JP2003127342A - Liquid drop ejection head and electronic equipment equipped with the same, manufacturing methods for liquid crystal display, organic el device, electron- emitting device, pdp device, electrophoretic display, color filter and organic el, and methods for forming spacer, metallic wiring, lens, resist and light diffusion body - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink drop ejection head, capable of recognizing a position with stability and high accuracy, and electronic equipment equipped with the same. SOLUTION: A nozzle array 53 is constituted by providing many ejection nozzles 57 in line; and two marks 65 and 65 for positional recognition, which are located near two arbitrary separated ejection nozzles 57a and 57a, are formed on a nozzle forming surface 52 in which the nozzle arrays 53 are made.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a droplet discharge head typified by an inkjet head, an electronic apparatus including the same, a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device using the droplet discharge head, and a method of manufacturing an organic EL device. Method, electron-emitting device manufacturing method, PDP device manufacturing method, electrophoretic display device manufacturing method, color filter manufacturing method, organic EL manufacturing method, spacer forming method, metal wiring forming method, lens forming method, resist formation The present invention relates to a method and a method for forming a light diffuser.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when an ink jet head (droplet ejection head) is positioned with respect to, for example, a carriage on which it is mounted, the droplet ejection head is preliminarily assembled to a head holding member with precision while the head is held on the carriage. A plurality of pins or the like for positioning the member are provided upright, and a droplet discharge head with a head holding member is attached to this and positioned, and further fixed.

[0003]

By the way, this type of liquid droplet ejection head can eject fine liquid droplets from its nozzle array with high precision and selectively, so that a liquid crystal display device or an organic EL display device can be obtained. It is expected to be applied not only to the production of color filters such as the above, but also to the production apparatus of various electronic devices and optical devices. Considering such applied technology, in addition to the performance of the droplet discharge head itself,
High positioning accuracy of the droplet discharge head, that is, high positioning accuracy of the nozzle row of the droplet discharge head is required. Further, it is also assumed that this type of droplet discharge head needs to be subjected to position correction based on image recognition in a state of being mounted on the apparatus. In such a case, it is preferable that the nozzles (nozzle rows) of the droplet discharge head be directly image-recognized to perform positioning. However, at the tip of each nozzle of the droplet discharge head to be recognized, a meniscus is formed by the discharge target liquid and the anti-drying liquid (at the time of manufacturing), and the meniscus changes its form, so that the pattern is particularly There is a possibility that recognition will fail (NG).

The present invention provides a droplet discharge head capable of stably and highly accurately recognizing a position, an electronic apparatus including the same, a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device using the droplet discharge head, and an organic EL device. Manufacturing method, electron-emitting device manufacturing method, PDP device manufacturing method, electrophoretic display device manufacturing method, color filter manufacturing method, organic EL manufacturing method,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a spacer forming method, a metal wiring forming method, a lens forming method, a resist forming method, and a light diffuser forming method.

[0005]

A droplet discharge head according to the present invention has a nozzle forming surface having a nozzle row formed by arranging a large number of discharge nozzles in the vicinity of any two separated discharge nozzles. It is characterized in that two marks for position recognition are formed.

According to this structure, since two marks for position recognition are formed in the vicinity of any two discharge nozzles which are separated from each other on the nozzle forming surface, the two marks are recognized. Therefore, the XY of the droplet discharge head
・ The position in the θ-axis direction can be recognized. in this case,
Since the two marks are located in the vicinity of any two discharge nozzles that are separated from each other, it is possible to obtain a recognition result that is almost the same as when the discharge nozzle (nozzle hole thereof) is directly recognized. Further, since the ejection nozzle itself is not recognized, it is possible to prevent the recognition failure (NG) due to the fluctuation of the meniscus, particularly in the case of pattern recognition. As the droplet discharge head, a method of discharging a droplet by applying a voltage to the piezoelectric element and utilizing its deformation, or a method of instantaneously heating the droplet by a heater and utilizing its evaporation (volume expansion) is used. There is a method of ejecting droplets, but either method may be used.

In this case, it is preferable that the arbitrary two discharge nozzles are the two discharge nozzles located at the outermost ends of the nozzle row.

According to this structure, in particular, it is possible to accurately recognize the tilt angle (the position in the θ axis direction) of the nozzle row in the plane.

In this case, a plurality of nozzle rows parallel to each other are formed on the nozzle forming surface, and the two discharge nozzles are two discharge nozzles located at the outermost end of any one nozzle row. Is preferred.

According to this structure, it is possible to more accurately recognize the tilt angle (position in the θ axis direction) of the nozzle row in the plane.

In this case, it is preferable that the two marks are formed at positions where the two ejection nozzles are moved in parallel to the nozzle row.

According to this structure, it is possible to obtain the same recognition result as in the case of directly recognizing the position of the ejection nozzle, and it is possible to recognize the nozzle row with high accuracy.

In these cases, each mark is preferably a minute recess formed by laser etching.

According to this structure, each mark can be accurately and easily formed on the nozzle forming surface.

An electronic apparatus of the present invention is characterized by including the above-mentioned droplet discharge head of the present invention and a recognition device for recognizing two marks as an image.

According to this structure, the position of the droplet discharge head (nozzle row) can be accurately recognized by the recognition device before the positioning of the droplet discharge head with respect to the device and the positioning of the carriage on which it is mounted. You can It should be noted that the electronic device referred to here includes not only various electronic devices including a droplet discharge head (inkjet head) such as a printer but also liquid crystal, organic EL, and electron emission devices to which the droplet discharge head is applicable. (FED), PD
In addition to components manufacturing devices for display devices such as P and electrophoretic (E ink), manufacturing devices for various electronic devices and optical devices are included. That is, this electronic device means various devices that are required to eject liquid, minute capsules, or the like in a dot shape by a droplet ejection head.

In this case, it is preferable to further include a correction device for correcting the position of the droplet discharge head based on the recognition result of the recognition device.

According to this structure, the position of the droplet discharge head can be appropriately and accurately corrected based on the accurate recognition result of the recognition device.

In these cases, it is preferable that the recognition device has two recognition cameras for simultaneously capturing the two marks in the visual field.

With this configuration, when recognizing the positions of the two marks, it is possible to eliminate the accuracy error caused by the movement of the recognition device (recognition camera), and the position of the droplet discharge head can be further improved. The position can be corrected.

A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to the present invention is a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, wherein a plurality of filter elements are formed on a color filter substrate by using a plurality of the droplet discharge heads according to the present invention. A feature is that a filter material of each color is introduced into a plurality of droplet discharge heads, the plurality of droplet discharge heads are scanned relative to a substrate, and the filter material is selectively discharged to form a large number of filter elements. And

In the method for manufacturing an organic EL device of the present invention, a plurality of the liquid droplet ejection heads of the present invention described above are used, and an organic light emitting layer is formed in each of a large number of pixel pixels on a substrate.
A method for manufacturing an L device, which comprises introducing a luminescent material of each color into a plurality of droplet discharge heads, scanning the plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to a substrate, and selectively discharging the luminescent material. And forming an EL light emitting layer.

A method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to the present invention is a method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device in which a large number of phosphors are formed on electrodes by using a plurality of the droplet discharge heads according to the present invention.
A feature is that a fluorescent material of each color is introduced into a plurality of droplet discharge heads, the plurality of droplet discharge heads are relatively scanned with respect to an electrode, and the fluorescent material is selectively discharged to form a large number of phosphors. And

A method of manufacturing a PDP device according to the present invention is a method of manufacturing a PDP device in which a plurality of liquid droplet ejection heads according to the present invention are used to form phosphors in a large number of recesses on a rear substrate. Introducing a fluorescent material of each color into the droplet discharge head, and scanning a plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to the back substrate to selectively discharge the fluorescent material to form a large number of phosphors. And

The method of manufacturing the electrophoretic display device of the present invention comprises:
A method for manufacturing an electrophoretic display device in which a plurality of droplet discharge heads according to the present invention are used to form migration bodies in a large number of recesses on electrodes, wherein migration material of each color is introduced into the plurality of droplet discharge heads. The plurality of droplet discharge heads are relatively scanned with respect to the electrodes, and the migration material is selectively discharged to form a large number of migration bodies.

As described above, the above liquid droplet ejection head is manufactured by using the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device and the organic EL (Electronic Lumines
cence) device manufacturing method, electron-emitting device manufacturing method, P
By applying the method for manufacturing a DP (Plasma Display Panel) device and the method for manufacturing an electrophoretic display device, a filter material, a light-emitting material, etc. required for each device are selectively supplied in appropriate amounts to appropriate positions. be able to. In addition,
The scanning of the droplet discharge head is generally a main scan and a sub-scan, but when a so-called one line is configured by a single droplet discharge head, only the sub-scan is performed. Further, the electron emission device is a so-called FED (Field Emission Display).
It is a concept that includes a device.

The method of manufacturing a color filter of the present invention is a method of manufacturing a color filter in which a plurality of the droplet discharge heads of the present invention described above are used and a large number of filter elements are arranged on a substrate. By introducing filter materials of respective colors into the plurality of droplet discharge heads, scanning the plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to the substrate, and selectively discharging the filter material to form a large number of filter elements. Is characterized by. In this case, a large number of filter elements are accommodated in the recesses formed by the convex banks (also referred to as partition walls) provided on the substrate, and the plurality of droplet discharge heads are provided with banks before forming the filter elements. It is preferable to introduce a material, scan a plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to the substrate, and selectively discharge the bank material to form a bank. In addition, in this case, an overcoat film that covers a large number of filter elements and banks is formed, and after forming the filter elements, a translucent coating material is introduced into a plurality of droplet discharge heads to form a plurality of droplets. It is preferable to scan the ejection head relative to the substrate and selectively eject the coating material to form the overcoat film.

The method of manufacturing an organic EL according to the present invention is a method of manufacturing an organic EL in which a plurality of pixel discharge pixels according to the present invention are used and a plurality of pixel pixels including an EL light emitting layer are arranged on a substrate. A method of introducing a luminescent material of each color into a plurality of droplet discharge heads, scanning the plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to a substrate, and selectively discharging the luminescent material to obtain a large number of EL light emitting layers. Is formed. In this case, a large number of EL light emitting layers are accommodated in concave portions formed by convex banks (also referred to as partition walls) provided on the substrate, and a plurality of droplet discharge heads are formed before the EL light emitting layers are formed. It is preferable to introduce a bank material into the substrate, scan a plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to the substrate, and selectively discharge the bank material to form a bank. Further, in this case, a large number of pixel electrodes are formed between the large number of EL light emitting layers and the substrate so as to correspond to the EL light emitting layers, and liquid electrodes are formed in the plurality of liquid droplet ejection heads before forming the banks. It is preferable to introduce a material, scan a plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to the substrate, and selectively discharge the liquid electrode material to form a large number of pixel electrodes. Further, in this case, the counter electrode is formed so as to cover a large number of EL light emitting layers and banks,
After forming the EL light emitting layer, the liquid electrode material is introduced into the plurality of droplet discharge heads, the plurality of droplet discharge heads are relatively scanned with respect to the substrate, and the liquid electrode material is selectively discharged to form the counter electrode. Is preferably formed.

The spacer forming method of the present invention uses a plurality of the droplet discharge heads of the present invention described above and forms a large number of particulate spacers to form a minute cell gap between two substrates. That is, the particle material that constitutes the spacer is introduced into the plurality of droplet discharge heads, the plurality of droplet discharge heads are relatively scanned with respect to at least one substrate, and the particle material is selectively discharged to obtain the substrate. It is characterized in that a spacer is formed thereon.

The metal wiring forming method of the present invention is a method for forming metal wiring on a substrate by using a plurality of the droplet discharging heads of the present invention described above. It is characterized in that a material is introduced and a plurality of droplet discharge heads are relatively scanned with respect to the substrate to selectively discharge the liquid metal material to form a metal wiring.

The lens forming method of the present invention is a lens forming method for forming a large number of microlenses on a substrate by using a plurality of the droplet discharging heads of the present invention described above, and a lens material is used for the plurality of droplet discharging heads. And a plurality of droplet discharge heads are scanned relative to the substrate to selectively discharge the lens material to form a large number of microlenses.

The resist forming method of the present invention is a resist forming method of forming a resist having an arbitrary shape on a substrate by using a plurality of the above-mentioned droplet discharging heads of the present invention. Is introduced, a plurality of droplet discharge heads are relatively scanned with respect to the substrate, and the resist material is selectively discharged to form a resist.

The light diffuser forming method of the present invention is a light diffuser forming method of forming a large number of light diffusers on a substrate by using a plurality of the droplet discharge heads of the present invention described above. The present invention is characterized in that a light diffusing material is introduced into the ejection head, a plurality of liquid droplet ejection heads are relatively scanned with respect to the substrate, and the light diffusing material is selectively ejected to form a large number of light diffusers.

As described above, the above droplet discharge head is applied to a color filter manufacturing method, an organic EL manufacturing method, a spacer forming method, a metal wiring forming method, a lens forming method, a resist forming method and a light diffuser forming method. By applying it, it is possible to selectively supply an appropriate amount of a filter material, a light emitting material or the like required for each electronic device or each optical device to an appropriate position. The term “bank” is a concept including a partition wall having a protruding side wall, a rib, and the like regardless of whether the side surface is an inclined surface or a vertical surface. That is, the “bank” refers to a portion that is relatively convex when viewed from the substrate.

[0035]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. An inkjet head (droplet ejection head) of an inkjet printer can eject minute ink droplets (droplets) in a dot shape with high accuracy. It is expected to be applied to the manufacturing field of various parts by using a resin or the like. In addition, in such an applied technology, it is assumed that the durability of a droplet discharge head for a highly viscous discharge target liquid or the like is greatly affected, and a head unit in which a plurality of droplet discharge heads are accurately incorporated in a carriage is used at any time. It is necessary to be able to supply.

The head unit assembling apparatus according to the present embodiment is installed side by side with a color filter manufacturing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as "drawing apparatus") incorporated in a flat display such as a liquid crystal display apparatus, and the head unit is supplied to the apparatus as needed. It is possible. In this drawing apparatus, the R.I. G. A plurality of droplet discharge heads for discharging the B filter material as droplets are provided, and the head unit assembling apparatus accurately assembles the plurality of droplet discharge heads into the carriage to assemble the head unit, and draws this. The equipment can be supplied as needed.

The procedure for assembling the head unit in this case is as follows.
First, each droplet discharge head is individually assembled to the head holding member in a positioned state, this is temporarily mounted on a single carriage, then each droplet discharge head is positioned with respect to the carriage, then temporarily fixed, and finally the book It is something that is fixed. Then, the assembling of the droplet discharge head to the head holding member, the temporary attachment to the carriage, and the main fixing are performed manually as an external process, while the plurality of droplet discharge heads are positioned and temporarily fixed to the carriage. The work is performed by the assembly device of the embodiment.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, first, the head unit handled by this assembling apparatus, and the droplet discharge heads, head holding members, and carriage that are the components thereof will be described. Further, before and after this description, the relationship between the head unit and the above-mentioned drawing apparatus, the method of assembling the droplet discharge head to the head holding member using a jig, and the alignment mask serving as the positioning reference of the head unit Will be described. Thereafter, the head unit assembling apparatus will be described in detail. Then, finally, an example in which the head unit is applied to a so-called flat display manufacturing method will be described.

1, 2, and 3 are structural views of the head unit. As shown in the figure, the head unit 1
Is a carriage 2, a plurality of (12) droplet discharge heads 3 mounted on the carriage 2, and each droplet discharge head 3
A plurality (12
Head holding member 4). Twelve droplet discharge heads 3 are divided into six right and left halves and are arranged at a predetermined angle with respect to the main scanning direction. Further, each of the 6 droplet discharge heads 3 is arranged so as to be displaced from each other in the sub-scanning direction, and all the discharge nozzles 57 (described later) of the 12 droplet discharge heads 3 are arranged in the sub-scanning direction. It is supposed to be continuous (partially overlapping). That is, in the head arrangement of the embodiment, the six droplet discharge heads 3 arranged in the same direction on the carriage 2 are arranged in two rows, and the droplet discharge heads 3 are mutually arranged between the head rows. It is arranged rotated by 180 °. However,
This array pattern is an example, and, for example, the adjacent droplet ejection heads 3 in each head row are arranged at an angle of 90 ° (adjacent heads are in a “C” shape), or the droplets between each head row are arranged. It is possible to dispose the ejection heads 3 at an angle of 90 ° (inter-row heads are in a C shape). In any case, the dots formed by all the ejection nozzles 57 of the twelve droplet ejection heads 3 may be continuous in the sub-scanning direction. Also, if the droplet discharge head 3 is a dedicated component for various substrates, it is not necessary to intentionally set the droplet discharge head 3 and it is sufficient to arrange the droplet discharge heads 3 in a staggered or stepwise manner. Furthermore, as long as a nozzle row (dot row) having a predetermined length can be formed, this may be configured by a single droplet ejection head 3 or a plurality of droplet ejection heads 3. That is, the number of the droplet discharge heads 3, the number of rows, and the array pattern are arbitrary.

The carriage 2 has a substantially rectangular main body plate 11 with a part cut away, and a pair of left and right reference pins 12, 12 provided at an intermediate position in the long side direction of the main body plate 11.
It has a pair of left and right support members 13 and 13 attached to both long side portions of the main body plate 11, and a pair of left and right handles 14 and 14 provided at the ends of each support member 13. The left and right handles 14 and 14 are portions for holding the head unit 1 by hand, for example, when the assembled head unit 1 is placed on the drawing apparatus B. Further, the left and right support members 13, 13 serve as parts when the carriage 2 is fixed to the set portion of the assembly apparatus A and the drawing apparatus B (the details will be described later).

