JP2007260488A - Slot nozzle applicator and foreign matter inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an accurate and low cost method for preparing a filter capable of solving a problem of inflicting a scar on a slot nozzle upon preparing a large size color filter. <P>SOLUTION: The slot nozzle applicator is constituted of a jig main body 2 that horizontally moves along a substrate surface, a transparent member 3 disposed on the tip of the jig main body 2, and a light emitting member 4 and a light receiving member 5 each disposed on either side of the transparent member 3. Thus by causing the jig main body 2 and the transparent member 3 to move parallelly on the substrate surface in the same manner as a slot nozzle 1, a part of the transparent member 3 hits a foreign matter if there is one on the substrate surface and is deformed (damaged) to cause a change in the state of detection light sent from the light emitting member 4 to the light receiving member 5. Thereby inspection of a foreign matter on the substrate surface is made possible by reading the above change by a detection circuit. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a slot nozzle coating device for manufacturing a color filter used in, for example, a liquid crystal display device and the like, and in particular, has a function for detecting foreign matter on a substrate surface on which a coating operation is performed in order to protect the slot nozzle. The present invention relates to a provided slot nozzle coating device and a foreign matter inspection device.

  Conventionally, in order to perform color display in a color liquid crystal display device, a light-shielding layer (black matrix) in which a pattern with an opening is formed in a light transmission part, and red, green, and blue colored transparent resins are patterned in the light transmission part A color filter having a formed colored pixel layer is generally used.

  And as a colored pixel layer, what formed the pattern formation of the photosensitive resin in which the colored pigment was disperse | distributed by photolithography is used. In addition, as the light shielding layer, metal chromium or a laminated film of metal chromium and chromium oxide is formed by photolithography, or a photosensitive resin in which a black coloring pigment is dispersed is formed by photolithography in the same manner as the colored pixel layer. Many patterns are used.

  In any case, in these conventional mainstream pattern forming methods, all are patterned by photolithography, which is highly accurate but high cost, and the cost of the recent liquid crystal display device is reduced. Considering the requirements, it can be said that there is a need for innovative measures to reduce manufacturing costs.

On the other hand, as a pattern forming method that can be realized at a low cost, there has been proposed a method that enables mass production by applying a colorant using a slot nozzle coating apparatus using a large glass (for example, patents). (Refer to Documents 1 to 5), and some of them have a track record, but due to the increase in the size of the slot nozzle, the repair cost when the slot nozzle is damaged increases. Moreover, since the glass size is large, it is difficult to find foreign matter on the glass, and it has become difficult to adopt as the glass size increases.
JP 2005-85773 A JP 2004-274054 A Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-255358 JP 2000-140740 A JP 2000-24571 A

  As described above, in the pattern forming technique using the conventional slot nozzle coating apparatus, there is a dilemma between the manufacturing cost and the slot nozzle repair cost, and various methods for overcoming this have been studied. No solution has been reached.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a slot nozzle coating device and a foreign matter inspection device that can prevent the slot nozzle from being damaged and can realize proper pattern formation at a low cost.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, a slot nozzle coating apparatus according to the present invention has a slot-shaped discharge port disposed close to a substrate surface, and discharges the coating liquid from the discharge port onto the substrate surface. And a control mechanism that horizontally moves the slot nozzle to apply the coating liquid onto the substrate surface, and a foreign matter inspection mechanism that inspects the foreign matter on the substrate surface, the foreign matter inspection mechanism including the slot nozzle Similar to the discharge port, a jig body having a longitudinal end portion arranged close to the substrate surface and horizontally moved along the substrate surface, and attached to the end portion of the jig body A longitudinal transparent member that is deformed by a foreign object, a light emitting portion that is attached to one side of the transparent member and sends detection light in the longitudinal direction of the transparent member, and is attached to the other side of the transparent member The light emitting part And characterized by including a light receiving portion for detecting a detection light transmitted through the transparent member.

  The foreign matter inspection apparatus of the present invention is a foreign matter inspection device for inspecting foreign matters on a substrate surface, and has a longitudinal end portion arranged close to the substrate surface, and along the substrate surface. A jig body that is horizontally moved, a longitudinal transparent member that is attached to the end of the jig body and deformed by a foreign object, and is attached to one side of the transparent member and is detected in the longitudinal direction of the transparent member A light emitting unit that transmits light and a light receiving unit that is attached to the other side of the transparent member and detects detection light transmitted from the light emitting unit through the transparent member are provided.

