JP2005127778A - Coating method for needle, and coating device for needle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a coating method for a needle and a coating device for the needle for forming a coating layer on a desired spot of the needle, dispensing with an exfoliation work of a coating layer formed once. <P>SOLUTION: Concerning the coating method for the needle and the coating device for the needle, in the coating device for the needle for forming the coating layer on the bar-like needle 11, the needle 11 is lowered from the upper side of a rising part 10a of a coating liquid 10 formed so that the liquid surface is expanded highly by surface tension, and deposited on the rising part 10a of the coating liquid 10, and then the needle 11 is lifted to thereby form the coating layer on the needle 11. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a needle coating method and a needle coating apparatus for forming a coating layer on a needle.

  In a manufacturing process (particularly a semiconductor manufacturing process), a probe is used to measure an electrical characteristic of a measurement target. This probe is provided with a rod-like needle having a very small diameter of several tens to several hundreds of microns. This needle comes into contact with the measurement object to measure the electrical characteristics.

  In order to improve the electrical characteristics of such a needle, a coating layer is formed in the middle part of the needle. In order to form a coating layer on the needle, according to the conventional technology, the cover layer is first formed on the needle other than the portion where the coating layer is to be formed with a masking tape, rubber, metal auxiliary tool, etc., and sealed to prevent the coating liquid from being applied. To do. Then, a temporary coating layer is formed by spraying the coating solution, submerging it in a container containing the coating solution, or applying it with a brush, and finally peeling the coating layer together with the cover layer. Thus, a coating layer was formed at a desired location.

  As another conventional technique, for example, the invention of Patent Document 1 (title of the invention: contact probe and circuit board inspection apparatus) is disclosed. In this prior art, an insulating layer film is formed in the vicinity of the tip excluding the tip of the probe that may be in direct contact with other contact probes. The insulating material is coated all at once, and then only the insulating film covering the tip is peeled off using a grindstone or the like.

JP 2000-214181 A (paragraph number 0013)

In the prior art described above, the cover layer is formed using masking tape, rubber, and metal auxiliary tools, except for the portion where the coating layer is formed, before the coating layer is formed. The temporary coating layer is formed, and the procedure for removing the coating layer together with the cover layer is performed in the subsequent process, which is a troublesome work and time-consuming work. There was a problem.
Further, the coating layer forming method as in the prior art has a problem that there is a risk of damaging a needle that is extremely small in diameter and difficult to handle during a peeling operation.

Furthermore, when the cover layer and the coating layer are removed from the needle, the boundary portion of the coating layer is partly peeled off, which is often undesirable from an aesthetic point of view, and there is a problem that a post-processing step for adjusting the boundary portion of the coating layer is necessary. there were.
Furthermore, when a brush or the like is used, it is difficult to evenly apply the coating liquid, and the surface of the coating layer is uneven, which may cause problems such as aesthetically unfavorable in this respect. .

  Furthermore, in the invention of Patent Document 1, the tip portion and the vicinity of the tip portion are coated with an insulating material, and then only the insulating film coated on the tip portion is peeled off using a grindstone or the like. There was a problem that the boundary portion of the insulating film was damaged, which was not preferable from the viewpoint of beauty.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a coating method for a needle that eliminates the work of removing the coating layer once formed and forms a coating layer at a desired portion of the needle. The object is to provide a needle coating apparatus.

The needle coating method according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises:
In the needle coating method of forming a coating layer on a rod-shaped needle,
The coating layer is formed by lowering the needle from the upper side of the rising portion of the coating liquid formed so that the liquid level swells high due to surface tension, and submerging the needle in the rising portion of the coating liquid.

Moreover, the needle coating method according to claim 2 of the present invention comprises:
The needle coating method according to claim 1,
The needle in the rising part of the coating liquid is moved back and forth in the axial direction of the needle to form a coating layer having a predetermined length on the needle.

A needle coating apparatus according to claim 3 of the present invention is:
In a needle coating apparatus for forming a coating layer on a rod-shaped needle,
A coating liquid storage tank that forms a raised portion of the coating liquid so that the liquid surface swells higher than the opening due to surface tension; and
An up-down adjustment device for moving the needle in the up-down direction which is substantially perpendicular to the axial direction of the needle;
The needle is lowered from the upper side of the rising portion of the coating liquid by the vertical adjustment device, and the needle is submerged in the rising portion of the coating liquid to form a coating layer.

A needle coating apparatus according to claim 4 of the present invention is
The needle coating apparatus according to claim 3,
A front-rear adjustment device that moves the needle together with the needle fixing jig in the front-rear direction, which is the axial direction of the needle,
A coating layer having a predetermined length is formed on the needle by moving back and forth in the axial direction of the needle.