Further, on the carriage 2, a pair of left and right pipe connecting assemblies 15 and 15 and a pair of left and right wirings which are located above the halved droplet discharge head group 3S and are connected to these droplet discharge heads 3 are provided. Connection assembly 1
6, 16 are provided. Each pipe connection assembly 1
5 is connected to the filter material supply system of the drawing apparatus B by piping, and similarly, each wiring connection assembly 16 is connected to the drawing apparatus B.
It is designed to be wired to the control system. Note that FIG. 1 is illustrated by omitting one (left side) of the pipe connection assembly 15.

The body plate 11 is made of a thick plate of stainless steel or the like, and is formed with a pair of mounting openings 18, 18 for mounting the respective six droplet discharge heads 3 on the left and right, and a weight is placed at an appropriate position. Multiple relief openings 1 to mitigate
9 is formed. Each mounting opening 18 is a series of opening portions 18a to which the six droplet discharge heads 3 are attached, and the six droplet discharge heads (the droplet discharge head group 3).
According to the arrangement of S) 3, its axis is slightly inclined with respect to the axis of the main body plate 11.

Each support member 13 is made of a thick stainless steel plate or the like, has two fixing holes (dumb holes) 21 and 21 and two bolt holes 22 and 22 for fixing the plate, and A pin hole 2 into which a positioning pin is inserted between the fixing holes 21 and 21 and the bolt holes 22 and 22.
3 is formed. Although details will be described later, when the head unit 1 is set in the assembling apparatus A, the head unit 1 is positioned by using the pin holes 23 and screwed and fixed by using the two fixing holes 21 and 21. When the unit 1 is set, it is positioned using the pin hole 23 and is fixed by screwing using the two bolt holes 22 and 22.

The pair of left and right reference pins 12, 12 serve as a reference for positioning (position recognition) the carriage 2 in the X-axis, Y-axis, and θ-axis directions on the premise of image recognition, and the main body plate 11 It is attached so as to project to the back surface of. As shown in FIG. 4, each reference pin 12
Is a columnar pin body 25 and a reference mark 2 that is a concave shape, specifically, a hole shape, formed in the center of the tip surface of the pin body 25.
6 and 6. The pin body 25 is the carriage 2
It is composed of a base press-fitting portion 27 for press-fitting into the body, a body portion 28 connected to the base press-fitting portion 27, and a mark forming portion 29 formed to project at the tip of the body portion 28. A mark 26 is formed.

The tip surface 29a of the mark forming portion 29 is mirror-finished, and a small hole serving as the reference mark 26 is bored at the center position of the tip surface 29a. The small hole (reference mark) 26 has, for example, a diameter of about 0.3 mm,
The base press-fitting portion 27 to the body portion 28 communicate with a shaft hole 30 formed in the shaft center portion thereof. In this case, the reference pin 12 is heat treated (ion nitriding) after the small holes 26 are drilled.
Then, the tip end surface 29a of the mark forming portion 29 is mirror-finished to be formed. An example of mirror finishing is lapping, which involves polishing with fine abrasive grains interposed between the polishing tool and the tip surface 29a, but is not limited to this.

As described above, since the front end surface 29a and the small reference mark 26 having a small hole can be picked up by the recognition camera by a simple process, the alignment accuracy of the carriage 2 can be improved. Although the reference pin 12 is described as having a cylindrical cross section, it may have an elliptical shape or a polygonal shape. Further, the reference mark 26 of the small hole is not limited to the small hole, and may be a concave shape having a groove for obtaining a sufficient contrast,
The plane shape of the recess is not limited to the circular shape.

As will be described in detail later, the recognition camera 353 mounted on the assembling apparatus A and the drawing apparatus B has the reference mark 26.
The tip end surface 29a of the reference pin 12 formed with is captured within the visual field for image recognition (pattern recognition). Therefore, in pattern recognition by the recognition camera 353, the mirror-finished front end surface 29a is recognized as a bright color, and the concave reference mark 26 formed substantially in the center of the front end surface 29a is recognized as a dark color.
The reference mark 26 is image-recognized with sufficient contrast. Therefore, the reference mark 26 can be accurately recognized, and a recognition error can be reliably prevented.

The reference pin 12 formed in this way
Is pressed into the carriage (main body plate 11) 2 with its front end surface 29a facing downward and driven into the mounting hole. The reference pin 12 press-fitted into the carriage 2 is projected from the back surface of the main body plate 11 so as to have substantially the same height as the droplet discharge head 3 projected from the carriage 2. That is, the tip end surface 29a, which serves as the image recognition surface of the reference pin 12, and the nozzle forming surface (see FIG. 3) 52, which serves as the image recognition surface of the droplet discharge head 3, are positioned substantially in the same plane. There is.

As a result, when the recognition camera 353 detects the discharge nozzle 57 of each droplet discharge head 3 following both the reference pins 12 and 12, the focus position is changed (the recognition camera 353 moves up and down). There is no need, and it is possible to effectively prevent the recognition camera 353 from interfering with other parts or the like when the recognition camera 353 moves relatively for image recognition. The pair of reference pins 12 and 12 are preferably provided at substantially intermediate positions in the long side direction of the body plate 11, but may be provided at other positions as long as they are separated from each other.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the left and right handles 14, 14 are for holding the heavy head unit 1 (about 7 kg) by hand, and each handle 14 has a grip portion. The handle body 32 and the arm portion 33 extending at a right angle from the lower end of the handle body 32 are formed in an “L” shape. The handle body 32 has a large diameter portion 34 for preventing slippage at its upper end portion. Also,
The outer peripheral surface of the handle body 32 is knurled for slip prevention. It should be noted that in the present embodiment, knurling of the crochet eye is adopted (see FIGS. 2 and 3).
However, it may be a perforation.

The arm portion 33 extends horizontally and is screwed so that the arm portion 33 is seated on the support member 13 of the carriage 2 at its tip. That is, each handle 14 is detachably attached to the carriage 2. In this way, the left and right handles 14 and 14 are located at the positions protruding from the ends of the carriage (main body plate 11) 2 in the long side direction,
That is, it is provided so as to stand up at a position away from the droplet discharge head 3.

Therefore, when both the handles 14 and 14 are gripped and the carriage (head unit 1) 2 is lifted,
Due to the balance of forces, the carriage 2 is lifted while maintaining a substantially horizontal posture. Further, during transportation work or the like, there is no problem such that the hand holding the handle 14 touches the droplet discharge head 3. Although the details will be described later, this handle 14 is used for the head unit 1.
It is particularly useful for setting the head unit 1 on the drawing apparatus B (details will be described later).

Each pipe connection assembly 15 is arranged above each droplet discharge head group 3S, and a pair of spacers 3 are provided upright at both ends of the main body plate 11 in the long side direction.
6, 36, a pressing plate 37 that is passed between the pair of spacers 36, 36, and 6 sets of piping adapters 38 mounted on the pressing plate 37. The six sets of pipe adapters 38 are fixed to the holding plate 37 so that the head-side connecting portions at the lower ends thereof are slightly projected.

As will be described in detail later, the droplet discharge head 3 is of a so-called two-row type, and the six sets of pipe adapters 38 are
Each of them is connected to the droplet discharge head 3 via two pipe connection members 17. That is, the pipe connecting member 17 is fitted and connected to each of the droplet discharge heads 3, while the holding plate 37 having the six sets of pipe adapters 38 is mounted on the spacers 3.
6 sets of pipe adapters 3 by screwing to 6, 36
8 are connected to the droplet discharge head 3 via the pipe connection members 17, respectively. Then, the inflow side of each pipe adapter 38 is connected to the filter material supply system by a one-touch pipe when set in the drawing apparatus B (details will be described later).

Similarly, each wiring connection assembly 16
With three bending support members 40, 40, 40 standing on the left and right ends of the carriage 2, a connector base 41 fixed to the upper end of the bending support member 40, and a wiring connector 43 attached on the connector base 41. It is composed of four head relay boards 42. 4 head relay boards 42
Are connected to two head substrates 47 of each of the droplet discharge heads 3 described later via flexible flat cables (not shown). Then, each head relay board 42 is wired and connected by a wiring plug of its control system cable when set in the drawing apparatus B (details will be described later).

As shown only in FIG. 2, the head unit 1 is further provided with a relay board cover 24 that covers both wiring connection assemblies 16. The relay board cover 24 is composed of a pair of side surface covers 24a that covers the wiring connection assembly 16 from the side surface to the immediately upper portion, and an upper surface cover 24b that is provided between the pair of side surface covers 24a. The head unit 1 is set after being set on the drawing apparatus B. Further, as will be described later in detail, at the stage of setting the head unit 1 in the assembling apparatus A, unlike the case in which the head unit 1 is set in the drawing apparatus B, the relay board cover 24 should not be attached to both the assemblies 15 and 16 from the original. To do.

Next, the droplet discharge head 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. The droplet discharge head 3 is of a so-called two-row type, and has a liquid introduction part 45 having two connection needles 46, two head substrates 47 connected to the side of the liquid introduction part 45, and a liquid introduction part. 45 is provided with two pump portions 48 connected to the lower side and a nozzle forming plate 49 connected to the pump portion 48. The above-mentioned pipe connection member 17 is connected to the liquid introduction part 45, and the head substrate 47 is
The above flexible flat cable is connected. On the other hand, the pump portion 48 and the nozzle forming plate 49
By these, a rectangular head main body 50 that protrudes to the back surface side of the carriage 2 is configured. Further, the nozzle forming surface 52 of the nozzle forming plate 49 has two nozzle rows 53,
53 is formed (see FIG. 6).

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the pump unit 4
Reference numeral 8 has pressure chambers 55 and piezoelectric elements 56 corresponding to the number of nozzles, and each pressure chamber 55 communicates with a corresponding discharge nozzle 57. The base portion side of the pump portion 48, that is, the base portion side of the head main body 50 is formed in a rectangular flange shape so as to receive the liquid introducing portion 45.
A pair of screw holes (female screws) 59, 59 for small screws for fixing the droplet discharge head 3 to the head holding member 4 are formed. The pair of screw holes 59, 59 are located on both long side portions and arranged so as to be point-symmetric with respect to the center of the nozzle forming surface 52. Although details will be described later, the droplet discharge head 3 is fixed to the head holding member 4 by the two machine screws 73, 73 that penetrate the head holding member 4 and are screwed into the flange portion 58 (see FIG. 9). .

The nozzle forming plate 49 is formed of a stainless plate or the like, and is bonded to the discharge side end surface (droplet discharging surface) of the pump portion 48. More specifically, as schematically shown in FIGS. 6 and 7A, the pump unit 48 includes a mechanism forming unit 48a accommodating the piezoelectric element 56 and a resin film 48b, and a nozzle forming plate. It has a silicon cavity 48c joined to this mechanism portion 48a together with 49. That is, the nozzle forming plate 49 is
It is adhered to the silicon cavity 48c, and in this state, the joint surface 48d of the mechanism portion 48a is interposed via the resin film 48b.
To form the pressure chamber 55. Therefore, considering the assembling method in the head body 50,
The above resin film 48b, silicon cavity 48c
The nozzle forming plate (including a plating layer 49a described later) 49 constitutes a pressure chamber assembly 60 with respect to the mechanical portion 48a of the pump portion 48. Then, the mechanical portion 48a
While the joint surface 48d of the pressure chamber assembly 60 is formed in a rectangular shape, the pressure chamber assembly 60 including the nozzle forming plate 49 is formed in a somewhat similar shape.
Are overlapped and joined so as to be substantially concentric with the joining surface 48d.

Therefore, between the four circumferences of the pressure chamber assembly 60 and the four peripheral edges of the joining surface 48d of the mechanism portion 48a, step portions 61 are formed as clearances for joining over the four circumferences. A resin 62 is molded on the step 61. That is, the step 61 formed by the edge (peripheral edge) of the joint surface 48d and the edge (side surface) of the pressure chamber assembly 60.
Are molded with resin 62 so as to fill them. Therefore, the lower end of the head body 50 is
It has a form in which four rounds are chamfered by 2.

As will be described in detail later, the molding of the resin 62 prevents the head main body 50 from sticking to the wiping sheet 131 during wiping. In this case, although the droplet discharge head 3 is held by the carriage 2 with some inclination in the horizontal plane, the head main body 50
On the other hand, the wiping sheet 131 is wiped from the X-axis direction (see FIG. 17). Therefore, the resin 62 of the mold extending over the four circumferences may be provided at least on the long side portion on the side where the wiping is started, or on both the long side portions. The same applies to the chamfering process described later. As shown in FIG. 7B, the resin 62 is projected from the nozzle forming plate 49 to some extent forward (t dimension shown).
It is also possible to mold so that the resin 62 has a protector function of protecting the discharge nozzle 57. Further, as shown in FIG. 7C, the joint surface 48d of the mechanism portion 48a and the pressure chamber assembly 60 have the same shape, and instead of molding the resin 62, the edge of the pressure chamber assembly 60 is chamfered. You may do it.

On the other hand, the nozzle forming plate 49 has two nozzle rows 53, 53 arranged in parallel with each other.
Each nozzle row 53 is composed of 180 (illustrated schematically in the drawing) ejection nozzles 57 arranged at equal pitches. That is, on the nozzle forming surface 52 of the head body 50, two nozzle rows 53, 53 are arranged symmetrically with the center line therebetween. The nozzle opening 63 of each discharge nozzle 57 is opened at the back of the circular recess 64 in which the water-repellent (liquid-repellent) plating layer 49a is formed.

The reference numerals 65 and 65 in FIG. 6 are two nozzle reference marks for recognizing the position of the droplet discharge head 3. As will be described later, in the present embodiment, the position of the droplet discharge head 3 is recognized by performing image recognition (pattern recognition) of the outermost two discharge nozzles 57a, 57a in either one of the nozzle rows 53. . However, depending on the liquid to be discharged, the discharge nozzle (nozzle opening 63) 57
The form of the meniscus formed in the above case may not be constant (see the phantom line in FIG. 6B), and there is a possibility that the pattern recognition may fail (NG).

Therefore, in this embodiment, the outermost 2
Two nozzle reference marks 65, 65 are formed in the vicinity of the one discharge nozzle 57a, 57a. That is, on the nozzle forming surface 52, the two discharge nozzles 5
7a and 57a are moved in parallel, more strictly speaking, both ejection nozzles 57a and 5 when the nozzle row 53 is moved in parallel (not necessarily in the direction orthogonal to the nozzle row 53).
Two nozzle reference marks 65, 65 are formed at positions corresponding to 7a by laser etching or the like.
The positions of the two nozzle reference marks 65, 65 are guaranteed with respect to the two ejection nozzles 57a, 57a, and when the image recognition by the two ejection nozzles 57a, 57a is unstable, the two nozzle reference marks 65, 65 is used to perform image recognition. The two nozzle reference marks 65, 65 are two ejection nozzles (strictly speaking, any two ejection nozzles 57, 57 that are separated from each other) 57 a, 5
It may be provided at any position on the nozzle forming surface 52 as long as the position is guaranteed with respect to 7a and it is sufficiently separated.

Droplet discharge head 3 thus constructed
Of the head main body 50 is projected from the mounting opening 18 formed in the carriage 2 to the back surface side of the carriage 2 and is screwed to the head holding member 4 applied to the edge of the mounting opening 18 at the flange portion 58. Fixed. Further, the head holding member 4 is temporarily fixed to the carriage 2 by adhesion, and then is finally fixed by using mechanical fixing means.

Next, the head holding member 4 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. The head holding member 4 is an intermediary metal member for stably attaching the droplet discharge head 3 to the carriage 2, and is formed in a substantially rectangular flat plate shape made of stainless steel or the like. The head holding member 4 has a rectangular insertion opening 71 formed in the center thereof through which the head main body 50 of the droplet discharge head 3 is inserted. In this case, the head holding member 4 is set on the back surface side of the carriage 2 so as to straddle the mounting opening (opening portion 18a) 18 at both ends in the long side direction thereof, while the droplet discharge head 3 is The head body 50 is set on the front side of the carriage 2 so as to pass through the insertion opening 71 (see FIG. 5).

Around the insertion opening 71 of the head holding member 4, two through holes 72, 72 corresponding to the two screw holes 59, 59 of the flange portion 58 and two machine screws 7 are provided.
3, 73 and two protruding position regulating pins 74, 74 are arranged. The two through holes 72, 72 are formed in the two boss portions 75, 75 projecting toward the mounting opening 18 side, respectively. In this case, each boss portion 75 is formed of a tubular collar press-fitted into the head holding member 4. The two boss portions 75, 75 and the two protruding position regulating pins 74, 7
4 are arranged at point symmetry positions with respect to the center of the insertion opening 71, and these bosses 75, 75 and the projecting position restricting pins 74, 74 are attached to the flange portion 58 of the head body 50.
By abutting against, the ejection size of the droplet ejection head 3 from the carriage 2 is regulated.

On the center line of the insertion opening 71,
Two engaging holes 76, 76 are formed outside the insertion opening 71. The two engagement holes 76, 76 are the parts to which the assembly jig C of the liquid droplet ejection head 3 to be described later is mounted, and at the same time, the engagement pin 3 for position correction in the assembly apparatus A.
It is also a part where 43 and 343 are engaged. In this case, one of the two engaging holes 76, 76 is circular and the other is long in the center line direction so that the mounting of the assembling jig C and the engaging of the engaging pin 343 can be performed without difficulty. It is formed in an oval shape.

Further, on the center line of the insertion opening 71, two adhesive injection holes 77, 77 are formed at both ends of the head holding member 4 at symmetrical positions with the insertion opening 71 sandwiched therebetween. Each adhesive injection hole 77 is a long hole extending in the transverse direction of the head holding member 4, and the end of the long hole on the carriage 2 side is chamfered (see FIG. 8). Both ends of the head holding member 4 in which the two adhesive injection holes 77, 77 are formed are adhesion portions 78, 78 for adhering the head holding member 4 to the carriage 2, respectively. The adhesive injected from 77 spreads and is applied to the interface between the carriage 2 and the bonding portions 78, 78 due to the capillary phenomenon.

