid from a discharge port of the coating device to a member to be coated. In the coating method in which at least one of the applicator and the member to be coated is relatively moved while discharging the liquid to form a coating film on the member to be coated, a coating liquid from the constant volume pump to the coating device is applied. The method is characterized in that the supply amount is increased or decreased stepwise according to the relative movement amount of the coating device and the member to be coated, so that the thickness profile of the coating film is formed in a predetermined shape. Here, it is desirable to gradually increase or decrease the supply amount of the coating liquid from the constant volume pump to the coating device at the start of coating and / or at the end of coating. Further, it is also preferable that the coating speed at the start of coating and / or at the end of coating be lower than the coating speed at other times.

A method for manufacturing a member for a plasma display according to the present invention comprises a method for manufacturing a member for a plasma display using the above-described coating method.

A method of manufacturing a plasma display according to the present invention comprises a method of manufacturing a plasma display using the above-described coating method.

Further, the coating apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a constant volume pump for supplying a coating solution; an application device having a discharge port for discharging the coating solution supplied from the constant volume pump; A coating device comprising: a moving unit that relatively moves at least one of the members; and a unit that detects a relative movement amount of the coating device and the member to be coated, further comprising: A coating liquid supply control means for increasing or decreasing the liquid supply amount stepwise according to the detected relative movement amount between the coating device and the member to be coated is provided.

[0013] An apparatus for manufacturing a member for a plasma display according to the present invention comprises the above-mentioned coating apparatus.

An apparatus for manufacturing a plasma display according to the present invention includes the above-described coating apparatus.

According to the coating method and the coating apparatus according to the present invention, the supply amount of the coating liquid from the constant-volume pump to the coating device, including the coating start and end portions, is determined by the relative movement amount of the member to be coated. In this case, the thickness profile of the coating film can be formed in a predetermined shape, and as a result, a defective film thickness region in which the coating film at the coating start and end portions does not have a predetermined uniform thickness. Can be minimized. In addition, as the defective film thickness region becomes smaller, the entire coating length can be shortened, and the cost can be reduced by saving the coating liquid.

According to the method and apparatus for manufacturing a member for a plasma display according to the present invention, since the member for a plasma display is manufactured using the above-described coating method and coating apparatus, the film thickness of the coating film becomes uniform. A high quality plasma display member having a large effective product area can be manufactured with high productivity.

According to the method and apparatus for manufacturing a plasma display of the present invention, a plasma display is manufactured using the above-described coating method and coating apparatus. Large, high-quality plasma displays can be manufactured with high productivity.

[0018]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is an overall schematic perspective view of a coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram around a table 6 and a die 40 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a coating situation and a coating thickness. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the results of the pump operation and the amount of coating liquid discharged and the coating thickness based on the substrate moving speed pattern in one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a pump operation in another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating results of a coating liquid ejection amount and a coating thickness based on a pattern and a substrate moving speed pattern.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a so-called die coater 1, which is a coating apparatus by a die coating method applied to the production of partition walls of a plasma display according to the present invention.
The die coater 1 has a base 2 on which a pair of guide groove rails 4 is provided. A table 6 as a holder for the substrate A (member to be coated) is arranged on the guide groove rails 4, and the upper surface of the table 6 has a suction hole (not shown) to which the substrate A can be fixed by vacuum suction. It is configured as a suction surface 10. The table 6 freely reciprocates in the horizontal direction on the guide groove rail 4 via the pair of slide legs 8. At the head of the table 6, a sensor 202A that detects the position of the lower end surface of the die 40 and measures the distance between the lower end surface and the suction surface 10 of the table 6;
202B is attached.

A casing 12 extending horizontally between the pair of guide groove rails 4 extends along the guide groove rails 4.
Inside, feed screw mechanisms 14, 16, 18 as moving means shown in FIG. 2 are arranged. The feed screw mechanisms 14, 16, and 18 have a feed screw 14 composed of a ball screw.
4 is screwed into a nut-shaped connector 16 fixed to the lower surface of the table 6, and extends through the connector 16. Both ends of the feed screw 14 are rotatably supported by bearings (not shown), and an AC servo motor 18 is connected to one end thereof.