According to the slot nozzle coating device and the foreign matter inspection device of the present invention, a jig body horizontally moved along the substrate surface, a transparent member attached to the end of the jig body, and both sides of the transparent member By providing the light emitting part and the light receiving part to be mounted, the jig body and the transparent member are translated on the substrate surface in the same manner as the slot nozzle. Is deformed (damaged), and the state of the detection light transmitted from the light emitting unit to the light receiving unit is changed. By reading this change by the detection circuit, it is possible to inspect foreign matter on the substrate surface.
Therefore, such a foreign matter inspection can stop the application work by the actual slot nozzle, and can prevent a defective state due to the foreign matter.
As a result, the foreign object can be reliably inspected by an efficient foreign object inspection operation with a simple configuration, and the slot nozzle can be prevented from being damaged with respect to the large-size substrate, and an appropriate pattern can be formed at a low cost. effective.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, a foreign material on a glass substrate surface is inspected using a jig having the same shape as a slot nozzle of a coating apparatus, and a transparent member (light transmittance) disposed at an end of a jig is used. The presence or absence of foreign matter is inspected by optically detecting the deformation of the resin) by the light emitting portion and the light receiving portion provided on both sides thereof. The distance between the transparent member and the glass substrate surface is constant, and is set to 30 to 100 μm, for example.

FIG. 1 is a view showing an example of a slot nozzle according to the present embodiment. FIG. 1A is an external perspective view, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view showing the tip shape of the nozzle.
As shown in the figure, the slot nozzle 1 has a longitudinal slot-like discharge port 1a arranged close to the glass substrate surface (not shown in FIG. 1), and discharges the coating liquid from the discharge port 1a onto the substrate surface.
2A and 2B are views showing an example of the foreign matter inspection jig according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2A is an external perspective view, and FIG. 2B is a side view showing the tip shape of the jig.
As shown in the figure, the foreign matter inspection jig includes a jig body 2 having a shape similar to that of the slot nozzle 1 shown in FIG. 1, and a long transparent member 3 attached to the tip of the jig body 2. The light emitting unit 4 and the light receiving unit 5 are attached to both sides of the transparent member 3 in the longitudinal direction.
3 is a view showing the jig body 2 shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 (a) is an external perspective view, and FIG. 3 (b) is a side view showing the tip shape of the jig. As shown in FIG. 3B, the tip of the jig body 2 is formed in a flat surface shape for mounting the transparent member 3.

Next, a method for forming the transparent member 3 will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 4 shows a mold 7 for forming the transparent member 3. The die 7 has the same shape as that of the slot nozzle 1 as a whole, but the tip portion has a sharp wedge-shaped cross section corresponding to the shape of the transparent member 3.
Next, FIG. 5 shows a state in which a die is made of silicon rubber using the die 7 shown in FIG. As shown in the drawing, the mold is formed so that the tip of the mold 7 is embedded in the silicon rubber 8. FIG. 6 shows a silicon rubber mold 9 formed in this manner.
FIG. 7 shows a state in which a resin 10 having a good light transmittance is poured into a silicon rubber mold 9 and the jig body 2 is set. In FIG. 8, the resin 10 having good light transmittance is cured in the silicon rubber mold 9, and the transparent member 3 is formed at the tip of the jig body 2.
Next, in FIG. 9, the light emitting unit 4 and the light receiving unit 5 are attached to both sides of the transparent member 3. Thereby, the foreign substance inspection jig shown in FIG. 2 is completed.

Next, foreign matter inspection work using such a foreign matter inspection jig will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, FIG. 10 shows a state where the coating operation is performed by the slot nozzle coating apparatus. Note that, as an actual work order, the coating work shown in FIG. 10 is performed after the foreign substance inspection work. Here, the gap between the slot nozzle and the glass substrate (in this case, the color filter substrate) is determined. In order to explain the setting, the setting state of the application work will be described.
In FIG. 10, a color filter substrate 14 is positioned and held on a coating material installation table 15, and a slot nozzle 1 is disposed on the color filter substrate 14 to discharge a color filter resist as a coating liquid from a slit-like discharge port 1a. ing. As illustrated, the gap between the tip (lip 12) of the slot nozzle 1 and the upper surface of the substrate 14 is set in the range of 30 μm to 100 μm.