In this case, the adhesive injection hole 77a (77b) formed outside (inside) one end and the adhesive injection hole 77a (77b) formed inside (outside) the other end are Each is a pair. As will be described later in detail, the assembly apparatus A has two adhesive injection nozzles 387 and 387. The two adhesive injection nozzles 387 and 387 are one pair of two adhesive injection holes 77a. , 77a at the same time to inject the adhesive, and after moving in the direction of the center line, the other two non-adhesive injection holes 77b, 7a
7b are simultaneously inserted to inject the adhesive.

The reference numerals 79 and 79 in the figure denote a pair of fastening holes (details will be described later) used when the head holding member 4 is temporarily mounted on the carriage 2 and the pair of fastening holes 79 and 79. Are formed in the vicinity of the adhesive injection holes 77, 77, respectively, and are point-symmetrical with respect to the center of the insertion opening 71. In addition, the opening portion 18a of the carriage 2
A pair of temporary fastening screw holes 20 and 20 corresponding to the pair of fastening holes 79 and 79 are formed in the (see FIG. 11).

By the way, with respect to the carriage 2 positioned through the pair of reference pins 12 and 12, each droplet discharge head 3 has a nozzle row (discharge nozzle 5) which is an output end thereof.
7) Positioning (position recognition) in the X-axis, Y-axis, and θ-axis directions with reference to 53. More specifically, since the two nozzle rows 53, 53 are guaranteed in mutual positional accuracy at the manufacturing stage, the two ejection nozzles 57a, 57a positioned at the outermost end of either one of the nozzle rows 53 are disposed. Is used as a positioning reference and this is recognized. Further, the four sides of the tip portion of the head body 50 of the droplet discharge head 3 (strictly speaking, the four sides of the tip portion over a width of several millimeters of the pump portion 48).
However, mutual positional accuracy is guaranteed at the manufacturing stage.

On the other hand, the droplet discharge head 3 is fixed to the carriage 2 via the head holding member 4. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the assembly jig C is used to position the droplet discharge head 3 on the head holding member 4 with reference to the four sides of the head body 50, and after fixing by screwing, The droplet discharge head 3 with the head holding member 4 is positioned and temporarily fixed on the basis of one discharge nozzle 57a, 57a. That is, the droplet discharge head 3
Is temporarily positioned on the head holding member 4 by manual work using the assembling jig C, and is finally positioned after image recognition (recognizing the discharge nozzles 57a and 57a) by the subsequent assembling apparatus A.

In the assembling apparatus A of the embodiment, in order to speed up the position recognition, the above two discharge nozzles 57 are used.
Two recognition cameras 35 in which a and 57a are fixedly provided.
3, 353 are simultaneously recognized, that is, two recognition cameras 353, 353 are simultaneously caught in the visual field. Therefore, the droplet discharge head 3 using the assembly jig C
In the temporary positioning of the above, when the two recognition cameras 353 and 353 are made to face the above two discharge nozzles 57a and 57a based on the set position data at the stage of the main positioning, both of them are out of the visual field. It is something that should not be done.

Here, the assembly jig C of the droplet discharge head 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.
An assembling method of assembling the droplet discharge head 3 to the head holding member 4 using this assembling jig C will be described. Figure 10
As shown in FIG. 3, the assembly jig C includes a jig body 81 for positioning the head body 50 of the droplet discharge head 3 and a jig body 8.
1 is mounted on the head holding member 4 in a positioned state by a pair of mounting pins 82, 82.

The jig body 81 includes a vertical side portion 84 and a vertical side portion 8
A pair of lateral side portions 85, 85 extending at right angles from both ends of 4 are integrally formed in a substantially “C” shape. On the other hand, the pair of mounting pins 82, 82 respectively project from the rear surface sides of the lateral side portions 85, 85, and the pair of mounting pins 82, 8
The jig main body 81 is attached to the head holding member 4 by fitting 2 into the engaging holes 76 of the head holding member 4.

A substantially "L" -shaped positioning portion 86 is formed in a region extending from the inside of the vertical side portion 84 to the inside of one horizontal side portion 85, and one long side of the head body 50 is formed in the positioning portion 86. By bringing the side and the short side into contact with each other, the droplet discharge head 3 is positioned on the head holding member 4. The positioning portion 86 is formed thin so that the front side thereof is flush with the other portion, and the corner portion 86a is formed in a semicircular recess. Further, the jig main body 81 is mounted on the head holding member 4 so that the surface thereof and the nozzle forming surface 52 of the droplet discharge head 3 are substantially flush with each other (at the same level). The thickness is designed.

As a result, the head main body 50 is positioned by abutting the tip of the head main body 50 in the protruding direction with the positioning portion 86 of the assembly jig C. That is, at the manufacturing stage, two adjacent sides of the four sides of the tip portion of the head body 50 whose positional accuracy is guaranteed with respect to the nozzle row 53 are abutted against the positioning portion 86 of the assembly jig C,
The droplet discharge head 3 is positioned on the head holding member 4.

On the other hand, the pair of mounting pins 82, 82 are arranged so as to coincide with the center line of the head main body 50 abutting on the positioning portion 86. More specifically, the long side portion 86b of the positioning portion 86 has a pair of mounting pins 82, 82.
Are formed in parallel with the straight line connecting the lines, and the distance between them is managed in accordance with the position of the long side of the head body 50, and
The head main body 50 is formed to have a size half that of the short side. In addition, the short side portion 86c of the positioning portion 86 is formed at a right angle to the long side portion 86b, and the distance between the short side portion 86c and the mounting pin 82 located on the side of the short side portion 86c depends on the position of the short side of the head body 50. It is managed.

As a result, even if the assembling jig C is mounted on the head holding member 4 in a state rotated by 180 ° from the state shown in FIG. 9, no particular trouble is caused and the droplet discharge head 3
Can be positioned. That is, the assembly jig C of the embodiment has a so-called right-handed or left-handed structure, although the planar shape thereof is not symmetrical.

Next, a method of assembling the droplet discharge head 3 to the head holding member 4 using the above-described assembling jig C will be described with reference to FIGS. 9, 11 and 12. This assembling work is performed manually as an external process of the assembling apparatus A. First, the carriage (strictly speaking, the main body plate 11) 2
Four support legs 88,88,88,88 on the front edge of the
Screw on. Next, the carriage 2 is turned upside down, and the carriage 2 is set in a state of being floated by the support legs 88. Although not shown in the drawing, it is preferable to attach the pair of support members 13, 13 and the pair of reference pins 12, 12 to the carriage 2 in this state.

Next, the droplet discharge head 3 with the head body 50 facing upward is attached from the lower side of the carriage 2 to the mounting opening 18.
To insert. Here, the head holding member 4 is set on the carriage 2 so that the insertion opening 71 of the head holding member 4 is aligned and fitted into the head main body 50 from the upper side of the carriage 2. After the head holding member 4 is set, the assembly jig C is attached to the head holding member 4 from the upper side, and the two sides of the head main body 50 facing the positioning portion 86 of the head holding member 4 are pressed. It is also possible to prepare a plurality of assembling jigs C and attach them to the head holding member 4 in advance before starting the work.

Then, while maintaining the above-mentioned pressed state,
From the upper side, attach the two machine screws 73, 73 to the head holding member 4
To be screwed into the flange portions 58 of the droplet discharge head 3 to fix the droplet discharge head 3 to the head holding member 4. Next, as a means for preventing the fields of view of the two recognition cameras 353, 353 from coming off from the two discharge nozzles 75a, 75a, the temporary fastening screw holes 20, 20 of the carriage 2 are provided through the pair of fastening holes 79, 79. Then, the fixing screws 89 and 89 are screwed together in a temporarily tightened state (see FIG. 9).

As a result, the droplet discharge head 3 can be aligned with the carriage 2 in the range of the dimension intersection of the fixing screw 89 and the fastening hole 79, and the two recognition cameras 353 and 353 have two fields of view. Discharge nozzle 7
It does not come off from 5a and 75a. In this way, by positioning and fixing the droplet discharge heads 3 to the head holding member 4 in order, 12 droplet discharge heads 3 are individually assembled to the head holder 4. Finally, the assembly jig C is pulled out from the head holding member 4 and the four support legs 88 are removed, and the work is completed.

As described above, the twelve droplet discharge heads 3 are assembled to the twelve head holding portions 4 with the carriage 2 interposed therebetween. In this state, the twelve droplet discharge heads 3 are mounted on the carriage. It is not fixed to 2, but is in a suspended state. That is, the head holding unit 4
The twelve droplet discharge heads 3 provided with are attached temporarily to the carriage 2 so that they can be finely moved within the dimension intersecting range of the fixing screw 89 and the fastening hole 79. In addition, this fixing screw 8
Reference numeral 9 denotes a waste screw, which is removed after the head holding portion 4 is bonded (temporarily fixed) to the carriage 2 in the assembly apparatus A. That is, in the embodiment, direct main fixing of the head holding portion 4 to the carriage 2 by screws is not performed (press fixing by another member).

Then, the head unit 1 in which the twelve droplet discharge heads 3 with the head holding member 4 are temporarily mounted on the carriage 2 is introduced into the assembling apparatus A and is set in the vertically inverted posture. . The head unit 1 introduced into the assembling apparatus A has a pair of supporting members 13 and 13 and the reference pins 12 and 12 incorporated in the above-mentioned main components, and the head unit 1 introduced into the drawing apparatus B is The handle 14 and the both assemblies 15, 16 and the like are further incorporated therein.

Here, the drawing apparatus B will be briefly described, and a method of setting the head unit 1 for mounting the head unit 1 on the drawing apparatus B using the pair of handles 14 will be described. In addition, the droplet discharge head 3
The wiping device of the drawing device B will be briefly described with reference to the structure of the head body 50.

FIG. 13 is a conceptual diagram schematically showing the drawing apparatus B. As shown in FIG. 13, the drawing apparatus B is equipped with the head unit 1 and moves it in the Y-axis direction and the θ-axis direction. A head moving unit 101, a substrate moving unit 103 that faces the head moving unit 101 and moves a substrate 102 such as a color filter in the X-axis direction, and a maintenance unit 104 that maintains the droplet discharge head 3 of the head unit 1 are provided. ing. The head moving unit 101 includes the head unit 1 mounted on the head moving unit 101 with the substrate moving unit 103 interposed therebetween.
05 and the maintenance unit 104.

When the head unit 1 is introduced and set, the head moving unit 101 is moved to the unit introducing unit 105 side, and the temporary holder 106 faces the unit introducing unit 105. The head unit 1 is temporarily placed on the temporary placing table 106, connected with piping and wiring, and then set so as to be fed to the head moving unit 101. Then, in the preparation process for initial positioning of the head unit 1, a slight movement (angle correction) of the head unit 1 in the θ-axis direction is performed, but in the manufacturing process of ejecting the filter material, the substrate 102 is moved in the X-axis direction. Moreover, the head unit 1 is Y
By moving in the axial direction, main scanning and sub-scanning of the droplet discharge head 3 are performed.

The head moving unit 101 is the head unit 1
Main carriage 111 for vertically supporting
And θ for moving the main carriage 111 in the θ-axis direction.
It has a table 112 and a Y table 113 for moving the head unit 1 in the Y axis direction via the θ table 112. In addition, the substrate moving unit 103 sets the substrate setting table 11 for setting the substrate 102 so that the substrate 102 is sucked.
5 and an X table 116 for moving the substrate in the X-axis direction via the substrate setting table 115.

In this case, the X table 116 is driven by a combination of an air slider and a linear motor, and the Y table 113 is driven by a combination of a ball screw and a servo motor (both not shown). The board recognition camera 117 is mounted on the main carriage 111 (see FIG. 15),
The head recognition camera 118 is the board set table 115.
, Respectively. Therefore, the pair of reference pins 12, 1 provided on the carriage 2 of the head unit 1
The image of 2 is recognized by the cooperation of the head recognition camera 118 and the X table 116 that moves the head recognition camera 118 in the X-axis direction.

Now, with reference to FIG. 67, the recognition operation of the pair of reference pins 12, 12 by the head recognition camera 118 will be described. First, X based on design data
The table 116 and the Y table 113 are appropriately driven to move the head recognition camera 118 and the carriage (head unit 1), and one reference pin 12 is taken into the visual field of the head recognition camera 118. When one of the reference pins 12 is recognized by the head recognition camera 118, next, X
The table 116 is driven to move the head recognition camera 118 to the X position.
The other reference pin 12 is moved in the axial direction (main scanning direction).
Is taken into the visual field of the head recognition camera 118 to recognize it.

Then, based on the recognition result of the pair of reference pins 12, 12 by the head recognition camera 118, the X table 116, the Y table 113, and the θ table 112.
Is appropriately driven to correct the position of the carriage (head unit 1). Note that after the position correction, the above recognition operation is performed again for confirmation, and a series of recognition operations is completed.

After that, in the actual droplet discharging operation, first, X
The table 116 is driven, the substrate 102 is reciprocated in the main scanning direction, and the plurality of droplet discharge heads 3 are driven, so that the droplet discharge head 3 selectively discharges droplets.
Next, the Y table 113 is driven to move the carriage (head unit 1) 2 by one pitch in the sub-scanning direction,
The reciprocating movement of the substrate 102 in the main scanning direction and the driving of the droplet discharge head 3 are performed again. Then, by repeating this several times, the droplets are discharged from the edge of the substrate 102 (the entire area).

As described above, the movement of the head recognition camera 118 in the image recognition of the pair of reference pins 12 and 12 is represented by X.
Since the table 116 is used, unlike the Y table 113 using a ball screw, it is possible to prevent the movement accuracy from affecting the recognition accuracy. Further, the X-axis direction, which is the moving direction of the X table 116, coincides with the main scanning direction, so that the accuracy of droplet ejection (the accuracy of the landing point) can be improved structurally.

In this embodiment, the substrate 102, which is the ejection target, is moved in the main scanning direction with respect to the head unit (carriage 2) 1. It may be configured to move in the scanning direction. In addition, a pair of reference pins 12,
It is conceivable that the carriages 12 are provided at both ends of the carriage 2 in the long side direction.
By the relative movement in the axial direction, the pair of reference pins 12, 1
2 will be recognized.

14 and 15 are external views of the main carriage 111. The main carriage 111 is a base plate 121 on which the head unit 1 is seated, an arch member 122 for vertically supporting the base plate 121, and a temporary stand 106 provided so as to project from one end of the base plate 121. A pair of left and right temporary placement angles 106a, 106a and the pace plate 12
1 and a stopper plate 123 provided at the other end of the one. A pair of the board recognition cameras 117 are provided outside the stopper plate 121.

A rectangular opening 124 into which the main body plate 11 of the head unit 1 is loosely fitted is formed in the base plate 121, and the left and right opening edge portions 125 of the base plate 121 forming the rectangular opening 124 are formed in the head unit 1. Bolt holes 2 formed in each support member 13 of
2, 22 and two through holes 12 that match the pin holes 23
6, 126 and a positioning pin 127 are provided.
In this case, the width of the rectangular opening 124 and the width of the main body plate 11 are substantially equal to each other, and in the head unit 1 set from the side, the left and right sides of the main body plate 11 are the rectangular openings 124.
It is inserted as it is guided to the left and right.

Each of the temporary placement angles 106a has a sufficient thickness (height) and is a base portion bent outward in an "L" shape.
It is fixed so as to be placed on the end portion of the base plate 121. In addition, both temporary placement angles 106a, 106
The spacing dimension of a is determined by the two support members 13 of the head unit 1,
It corresponds to the separation dimension of 13. Therefore, the head unit 1 is temporarily placed by seating the support members 13, 13 on the both temporary placement angles 106a, 106a,
Moreover, the feeding to the base plate 121 is guided by both the temporary placement angles 106a and 106a. Further, in this state, the head main body 50 of each droplet discharge head 3 is sufficiently floated from the base plate 121, and the base plate 12
Contact (interference) with 1 is prevented.

As shown in the image diagram of FIG. 16, when the head unit 1 is set on the base plate 121 of the main carriage 111, first, both handles 14,
The head unit 1 hand-held and carried by 14 is placed on both temporary placement angles 106a, 106a (temporary placement). Here, although not particularly shown, the tube of the filter material supply system of the drawing apparatus B arranged on the arch member 122 is connected to the pipe connection assembly 15 of the head unit 1 by piping, and the control system cable is connected to the wiring connection assembly 16. To the wiring ((a) in the same figure).

When the connection work is completed, the handle 1 is again
4, 14 are gripped, and both temporary placement angles 106a, 106
Using the a as a guide, push the head unit 1 forward,
Further, the tip is tilted so as to be lowered ((b) in the same figure).
When the head unit 1 is tilted, the tip of the main body plate 11 is inserted into the rectangular opening 124, and both support members 1
The edges of the openings 3 and 13 are the opening edge portions 125 of the rectangular opening 124,
Land on 125. Both support members 13 and 13 have the opening edge 1
After landing on 25 and 125, both temporary placement angles 106
a, 106a so that both support members 13 and 13 are floated, and this time around the tips of both support members 13 and 13,
The head unit 1 is pushed further inward while sliding on the opening edge 125.

When the tip of the head unit 1 hits the stopper plate 123, the head unit 1
The rear part is slowly lowered so that the positioning pins 12 of the opening edge portions 125, 125 are inserted into the pin holes 23 of the support members 13, 13.
The head unit 1 is seated on the base plate 121 such that the head units 1 are fitted together. Here, penetrating the base plate 121 from the lower side of the base plate 121,
The four fixing screws 128 are screwed into both the support members 13 and 13, and the work is completed ((c) in the figure).

As described above, since the head unit 1 is temporarily placed in the unit introduction section 105 and the necessary piping and wiring connections are made in this state, the connection work is easy and the connection work after the connection work is completed. The head unit 1 can be set appropriately in a narrow space. Further, since the head unit 1 is set while sliding from the temporary placement angle 106a to the base plate 121 that is one step lower, it is possible to set the head unit 1 to the main carriage 111 by soft landing, and a heavy head. The unit 1 can be set smoothly without impact.