Moreover, the needle coating apparatus according to claim 5 of the present invention includes:
In the coating apparatus for needles according to claim 3 or 4,
A needle fixing jig that aligns and fixes a plurality of needles at regular intervals,
A plurality of needles are deposited on the rising portion of the coating liquid together with the needle fixing jig, and a coating layer is formed collectively on the plurality of needles.

  According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to provide a needle coating method and a needle coating apparatus that eliminates the operation of removing the coating layer once formed and forms the coating layer at a desired location of the needle.

  Hereinafter, the needle coating method and needle coating apparatus of the best mode of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a configuration diagram of a needle coating device, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram of a coating liquid storage tank of the needle coating device, FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a needle fixing jig of the needle coating device, and FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a needle coating method using the apparatus, and FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a needle on which a coating layer is formed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the needle coating apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes a guide base 1, a vertically movable body 2, a longitudinally movable body 3, a tensile force biasing unit 4, a coating liquid storage tank 5, and a vertical adjustment device mounting unit 6. , A vertical drive device 7, a front / rear drive device 8, and a needle fixing jig 9 are provided. For such a needle coating apparatus 100, the coating liquid 10 is stored in the coating liquid storage tank 5 (see FIG. 2B). The needle 11 is fixed to a needle fixing jig 9.

Next, the configuration of each part will be described.
The guide base 1 further includes a guide shaft 1a, a compressive force biasing portion 1b, and a vertical position fixing pin 1c.
The vertically moving body 2 further includes a guide hole 2a, a sliding portion 2b, and a connector 2c.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A, the coating liquid storage tank 5 further includes a coating liquid tank 5a, an auxiliary storage tank 5b, and an opening 5c.
As shown in FIG. 3, the needle fixing jig 9 includes a fixing plate main body 9a, a pressing plate 9b, and a stopper 9c.

  In this embodiment, the guide base 1, the vertical moving body 2, and the vertical drive device 7 constitute the vertical adjustment device of the present invention. Further, the front / rear moving body 3, the tensile force urging unit 4, and the front / rear driving device 8 constitute a front / rear adjusting device of the present invention.

Then, the structure and operation | movement of each part of the coating apparatus 100 for needles of this form are demonstrated.
In FIG. 1, a plurality of (four in this embodiment) guide shafts 1 a of the guide base body 1 are respectively inserted through the compression force biasing portions 1 b. The compression force urging portion 1b may be a rubber, an elastic body or the like, but generally a normal compression spring is used. The vertical moving body 2 is arranged such that the guide hole 2a of the vertical moving body 2 is mounted on the guide shaft 1a. The vertical moving body 2 is always urged upward by the compressive force urging portion 1b. A guide push (not shown) is provided in the vicinity of the guide hole 2a of the vertical moving body 2 so that the vertical moving body 2 can freely move up and down with respect to the guide shaft 1a. Function.

A vertical drive device 7 for adjusting the position in the vertical direction is attached to the vertical adjustment device mounting portion 6, and the tip of the vertical drive device 7 is in contact with a connector 2 c fixed to the vertical moving body 2. . The vertical drive device 7 is, for example, a micrometer head that can be finely adjusted manually, or a linear motor that automatically performs fine adjustment.
By adjusting the position by the vertical drive device 7, the vertical movement plate 2 is moved up and down in the vertical direction (in the direction of arrow z in FIG. 1 and substantially perpendicular to the axial direction of the needle 11) via the connector 2 c. The up-and-down moving plate 2 can be moved to a predetermined position. A lower limit point is provided by the vertical position fixing pin 1c of the guide base 1, and the vertical movement plate 2 cannot be moved downward from the lower limit point.

  The up-and-down moving body 2 is formed in a substantially concave shape, and two sliding portions 2b are arranged in the concave shape in parallel with the front-rear direction. The back and forth moving body 3 is slidably disposed on the sliding portion 2b, and the back and forth moving body 3 can move back and forth (in the direction of arrow x in FIG. 1 and the axial direction of the needle 11).

  The front-rear moving body 3 and the up-and-down moving body 2 are connected by a tensile force urging unit 4. The end of the tensile force biasing portion 4 is fixed to the front and rear moving body 3 and the vertical moving body 2 by a fixing bolt (not shown). The tensile force urging unit 4 may be a rubber, an elastic body or the like, but generally a normal tension spring is used.