On the other hand, FIG. 11 shows a state in which foreign matter inspection work is performed by the foreign matter inspection jig. 11A is an overall view of the inspection work, FIG. 11B is a side view of the foreign matter inspection jig, and FIG. 11C is a cross-sectional view taken along line AB of FIG. 11B. This inspection work is performed before the coating work of FIG.
In FIG. 11, the color filter substrate 14 is positioned and held on the applied material installation table 15, and the jig body 2 and the transparent member 3 of the foreign substance inspection jig are disposed on the color filter substrate 14. As shown in the figure, the gap between the tip of the transparent member 3 and the upper surface of the substrate 14 is set in the range of 30 μm to 100 μm according to the gap during the coating operation.

  FIG. 12 shows a state before the foreign object 18 is detected, and FIG. 13 shows a state where the foreign object 18 is detected. In the state before the foreign object detection shown in FIG. 12, the transparent member 3 is not damaged, and light is properly transmitted between the light emitting unit 4 and the light receiving unit 5. However, as shown in FIG. 13, when the transparent member 3 comes into contact with the foreign material 18 and damage 19 occurs, light is blocked by the damage 19, and the light from the light emitting unit 4 properly reaches the light receiving unit 5. The foreign matter can be detected by the change in the detection output of the light receiving unit 5.

  14-16 has shown the operation | movement outline | summary of this slot nozzle coating device. First, FIG. 14 shows a state before the foreign substance inspection. The slot nozzle unit 20 and the foreign substance inspection jig unit 21 are attached to the support rail 22 in parallel so as to be movable and controlled independently by a control mechanism (not shown). The movement is controlled. In FIG. 15, the foreign matter inspection jig unit 21 is moved by the control mechanism to perform the foreign matter inspection on the color filter substrate 14. Here, after confirming that there is no foreign matter on the color filter substrate 14, in FIG. 16, the slot nozzle unit 20 is moved by the control mechanism to perform the color resist coating operation on the color filter substrate 14.

Next, the detection operation at the time of foreign substance inspection in the above configuration will be described in detail.
First, light from the light emitting unit 4 reaches the light receiving unit 5 in a state where the light intensity does not decrease while being reflected by the inner surface of the resin (transparent member 3) having good light transmittance. When expressed by specific numerical values, it is a level 100 value. Further, the transparent member 3 is made of a relatively fragile material, and is destroyed by foreign matter on the color filter substrate.
When the transparent member 3 is broken by a foreign matter on the color filter substrate 14, the reflection on the inner surface is reduced, so that the numerical level at which the light from the light emitting unit 4 reaches the light receiving unit 5 is 10 or less. .
Therefore, it is defined that when the numerical level of the light from the light emitting unit 4 reaching the light receiving unit 5 becomes 40 or less, it is detected that the transparent member 3 is broken by the foreign matter 18 on the color filter substrate 14. .
Then, after the foreign matter inspection, when the numerical level of the light from the light emitting unit 4 reaching the light receiving unit 5 is larger than 40, it is confirmed that there is no foreign matter on the color filter substrate 14, and the process proceeds to a color resist coating operation. .
Further, when the numerical level of light from the light emitting unit 4 reaching the light receiving unit 5 becomes 40 or less, it is detected that the transparent member 3 is broken by the foreign matter on the color filter substrate 14, and the scanned color filter The substrate is removed, and the slot nozzle can be prevented from being destroyed.

Next, a method for manufacturing the foreign matter inspection jig will be described in detail.
First, as a transparent resin having a good light transmittance for forming the transparent member 3, an adhesive for color filters, which is an acrylic copolymer, is used.
Then, a mold 7 shown in FIG. 4 is prepared. In FIG. 5, the mold 7 is set on a mold for forming silicon rubber, and silicon rubber mixed with two liquids is poured into the mold 8 for 24 hours. I left it alone. As a result, the silicone rubber was cured, and the mold 9 shown in FIG. 6 was produced.
Next, in FIG. 7, a resin (color filter adhesive which is an acrylic copolymer) having a good light transmittance is poured into the mold 9 of FIG. 6, and the jig body 2 shown in FIG. 3 is set for 24 hours. I left it alone.
As a result, the resin having good light transmittance was cured in the silicone rubber mold, and the transparent member 3 was formed at the tip of the jig body 2 as shown in FIG. The silicon rubber could be easily peeled from the cured transparent member 3.
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 9, the light emitting unit 4 and the light receiving unit 5 were attached to the left and right side surfaces of the transparent member 3. Thereby, the foreign substance inspection jig shown in FIG. 2 was completed. Note that power lines and signal lines for the light emitting unit 4 and the light receiving unit 5 are omitted.