On the other hand, the maintenance section 104 of the drawing apparatus B
Is equipped with a wiping device so as to be attached to a capping device or a cleaning device. As shown in FIG. 17, the wiping device 108 includes the wiping sheet 1
It has a wiping unit 132 including 31 and a moving mechanism 133 for moving the wiping unit 132 forward and backward toward the head unit 1. With respect to the head unit 1 introduced into the maintenance unit 104 by the Y table 113, the moving mechanism 133 has the wiping unit 132.
Is moved in the X-axis direction (main scanning direction) to perform a wiping operation.

The wiping unit 133 is a delivery reel 135 in which the wiping sheet 131 is wound in a roll shape.
And a take-up reel 136 that winds the wiping sheet 131 fed from the feed reel 135, and a wiping roller 137 that spans the wiping sheet 131 between the feed reel 135 and the take-up reel 136. Further, a guide roller 138 also serving as a rotation speed detection shaft is arranged between the delivery reel 135 and the wiping roller 137, and the wiping roller 13 is also provided.
A cleaning liquid supply head 139 is disposed in the vicinity of 7.

The take-up reel 135 is braked and rotated by the torque limiter provided therein, and the take-up reel 136 is
It is driven and rotated by a motor provided therein. The wiping sheet 131 delivered from the delivery reel 135 is routed through the guide roller 138, receives the cleaning liquid supplied from the cleaning liquid supply head 139, and then rotates around the wiping roller 137 and is wound onto the winding reel 136. .

The wiping roller 137 is a free rotating roller, and is composed of a rubber roller or the like having elasticity or flexibility. The wiping roller 137 at the time of wiping acts so as to press the wiping sheet 131 against the head main body 50 of each droplet discharge head 3 from below. When wiping, the wiping roller 13
Numeral 7 is rotated by the wiping sheet 131 which travels in response to the rotation of the take-up reel 136, and the moving mechanism 133 moves the wiping unit 133 as a whole in the X-axis direction. As a result, the wiping sheet 131 is disposed on the lower surface of the head knit, that is, the twelve droplet discharge heads 3.
The head main body 50 is successively slidably contacted. In other words,
The wiping sheet 131 travels in a direction opposite to the relative movement direction of the head bodies 50, and the nozzle forming surface 52 of each head body 50 is wiped off.

Immediately before reaching the wiping roller 137, the cleaning liquid supply head 139 supplies the cleaning liquid, that is, a solvent for the filter material, to the wiping sheet 131 slidingly contacting the head main body 50. As a result, the filter material attached to the nozzle forming surface 52 of each head body 50 is wiped clean by the wiping sheet 131 impregnated with the cleaning liquid via the wiping roller 137. Further, as described above, since the lower end portion of the head body 50 is chamfered by the resin 62 molded therein, the head body 50 does not stick to the wiping sheet 131 during this wiping.

Next, the alignment mask D will be described with reference to FIGS. 18 and 19. In the assembling apparatus A of the embodiment, regardless of the number of head units 1 assembled,
It is necessary to always supply the head unit 1 having a certain level of assembly accuracy. Therefore, the carriages 2 and 12
An alignment mask D in which the reference positions of the individual droplet discharge heads 3 are marked is prepared. That is, the alignment mask D is used as a prototype (original plate) of the component position, and the duplicate head unit 1 is assembled by the assembly apparatus A. As a result, it is possible to eliminate the precision influence of each assembling apparatus A on the head unit 1 such as a habit and a change with time.

The alignment mask D is composed of a master plate 161 in which the reference position of the carriage 2 and the reference position of each droplet discharge head 3 are formed in a mask pattern, and a plate holder 162 which holds the master plate 161 from below. There is. As described above, each of the droplet discharge heads 3 has a predetermined angle (angle 40 ° to 60 °) with respect to the main scanning direction.
°) Tilt is arranged. Therefore, master plate 1
61 and the plate holder 162 are formed according to this inclination angle.

More specifically, the master plate 161
Is a head main body 5 of the droplet discharge head 3 mounted in a tilted manner.
Corresponding to 0, the two sides parallel to the long side and the two sides parallel to the short side are formed in a rectangular shape so that a useless portion is not generated. Further, the master plate 161 is made of thick transparent quartz glass so that the master plate does not become out of order.

On the surface of the master plate 161, each of the five head reference marks 164, 164, 164, 164, 164 representing the reference position of each of the droplet discharge heads 3 is set as a set, and 6 sets are provided on each side, for a total of 12 sets. The group is formed. Further, outside the 12 sets of head reference marks 164,
A pair of carriage reference marks 165, 165 indicating the reference position of the carriage 2 are formed. Further, in the vicinity of the head reference mark 164 located at the end, the subject image 16 for adjusting the pixel resolution of the recognition camera 353 is provided.
6 is formed.

Each of the five head reference marks 164 has a center position on the nozzle forming surface 52 of the droplet discharge head 3,
The positions of a total of four ejection nozzles 57, 57, 57, 57 located at the outermost ends of the two nozzle rows 53, 53 are displayed. As shown in FIG. 18A, each head reference mark 164 is formed by drawing a hollow cross inside the circular line and drawing a diagonal line inside the circle excluding the cross. Therefore, when the recognition camera 353 performs image recognition (imaging) on the image, a bright cross portion is recognized inside the dark circular portion.

Similar to the above, each carriage reference mark 1
65 is also formed by drawing a hollow cross inside the circular line and drawing a diagonal line inside the circle excluding the cross.
Further, the subject image 166 is formed by a large number of vertical and horizontal lines accurately drawn in a grid pattern. The head reference mark 164 representing the center position of the nozzle forming surface 52 is 4
Since it can be calculated from the four head reference marks 164 representing the position of one ejection nozzle 57, it may be omitted. The pattern formed on the alignment mask D is C
An opaque film typified by a metal such as r is formed on one surface, and the film is patterned by using a semiconductor technique.

As shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, the plate holder 162 includes a substantially rectangular master support plate 168 which is slightly larger than the master plate 161, and a resin holder 4 attached to the four corners of the back surface of the master support plate 168. One leg block 169,169,169,169
A plurality of urethane stoppers 170 provided on the surface of the master supporting plate 168 for vertically and horizontally positioning the master plate 161; and a plurality of supporting pins 171 for supporting the master plate 161 in a floating state on the master supporting plate 168. , A plurality of pressing blocks 172 that are provided corresponding to the support pins 171 and press the master plate 168 from above.

Two urethane stoppers 170 are abutted on each of the four sides of the master plate 161. In addition, the plurality of support pins 171 are provided in the master plate 1
Two pieces are arranged at each of the corners of 61, and the height is adjustable with respect to the master support plate 168.
That is, each support pin 171 has an adjusting bolt structure, and the level of the surface of the master plate 161, that is, the mark forming surface 161a can be adjusted. The plurality of holding blocks 172 respectively correspond to the support pins 171, and hold the master plates 161 by sandwiching the master plate 161 between them.

The alignment mask D thus constructed is fixed to the set table 231 of the assembling apparatus A described later. For this reason, two fixing holes 173, 173 and pin holes 174 arranged between the two fixing holes 173, 173 are formed on the left and right edges of the master support plate 168. Then, the alignment mask D and the head unit 1 are exchanged and set on the set table 231 of the assembling apparatus A.

Next, the assembling apparatus A and the assembling method of the droplet discharge head 3 will be described. In the assembling apparatus A, the above-mentioned head unit 1 in which 12 droplet discharge heads 3 are temporarily mounted on the carriage 2 is used as an assembly object, and each droplet discharge head 3 is accurately positioned on the carriage 2 of the head unit 1. It is to be bonded (temporarily fixed). In the assembly apparatus A, the head unit 1 to which the droplet discharge head 3 is temporarily fixed is set in the drawing apparatus B through the cleaning step and the parts assembling step such as the handle 14 described above.

As shown in the external views of FIGS. 21 to 25, the assembling apparatus A includes a transparent safety cover 2 on the mount 201.
02, the air supply device 203 and the like are incorporated in the gantry 201, and the main constituent device 205 is housed in the safety cover 202 so as to be mounted on the machine base 204. The gantry 201 is provided with four casters 206 and six support legs 207 with adjusting bolts. An opening / closing door 208 for introducing the head unit 1 is provided on the front surface of the safety cover 202, and a warning light 209 is provided upright on the upper surface thereof.

The main constituent device 205 comprises a unit moving device 211 which mounts the head unit 1 and moves the head unit 1 in the X, Y and θ directions in a horizontal plane, and a droplet discharge head 3 which is temporarily mounted on the carriage 2. A head correction device 212 that performs position correction, and each droplet discharge head 3 on the carriage 2.
, A recognition device 214 for recognizing the position of the carriage 2 and each of the droplet discharge heads 3 prior to the position correction of the droplet discharge head 3, a unit moving device 211, a head correction device 212, and a temporary correction device. Fixing device 21
3 and the recognizing device 214 are collectively controlled (see FIG. 5).
0) 215.

In the assembling apparatus A, the alignment mask D is introduced into the unit moving apparatus 211 in advance, and the recognition device 214 performs image recognition of the reference marks 164 and 165 of the alignment mask D, and the carriage 2 and the droplets. The reference position data of the ejection head 3 is stored, and the position of the carriage 2 and each droplet ejection head 3 is corrected based on this reference position data (master data). In addition,
The alignment mask D is introduced at the time of introducing and assembling a new head unit 1, and even if the same head unit 1 is used, it is introduced periodically based on the number of the assembled head units and the operating time. Of course, at that time, the reference position data is reset.

On the other hand, the head unit 1 is set on the upper surface of the unit moving device 211 with the head main body 50 of each droplet discharge head 3 facing upward, and the head unit 1 is assembled by first recognizing the position of the carriage 2 by the recognition device 214. Start with recognition. When the position of the carriage 2 is recognized, the recognition data is compared with the reference position data, and the unit moving device 211 corrects the position of the carriage 2 based on the comparison result. Next, the recognition device 2
The position of the droplet discharge head 3 is recognized by 14, and the position correction of the droplet discharge head 3 is performed by the head correction device 212 based on the recognition result (comparison result).

Subsequently, while maintaining this position correction state,
The liquid droplet ejection head 3 is bonded to the carriage 2 via the head holding member 4 by the temporary fixing device 213. At that time, until the adhesive is cured, the head correction device 212 is
The droplet discharge head (head holding member 4) 3 is pressed so as not to move. Then, the steps from the position recognition of the droplet discharge heads 3 to the adhesion are repeated for the number of the droplet discharge heads 3, and the temporary fixing of all the droplet discharge heads 3 is completed.

As shown in FIG. 21 and FIG. 26, the unit moving device 211 has three adjusting bolts 217.
Is mounted on the plate-shaped machine base 204 supported horizontally by a large occupied area. Unit moving device 211
Includes a set table 231 for setting the head unit 1 in an inverted state, a θ table 232 for supporting the set table 231 from below, and an XY table 233 for supporting the θ table 232 from below. . The head unit 1 is tilted and set according to the tilt of the droplet discharge head 3 mounted together with the set table 231. Therefore, the direction corresponding to the main scanning direction of the droplet discharge head 3 is the X-axis direction, and the sub-scanning direction is the Y-axis direction.

As shown in FIG. 27, the set table 23
1 has a rectangular base plate 235 having a plurality of circular holes 236, and a pair of strip-shaped blocks 237, 237 fixed to both sides of the base plate 235. The positioning pin 2 is provided on the upper surface of each strip block 237.
38 is provided upright and two screw holes 239, 239 are formed. That is, the head unit 1 is positioned at two left and right positions with respect to the set table 231, and is fixed by screws at a total of four positions. Also,
Four through holes 240 for fixing the set table 231 to the θ table 232 are formed in the central portion of the base plate 235.

As described above, the head unit 1 is fixed to the θ table 232 via the set table 231.
Similarly, the alignment mask D also has a set table 231.
It is adapted to be fixed to the θ table 232 via. In this case, the head unit 1 and the alignment mask D are the head unit 1 fixed to the θ table 232.
The nozzle forming surface 52 of each of the droplet discharge heads 3 and the mark forming surface (surface of the master plate) 161a of the alignment mask D fixed to the θ table 232 are designed to be located in the same horizontal plane.

Similarly, the weight of the head unit 1 and the weight of the alignment mask D including the plate holder 162 are designed to be substantially the same. As a result, the position recognition operation of the alignment mask D and the position recognition operation of the head unit 1 can be performed under exactly the same conditions. The set table 231 is a dedicated component for the head unit 1, and when the head unit 1 is changed, the set table 231 is adjusted accordingly.
Is also changed.

Next, the θ table 232 will be described with reference to FIGS. 28, 29 and 30. The θ table 232 is a rotation operating unit 242 that makes the head unit 1 rotate minutely (minutely) via the set table 231.
And a forward / backward drive unit 243 that drives the rotary operation unit 242. The rotation operating unit 242 includes a table body 245 to which the set table 231 is fixed, and a connecting arm 2 extending from the table body 245 toward the advancing / retreating drive unit 243.
46, a roller ring 247 that rotatably supports the table main body 245, and a support base 248 that supports the roller ring 247. In this case, set table 2
The reference numeral 31 is screwed to the upper surface of the table main body 245 in a positioned state via two positioning pins 250, 250 provided on the table main body 245 and four screw holes 251.

The advancing / retreating drive unit 243 constitutes a power source θ.
A table motor (servo motor) 253, a ball screw 256 connected to a main shaft 254 of the θ table motor 253 via a coupling 255, a female screw block 257 with which the ball screw 256 is screwed, and a female screw block 257.
Has a main slider 258 that slidably supports the ball screw 256 in the axial direction (in the X-axis direction). Further, the tip end of the connecting arm 246 is connected to the arm receiver 260 and a bearing 261. Arm support 260
A vertical shaft member 262 that rotatably supports the vertical shaft member 262 and a sub-slider 263 that supports the vertical shaft member 262 with respect to the female screw block 257 so as to be slidable in the Y-axis direction.

The θ table motor 253 is constructed so as to be able to rotate in the normal and reverse directions. When the θ table motor 253 rotates in the normal and reverse directions,
The female screw block 257 is guided by the main slider 258 by the ball screw 256 and moves back and forth in the X-axis direction. When the female screw block 257 moves back and forth, the auxiliary slider 263 and the vertical shaft member 262 supported by the female screw block 257 also move back and forth in the X-axis direction. Further, when the vertical shaft member 262 moves back and forth, the connecting arm 246 and the table body 245 are moved to the table body 245 via the arm receiver 260 pivotally attached to the vertical shaft member 262.
Rotate around the axis of. That is, the table body 24
5 rotates in the normal and reverse directions in the horizontal plane (moves in the θ direction).

Further, along with this rotation, the table body 2
The distance between the centers of 45 and the vertical shaft member 262 changes,
This change in the distance is absorbed by the vertical shaft member 262 moving appropriately in the Y-axis direction via the sub-slider 263. The light-shielding plate 265 protruding from the female screw block 257 and the three photointerrupters 266 exposed by the light-shielding plate 265 as the female screw block 257 moves forward and backward are moved by the moving end position of the female screw block 257, that is, the rotation range of the table body 245. (Angle) is regulated (prevention of overrun).

The advancing / retreating drive section 243 is supported by a support plate 267 provided on the lower side of the main slider 258, and this support plate 267 supports the support base 24 of the rotary operation section 242.
It is fixed at 8. And this support base 248 is X.
It is placed on the Y table 233.

Next, the XY table 233 will be described with reference to FIGS. 26, 31 and 32. XY
The table 233 includes a support block 270 that supports the θ table 232 from below, an X-axis table 271 that supports the support block 270 slidably in the X-axis direction, and an X-axis table 271.
It has a Y-axis table 272 that supports the shaft table 271 slidably in the Y-axis direction. Support block 27
0 has screw holes 274 at four positions, and the θ table 232 is fixed to the support block 270 via the screw holes 274 at these four positions.

The X-axis table 271 comprises an X-axis air slider 276, an X-axis linear motor 277, and an X-axis linear scale 278 attached to the X-axis air slider 276. Similarly, the Y-axis table 272 includes a Y-axis air slider 279, a Y-axis linear motor 280, and
It is composed of a Y-axis linear scale 281 attached to the Y-axis air slider 279. The reference numeral 28 in the figure
2, 283 are respectively X-axis cable bears (registered trademark)
And a Y-axis cable carrier. Also, reference numerals 284 and 2
Reference numeral 84 is an amplifier of both linear motors 277 and 280.

The X-axis linear motor 277 and the Y-axis linear motor 280 are appropriately controlled and driven, and the θ table 232
Are moved in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. That is, the head unit (or the alignment mask D) 1 set on the set table 231 is
The θ table 231 moves in the θ axis direction, and X
-Move in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction by the Y table 233.

Next, the head correction device 212 will be described. The head correction device 212 slightly moves the droplet discharge head 3 in the X-axis, Y-axis, and θ-axis directions via the head holding member 4 based on the position recognition of the droplet discharge head 3 by the recognition device 214, and The droplet ejection head 3 is positioned (positional correction). At the same time, the head correction device 212 functions in cooperation with the temporary fixing device 213 to press the head holding member 4 against the carriage 2 until the adhesive is solidified.

As shown in FIGS. 23 and 33, the head compensating device 212 comprises a compensating device stand 301 mounted on the back side of the machine base 204, and a compensating XY table 302 mounted thereon. And the correction XY table 30
The correction θ table 303 is supported by the No. 2 and the arm unit 304 is supported by the correction θ table 303. In this case, the correction θ table 303 is
Since it has the completely same structure as the θ table 232 of the unit moving device 211, its explanation is omitted here. In the θ table 232, the advancing / retreating drive unit 243 is arranged so as to be located on the left side, but in the correcting θ table 303, it is arranged so as to be located on the right side (see FIG. 23).