  Further, a front / rear drive device 8 that moves in the front-rear direction (x direction in FIG. 1) is attached to the up-and-down moving body 2. The moving body 3 is in contact with and in close contact with the moving body 3, and the front / rear driving device 8 can be operated to adjust the moving of the moving body 3 in the front / rear direction. The front-rear drive device 8 is, for example, a micrometer head capable of fine adjustment, a linear motor that automatically performs fine adjustment, or the like.

  The coating liquid storage tank 5 is configured to be detachable from the guide base 1, and is attached to the lower side of the front / rear moving body 3. As shown in FIG. 2, the coating liquid storage tank 5 is formed in a substantially mountain shape in cross section. A coating liquid tank 5a is formed at the top of the center, and auxiliary storage tanks are provided before and after the coating liquid tank 5a. 5b is formed.

The coating liquid tank 5a has a width that is actually much narrower than the width a shown in FIG. As the width a, a width is appropriately adopted such that the raised portion 10a generated by surface tension with respect to the coating liquid having a certain component is generated most highly. The surface of the coating liquid tank 5a is coated with Teflon (registered trademark) so that surface tension is easily generated.
The auxiliary storage tank 5b collects the overflow coating liquid 10b that overflows when the coating liquid is put into the coating liquid tank 5a, and the overflow coating liquid 10b that overflows when the coating layer is formed on the needle 11. Store. This overflow coating liquid 10b is reused later.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the needle fixing jig 9 includes a fixing plate body 9a, a pressing plate 9b, and a stopper 9c. The needle 11 is a rod-shaped body having a minute diameter of several tens of microns to several hundreds of microns. In order to accurately position and fix the needle 11 to the needle fixing jig 9, a fine surface is formed on the surface of the fixing plate body 9a. A large number of V grooves (not shown) are processed at regular intervals, and a stopper 9c is processed at the end of the fixed plate body 9a. When attaching the needle 11 to such a needle fixing jig 9, one end of the needle 11 is brought into contact with the stopper 9 c and arranged in the V-groove to align the needles 11 in a row, and the pressing plate 9 b is fixed to the fixing plate. It is attached to the main body 9a and fixed so that the needle 11 does not move.

Subsequently, a coating method using the coating apparatus 100 will be described. First, a needle fixing jig 9 in a state where the needles 11 are aligned and fixed as shown in FIG. 3 is prepared in advance.
Subsequently, the vertical driving device 7 is driven to raise the vertical moving body 2, and the front / rear driving device 8 is driven to move the front / rear moving body 3 to bring the vertical moving body 2 and the front / rear moving body 3 to the home position. Perform the procedure of fixing to (position fixing procedure). This home position will be described later.

  Subsequently, a procedure for filling the coating solution 10 into the coating solution tank 5a (coating solution filling procedure) is performed. The coating liquid 10 is poured into the coating liquid tank 5a so as to overflow a little. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2B, the surface of the coating liquid 10 rises from the opening 5c of the coating liquid tank 5a and forms a raised portion 10a by the action of the surface tension. If the coating liquid 10 is filled before the position fixing procedure, the coating liquid 10 may be spilled due to vibrations generated during the position fixing operation. However, as in this embodiment, the coating liquid filling is performed after the position fixing procedure. Because the procedure is performed, there is no leakage.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3, a procedure (jig mounting procedure) for mounting the needle fixing jig 9 with the needles 11 aligned and fixed on the back and forth moving body 3 as shown in FIG. 1 is performed. The needle fixing jig 9 is placed on the forward / backward moving body 3. This mounting is not particularly fixed, and is placed on the forward / backward moving body 3 only by its own weight of the needle fixing jig 9. At this time, the needle fixing jig 9 is positioned at the above-described home position, and the needle 11 fixed to the needle fixing jig 9 is positioned slightly above the rising portion 10 a of the coating liquid 10.

Subsequently, a procedure (application procedure) of applying the coating solution 10 by immersing the needle 11 in the raised portion 10a of the coating solution 10 is performed.
The vertical drive device 7 is driven so that the needle 11 is completely deposited on the raised portion 10a of the coating liquid 10 as shown in FIG. When the coating liquid 10 is applied to the needle 11, a part of the coating liquid 10 overflows and leaks from the coating liquid tank 5a, but is collected in the auxiliary storage tank 5b. The length of the coating liquid 10 applied by such a configuration is substantially the same as the width a of the coating liquid tank 5a. Further, when the coating liquid 10 is present at the periphery of the opening, the length is substantially the same as the width b including the periphery of the opening.