Referring further to FIG. 1, on the upper surface of the base 2,
A die support 24 having an inverted L-shape is disposed substantially at the center. The tip of the die column 24 is disposed above the reciprocating path of the table 6, and an elevating mechanism 26 is mounted at that position. The elevating mechanism 26 includes an elevating bracket (not shown) that can be moved up and down. The elevating bracket is attached to a pair of guide rods in a casing 28 so as to be able to move up and down. In the casing 28, a feed screw (not shown) formed of a ball screw is also rotatably disposed between the guide rods. A lifting bracket is connected to the feed screw via a nut-type connector. I have. An AC servomotor 30 is connected to the upper end of the feed screw.
8 is attached to the upper surface.

A support shaft (not shown) is provided on the lifting bracket.
A die holder 32 is attached via a groove, and the die holder 32 has a U-shape and extends horizontally above a pair of guide groove rails 4 between the rails 4. The support shaft of the die holder 32 is rotatably supported in the elevating bracket.
Can rotate with the support shaft in a vertical plane.

A horizontal bar 36 is fixed to the lifting bracket above the die holder 32, and the horizontal bar 36 extends along the die holder 32. At both ends of the horizontal bar 36, electromagnetically actuated linear actuators 38 are respectively attached. These linear actuators 38 have telescopic rods projecting from the lower surface of the horizontal bar 36, and these telescopic rods are in contact with both ends of the die holder 32, respectively.

A die 40 as an applicator is mounted in the die holder 32. As is clear from FIG.
The die 40 extends horizontally in the direction orthogonal to the reciprocating direction of the table 6, that is, in the longitudinal direction of the die holder 32.
And it is supported by the die holder 32 at both ends. In addition, a sensor column 20 is arranged on the upper surface of the base 2 on the near side of the die column 24. This sensor support 20
Also have an inverted L-shape. A thickness sensor 22 is attached to a tip of the sensor support 20 via a bracket 21 so as to be above a reciprocating path of the table 6. The thickness sensor 22 is connected to the suction surface 10 of the table 6.
The height of the substrate A can be measured based on
When the table 6 on which is mounted is at the origin position, the substrate A
Is located at a position where measurement is possible.

The die 40 has an elongated block-shaped front lip 66 and a rear lip 60 as schematically shown in FIG. These lips 66,
Numeral 60 is attached to the front and back via a shim 63 when viewed in the reciprocating direction of the table 6, and is integrally connected to each other by a plurality of connecting bolts (not shown). As a result, a slit 64 having a gap equal to the thickness of the shim 63 and a discharge port 72 for discharging the coating liquid on the lower surface 74 of the die 40 are formed between the lips 66 and 60.

On the other hand, a manifold 62 connected to the slit 64 is formed in the center of the die 40. The manifold 62 is horizontal in the width direction of the die 40, that is, in the direction orthogonal to the reciprocating direction of the table 6. Extends to. The manifold 62 is connected to a coating liquid supply unit 100 as a coating liquid supply device through an internal passage of the die 40.
Connected to. The coating liquid supply unit 100 includes a supply hose 102 fluidly connected to the manifold 62 of the die 40, a filter 104, a discharge valve 106, and a syringe pump 1 serving as a constant volume pump as a constant volume supply unit.
20, suction valve 108, suction hose 110, tank 1
And the coating liquid 11 in the tank 112.
4 can be supplied to the die 40. In addition, tank 1
Reference numeral 12 denotes a closed container, which is preferably pressurized with air at a constant pressure or an inert gas such as N ₂ . The applied pressure is preferably 0.01 to 1 MPa, more preferably 0.1 to 1 MPa.
０．５0.5 MPa.

The syringe pump 120 in the coating liquid supply unit 100 includes a syringe 124, a piston 1
26, and a branch pipe 122. Suction valve 1
08 open and the discharge valve 106 closed.
6 is lowered by a driving device (not shown),
The coating liquid fills the syringe 124 via the branch pipe 122. Next, when the suction valve 108 is closed and the discharge valve 106 is opened, and then the piston 126 is raised, the coating liquid filled in the syringe 124 is sent to the slit die 40 through the branch pipe 122. The discharge valve 106, the suction valve 108, and the syringe pump 1
Numeral 20 is electrically connected to a computer 54. Upon receiving a control signal from the computer 54, the switching operation and switching timing of the discharge valve 106 and the suction valve 108 and the moving speed and movement of the piston 126 in the syringe pump 120 are performed. The position and the operation timing are controlled independently.