As shown in FIG. 33, the correction device stand 301 includes a base plate 307 on which the correction XY table 302 is placed, and three sets of leg units 308, 308, 308 supporting the base plate 307. Have The three sets of leg units 308 are arranged at three positions, that is, the left part, the right part, and the center rear part, and each of the pair of columns 309 and 309, and the upper plate 310 fixed above and below the pair of columns 309 and 309, respectively. It is composed of a lower plate 311.

In this case, the head unit 1 moved by the unit moving device 211 faces the space below the correction device stand 301, and the arm unit 304 protruding from the correction device stand 301 is attached to the head unit 1 from above. It faces (engages with the head holding member 4). The movement of the head unit 1 and the position correction of the carriage 2 are performed by the unit moving device 211, and the position correction of each droplet head 3 is performed by the head correction device 212. Therefore, after the arbitrary one droplet discharge head 3 is temporarily fixed, the unit moving device 2
11 moves the head unit 1 to expose the next droplet discharge head 3 to the head correction device 212.

As shown in FIGS. 33 to 36, the correction XY table 302 is placed in the center of the correction device stand 301, and a support block 314 for supporting the correction θ table 302 and a support block 314 are provided. Correction X-axis table 31 that supports the block 314 slidably in the X-axis direction.
5 and a correction Y-axis table 316 that slidably supports the correction X-axis table 315 in the Y-axis direction. The support block 314 has screw holes 318 at four positions, and the correction θ table 303 is fixed to the support block 314 through the screw holes 318 at these four positions.

The correction X-axis table 315 is composed of an X-axis air slider 320, an X-axis linear motor 321, and an X-axis linear scale 32 attached to the X-axis air slider 320.
It is composed of 2 and. Similarly, the correction Y-axis table 3
Reference numeral 16 is composed of a Y-axis air slider 323, a Y-axis linear motor 324, and a Y-axis linear scale 325 attached to the Y-axis air slider 323. Reference numerals 326 and 327 in the figure denote an X-axis cable bear and a Y-axis cable bear, respectively, and reference numerals 328 and 3 respectively.
28 is an amplifier of both linear motors 321 and 324.

As shown in FIGS. 37, 38 and 39, the arm unit 304 includes a pair of engagement arms 33 that engage with the pair of engagement holes 76 of the head holding member 4.
1, 331, a bracket 332 that supports the pair of engaging arms 331 and 331, an arm elevating mechanism 333 that elevates and lowers the bracket 332, and a support base 334 that supports the arm elevating mechanism 333. Support 334
Is a fixing plate 336 fixed to the correction θ table 303.
And a pair of L-shaped arms 3 extending forward from the fixed plate 336.
37, 337 and a vertical plate 338 fixed to the front ends of the pair of L-shaped arms 337, 337, and extend forward in an inverted “L” shape.

The arm lifting mechanism 333 is composed of the bracket 33.
The vertical slider 340 is configured to support the vertical movement of the vertical slider 340, and an air cylinder 341 that is fixed to a lower portion of the vertical plate 338 to vertically move the vertical slider 340. The air cylinder 341 is connected to the above-mentioned air supply device 203 and moves the bracket 332 up and down by switching the air valve or the like using the elevating slider 340 as a guide.
The bracket 332 is formed in an “L” shape and has a forked end. The engaging arms 331 and 331 are attached to the bifurcated portions so as to face downward.

As shown in FIG. 40, each engagement arm 331 includes an engagement pin 343 inserted into the engagement hole 76 of the head holding member 4, and a pin holder 344 for holding the engagement pin 343 in a vertically movable manner. , And a coil spring 345 that is built in the pin holder 344 and biases the engagement pin 343 downward. The upper end of the pin holder 344 has a bracket 332.
It is fixed so as to be fitted from below. The tip of the engagement pin 343 is formed in a tapered shape,
The tapered portion 347 is formed in the engagement hole 7 of the head holding member 4.
6, the base end side is formed with a large diameter and the tip end side is formed with a small diameter. As a result, the engagement pin 343 is engaged with the engagement hole 76 without rattling.

In the initial state, both engaging arms 331,
331 is moved to the rising end position by the air cylinder 341, and after moving the head unit 1 by the unit moving device 211 and lowering both the engaging arms 331, 331 by the air cylinder 341, the pair of engagements The pins 343 and 343 engage with the desired engagement holes 76 and 76 of the head holding member 4. In addition, the air cylinder 34
1 is timer-controlled by the control device 215, and presses the position-corrected head holding member 4 on the carriage 2 as it is until the adhesive applied by the temporary fixing device 213 is solidified.

That is, the air cylinder 341 in which both the engaging arms 331 and 331 are lowered is the head holding member 4
After the position is corrected and the adhesive is applied (details will be described later), both engaging arms 331 and 331 are raised to their original positions when the adhesive coagulation time (time to reach a predetermined adhesive strength) elapses. Let In this embodiment, the engagement pin 3
43 is biased by the coil spring 345,
The coil spring 345 may be omitted and the engaging pin 343 and the pin holder 344 may be integrated into a simple structure.

In the above construction, when both engaging arms 331 and 331 of the arm unit 304 descend and engage with the head holding member 4, the correction θ table 303 and the correction X / Y table 302 are driven. , Head holding member 4
The droplet discharge head 3 is positioned via. Then, this positioning state is maintained until the adhesive is solidified.
That is, both engagement arms 33 of the arm unit 304
1, 331 press the head holding member 4 toward the carriage 2 in the positionally determined state, and the temporary fixing device (adhesion) 213 faces the head holding member 4.

Next, the recognition device 214 will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 24 and 41, the recognition device 214 is
Camera stand 351 fixed on the correction device stand 301 so as to straddle the front of the correction XY table 302
And a camera position adjusting unit 352 fixed to the front of the camera stand 351 and a camera position adjusting unit 352.
A pair of recognition cameras (CCD cameras) 35 attached to
3, 353. In this case, the pair of recognition cameras 353 and 353 are fixedly provided for the head unit (alignment mask D) 1 to be recognized.

The camera stand 351 has a pair of left and right leg piece members 355, 355 extending forward in an inverted "L" shape, and a horizontally long front plate 356 extending between the pair of leg piece members 355, 355. ing. Camera position adjustment unit 3
The pair of recognition cameras 353 and 353 fixed to the front plate 356 via 52 are arranged at a position slightly higher than the pair of engagement arms 331 and 331 of the head correction device 212, and at a position protruding slightly forward. It is provided (see FIG. 25) to prevent interference with the engagement arm 331.

As shown in FIGS. 41 to 44, the camera position adjusting unit 352 includes a Z-axis adjusting plate 358 attached to the front plate 356 and a Z-axis adjusting plate 35.
8, a micro stage 359 attached to the lower end of the camera 8, and a left camera holder 36 for holding the left recognition camera 353a.
0 and a right camera holder 361 that holds the right recognition camera 353b. Z-axis adjustment plate 358
Has a pair of vertically extending guide rails 362 and 362 between itself and the front plate 356, and the adjustment bolt 36 abutted against the upper end of the front plate 356.
Have three. By rotating the adjusting bolt 363 forward and backward, the vertical positions of the recognition cameras 353 and 353 can be adjusted via the Z-axis adjusting plate 358.

The micro stage 359 supports the X-axis stage 365 that supports the right recognition camera 353b via the right camera holder 361, and the Y-axis that supports the X-axis stage 365 and is fixed to the lower end of the Z-axis adjusting plate 358. And a stage 366. X-axis stage 36
5 is configured such that the right recognition camera 353b can be finely moved in the X-axis direction, and the position of the right recognition camera 353b in the front-rear direction can be adjusted. Similarly, Y
The shaft stage 366 is configured so that the position of the right recognition camera 353b in the left-right direction can be adjusted.

On the other hand, the left camera holder 360 is fixed to the lower end of the Z-axis adjusting plate 358. For this reason,
The position of the recognition camera 353b on the right side is adjusted by the micro stage 359 with respect to the recognition camera 353a on the left side fixedly provided via the left camera holder 360. As described above, the left and right recognition cameras 353a, 35
Since 3b simultaneously recognizes the positions of the two ejection heads 57a, 57a, the distance between the left and right recognition cameras 353a, 353b, that is, the distance between the visual fields, is set by the microstage 359 in advance when handling a new droplet ejection head 3. Is adjusted. Note that reference numeral 367 in the drawing is a camera cover that integrally covers the camera position adjustment unit 352 and both recognition cameras 353 and 353.

In the recognition device 214 thus constructed, the recognition camera 353 on one side and the unit moving mechanism 211 are arranged.
The position of the two reference marks (reference pins 12, 12) 26, 26 of the carriage 2 is recognized in cooperation with the X-axis table 271. That is, one recognition camera 353 recognizes the image of one reference pin 12, and then the carriage 2 moves in the X-axis direction to recognize the image of the other reference pin 12. Then, based on the recognition result, the unit moving device 211 corrects the position of the carriage (head unit 1) 2, and the position is recognized again for confirmation.

Further, the pair of recognition cameras 353, 353 simultaneously recognizes the positions of the two discharge nozzles 57a, 57a serving as the reference of each droplet discharge head 3. That is, the corresponding droplet discharge head 3 is a pair of recognition cameras 35.
Move to the position directly below 3,353 to remove the two ejection heads 57.
The images a and 57a are simultaneously recognized. Further, in this state, the head correction device 212 faces the head holding member 4, the position of the droplet discharge head 3 is corrected, and the temporary fixing device 213 is used for adhesion. The recognition of the marks 164 and 165 on the alignment mask D
The same is done as above.

Next, the temporary fixing device 213 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 22 and 45, the machine base 20 described above is used.
A shared stand 219 extending in the front-rear direction so as to straddle the correction device stand 301 is provided on the right side of the reference numeral 4, and the temporary fixing device 213 is arranged at the front part of the shared stand 219. The temporary fixing device 213 includes a rectangular support plate 372 supported by the shared stand 219 by four stays 371, an air table 373 fixed to the lower surface of the rectangular support plate 372, and an adhesive application fixed to the tip of the air table 373. A device 374 and an adhesive tray 375 facing the adhesive application device 374 moved to the home position from below are provided. The adhesive tray 375 is
It is fixed to the common stand 219 and receives the adhesive dripping from the adhesive application device 374.

As shown in FIGS. 45 to 49, the air table 373 includes a Y-axis air table 377 attached to the rectangular support plate 372 and a Y-axis air table 3.
Sub Y-axis air table 37 attached to the tip of 77
8, an X-axis air table 379 attached to the tip of the sub Y-axis air table 378, and a Z-axis air table 380 attached to the tip of the X-axis air table 379.
It consists of and. The Y-axis air table 377, the sub-Y-axis air table 378, the X-axis air table 379, and the Z-axis air table 380 are all air cylinders 377a, 378a, 379a, 380a connected to the air supply device 203. When,
It is composed of sliders 377b, 378b, 379b and 380b.

The adhesive application device 374 includes a vertical support plate 382 fixed to the Z-axis air table 380, a pair of left and right horizontal support blocks 383 and 383 projecting forward from the lower portion of the vertical support plate 382, and each horizontal support block 383. Support block 3
A pair of dispenser units 384 attached to 83
384 and a dispenser controller 385 supported by the shared stand 219. The pair of dispenser units 384, 384 includes the pair of engaging arms 331, 331 and the pair of recognition cameras 353, 3 respectively.
It is arranged so as to face 53 from the front.

Each dispenser unit 384 has a dispenser 388 having an adhesive injection nozzle 387 attached to the tip thereof.
A cartridge type syringe 389 for supplying an adhesive to the dispenser 388, and a dispenser holder 390 for holding the dispenser 388 and the syringe 389. The dispenser holder 390 is attached to the tip end of the horizontal support block 383 so that the angle can be adjusted. In the present embodiment, the adhesive injection nozzle 387 is adjusted so as to be inclined about 45 degrees with respect to the horizontal. The horizontal support blocks 383 are fixed to the vertical support plate 382 so that the positions thereof can be adjusted in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction.

As described above, for the adhesive, the two adhesive injection nozzles 387 and 387 described above are used, and one of the two adhesive injection holes 77a and 77 that forms a pair with the head holding member 4 is used.
A is injected (applied) at the same time into a, and after both adhesive injection nozzles 387 and 387 have been moved in the Y-axis direction, they are simultaneously injected (applied) into the other two non-adhesive injection holes 77b and 77b which are paired. ) Will be done. Therefore, the distance between the adhesive injection nozzles 387 and 387 is set so that the adhesive injection holes 77a (77b) and 77a forming a pair in the head holding member 4 are separated from each other.
It corresponds to the separation dimension of (77b). Further, each adhesive injection nozzle 387 having a predetermined inclination angle is inserted into the adhesive injection hole 77, which is a long hole, and injects the adhesive by spraying on the inner peripheral surface thereof.

By the way, the head compensating device 212 keeps the head holding member 4 as it is after the positioning operation is completed.
Is pressed against the carriage 2 to hold it immovably. On the other hand, the X-axis air table 379
And the Y-axis air table 377 is driven to move the two adhesive injection nozzles 387 and 387 to the head holding member 4.
The two adhesive injection holes 77a, 77a are moved to directly above. At this point, the Z-axis air table 380 is driven,
The adhesive injection nozzles 387 and 387 of the book are simultaneously inserted into the two adhesive injection holes 77a and 77a.

Next, the syringe 389 injects a predetermined amount of adhesive (adjusted by the dispenser controller 385) from the two adhesive injection nozzles 387 and 387.
Subsequently, the Z-axis air table 380 raises the two adhesive injection nozzles 387 and 387 and drives the sub Y-axis air table 378 to move the two adhesive injection nozzles 387 and 387 to the other side. It is moved directly above the two adhesive injection holes 77b, 77b. In this case, the two pairs of adhesive injection holes 77 in the head holding member 4 are paired.
Since the distance between a (77b) and 77a (77b) is constant, the Y-axis air table 377 is stopped and only the sub Y-axis air table 378 is driven here.

Next, again, the adhesive injection nozzles 387, 3
After raising 87, the temporary fixing device 213 is stopped to wait for the adhesive to set. When the solidification time has elapsed, the head correction device 212 releases the engagement with the head holding member 4, and the temporary fixing (positioning and bonding) work of any one droplet discharge head 3 is completed. Then, the positioning and bonding work of the droplet discharge head 3 by the cooperation of the head correction device 212 and the temporary fixing device 213 is repeated 12 times to complete the temporary fixing of the droplet discharge head 3.
The head correction device 212 and the temporary fixing device 213 respectively return to the home position.

Here, referring to FIG. 50, the controller 21
5 and a series of assembling procedures of the head unit 1 based on the control device 215. As shown in the block diagram of the figure, the control system in the control device 215 includes a unit moving device 211, an input unit 402 for inputting design position data and the like of the carriage 2 and the droplet discharge head 3 through the operation panel 401. A driving unit 403 having various drivers for driving the constituent devices of
Detection unit 404 that performs position recognition by the recognition camera 353
And a control unit 40 for integrally controlling each component of the assembly apparatus A
5 and.

The drive unit 403 is the unit moving device 211.
Driver 407 for driving and controlling each motor of No. 2, a correction driver 408 for driving and controlling each motor of the head correcting device 212, and an air driver 409 for driving and controlling each air cylinder of the air table 373 in the temporary fixing device 213. And a dispenser controller 385 that controls the dispenser unit 384 in the temporary fixing device 213.

The control unit 405 has a CPU 411 and a ROM 4
12, RAM 413 and P-CON 414, which are connected to each other via a bus 415. The ROM 412 has a control data area for storing various control data in addition to the control program for storing the control program processed by the CPU 411. RAM4
13 is position data input from the outside or the recognition camera 3
Reference numeral 53 has a position data area for storing master position data and the like obtained from the alignment mask D, and various register groups, and is used as a work area for control processing.

The P-CON 414 complements the function of the CPU 411 and incorporates a logic circuit and a timer 416 for handling interface signals with peripheral circuits. Therefore, the P-CON 414 is installed on the operation panel 40.
1, and various commands from the input unit 402 are input to the bus 415 as they are or after being processed. Also, P-
The CON 414 cooperates with the CPU 411 to
The data and control signals output to the bus 415 from the above or the like are output to the drive unit as they are or after being processed.

Then, the CPU 411 has the above-described configuration and operates in accordance with the control program in the ROM 412.
Various detection signals, various commands, various data, etc. are input via the -CON 414, various data in the RAM 413 are processed, and control signals are output to the drive unit 403 via the P-CON 414. As a result, the unit moving device 211, the head correction device 212, the temporary fixing device 213, and other assembling devices A
The whole is controlled.

For example, the master position data of the alignment mask D obtained from the recognition camera 353 and the unit position data of the head unit 1 obtained from the recognition camera 353 are stored in the RAM 413, and the master position is stored according to the control program in the ROM 412. The data and the unit position data are compared, and the unit moving device 211, the head correction device 212, etc. are controlled based on the comparison result.

Here, an assembling method of the head unit 1 by the assembling apparatus A of the embodiment will be described step by step. In this assembling apparatus A, the alignment mask D is first introduced before the introduction of the head unit 1. When the alignment mask D is set on the set table 231, the unit moving device 211 is driven so that one carriage reference mark 165 of the alignment mask D faces one recognition camera 353 and one carriage reference mark 165 is recognized. To do. Next, the unit moving device 21
The first X-axis table 271 is driven, the other carriage reference mark 165 is made to face the recognition camera 353, and the position of the other carriage reference mark 165 is recognized.

Next, the unit moving device 211 is driven,
The head reference mark 164 located at the end of the alignment mask D is made to face the pair of recognition cameras 353 and 353 at the same time, and the positions of the two head reference marks 164 and 164 are recognized at the same time. This is repeated in order to obtain 12 sets of head reference marks 1 corresponding to 12 droplet discharge heads 3.
The position of 64 is recognized. In this way, when the position recognition of the alignment mask D is completed, the alignment mask D
Is returned to the home position, and the head unit 1 is placed on the set table 231.