In the above description, the configuration in which the slot nozzle coating device and the foreign matter inspection mechanism (foreign matter inspection jig) are integrated has been described. However, a similar configuration can be used as a foreign matter inspection device independent of the slot nozzle coating device. It is. For example, a system in which foreign matter inspection is performed at the front stage of one work line and the coating work is performed at the rear stage. Furthermore, the present invention can be used alone in an apparatus for inspecting foreign matter on the substrate surface other than the slot nozzle coating apparatus, and can be applied to a wide range of applications.
In the above description, the outer shape of the foreign matter inspection jig is matched with the outer shape of the slot nozzle, but the tip shape and strength of the transparent member are independent of the outer shape of the slot nozzle depending on the content of the foreign matter to be detected. It is also possible to design appropriately.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the slot nozzle by embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the foreign material inspection jig by embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the preparation method of the foreign material inspection jig | tool shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the preparation method of the foreign material inspection jig | tool shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the preparation method of the foreign material inspection jig | tool shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the preparation method of the foreign material inspection jig | tool shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the preparation method of the foreign material inspection jig | tool shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the preparation method of the foreign material inspection jig | tool shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the preparation method of the foreign material inspection jig | tool shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the application | coating operation | work using the slot nozzle shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the inspection operation | work using the foreign material inspection jig | tool shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the inspection operation | work using the foreign material inspection jig | tool shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the inspection operation | work using the foreign material inspection jig | tool shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline | summary of the slot nozzle coating device by embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the operation | movement at the time of the foreign material inspection operation | work of the slot nozzle coating device shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the operation | movement at the time of the application | coating operation | work of the slot nozzle application | coating apparatus shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Slot nozzle, 2 ... Foreign material inspection jig, 3 ... Transparent member, 4 ... Light emission part, 5 ... Light reception part.

Claims (6)

A slot nozzle having a longitudinal slot-like discharge port disposed close to the substrate surface and discharging the coating liquid from the discharge port to the substrate surface; and applying the coating liquid to the substrate surface by horizontally moving the slot nozzle A control mechanism for performing work, and a foreign matter inspection mechanism for inspecting foreign matter on the substrate surface,
The foreign matter inspection mechanism is
Similar to the discharge port of the slot nozzle, the jig body has a longitudinal end portion arranged close to the substrate surface, and is horizontally moved along the substrate surface;
A long transparent member that is attached to the end of the jig body and deforms due to foreign matter,
A light emitting unit attached to one side of the transparent member and sending detection light in the longitudinal direction of the transparent member;
A light receiving part that is attached to the other side of the transparent member and detects detection light transmitted from the light emitting part through the transparent member;
A slot nozzle applicator characterized by that.   The slot nozzle coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the jig body has an outer shape substantially similar to the outer shape of the slot nozzle.   2. The slot nozzle coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a distance between the substrate surface and the jig body during the foreign substance inspection operation is determined in correspondence with a distance between the substrate surface and the slot nozzle during the coating operation. A foreign matter inspection apparatus for inspecting foreign matter on a substrate surface,
A jig main body having a longitudinal end portion disposed close to the substrate surface and horizontally moved along the substrate surface;
A long transparent member that is attached to the end of the jig body and deforms due to foreign matter,
A light emitting unit attached to one side of the transparent member and sending detection light in the longitudinal direction of the transparent member;
A light receiving unit that is attached to the other side of the transparent member and detects detection light sent from the light emitting unit through the transparent member;
A foreign matter inspection apparatus characterized by comprising:   The foreign matter inspection apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the jig body has an outer shape substantially similar to an outer shape of a slot nozzle that performs a coating operation on the substrate. 6. The foreign matter inspection apparatus according to claim 5, wherein an interval between the substrate surface and the jig body during the foreign matter inspection operation is determined in accordance with an interval between the substrate surface and the slot nozzle during the application operation.

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