Further, in order to control the operation of the syringe pump 120 in conjunction with the table 6 and the like, the computer 54 is electrically connected to the sequencer 56 in addition to the syringe pump 120 and the thickness sensor 22. The sequencer 56 controls the sequence of the operations of the AC servomotor 18 of the feed screw 14 on the table 6 side, the AC servomotor 30 on the lifting mechanism 26 side, and the linear actuator 38. For the sequence control, the sequencer 56 has AC servomotors 18 and 30
, A signal from the linear scale 55 for detecting the moving position of the table 6, a signal from a sensor (not shown) for detecting the vertical position of the die 40, and the like. On the other hand, a signal indicating a sequence operation is output from the sequencer 56 to the computer 54. Here, the linear scale 55 is composed of a movable portion 58 and a stator 57, and is capable of detecting the position of the table 6 from the relative position of the movable portion 58 fixed to the table 6 and moving therewith with respect to the stator 57. In the present embodiment, the table 6 moves relative to the fixed die 40 in the horizontal direction, and the suction surface 10 of the table 6 is moved.
Since the substrate A is sucked and held at the upper predetermined position and moves together with the table 6, the relative movement amount of the substrate A with respect to the die 40 can be known from the value of the linear scale 55 that detects the position of the table 6. . Instead of using the linear scale 55, an encoder may be incorporated in the AC servomotor 18 and the sequencer 56 may detect the moving position of the table 6 based on a pulse signal output from the encoder. Further, the control by the computer 54 can be incorporated in the sequencer 56 itself.

The above computer 54 and sequencer 56
, Using the syringe pump 120 and the slit die 40
The amount of application liquid supplied to the table 6 can be increased or decreased stepwise according to the position of the table 6 detected by the linear scale 55. Since the discharge amount from the discharge port 72 of the die 40 increases or decreases accordingly, an arbitrary film thickness profile can be formed on the substrate A, and this can be used to reduce the film thickness defect region at the application start portion.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the position of the table 6 when the head of the substrate A running at a constant speed is right below the discharge port of the die 40 is La, and the syringe pump 120 applies the liquid to the die 40 at this position. When the application is started by supplying the liquid, an application liquid bead C is formed between the discharge port surface 74 of the die 40 and the substrate A, and a coating film is formed on the substrate A. Even if a predetermined amount of the coating liquid corresponding to the target thickness T can be discharged from the discharge port 72 of the die 40 at the position La,
At the position Lc where the coating liquid bead C grows to a predetermined size, the target thickness T is finally attained. At Lb, which is an intermediate position up to Lc, the coating liquid bead is not sufficiently grown. Therefore, a defective film thickness region is generated between the positions La to Lc. Further, when the coating liquid has a high viscosity of tens of thousands of cps such as a plasma display partition wall paste, the discharge pressure from the die 40 increases, but the supply hose 102 connecting the coating liquid supply unit 100 to the die 40 has Since it is usually made of a resin such as "Teflon" or polyethylene, the supply hose 1
As the pressure in 02 increases, supply hose 102 will expand until it balances this pressure. Since this expansion is caused by an increase in pressure when the application liquid is started to be discharged from the discharge port 72, even if a certain amount of the coating liquid can be supplied from the syringe pump 120 to the die 40, it is consumed by the expansion of the supply hose 102. Therefore, the amount of the application liquid discharged from the discharge port 72 becomes smaller than the supply amount from the syringe pump 120, and when the expansion of the supply hose 40 is completed, the application liquid supply amount from the syringe pump 120 and the discharge amount from the discharge port 72 are finally reached. The discharge amount becomes equal. Therefore, when applying a high-viscosity coating solution such as a plasma display partition wall paste, there is also a problem that a time delay occurs from the start of the supply of the syringe pump until a predetermined amount of the coating solution can be discharged from the discharge port 72 of the die 40. is there.