Here, the head unit 1 is moved in the same procedure as described above, the positions of the pair of reference pins 12, 12 of the carriage 2 are first recognized, and based on this recognition result,
The position of the carriage (head unit 1) 2 is corrected by the unit moving device 211. Next, in the same procedure as described above, the head main body (head holding member 4) 50 of the first droplet discharge head 3 is made to face the pair of engaging arms 331 of the head correction device 212, and the head holding member 4 is attached. The engagement arm 331 is engaged. Here, the pair of recognition cameras 35
The positions of the two ejection nozzles 57a, 57a serving as the position reference of the head body 50 are recognized by 3,353.

Next, the head correction device 212 is driven to position the droplet discharge head 3 via the head holding member 4 based on the above recognition result. Then, in this positioning state, the temporary fixing device 213 is driven to expose the pair of adhesive injection nozzles 387, 387 to the head holding member 4,
Inject adhesive. The adhesive is injected by the temporary fixing device 21.
It is performed twice with the movement of the adhesive injection nozzle 387 by the third sub Y-axis air cylinder 378. When the injection of the adhesive is completed, the adhesive of the head correction device 212 with respect to the head holding member 4 is released after the adhesive is cured by the timer control.

In this way, the positioning and temporary fixing of the first droplet discharge head 3 are completed, and this work is performed in the second
Repeat from the 12th to the 12th droplet discharge head 3.
Then, finally, the unit moving device 211, the head correction device 212, and the temporary fixing device 213 are returned to their home positions, respectively, and the assembled head unit 1 is removed from the set table 231. After that, head unit 1
After cleaning the droplet discharge head 3, the components such as the handle 14 and the both assemblies 15 and 16 are incorporated into the droplet discharge head 3, and the droplet discharge head 3 is carried to the drawing apparatus B.

In this embodiment, the droplet discharge head 3
Is adhered to the carriage 2 via the head holding member 4,
The adhesion part is made to be metal-metal adhesion,
The droplet discharge head 3 may be directly bonded to the carriage 2.

By the way, the head unit assembling apparatus and the head unit 1 assembled by the head unit assembling apparatus of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned drawing apparatus B, but also various flat display manufacturing methods and various electronic device and optical device manufacturing methods. Etc. are also applicable. Therefore, a manufacturing method using the head unit 1 will be described by taking a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal display device and a manufacturing method of an organic EL device as examples.

FIG. 51 is a partially enlarged view of a color filter of a liquid crystal display device. 51 (a) is a plan view, and FIG. 51 (b) is a sectional view taken along the line BB ′ of FIG. 51 (a).
The hatching of each part of the cross-sectional view is partially omitted.

As shown in FIG. 51A, the color filter 500 has pixels (filter elements) 512 arranged in a matrix, and the boundaries between pixels are separated by partitions 513. One of the pixels 512
For example, any one of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) ink (filter material) is introduced. In this example, the arrangement of red, green and blue is so-called mosaic arrangement, but other arrangement such as stripe arrangement and delta arrangement may be used.

As shown in FIG. 51 (b), the color filter 500 comprises a light-transmissive substrate 511 and a light-shielding partition 513. The portion where the partition 513 is not formed (removed) constitutes the pixel 512. The ink of each color introduced into the pixel 512 constitutes the coloring layer 521. An overcoat layer 522 and an electrode layer 523 are formed on the upper surfaces of the partition 513 and the coloring layer 521.

FIG. 52 is a manufacturing process sectional view illustrating the method for manufacturing a color filter according to the embodiment of the present invention.
The hatching of each part of the cross-sectional view is partially omitted.

Thickness 0.7 mm, height 38 cm, width 30 c
The surface of the transparent substrate 511 made of non-alkali glass of m is washed with a cleaning liquid containing 1% by weight of hydrogen peroxide in hot concentrated sulfuric acid, rinsed with pure water, and then air-dried to obtain a cleaned surface. On this surface, a chromium film is formed with an average film thickness of 0.2 μm by a sputtering method to obtain a metal layer 514 ′ (FIG. 52: S1).

After drying this substrate on a hot plate at 80 ° C. for 5 minutes, a photoresist layer (not shown) is formed on the surface of the metal layer 514 ′ by spin coating. A mask film on which a desired matrix pattern shape is drawn is brought into close contact with the surface of the substrate and exposed with ultraviolet rays. Next, this is immersed in an alkali developing solution containing potassium hydroxide in a proportion of 8% by weight to remove the photoresist in the unexposed portion and pattern the resist layer. Subsequently, the exposed metal layer is removed by etching with an etching solution containing hydrochloric acid as a main component. In this way, the light shielding layer (black matrix) 514 having a predetermined matrix pattern can be obtained (FIG. 52: S2). The thickness of the light shielding layer 514 is approximately 0.2 μm. Also,
The width of the light shielding layer 514 is approximately 22 μm.

On this substrate, a negative type transparent acrylic photosensitive resin composition 515 'is further applied by the spin coating method (FIG. 52: S3). 20 at 100 ℃
After pre-baking for a minute, UV exposure is performed using a mask film on which a predetermined matrix pattern shape is drawn. The resin in the unexposed portion is also developed with an alkaline developer, rinsed with pure water, and then spin-dried. After-baking as final drying is performed at 200 ° C. for 30 minutes to sufficiently cure the resin portion, whereby the bank layer 515 is formed and the partition 513 including the light shielding layer 514 and the bank layer 515 is formed (FIG. 52: S4). ). The bank layer 515 has an average film thickness of 2.7 μm. The width of the bank layer 515 is about 14 μm.

Obtained light-shielding layer 514 and bank layer 51
The colored layer formation region partitioned by 5 (especially the glass substrate 511
In order to improve the ink wettability of the exposed surface), dry etching, that is, plasma treatment is performed. In particular,
A high voltage is applied to a mixed gas of helium and 20% oxygen to form an etching spot in a plasma atmosphere, and the substrate is etched by passing under the etching spot.

Next, in the pixel 512 formed by being divided by the partition 513, the above-mentioned R (red), G (green) and B (blue) are provided.
Each ink is introduced by an inkjet method (Fig. 5).
2: S5). Droplet ejection head (inkjet head)
The precision head which applied the piezo piezoelectric effect is used for
Ten minute ink droplets are selectively ejected for each colored layer formation region. The drive frequency is set to 14.4 kHz, that is, the ejection interval of each ink droplet is set to 69.5 μsec. The distance between the head and the target is set to 0.3 mm. In order to prevent the flying velocity from the head to the target colored layer formation area, flight bending, and the generation of split stray droplets called satellites, in addition to the physical properties of the ink, the waveform that drives the piezoelectric element of the head (including voltage )is important. Therefore,
By programming a pre-set waveform, ink droplets are simultaneously applied to three colors of red, green, and blue, and the ink is applied to a predetermined color arrangement pattern.

As the ink (filter material), for example, after dispersing an inorganic pigment in a polyurethane resin oligomer, cyclohexanone and butyl acetate are added as a low boiling point solvent, butyl carbitol acetate is added as a high boiling point solvent, and a nonionic interface is added. 0.01% by weight of an activator is added as a dispersant to give a viscosity of 6 to 8 centipoise.

Next, the applied ink is dried. First, the ink layer 516 is set by leaving it in a natural atmosphere for 3 hours, and then the ink layer 516 is set on a hot plate at 80 ° C. for 4 hours.
The ink layer 516 is heated for 0 minutes, and finally in an oven at 200 ° C. for 30 minutes to cure the ink layer 516.
21 is obtained (FIG. 52: S6).

A transparent acrylic resin paint is spin-coated on the substrate to form an overcoat layer 522 having a smooth surface. In addition, ITO (Indium Tin Oxi
de) to form an electrode layer 523 of a desired pattern,
The color filter 500 is used (FIG. 52: S7).

FIG. 53 is a sectional view of a color liquid crystal display device which is an example of an electro-optical device (flat display) manufactured by the manufacturing method of the present invention. The hatching of each part of the cross-sectional view is partially omitted.

This color liquid crystal display device 550 is manufactured by combining the color filter 500 and the counter substrate 566 and enclosing the liquid crystal composition 565 between them. TFT (thin film transistor) elements (not shown) and pixel electrodes 563 are formed in a matrix on the inner surface of one substrate 566 of the liquid crystal display device 550. Further, as the other substrate, a color filter 500 is installed so that the red, green, and blue colored layers 521 are arranged at positions facing the pixel electrodes 563.

Alignment films 561 and 564 are formed on the surfaces of the substrate 566 and the color filter 500 that face each other. The alignment films 561 and 564 are subjected to rubbing treatment, and liquid crystal molecules can be aligned in a fixed direction. In addition, the substrate 566 and the color filter 500
Polarizing plates 562 and 567 are adhered to the outer surface of each. As a backlight, a combination of a fluorescent lamp (not shown) and a scattering plate is generally used.
Display is performed by causing the liquid crystal composition 565 to function as an optical shutter that changes the transmittance of backlight light.

The electro-optical device is not limited to the color liquid crystal display device described above in the present invention. For example, a small television using a thin cathode ray tube or a liquid crystal shutter,
Various electro-optical means such as an EL display device, a plasma display, a CRT display, and an FED (Field Emission Display) panel can be used.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 52 to 66, an organic EL (display device) of the organic EL device and a manufacturing method thereof will be described.

(1) First Embodiment FIGS. 54 to 58 are views showing the first embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment shows an active display using an EL display element. This is applied to a matrix type display device. More specifically, an example in which a light emitting material as an optical material is applied using a scanning line, a signal line, and a common power supply line as wiring is shown.

FIG. 54 is a circuit diagram showing a part of the display device 600 according to the present embodiment.
00 is a plurality of scanning lines 631 on a transparent display substrate,
A plurality of signal lines 632 extending in a direction intersecting with the scanning lines 631 and a plurality of common power supply lines 633 extending in parallel with the signal lines 632 are respectively wired, and the scanning lines 631 and the signals are provided. A pixel area element 600A is provided for each intersection of the line 632.

For the signal line 632, a data side drive circuit 601 including a shift register, a level shifter, a video line, and an analog switch is provided.

For the scanning line 631, the scanning side drive circuit 60 including a shift register and a level shifter.
Two are provided. Furthermore, the pixel area 600A
Each of the switching thin film transistors 643 to which a scanning signal is supplied to the gate electrode via the scanning line 631.
A holding capacitor cap for holding an image signal supplied from the signal line 632 via the switching thin film transistor 643; a current thin film transistor 644 to which the image signal held by the holding capacitor cap is supplied to the gate electrode; A pixel electrode 642 into which a driving current flows from the common power supply line 633 when electrically connected to the common power supply line 633 via the thin film transistor 644;
A light emitting element 641 sandwiched between the pixel electrode 642 and the reflective electrode 652 is provided.

With such a configuration, when the scanning line 631 is driven and the switching thin film transistor 643 is turned on, the potential of the signal line 632 at that time is held in the holding capacitor cap, and the current is changed according to the state of the holding capacitor cap. The on / off state of the thin film transistor 644 is determined. Then, a current flows from the common power supply line 633 to the pixel electrode 642 through the channel of the current thin film transistor 644, and further a current flows to the reflective electrode 652 through the light emitting element 641, so that the light emitting element 641 responds to the amount of current flowing therethrough. To emit light.

Here, in the planar structure of each pixel region 600A, as shown in FIG. 55 which is an enlarged plan view with the reflective electrode and the light emitting element removed, the four sides of the pixel electrode 642 having a rectangular planar shape are , Signal line 632, common power supply line 63
3, the scanning line 631 and the scanning lines for other pixel electrodes (not shown).

56 to 58 show the pixel area 600A.
FIG. 55 is a cross-sectional view showing the manufacturing process in sequence of FIG.
Corresponds to the A line cross section. The manufacturing process of the pixel region 600A will be described below with reference to FIGS.

First, as shown in FIG. 57 (a), a transparent display substrate 621 is provided with TEOS if necessary.
The thickness is about 2000 to 500 by plasma CVD using (tetraethoxysilane) or oxygen gas as a source gas.
A base protection film (not shown) made of a silicon oxide film of 0 angstrom is formed. Then, the display substrate 621
The temperature is set to about 350 ° C., and a semiconductor film 700 made of an amorphous silicon film having a thickness of about 300 to 700 angstrom is formed on the surface of the base protection film by the plasma CVD method. Next, the semiconductor film 700 made of an amorphous silicon film is subjected to a crystallization process such as laser annealing or solid phase growth method to crystallize the semiconductor film 700 into a polysilicon film. In the laser annealing method, for example, a line beam having an excimer laser beam length of 400 mm is used, and its output intensity is, for example, 200 mJ.
/ Cm ² . As for the line beam, the line beam is scanned so that a portion corresponding to 90% of the peak value of the laser intensity in the short direction overlaps each region.

Next, as shown in FIG. 56 (b), the semiconductor film 700 is patterned to form an island-shaped semiconductor film 710.
And plasma CVD using TEOS (tetraethoxysilane) or oxygen gas as the source gas on the surface
Gate insulating film 72 made of a silicon oxide film or a nitride film having a thickness of about 600 to 1500 angstroms
Form 0. Note that the semiconductor film 710 serves as a channel region and a source / drain region of the current thin film transistor 644, but semiconductor films serving as a channel region and a source / drain region of the switching thin film transistor 643 are also formed at different cross-sectional positions. . That is, in the manufacturing process shown in FIGS. 56 to 58, the two types of transistors 643 and 644 are manufactured at the same time, but since they are manufactured by the same procedure, the following description will be made.
Regarding the transistor, the current thin film transistor 6
Only the switch 44 will be described, and the description of the switching thin film transistor 643 will be omitted.

Next, as shown in FIG. 56 (c), a conductive film made of a metal film of aluminum, tantalum, molypden, titanium, tungsten or the like is formed by a sputtering method and then patterned to form a gate electrode 644A. .

In this state, high-temperature phosphorus ions are implanted, and the silicon thin film 710 is self-aligned with the gate electrode 644A in the source / drain regions 644a, 64.
4b is formed. Note that a portion where impurities are not introduced becomes a channel region 644c.

Next, as shown in FIG. 56 (d), after forming an interlayer insulating film 730, the contact hole 73 is formed.
1, 732 are formed, and the contact holes 731,
Relay electrodes 733 and 734 are embedded in 732.

Next, as shown in FIG. 56 (e), a signal line 632 and a common power supply line 633 are formed on the interlayer insulating film 730.
And scan lines (not shown in FIG. 56) are formed. At this time, the wirings of the signal line 632, the common power supply line 633, and the scanning line are formed sufficiently thick without being caught by the thickness necessary for the wiring. Specifically, 1 to 2 of each wiring
It is formed to a thickness of about μm. Here, the relay electrode 734 and each wiring may be formed in the same process. At this time,
The relay electrode 733 will be formed of an ITO film described later.

Then, an interlayer insulating film 740 is formed so as to cover the upper surface of each wiring, a contact hole 741 is formed at a position corresponding to the relay electrode 733, and the ITO film is also embedded in the contact hole 741. And the ITO film is patterned to form a signal line 632,
A pixel electrode 642 electrically connected to the source / drain region 644a is formed at a predetermined position surrounded by the common power supply line 633 and the scanning line.

Here, in FIG. 56 (e), the signal line 63
The portion narrowed by 2 and the common feed line 633 corresponds to a predetermined position where the optical material is selectively arranged. The signal line 63 is provided between the predetermined position and its surroundings.
A step 611 is formed by 2 and the common power supply line 633. Specifically, a concave step 611 is formed in which the predetermined position is lower than the surroundings.

Next, as shown in FIG. 57 (a), with the upper surface of the display substrate 621 facing upward, the hole injection layer corresponding to the lower layer portion of the light emitting element 641 is formed by the ink jet head method. A liquid (solution form dissolved in a solvent) optical material (precursor) 612A is discharged, and this is selectively applied within a region (predetermined position) surrounded by the step 611.

As the material for forming the hole injection layer, polyphenylene vinylene whose polymer precursor is polytetrahydrothiophenylphenylene, 1,1-bis- (4-N, N-ditolylaminophenyl) cyclohexane, tris. (8-Hydroxyquinolinol) aluminum and the like can be mentioned.

At this time, the liquid precursor 612A tends to spread in the horizontal direction because of its high fluidity, but since the step 611 is formed so as to surround the applied position, the liquid precursor 612A is formed. Unless the coating amount of 612A applied once is extremely large, the liquid precursor 612A is prevented from spreading over the predetermined position beyond the step 611.

Next, as shown in FIG. 57 (b), the solvent of the liquid precursor 612A is evaporated by heating or light irradiation to form a solid thin hole injection layer 641a on the pixel electrode 642. . Here, the liquid precursor 612A
However, only the thin hole injection layer 641a is formed, although it depends on the concentration. Therefore, when a thicker hole injection layer 641a is required, the steps of FIGS. 57 (a) and 57 (b) are repeatedly performed a necessary number of times to obtain a sufficient thickness as shown in FIG. 57 (c). A hole injection layer 641A is formed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 58 (a), with the upper surface of the display substrate 621 facing upward, an ink jet head method is used to form a bombarding semiconductor film corresponding to the upper layer portion of the light emitting element 641. A liquid (solution solution in a solvent) optical material (organic fluorescent material) 612B is discharged, and this is selectively applied within a region (predetermined position) surrounded by the step 611.

Examples of the organic fluorescent material include cyanopolyphenylenevinylene, polyphenylenevinylene, polyalkylphenylene, 2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-11-oxo-1H.5H.11H (1) penzobilano [6.
7,8-ij] -Quinolidine-10-carboxylic acid, 1,
1-bis- (4-N, N-ditolylaminophenyl) cyclohexane, 2-13.4'-dihydroxyphenyl) -3,5,7-trihydroxy-1-benzopyrylium perchlorate, tris (8-hydroxy) (Quinolinol) aluminum, 2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-9-methyl-11-oxo-1H, 5H, 11H (1)
Benzopyrano [6,7,8-Ij] -quinolidine, aromatic diamine derivative (TDP), oxydiazole dimer (OXD), oxydiazole attractant (PB)
D), distilarylene derivative (DSA), quinolinol-based metal complex, beryllium-benzoquinolinol complex (Bebq), triphenylamine derivative (MTDAT)
A), distyryl derivatives, pyrazoline dimers, rubrene, quinacridones, triazole derivatives, polyphenylene, polyalkylfluorenes, polyalkylthiophenes, azomethine zinc complexes, polyfilin zinc complexes, benzoxazole zinc complexes, phenanthroline europium complexes and the like.