  In this case, when the vertical drive device 7 is driven to lower the vertical moving body 2, the vertical moving body 2 comes into contact with the vertical position fixing pin 1 c and the downward movement of the vertical moving body 2 stops. This position is a position where the needle 11 is slightly higher than the opening 5c of the coating liquid storage tank 5, and prevents the needle 11 from coming into contact with the coating liquid storage tank 5 and being destroyed.

  Further, the front-rear drive device 8 is driven in a state where the coating liquid 10 is deposited on the raised portion 10a, and the needle 11 is moved in the front-rear direction (x direction in FIG. 1), so that the coating liquid 10 is applied to a necessary portion of the needle 11. Apply. The coating liquid is applied to a desired position of the needle 11 by such vertical movement and forward / backward movement.

  Subsequently, a procedure (an ascending procedure) for driving the vertical driving device 7 to raise the needle fixing jig 9 and detach the needle 11 from the raised portion 10a is performed. The needle 11 is sufficiently raised from the raised portion 10 a of the coating liquid 10 and then cured and dried to form a coating layer on the needle 11. When the coating layer is pulled up, a fluid coating liquid is dripped at the beginning. Therefore, after a while, when the coating liquid is completely dropped, the needle fixing jig 9 is removed from the front-rear moving body 3. The needle 11 is finally formed with a coating layer 11a as shown in FIG. The coating layer forming method has each procedure as described above.

  The best mode of the present invention has been described above. According to the needle coating apparatus and the needle coating method of this embodiment, the procedure for forming a cover layer in a portion other than the portion to be coated and sealing it is eliminated, and only the portion that requires coating is used by utilizing surface tension. Is a coating method in which the length of the coating layer is freely formed by depositing it on the raised part of the coating solution for the required length, so that only a small amount of coating solution can be used and the coating solution can be reused. There is an advantage of being.

In addition, since a large number of needles are aligned and mounted on a fixing jig, it is easy to handle, and a plurality of needles can be coated at one time, so that the working time is shortened.
Furthermore, a coating layer having a uniform thickness and a clean boundary surface is formed, and the coating layer can be improved in aesthetic appearance.

It is a block diagram of the coating apparatus for needles. It is a cross-sectional block diagram of the coating liquid storage tank of the coating apparatus for needles. It is a block diagram of the needle fixing jig of the coating apparatus for needles. It is explanatory drawing of the coating method for needles using the coating apparatus for needles. It is a block diagram of the needle in which the coating layer was formed.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100: Needle coating apparatus 1: Guide base | substrate 1a: Guide shaft 1b; Compression force urging | biasing part 1c: Up-and-down position fixed pin 2: Up-and-down moving body 2a: Guide hole 2b: Sliding part 2c: Connecting tool 3: Front-and-rear moving body 4 : Tensile force biasing part 5: Coating liquid storage tank 5a: Coating liquid tank 5b: Auxiliary storage tank 5c: Opening part 6: Vertical adjustment apparatus mounting part 7: Vertical drive apparatus 8: Front and rear drive apparatus 9: Needle fixing jig 9a : Fixing plate body 9b: Holding plate 9c: Stopper 10: Coating liquid 11: Needle 11a: Coating layer

Claims (5)

In the needle coating method of forming a coating layer on a rod-shaped needle,
The needle coating is characterized by forming the coating layer by lowering the needle from the upper side of the rising part of the coating liquid formed so that the liquid level swells high due to surface tension and submerging the needle in the rising part of the coating liquid. Method. The needle coating method according to claim 1,
A needle coating method comprising forming a coating layer having a predetermined length on a needle by moving a needle in a rising portion of the coating liquid back and forth in the axial direction of the needle. In a needle coating apparatus for forming a coating layer on a rod-shaped needle,
A coating liquid storage tank that forms a raised portion of the coating liquid so that the liquid surface swells higher than the opening due to surface tension; and
An up-down adjustment device for moving the needle in the up-down direction which is substantially perpendicular to the axial direction of the needle;
The needle coating apparatus is characterized in that the needle is lowered from above the swelled portion of the coating liquid by a vertical adjustment device, and the needle is submerged in the swelled part of the coating liquid to form a coating layer. The needle coating apparatus according to claim 3,
A front-rear adjustment device that moves the needle together with the needle fixing jig in the front-rear direction, which is the axial direction of the needle,
A needle coating apparatus, wherein a coating layer having a predetermined length is formed on a needle by moving back and forth in the axial direction of the needle. In the coating apparatus for needles according to claim 3 or 4,
A needle fixing jig that aligns and fixes a plurality of needles at regular intervals,
A needle coating apparatus, wherein a plurality of needles are deposited on a rising portion of a coating liquid together with a needle fixing jig, and a coating layer is collectively formed on the plurality of needles.

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