From the above, in order to reduce the defective film thickness area at the start of coating using a high-viscosity coating liquid, the growth of the coating liquid bead C and the expansion of the supply hose 102 are completed in a short time. It is necessary. For this purpose, when the application of the coating liquid from the syringe pump 120 to the die 40 is started, the supply amount of the coating liquid is required to be much larger than that required to obtain a predetermined film thickness. When the expansion of 102 has been completed, the supply amount of the coating liquid necessary to obtain a predetermined film thickness may be returned to. More specifically, as shown in FIG.
And the expansion of the supply hose has the greatest effect, so that the amount of the coating liquid supplied from the syringe pump 120 is much larger than the supply amount Qc of the coating liquid required for the predetermined coating film thickness to compensate for them, and is kept constant. When the supply hose is expanded and the supply hose is completely expanded and a predetermined amount of the coating liquid can be discharged from the die 40, the coating liquid supply amount is gradually reduced to the coating liquid supply amount increased by an amount that supports the growth of the coating liquid bead C. The supply amount is maintained for a certain period of time, and when the growth of the coating solution bead C is completed, only the coating solution required to form a predetermined film thickness on the substrate A running at a constant speed shown in FIG. The supply amount is reduced to Qc. By executing the above-described step-like application liquid supply pattern, as shown in FIGS. 4C and 4D, a constant amount necessary for forming a predetermined film thickness is supplied from the syringe pump 120 as indicated by a broken line. As compared with the conventional method, more coating liquid can be discharged from the die 40 immediately after the start of the supply of the coating liquid, so that the expansion of the supply hose 120 and the growth of the coating liquid bead C can be completed in a shorter time. As is clear from the comparison of the positions L ₁ and L ₂ in FIG. 4D, the defective film thickness region formed on the substrate A at the start of coating can be made much smaller.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG.
The supply amount of the coating liquid to 0 is set to zero from the supply amount Qc of the coating liquid at the time of coating, and is not reduced stepwise. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4D, there is no problem because the coating thickness at the coating end portion is appropriate. However, a portion larger than the coating thickness at the time of coating (bulging portion) occurs at the coating end portion. For example, it is preferable to gradually decrease the supply amount of the coating liquid.
That is, the application liquid supply amount Qc at the time of application is temporarily reduced to a smaller application liquid supply amount Qa, and after the amount is maintained for a predetermined time, the application liquid supply amount is set to zero. As a result, the degree of decrease in the supply amount of the application liquid from the syringe pump 120 to the die 40 becomes gentle, so that at the end of the application, a portion larger than the application thickness at the time of application (a swelling portion) does not occur, and FIG. An appropriate film thickness profile can be obtained as shown in FIG. Note that the syringe pump 12
The number of times the coating liquid supply amount from 0 to the die 40 is gradually reduced may be any number, and may be once reduced, then increased, or decreased.

FIG. 5 shows the supply of the coating liquid from the syringe pump 120 and the pattern of the moving speed of the substrate, the distribution of the coating liquid discharged from the die 40, and the distribution of the coating film thickness in another embodiment according to the present invention.

In this embodiment, as can be seen from the substrate moving speed pattern in FIG. 5B, the moving speed of the substrate is changed in the coating start portion, the normal coating portion, and the coating end portion. The substrate moving speed is lower than that of the normal application part. This is because if the processing time until the coating reaches the predetermined film thickness at the start of coating, or the processing time from the predetermined film thickness to the completion of coating at the end of coating is the same, the lower the substrate moving speed, the lower the film thickness will be. This is because the thickness region can be shortened.

In this case, the syringe pump 1 shown in FIG.
As can be seen from the coating liquid supply pattern from 20, since the substrate movement speed is low at the coating start portion, the supply amount of the coating liquid necessary for forming a predetermined film thickness is also small, but the coating liquid supply amount will be described in the above embodiment. For this reason, there is a delay in the amount of application liquid discharged from the die 40. Therefore, the amount of the application liquid that is much larger than the supply amount required for a predetermined film thickness is supplied from the syringe pump 120 stepwise. The step-shaped pattern may be determined based on the expansion amount of the supply hose 102, the growth of the coating liquid bead C, and the time required for it, as described in the above embodiment. The coating liquid supply amount required to form a predetermined film thickness at a speed is set.