At this time, liquid organic fluorescent material 612B
Since it has high fluidity, it also tries to spread in the horizontal direction, but since the step 611 is formed so as to surround the applied position, the application amount of the liquid organic fluorescent material 612B per application is Unless the amount is extremely large, the liquid organic fluorescent material 612B is prevented from crossing the step 611 and spreading outside the predetermined position.

Next, as shown in FIG. 58 (b), the solvent of the liquid organic fluorescent material 612B is evaporated by heating or light irradiation to form a solid thin organic semiconductor film 641b on the hole injection layer 641A. Form. Here, depending on the concentration of the liquid organic fluorescent material 612B, only the thin organic semiconductor film 641b is formed. Therefore, when a thicker organic semiconductor film 641b is required, FIG. 58 (a)
The steps of (b) and (b) are repeatedly performed a required number of times, and as shown in FIG. 58 (c), the organic semiconductor film 641 having a sufficient thickness is formed.
Form B. Hole injection layer 641A and organic semiconductor film 6
The light emitting element 641 is configured by 41B. Finally, as shown in FIG. 58 (d), a reflective electrode 652 is formed on the entire surface of the display substrate 621 or in a stripe shape.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the signal line 632, the common line 633, and the like are formed so as to surround the treatment position where the light emitting element 641 is arranged from four sides, and these lines are normally formed. Since the step 611 is formed thicker than the above, and the liquid precursor 612A and the liquid organic fluorescent material 612B are selectively applied, there is an advantage that the patterning accuracy of the light emitting element 641 is high. .

When the step 611 is formed, the reflection electrode 652 is formed on a surface having relatively large unevenness, but if the thickness of the reflection electrode 652 is increased to some extent, problems such as disconnection may occur. The probability of occurrence is extremely small.

Moreover, since the step 611 is formed by using the wirings such as the signal line 632 and the common wiring 633, the number of new steps is not particularly increased, and the manufacturing steps may be considerably complicated. Absent.

The optical material forming the upper layer portion of the light emitting element 641 is not limited to the organic fluorescent material 612B, but may be an inorganic fluorescent material.

Further, each of the transistors 643 and 644 as a switching element is desirably formed of polycrystalline silicon formed by a low temperature process of 600 ° C. or lower, which reduces the cost by using a glass substrate and increases the cost. Higher performance due to mobility can be achieved at the same time. The switching element may be formed of amorphous silicene or polycrystalline silicon formed by a high temperature process of 600 ° C. or higher.

Then, the switching thin film transistor 6
In addition to 43 and the current thin film transistor 644, a transistor may be provided, or a single transistor may be used for driving.

The step 611 may be formed by the first bus wiring of the passive matrix type display element, the scanning line 631 of the large active matrix type display element, and the light shielding layer.

As the light emitting device 641, the light emitting efficiency (hole injection rate) is slightly lowered, but the hole injection layer 64 is used.
1A may be omitted. Further, instead of the hole injection layer 641A, an electron injection layer is used as the organic semiconductor film 641B and the reflective electrode 65.
And the hole injection layer and the electron injection layer may both be formed.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the entire light emitting elements 641 are selectively arranged has been described, especially in consideration of color display. For example, in the case of the display device 600 for single color display, FIG. As shown in, the organic semiconductor film 641B may be uniformly formed on the entire surface of the display substrate 621. However, even in this case, since the hole injection layer 641A must be selectively arranged at each predetermined position in order to prevent crosstalk, coating using the step 611 is extremely effective.

(2) Second Embodiment FIG. 60 is a view showing a second embodiment of the present invention, which is a passive matrix type display device using an EL display element. It has been applied to.

Incidentally, FIG. 60 (a) is a plan view showing an arrangement relationship between a plurality of first bus wirings 750 and a plurality of second bus wirings 760 arranged in a direction orthogonal to the first bus wirings 750. FIG. 60 (b) is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 60 (a).

The same components as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the duplicated description will be omitted.
Further, since the fine manufacturing process and the like are the same as those in the first embodiment, their illustration and description will be omitted.

That is, in the present embodiment, the insulating film 770 such as SiO _{2 is provided} so as to surround the predetermined position where the light emitting element 641 is arranged. A step 611 is formed between the surroundings.

Even with such a structure, when the liquid precursor 612A and the liquid organic fluorescent material 612B are selectively applied, they flow out to the surroundings, as in the first embodiment. Can be prevented and high-precision patterning can be performed.

(3) Third Embodiment FIG. 61 is a diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the EL This is applied to an active matrix type display device using a display element. More specifically, by forming the step 611 using the pixel electrode 642,
The patterning can be performed with high precision.

Note that the same configuration as the above embodiment has
The same symbols are attached. Further, FIG. 61 is a cross-sectional view showing the middle of the manufacturing process, and the front and rear thereof are substantially the same as those of the first embodiment, and therefore the illustration and description thereof will be omitted.

That is, in the present embodiment, the pixel electrode 642
Is formed thicker than usual, and thereby a step 611 is formed between it and its surroundings. That is, in the present embodiment, a convex step is formed in which the pixel electrode 642 to which the optical material is applied later is higher than its surroundings.

Then, similarly to the first embodiment,
By an inkjet head method, a liquid (solution form of a solution) optical material (precursor) 612A for forming a hole injection layer corresponding to a lower portion of the light emitting element 641 is discharged and applied onto the upper surface of the pixel electrode 642. .

However, unlike the case of the first embodiment, in the state where the display substrate 621 is turned upside down, that is, the upper surface of the pixel electrode 642 to which the liquid precursor 612A is applied is directed downward, The liquid precursor 612A is applied.

Then, the liquid precursor 612A accumulates on the upper surface of the pixel electrode 642 due to gravity and surface tension, and does not spread around it. Therefore, by heating or irradiating light to solidify, a thin hole injection layer similar to that shown in FIG. 57 (b) can be formed, and by repeating this, the hole injection layer is formed. An organic semiconductor film is also formed by the same method.

As described above, in this embodiment, it is possible to improve the patterning accuracy of the light emitting element by applying the liquid optical material by utilizing the convex step 611.

The amount of the liquid optical material accumulated on the upper surface of the pixel electrode 642 may be adjusted by utilizing the inertial force such as the centrifugal force.

(4) Fourth Embodiment FIG. 62 is a diagram showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention, and this embodiment, like the first embodiment, is an EL device. This is applied to an active matrix type display device using a display element. The same components as those in the above embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals. Also, the 62nd
The figure is a cross-sectional view showing the middle of the manufacturing process, and the front and rear thereof are substantially the same as those of the first embodiment, and therefore, illustration and description thereof will be omitted.

That is, in the present embodiment, first, the reflective electrode 652 is formed on the display substrate 621, and then the insulating film is formed on the reflective electrode 652 so as to surround a predetermined position where the light emitting element 641 will be arranged later. 770 is formed, thereby forming a concave step 611 that is lower at a predetermined position than its surroundings.

Then, similarly to the first embodiment,
A light-emitting element 641 is formed by selectively applying a liquid optical material in an area surrounded by the step 611 by an inkjet method.

On the other hand, the peeling layer 65 is formed on the peeling substrate 622.
1, the scanning line 631, the signal line 632, the pixel electrode 6
42, the switching thin film transistor 643, the current thin film transistor 644, and the insulating film 740 are formed.

Finally, the structure peeled from the peeling layer 622 on the peeling substrate 622 is transferred onto the display substrate 621.

As described above, also in this embodiment, since the liquid optical material is applied by utilizing the step 611, highly accurate patterning can be performed. Further, in this embodiment mode, damage to a base material such as the light-emitting element 641 in a subsequent step, or scanning lines 631, signal lines 632, pixel electrodes 642, switching thin film transistors 643. Damage to the current thin film transistor 644 or the insulating film 740 due to application of an optical material or the like can be reduced.

In the present embodiment, an active matrix type display element has been described, but a passive matrix type display element may be used.

(5) Fifth Embodiment FIG. 63 is a diagram showing a sixth embodiment of the present invention, and this embodiment, like the first embodiment, is an EL device. This is applied to an active matrix type display device using a display element. The same components as those in the above embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals. Also, the 63rd
The figure is a cross-sectional view showing the middle of the manufacturing process, and the front and rear thereof are substantially the same as those of the first embodiment, and therefore, illustration and description thereof will be omitted.

That is, in this embodiment, the interlayer insulating film 74
0 is used to form the concave step 611, so that the same effect as that of the first embodiment is obtained.

Further, the step 6 is formed by utilizing the interlayer insulating film 740.
Since 11 is formed, there is no particular increase in new steps, so that the manufacturing process is not significantly complicated.

(6) Sixth Embodiment FIG. 64 is a diagram showing a sixth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the EL This is applied to an active matrix type display device using a display element. The same components as those in the above embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals. Also, the 64th
The figure is a cross-sectional view showing the middle of the manufacturing process, and the front and rear thereof are substantially the same as those of the first embodiment, and therefore, illustration and description thereof will be omitted.

That is, in the present embodiment, the patterning accuracy is not improved by utilizing the step, but "the hydrophilicity at a predetermined position where the liquid optical material is applied is relatively higher than the hydrophilicity around it. By making it strong, the applied liquid optical material is prevented from spreading to the surroundings.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 64, after forming the interlayer insulating film 740, the amorphous silicon layer 653 is formed on the upper surface thereof. Amorphous silicon layer 653
Has relatively stronger water repellency than the ITO forming the pixel electrode 642, and here, the hydrophilicity of the surface of the pixel electrode 642 is relatively stronger than the hydrophilicity of the periphery thereof, and the distribution of the water repellency / hydrophilicity. Is formed.

Then, as in the first embodiment,
A light emitting element 641 is formed by selectively applying a liquid optical material by an inkjet method toward the upper surface of the pixel electrode 642, and finally a reflective electrode is formed.

As described above, even in this embodiment, since the liquid optical material is applied after the desired water-repellent / lyophilic distribution is formed, the patterning accuracy is improved. be able to.

It goes without saying that the present embodiment can also be applied to a passive matrix type display element.

Further, a peeling layer 651 is formed on the peeling substrate 621.
The structure may be transferred to the display substrate 621 via the process.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the desired water-repellent / hydrophilic distribution is formed by the amorphous silicon layer 653. However, the water-repellent / hydrophilic distribution is such that the metal or the anodic oxide film is used. An insulating film such as polyimide or silicon oxide,
It may be formed of another material. Note that the passive matrix display element may be formed using the first bus wiring, and the active matrix display element may be formed using the scan line 631, the signal line 632, the pixel electrode 642, the insulating film 740, or the light shielding layer.

Further, although the present embodiment has been described on the premise that the liquid optical material is an aqueous solution, it may be a liquid optical material using a solution of another liquid. In that case, The liquid repellency and lyophilicity of the solution may be obtained.

(7) Seventh Embodiment In the seventh embodiment of the present invention, the sectional area is the same as that shown in FIG. 63 used in the fifth embodiment. explain.

That is, in the present embodiment, the interlayer insulating film 74
0 is formed of SiO ₂ , its surface is irradiated with ultraviolet rays, and thereafter the surface of the pixel electrode 642 is exposed, and a liquid optical material is selectively applied.

With such a manufacturing process, the step 611 is formed.
Not only is formed, but also a strong liquid-repellent distribution is formed along the surface of the interlayer insulating film 740, so that the applied liquid optical material has a difference in level between the step 611 and the liquid-repellent property of the interlayer insulating film 740. Both actions make it easy to accumulate at a predetermined position. That is, since the effects of both the fifth embodiment and the sixth embodiment are exhibited, the patterning accuracy of the light emitting element 641 can be further improved.

The timing of irradiating the ultraviolet rays may be before or after exposing the surface of the pixel electrode 642,
It may be appropriately selected depending on the material forming the interlayer insulating film 740, the material forming the pixel electrode 642, and the like. By the way, when the ultraviolet rays are applied to the area where the surface of the pixel electrode 642 is exposed, the inner wall surface of the step 611 does not have strong liquid repellency. Therefore, it is necessary to store the liquid optical material in the area surrounded by the step 611. It is advantageous. On the contrary, when the ultraviolet rays are irradiated after the surface of the pixel electrode 642 is exposed, it is necessary to vertically irradiate the ultraviolet rays so that the inner wall surface of the step 611 is not strongly liquid repellent. Since ultraviolet rays are irradiated after the etching step for exposing the surface of the electrode 642, there is an advantage that there is no concern that the liquid repellency is weakened by the etching step.

As a material for forming the interlayer insulating film 740, for example, photoresist or polyimide may be used, which has an advantage that the film can be formed by spin coating.

Depending on the material forming the interlayer insulating film 740, the liquid repellency may be strengthened by irradiating plasma such as O ₂ , CF ₃ , Ar or the like instead of irradiating with ultraviolet light. Good.

(8) Eighth Embodiment FIG. 65 is a diagram showing an eighth embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is similar to the first embodiment described above in EL This is applied to an active matrix type display device using a display element. The same components as those in the above embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals. Also, the 65th
The figure is a cross-sectional view showing the middle of the manufacturing process, and the front and rear thereof are substantially the same as those of the first embodiment, and therefore, illustration and description thereof will be omitted.

That is, in the present embodiment, the level difference and liquid repellency
Instead of improving the patterning accuracy by utilizing the lyophilic distribution, the patterning accuracy is improved by utilizing the attractive force and repulsive force by the electric potential.

That is, as shown in FIG. 65, the signal line 6
The pixel electrode 642 has a negative potential and the interlayer insulating film 740 has a positive potential by driving the transistor 32 and the common power supply line 633 and appropriately turning on / off a transistor (not shown). Then, a positively charged liquid optical material 612 is selectively applied to a predetermined position by an inkjet method.

As described above, according to this embodiment, a desired potential distribution is formed on the display substrate 621, and the attractive force and repulsive force between the potential distribution and the positively charged liquid optical material 612 are applied. Since the liquid optical material is selectively applied by utilizing it, the accuracy of patterning can be improved.

In particular, in this embodiment, since the liquid optical material 612 is charged, the effect of improving the patterning accuracy is further enhanced by utilizing not only the spontaneous polarization but also the charge.

In the present embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the active matrix type display element is shown, but the present invention is also applicable to the passive matrix type display element.

Note that the peeling layer 651 is formed over the peeling substrate 621.
The structure may be transferred to the display substrate 621 via the process.

In this embodiment, the desired potential distribution is that the potential is sequentially applied to the scanning line 631 and at the same time the signal line 6 is simultaneously applied.
32 and the common line 633 by applying a potential to the pixel electrode 64.
2 is formed by applying a potential to switching element 2 via switching thin film transistor 643 and current thin film transistor 644. The potential distribution is the scanning line 631, the signal line 6
32, the common line 633 and the pixel electrode 642, it is possible to suppress an increase in the number of processes. In the case of a passive matrix display element, the potential distribution can be formed by the first bus wiring and the light shielding layer.

Further, in the present embodiment, the pixel electrode 64
2 and the interlayer insulating film 740 around it are applied with a potential, but the invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. A positive potential may be applied only to the insulating film 740, and the liquid optical material 612 may be positively charged before coating. By doing so, the liquid optical material 612 can be surely maintained in a positively charged state even after being applied, so that the liquid optical material 612 is surrounded by the repulsive force between the liquid optical material 612 and the surrounding interlayer insulating film 740. It becomes possible to more reliably prevent the liquid from flowing out.

Similarly, the head unit of this embodiment is
It can be applied to a method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device, a method of manufacturing a PDP device, a method of manufacturing an electrophoretic display device, and the like.

In the method of manufacturing the electron-emitting device, the fluorescent materials of respective colors of R, G and B are introduced into the plurality of droplet discharge heads, and the plurality of droplet discharge heads are subjected to the main scanning and the sub-scanning through the head unit. Then, the fluorescent material is selectively ejected to form a large number of phosphors on the electrodes. The electron emission device is a higher-level concept including an FED (field emission display).

In the method of manufacturing a PDP device, fluorescent materials of R, G, and B colors are introduced into a plurality of droplet discharge heads,
A plurality of liquid droplet ejection heads are main-scanned and sub-scanned through the head unit to selectively eject the fluorescent material to form the phosphors in a large number of recesses on the rear substrate.

In the method of manufacturing the electrophoretic display device, the electrophoretic material of each color is introduced into the plurality of droplet discharge heads, and the plurality of droplet discharge heads are main-scanned and sub-scanned through the head unit to remove the ink material. By selectively discharging, electrophoretic particles are formed in a large number of concave portions on the electrodes. In addition, it is preferable that the electrophoretic body composed of the charged particles and the dye is enclosed in a microcapsule.

On the other hand, in the head unit of this embodiment, the spacer forming method, the metal wiring forming method, the lens forming method,
It is also applicable to a resist forming method, a light diffuser forming method, and the like.

The spacer forming method is to form a large number of particle-like spacers so as to form a minute cell gap between two substrates, and to introduce a particle material forming the spacers into a plurality of droplet discharge heads. Then, the plurality of liquid droplet ejection heads are main-scanned and sub-scanned through the head unit to selectively eject the particulate material to form the spacers on at least one of the substrates. For example, it is useful when forming a cell gap between two substrates in the above-mentioned liquid crystal display device or electrophoretic display device, and it can be applied to a semiconductor manufacturing technique that requires such a small gap. Nor.