Further, when the coating thickness becomes constant at the coating start portion, the substrate speed is increased to the speed at the time of the normal coating as shown in FIG. 5B, but the coating thickness is not changed by that. 5 (a), the syringe pump 120
Increase the supply amount of the coating liquid from.

On the other hand, in the coating termination section, the supply of the coating liquid is stopped after the coating liquid supply amount at which the predetermined film thickness is obtained at the reduced substrate moving speed is once reduced.

By realizing the above-mentioned coating liquid supply pattern and substrate moving speed pattern, an ejection amount pattern as shown in FIG. 5C and a very defective film thickness region as shown in FIG. A small coating thickness distribution can be obtained. In this embodiment, the substrate moving speed at the start and end of coating is lower than in the above embodiment, so that the defective film thickness region can be reduced accordingly.

The speed at the start and at the end of coating is usually preferably 1/3 or less, more preferably 1/10 or less of the speed at the time of coating.

Further, the pattern of supplying the amount of the coating liquid from the pump 120 to the die 40 and the pattern of the moving speed of the substrate shown in each of the above-described embodiments are merely examples, and if they are in accordance with the gist of the present invention, It goes without saying that any pattern is included in the present invention.

The operation of changing the supply amount of the coating liquid from the syringe pump 120 to the die in a stepwise manner at the start of the coating is performed by opening the suction valve 108 in FIG.
12 may be performed in a state where the pressure applied to the syringe pump 120 is pressurized. Thereby, the coating liquid 114
Is supplied at a constant volume by the syringe pump 120 while the pressure is supplied at a constant pressure, so that the delay in the supply of the coating liquid due to the expansion of the supply hose 102 when the high-viscosity coating liquid is used can be further reduced.

Next, a coating method using the die coater 1 which is the coating apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described. First, when the origin return of each operation section in the die coater 1 is performed, the table 6 and the die 40 move to the standby position. At this time,
The coating liquid 114 has already been filled from the tank 112 to the die 40, and the so-called air bleeding operation of discharging the coating liquid with the die 40 facing upward and discharging the residual air inside the die 40 has already been completed. Also, the syringe pump 120 has already aspirated and stored a predetermined amount of the coating liquid from the tank 114 and is in a standby state in which the coating liquid can be discharged at any time. Further, using the sensors 202A and 202B, the discharge port surface 74 of the die 40 is
The operation of adjusting the amount of expansion and contraction of the linear actuator 38 so as to be parallel to the discharge port surface 74 with the suction surface 10 as a reference point and the vertical coordinate axis (Z-axis) value of the elevating mechanism 26 are associated with each other. The origin setting of the exit surface 74 is also executed and ended at the same time. Then, after these preparatory operations, lift pins (not shown) rise on the surface of the table 6, and when the substrate A is placed on the distal end surfaces of the lift pins from a loader (not shown), the lift pins are lowered. When the substrate A is lowered by this operation, suction from a suction hole (not shown) is started, and the substrate A is suction-fixed to the suction surface 10 of the table 6. On the other hand, at the same time when the suction is completed, the thickness of the substrate A is measured by the thickness sensor 22.
The die 40 is lowered so that the clearance between the lower surfaces 74 becomes a predetermined value. When the lowering of the die 40 is completed, the table 6 is driven to move the substrate A at a constant speed. Then, when the linear scale 55 detects that the application start portion of the substrate A has come just below the discharge port 72 of the die 40, a command is issued from the computer 54 to the syringe pump 54, and the syringe pump 120 receives the command shown in FIG. The supply of the coating liquid is started so as to form a step-like pattern as shown in (2), and the coating liquid is discharged from the discharge port 72 of the die 40 to perform the coating on the substrate A. Then, when the linear scale 55 detects that the application end position of the substrate A is just below the discharge port 72 of the die 40, the syringe pump 1
The computer 54 issues a stop command from the computer 54 to stop the discharge of the coating liquid from the die 40 and
0 is raised to complete the application.

During these operations, the table 6 keeps moving,
When the substrate A comes to the end point position, it stops, and the suction of the substrate A is released. Then, the substrate A is lifted by the lift pins and separated from the suction table 6, and the substrate A on the lift pins is transported to the next step by an unloader (not shown).
Thereafter, the table 6 returns to the original position while the lift pins are protruding. On the other hand, the syringe pump 120 performs a suction operation from the time when the substrate A stops at the end point position, and
2 and the coating liquid 114 is newly filled. Next, the same operation is repeated until the next substrate A comes.

The coating liquid to which the present invention can be applied includes:
The viscosity is 1 cps to 100,000 cps, preferably 10
It is from 00 cps to 50,000 cps, and Newtonian is preferable from the viewpoint of applicability, but it can also be applied to a coating liquid having thixotropy. In addition to a coating solution for a plasma display, a coating solution for a color filter of RGB, a resist, an O /
The present invention can be applied to the C material. As a member to be coated as a substrate, a metal plate such as aluminum, a ceramic plate, a silicon wafer, or the like may be used in addition to glass. Further, as an application state to be used, the clearance is 40 to 500.
μm, more preferably 80 to 300 μm, and the coating speed is 0.1 m / min to 10 m / min, more preferably 0.5 m / min.
Min ~ 6m / min, die lip gap is 50 ~ 1000μ
m, more preferably 100 to 600 μm, and the coating thickness is 5
４００400 μm, more preferably 20-250 μm.

[0045]

[Example] width 340 mm x length 440 mm x thickness 2.8
After the photosensitive silver paste was screen-printed to a thickness of 5 μm on the entire surface of the soda glass substrate of 5 mm, the photosensitive silver paste was exposed using a photomask, developed, and baked. A silver electrode was formed. A glass paste composed of glass and a binder was screen-printed on the electrode, and then fired to form a dielectric layer. Next, the die coater of FIG.
m, a die having a lip gap (shim thickness) of 500 μm was attached, and a coating liquid supply line from the tank to the die was filled with a photosensitive glass paste having a viscosity of 20,000 cps composed of glass powder and a photosensitive organic component. After lowering the die so that the clearance between the die 40 and the dielectric layer was 350 μm, the above-mentioned photosensitive glass paste was applied at an application thickness of 300 μm and an application speed of 1 m / min.

Note that a syringe pump is used as a means for supplying the coating liquid to the die, and the pattern of the supply amount of the coating liquid to the die is x = 0 at the top of the glass substrate according to FIG.
For 2 mm ≦ x <4 mm, 3.3 cc / sec, 4 mm
2.0cc / sec for ≦ x <6mm, 6mm ≦ x <4
At 33 mm, it was 1.65 cc / sec. The substrate was taken out by a transfer machine, placed in a drying furnace using a radiation heater, and dried at 100 ° C. for 20 minutes. When the coating thickness distribution after drying was measured over the entire substrate, 140 μm ±
The effective product part within the range of 3μm is the coating length of 436m
426 mm in length m, and length 424 required for pixel surface formation
mm. Further, the defective film thickness portion out of the allowable value range was 6 mm at the application start portion and 4 mm at the application end portion.

Next, exposure was performed using a photomask designed to form a partition between adjacent electrodes, and development and baking were performed to form a partition. The shape of the partition is pitch 22
The thickness was 0 μm, the line width was 30 μm, and the height was 130 μm, and the number of partition walls in each region was 1921. After this, R, G,
The phosphor paste of B was sequentially applied by screen printing, dried at 80 ° C. for 15 minutes, and finally baked at 460 ° C. for 15 minutes to produce a back plate of the plasma display. The surface quality of the obtained plasma display back plate was satisfactory. Next, the back plate and the front plate of the plasma display were combined, and after sealing, Xe5%, Ne9
A mixed gas of 5% was sealed, and a driving circuit was connected to obtain a plasma display.