In the metal wiring forming method, the liquid metal material is introduced into the plurality of droplet discharge heads, and the plurality of droplet discharge heads are main-scanned and sub-scanned through the head unit to selectively discharge the liquid metal material. Then, metal wiring is formed on the substrate. For example, it can be applied to a metal wiring connecting the driver and each electrode in the above liquid crystal display device, or a metal wiring connecting the TFT and the like to each electrode in the above organic EL device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to general semiconductor manufacturing technology in addition to this type of flat display.

In the lens forming method, the lens material is introduced into the plurality of droplet discharge heads, the plurality of droplet discharge heads are main-scanned and sub-scanned through the head unit, and the lens material is selectively discharged, A large number of microlenses are formed on a transparent substrate. For example, it can be applied as a beam converging device in the above FED apparatus. Needless to say, it can be applied to various optical devices.

In the resist forming method, the resist material is introduced into the plurality of droplet discharge heads, and the plurality of droplet discharge heads are main-scanned and sub-scanned through the head unit to selectively discharge the resist material, A photoresist having an arbitrary shape is formed on the substrate. For example, the formation of banks in the above-described various display devices is widely applicable to the application of photoresist in the photolithography method, which is the main component of semiconductor manufacturing technology.

In the method for forming the light diffuser, the head unit assembled by the head unit assembling apparatus is used,
A method of forming a large number of light diffusers on a substrate, which comprises introducing a light diffuser material into a plurality of droplet discharge heads,
A plurality of liquid droplet ejection heads are main-scanned and sub-scanned through the head unit to selectively eject the light diffusion material to form a large number of light diffusers. Needless to say, this case is also applicable to various optical devices.

[0282]

As described above, according to the droplet discharge head of the present invention, two marks for position recognition are formed in the vicinity of any two discharge nozzles separated from each other, and these two marks are formed. Since the mark is used for position recognition, it is possible to prevent the recognition failure (NG) or the like due to the fluctuation of the meniscus, as in the case of directly recognizing the position of the ejection nozzle (nozzle hole thereof). Highly accurate position recognition is possible.

Further, according to the electronic apparatus of the present invention, the position of the droplet discharge head can be recognized with high accuracy, and the droplet discharge head can be positioned with high accuracy by position correction or the like. Therefore, a highly reliable electronic device can be obtained.

On the other hand, the manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display device of the present invention,
Organic EL device manufacturing method, electron-emitting device manufacturing method, P
According to the method for manufacturing the DP device and the method for manufacturing the electrophoretic display device, since it is possible to use the droplet discharge head suitable for the filter material, the light emitting material, etc. in each device, it is possible to improve the manufacturing efficiency.

According to the color filter manufacturing method, organic EL manufacturing method, spacer forming method, metal wiring forming method, lens forming method, resist forming method, and light diffuser forming method of the present invention, each electronic device or Since a droplet discharge head suitable for a filter material, a light emitting material, or the like in each optical device can be used, manufacturing efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a head unit according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the head unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the head unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a structural diagram of a reference pin of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view around the droplet discharge head of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view schematically showing the droplet discharge head of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the droplet discharge head of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a structural diagram of a head holding member of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective view showing a method of assembling the head unit using the assembling jig of the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a structural diagram of an assembling jig according to the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing a method of assembling the head unit using the assembling jig of the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a front view showing a method of assembling the head unit using the assembling jig of the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a drawing device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a main carriage in the drawing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a plan view of a main carriage in the drawing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of setting the head unit.

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a wiping device in the drawing device of the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a structural diagram of a master plate in the alignment mask of the embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a plan view of the alignment mask of the embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a front view of the alignment mask of the embodiment.

FIG. 21 is an overall perspective view of the assembling apparatus of the embodiment as seen from the front side.

FIG. 22 is an overall perspective view of the assembling apparatus of the embodiment viewed from the back side.

FIG. 23 is an overall plan view of the assembling apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 24 is an overall front view of the assembling apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 25 is an overall side view of the assembling apparatus of the embodiment as viewed from the left side.

FIG. 26 is a view showing an X / Y unit moving apparatus according to the embodiment.
It is a perspective view around a table.

FIG. 27 is a structural diagram of a set table in the unit moving device of the embodiment.

FIG. 28 is a plan view of a θ table in the unit moving device of the embodiment.

FIG. 29 is a cutting side view of a θ table in the unit moving device of the embodiment.

FIG. 30 is a front view of a θ table in the unit moving device of the embodiment.

FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating an X / Y unit moving apparatus according to the embodiment
It is a plan view around a table.

FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrating an X / Y unit moving apparatus according to the embodiment.
It is a front view around a table.

FIG. 33 is a correction X in the head correction apparatus of the embodiment.
-A perspective view around the Y table.

FIG. 34 is a correction X in the head correction apparatus of the embodiment.
-A plan view around the Y table.

FIG. 35 is a diagram illustrating a correction X in the head correction apparatus according to the embodiment.
-A front view around the Y table.

FIG. 36 is a diagram for correction X in the head correction apparatus of the embodiment
-It is a side view around the Y table.

FIG. 37 is a perspective view of an arm unit in the head correction apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 38 is a front view of the arm unit in the head correction device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 39 is a side view of the arm unit in the head correction apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 40 is a cross-sectional view of the engagement arm of the arm unit.

FIG. 41 is a perspective view of the recognition device of the embodiment.

FIG. 42 is a plan view of the recognition device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 43 is a front view of the recognition device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 44 is a side view of the recognition device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 45 is an overall perspective view of the temporary fixing device of the embodiment.

FIG. 46 is a plan view of the temporary fixing device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 47 is a front view of the temporary fixing device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 48 is a side view of the temporary fixing device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 49 is a perspective view of an adhesive application device.

FIG. 50 is a block diagram of a control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 51 is a partial enlarged view of a color filter manufactured by the method for manufacturing a color filter of the embodiment.

FIG. 52 is a manufacturing step sectional view schematically showing the method of manufacturing the color filter of the embodiment.

FIG. 53 is a cross-sectional view of a liquid crystal display device manufactured by the method of manufacturing a color filter according to the embodiment.

FIG. 54 is a circuit diagram of a display device manufactured by the organic EL manufacturing method according to the embodiment.

FIG. 55 is an enlarged plan view showing the planar structure of the pixel region of the display device.

FIG. 56 is a sectional view of a manufacturing step (1) schematically showing the method of manufacturing the organic EL according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 57 is a sectional view of a manufacturing step (2) schematically showing the method of manufacturing the organic EL according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 58 is a sectional view of a manufacturing step (3) schematically showing the method of manufacturing the organic EL according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 59 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the method of manufacturing the organic EL according to the modified example of the first embodiment.

FIG. 60 is a plan view and a cross-sectional view schematically showing the method for manufacturing an organic EL according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 61 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the method of manufacturing the organic EL according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 62 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the method of manufacturing the organic EL according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 63 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the method of manufacturing the organic EL according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 64 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the method of manufacturing the organic EL according to the sixth embodiment.

FIG. 65 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the manufacturing method of the organic EL according to the eighth embodiment.

FIG. 66 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the manufacturing method of the organic EL according to the modification of the eighth embodiment.

FIG. 67 is a schematic diagram showing a recognition operation of the carriage in the drawing apparatus of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

A Assembly device B Drawing device C Assembly jig D Alignment mask 1 Head unit 2 Carriage 3 Droplet ejection head 4 Head holding member 11 Main body plate 12 Reference pin 13 Supporting member 14 Handle 15 Piping connection assembly 16 Wiring connection assembly 17 Piping connection Member 25 Pin body 26 Reference mark (small hole) 29a Tip surface 32 Handle body 34 Large diameter portion 45 Liquid introduction portion 48 Pump portion 48a Discharge side end surface 49 Nozzle formation plate 50 Head body 52 Nozzle formation surface 53 Nozzle row 57 Discharge nozzle 57a Discharge nozzle (outermost end) 61 Step portion 62 Resin 65 Nozzle reference mark 76 Engagement hole 77 Adhesive injection hole 78 Adhesion site 81 Jig body 82 Mounting pin 84 Vertical side part 85 Horizontal side part 86 Positioning part 101 Head moving part 105 unit introduction section 106 temporary placement Table 106a Temporary placement angle 108 Wiping device 113 Y table 116 X table 121 Base plate 123 Stopper plate 124 Square opening 131 Wiping sheet 132 Wiping unit 133 Moving mechanism 137 Wiping roller 139 Cleaning liquid supply head 161 Master plate 161a Mark forming surface 162 Plate holder 164 Head reference mark 165 Carriage reference mark 171 Support pin 211 Unit moving device 212 Head correction device 213 Temporary fixing device 214 Recognition device 215 Control device 231 Set table 232 θ table 233 XY table 271 X-axis table 272 Y-axis table 302 For correction XY table 303 Correction θ table 304 Arm unit 331 Engaging arm 333 Arm Descending device 343 Engagement pin 344 Pin holder 345 Coil spring 347 Tapered part 352 Camera position adjustment unit 353 Recognition camera 359 Micro stage 373 Air table 374 Adhesive application device 377 Y air table 378 Sub Y air table 380 Z axis air table 384 Dispenser unit 387 Adhesive injection nozzle 402 Input unit 403 Drive unit 404 Detection unit 405 Control unit 411 CPU 412 ROM 413 RAM 414 P-C
ON 416 Timer 500 Color filter 511 Substrate 512 Pixel (filter element) 513 Partition 514 Light-shielding layer 515 Bank layer 516 Ink layer 521 Coloring layer 522 Overcoat layer 523 Electrode layer 611 Display device (organic EL) 621 Display substrate 641 Light emitting element (positive) Hole injection layer) 642 Pixel electrode 652 Reflective electrode

Front page continuation (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H05B 33/10 H05B 33/14 B 33/14 33/26 Z 33/26 B41J 3/04 101Z F term (reference) 2C056 EA07 EA24 EB07 EB36 EC07 EC35 FB01 2H048 BA11 BA64 BB02 BB24 BB44 2H091 FA02Y FA08X FA08Z FA26X FA31X FA35Y FA41Z FA43Z FA44Y FB02 FC01 FC22 FC23 FC26 ABB3A01 AB01 FA01 AB01 LA01 LA30 LA11 LA10 LA15 LA10 LA10 LA10 LA10 LA13 LA12 LA15 BB11 CC09 CC12 GG02 GG12 KK05 KK10 (54) [Title of Invention] Droplet ejection head and electronic equipment including the same, and liquid crystal display device manufacturing method, organic EL device manufacturing method, electron emitting device manufacturing method, PDP Device manufacturing method, electrophoretic display device manufacturing method, color filter manufacturing method, organic EL manufacturing method, spacer forming method, metal wiring forming method, lens forming method, resist forming method and light diffuser forming method Method

Claims (25)

[Claims] 1. A mark for position recognition is formed in the vicinity of any two discharge nozzles separated from each other on a nozzle forming surface in which a nozzle row formed by arranging a large number of discharge nozzles is formed. A droplet discharge head characterized by the above. 2. The droplet discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the arbitrary two discharge nozzles are two discharge nozzles located at the outermost ends of the nozzle row. 3. A plurality of nozzle rows parallel to each other are formed on the nozzle forming surface, and the two discharge nozzles are two discharge nozzles located at an outermost end of any one nozzle row. The droplet discharge head according to claim 2, wherein the droplet discharge head is a nozzle. 4. The droplet discharge head according to claim 3, wherein the two marks are formed at positions where the two discharge nozzles are moved in parallel to the nozzle row. 5. The mark is a minute recess formed by laser etching.
5. The droplet discharge head according to any one of 1 to 4. 6. An electronic device comprising: the liquid droplet ejection head according to claim 1; and a recognition device that recognizes an image of the two marks. 7. The electronic device according to claim 6, further comprising a correction device that corrects the position of the droplet discharge head based on the recognition result of the recognition device. 8. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the recognition device has two recognition cameras that simultaneously capture the two marks into the field of view, respectively. 9. A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, wherein a plurality of droplet discharge heads according to claim 1 are used to form a large number of filter elements on a substrate of a color filter. Introducing a filter material of each color into the droplet discharge head, scanning the plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to the substrate, and selectively discharging the filter material to form a large number of the filter elements. A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, comprising: 10. A method of manufacturing an organic EL device, wherein a plurality of the droplet discharge heads according to any one of claims 1 to 5 are used to form EL light emitting layers on a large number of pixel pixels on a substrate, respectively. A plurality of EL elements are introduced by introducing luminescent materials of respective colors into the plurality of droplet discharge heads, scanning the plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to the substrate, and selectively discharging the luminescent material.
A method for manufacturing an organic EL device, which comprises forming a light emitting layer. 11. A method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device, wherein a plurality of droplet discharge heads according to claim 1 are used to form a large number of phosphors on an electrode, wherein the plurality of droplet discharge heads are used. Introducing a fluorescent material of each color into the head, scanning the plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to the electrodes, and selectively discharging the fluorescent material to form a large number of the phosphors. Of manufacturing electron emission device. 12. A method of manufacturing a PDP device, wherein a plurality of droplet discharge heads according to claim 1 are used to form phosphors in a large number of recesses on a back substrate, respectively. A fluorescent material of each color is introduced into the droplet discharge head, the plurality of droplet discharge heads are relatively scanned with respect to the back substrate, and the fluorescent material is selectively discharged to form a large number of the phosphors. A method of manufacturing a PDP device, comprising: 13. A method for manufacturing an electrophoretic display device, wherein a plurality of droplet discharge heads according to claim 1 are used to form electrophoretic bodies in a large number of recesses on an electrode. Introducing electrophoretic material of each color into the droplet discharge head, scanning the plurality of droplet ejection heads relative to the electrodes, and selectively ejecting the electrophoretic material to form a large number of electrophoretic bodies. A method for manufacturing an electrophoretic display device, comprising: 14. A method of manufacturing a color filter, which comprises using a plurality of droplet discharge heads according to claim 1 to manufacture a color filter in which a large number of filter elements are arranged on a substrate. Filter materials of respective colors are introduced into the plurality of droplet discharge heads, the plurality of droplet discharge heads are relatively scanned with respect to the substrate, and the filter material is selectively discharged to remove a large number of the filter elements. A method for manufacturing a color filter, which comprises forming the color filter. 15. The plurality of filter elements are accommodated in a concave portion formed by a convex bank provided on the substrate, and the plurality of droplet discharge heads are provided in the plurality of droplet discharge heads before forming the filter element. 15. The bank is formed by introducing a bank material, scanning the plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to the substrate, and selectively discharging the bank material to form the bank. Color filter manufacturing method. 16. An overcoat film is formed to cover the plurality of filter elements and the banks, and after forming the filter elements, a translucent coating material is introduced into the plurality of droplet discharge heads. 16. The overcoat film is formed by scanning the plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to the substrate and selectively discharging the coating material.
A method for manufacturing the color filter according to. 17. A method of manufacturing an organic EL device, comprising a plurality of the droplet discharge heads according to claim 1 and a plurality of pixel pixels including an EL light emitting layer arranged on a substrate. In this case, the luminescent materials of the respective colors are introduced into the plurality of droplet discharge heads, the plurality of droplet discharge heads are main-scanned and sub-scanned, and the luminescent material is selectively discharged to provide a large number of EL light-emitting layers A method for manufacturing an organic EL, comprising: 18. The plurality of EL light emitting layers are accommodated in a concave portion formed by a convex bank provided on the substrate, and the plurality of droplet discharges are performed before the EL light emitting layer is formed. 18. A bank material is introduced into a head, the plurality of droplet discharge heads are scanned relative to the substrate, and the bank material is selectively discharged to form the bank. Organic EL described
Manufacturing method. 19. A plurality of pixel electrodes are formed between the plurality of EL light emitting layers and the substrate in correspondence with the EL light emitting layers, and the plurality of liquid electrodes are formed before forming the banks. Introducing a liquid electrode material into the droplet discharge head, scanning the plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to the substrate, and selectively discharging the liquid electrode material to form a large number of the pixel electrodes. The method of manufacturing an organic EL device according to claim 18, which is characterized in that. 20. A counter electrode is formed so as to cover the large number of EL light emitting layers and the bank, and after forming the EL light emitting layers, a liquid electrode material is introduced into the plurality of droplet discharge heads, 20. The organic EL device according to claim 19, wherein the plurality of droplet discharge heads are relatively scanned with respect to the substrate to selectively discharge the liquid electrode material to form the counter electrode. Method. 21. A spacer forming method using a plurality of droplet discharge heads according to claim 1, and forming a large number of particulate spacers to form a minute cell gap between two substrates. That is, introducing a particle material that constitutes a spacer into the plurality of droplet discharge heads, and scanning the plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to at least one of the substrates to selectively select the particle material. A method for forming a spacer, characterized in that the spacer is discharged to form the spacer on the substrate. 22. A metal wiring forming method for forming a metal wiring on a substrate by using a plurality of droplet discharge heads according to claim 1, wherein a liquid metal is used for the plurality of droplet discharge heads. A method of forming a metal wiring, comprising introducing a material, scanning the plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to the substrate, and selectively discharging the liquid metal material to form the metal wiring. 23. A lens forming method for forming a large number of microlenses on a substrate by using a plurality of droplet discharge heads according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of droplet discharge heads have lenses. A method for forming a lens, comprising introducing a material, scanning the plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to the substrate, and selectively discharging the lens material to form a large number of the microlenses. 24. A resist forming method for forming a resist of an arbitrary shape on a substrate by using a plurality of droplet discharge heads according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of droplet discharge heads are used for resist formation. A resist forming method comprising: introducing a material, scanning the plurality of droplet discharge heads relative to the substrate, and selectively discharging the resist material to form the resist. 25. A light diffuser forming method for forming a large number of light diffusers on a substrate by using a plurality of the droplet discharge heads according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of droplet discharge heads are used. A light diffusing material is introduced into the head, the plurality of droplet discharge heads are scanned relative to the substrate, and the light diffusing material is selectively discharged to form a large number of the light diffusing bodies. And a method for forming a light diffuser.