[0048]

According to the coating method and the coating apparatus according to the present invention, the supply amount of the coating liquid from the constant volume pump to the coating device at the coating start and end portions is determined according to the relative movement amount between the substrate and the coating device. Can be increased or decreased stepwise. Therefore, there is a delay in the formation of a coating film due to the formation of a coating liquid bead between the coating device and the substrate,
In order to compensate for the delay of the discharge amount from the applicator due to the elastic expansion of the pipe to the applicator, the supply amount of the coating liquid from the constant-volume pump to the applicator can be changed in a stepwise pattern. The profile can be arbitrarily formed. This makes it possible to minimize the defective film thickness region where the coating film at the coating start and end portions does not have a predetermined uniform thickness, and it is possible to expand the effective product region. In addition, since the defective film thickness area is reduced, the length of the application can be shortened, and an expensive application liquid can be saved, thereby contributing to cost reduction. Further, since the coating speed at the start of coating and at the end of coating can be made lower than the coating speed for forming a product sandwiched between the two, the defective film thickness region can be further reduced.

Further, according to the method and apparatus for manufacturing a plasma display and a member for a plasma display of the present invention, since the plasma display and the member for a plasma display are manufactured by the above-described excellent coating method and coating apparatus, the cost is high. A high quality plasma display and a member for a plasma display can be manufactured at low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a die coater according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the die coater of FIG. 1 including a coating liquid supply system.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a coating situation and a coating thickness.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing results of a coating liquid ejection amount and a coating thickness based on a pump operation and a substrate moving speed pattern in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a result of a coating liquid ejection amount and a coating thickness based on a pump operation and a substrate moving speed pattern in another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 die coater 2 base 6 table 10 suction surface 14 feed screw 18 AC servomotor 22 thickness sensor 40 die (coater) 54 computer 55 linear scale 56 sequencer 62 manifold 64 slit 72 discharge port 74 discharge port surface 100 coating liquid supply unit 102 Supply hose 112 Tank 114 Coating liquid 120 Syringe pump 124 Syringe A Substrate (member to be coated) C Coating liquid bead

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H01J 9/02 H01J 9/02 F 5C040 11/02 11/02 B 5F046 H01L 21/027 H01L 21/30 564Z (72) Inventor Yoshinori Tani 1-1-1, Sonoyama, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture F-term (reference) 2H025 AB13 AB15 AB16 AB17 EA04 4D075 AC02 AC92 AC93 AC94 CA48 DA08 DB14 DC22 EA05 4F041 AA05 AB01 BA05 BA12 BA22 BA35 BA56 4F042 AA06 BA04 BA08 BA12 5C027 AA09 5C040 GF19 JA04 5F046 JA01

Claims (8)

[Claims] An application liquid is supplied to a coating device from a constant volume pump, and at least one of the coating device and the coating member is relatively moved while discharging the coating liquid to a coating member from a discharge port of the coating device. Then, in the coating method of forming a coating film on the member to be coated, in the coating method, the supply amount of the coating liquid from the constant volume pump to the coating device, stepwise according to the relative movement amount of the coating device and the member to be coated. Forming a thickness profile of the coating film into a predetermined shape by increasing or decreasing the thickness profile. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of increasing or decreasing the supply amount of the coating liquid from the constant volume pump to the coating device is performed at the start of coating and / or at the end of coating.
Coating method. 3. The coating method according to claim 2, wherein the coating speed at the start of coating and / or at the end of coating is lower than the coating speed at other times. 4. A method for manufacturing a member for a plasma display, comprising manufacturing a member for a plasma display using the coating method according to claim 1. 5. A method for manufacturing a plasma display, comprising manufacturing a plasma display using the coating method according to claim 1. 6. A relative displacement between a constant volume pump for supplying a coating liquid, a coating device having a discharge port for discharging the coating liquid supplied from the constant volume pump, and at least one of the coating device and the member to be coated. A coating device comprising: a moving unit for moving; and a unit for detecting a relative movement amount between the coating device and the member to be coated, wherein the coating device further detects a supply amount of the coating liquid from the constant volume pump to the coating device. And a coating liquid supply control means for increasing / decreasing stepwise in accordance with the relative movement amount of the member to be coated. 7. An apparatus for manufacturing a member for a plasma display, comprising the coating apparatus according to claim 6. 8. An apparatus for manufacturing a plasma display, comprising the coating apparatus according to claim 6.