JP2008149238A - Coating device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a coating device which facilitates manufacture and installation and requires no adjustment of a rail because a deviation in a gap between a nozzle and a substrate is eliminated. <P>SOLUTION: The coating device 1 is provided with a substrate holding stage 2 equipped with a substrate holding region 11 with the upper part 6 at the central part and equipped with a flat region 10 installed at a position from outside in a width direction of the substrate holding region 11 to a side edge 10a, and is provided with a slider 3 arranged in line in a width direction of the substrate holding stage and having a pair of holding members 4 holding a nozzle 5. The holding members 4 are respectively formed as engaging parts 13 extending in a side-surface direction of the substrate holding stage at the position of the outside of the side edge of the substrate holding stage at their lower ends, the inside of the side edge at their lower ends is placed to the flat region 10, and the engaging parts are arranged along the side surface, thereby preventing the substrate holding stage 2 of the slider 3 from deviating in a width direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a coating apparatus for coating a coating liquid on a substrate surface such as a glass substrate.

  For example, Patent Documents 1 to 4 disclose devices for applying a coating liquid to a substrate. This coating apparatus is performed by scanning a nozzle on the surface of a substrate that is sucked and held at a predetermined position on a holding table (stage). This nozzle scanning is an operation to move the nozzle held in a state where a very small gap is left on the surface of the substrate. However, if the distance between the nozzle and the substrate changes during the scanning, the coating liquid cannot be uniformly applied. . Therefore, in many cases, a configuration is adopted in which a stage is placed on a stone surface plate (gantry stage) so that level adjustment is possible, and nozzle scanning guide rails are arranged on both sides of the stage.

  For example, the devices disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 4 have a configuration as shown in FIG. 5A. In this apparatus, a suction stage 51 for holding a substrate is arranged on a stone surface plate 52, and the level of the suction stage is adjusted by a shim 56 or the like. Further, in order to scan the nozzle without shaking and displacement, two guide rails 53 having a rectangular cross section are arranged at both ends of the surface of the stone surface plate 52, and a slider 54 is engaged with the guide rail. The slider 54 is provided with a nozzle 55. The slider 55 moves along the guide rail 53 by a driving means (not shown), so that the nozzle 55 scans the substrate surface. Further, in order to make the movement between the slider 54 and the guide rail 53 smooth, as shown in FIG. 5B, air bearings 57 are respectively provided on three surfaces where the slider 54 and the guide rail 53 face each other.

JP 2006-65296 A JP 2006-167639 A JP 2006-49384 A JP 2003-275648 A

  However, the coating apparatus configured in this way has the following problems.

  In the apparatus having the above configuration, since there are two guide rails, a so-called chatter phenomenon may occur in which the two guide rails bite into or away from each other when the slider travels. For this reason, it is necessary to adjust the parallelism of the rails in order to solve this problem, and this adjustment requires a very high accuracy, which requires time and effort during manufacturing. Further, in order to install the guide rail, it is necessary to provide a space for it on the stone surface plate, leading to an increase in the size of the apparatus.

  Further, it is necessary to prepare a stage for holding the substrate and a stone surface plate, respectively, and the number of parts increases. And when combining both, a very fine setting is required about an attachment position and level adjustment, and an installation man-hour increases.

  Furthermore, there is a level shift between the stone platen and the stage during transportation of the device. For this reason, in the conventional apparatus, after the apparatus is transported, the level is adjusted again after the apparatus is attached to the place of use, and the labor required for moving the apparatus increases.

  In addition, if the stage placed on the stone surface plate becomes a heavy load and the stone surface plate is bent, the deformation of the guide rail attached to the surface of the stone surface plate will be affected. become. When the nozzle is driven in this state, a running failure of the nozzle occurs, and the coating process tends to be defective.

  Therefore, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a small and lightweight coating device that can save the labor of manufacturing and mounting, and can smoothly run the slider.

  In order to solve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a coating apparatus having the following configuration.

The coating apparatus of the present invention includes a substrate holding stage for holding a glass substrate,
A nozzle configured to be longer than the width dimension of the glass substrate held on the substrate holding stage and shorter than the width dimension of the substrate holding stage;
Having a pair of holding members arranged side by side in the width direction of the substrate holding stage, and holding the nozzle between the holding members in a non-contact state on the surface of the glass substrate on the stage; A slider configured to be movable in the length direction of the substrate holding stage,
The substrate holding stage includes a substrate holding region provided at a center portion thereof and a smooth region provided at a position from a width direction outer side to a side edge of the substrate holding region,
Each of the holding members of the slider includes an engaging portion that extends in a lateral direction of the substrate holding stage at a position on the outer side of the substrate holding stage side edge of the lower end, and the inner side of the substrate holding stage side edge of the lower end is the It is configured to be slidable in the length direction of the substrate holding stage without being displaced in the width direction of the substrate holding stage by being placed in a smooth region and being arranged along the side surface. It is characterized by.

  The holding member preferably includes air bearings on two surfaces facing the smooth region and the side surface of the substrate holding stage.

  In each of the above configurations, the smooth region is preferably configured such that the surface thereof has a flatness (JIS B0602) of 5 μm or less.

  According to the present invention, the member for holding the substrate and the member to which the guide for sliding the slider should be attached correspond to the substrate holding region, the smooth region and the side edge of the substrate holding stage, respectively. Consists of a substrate holding stage. In addition, the engaging portion is provided at the lower end of the holding member of the slider so that it has a hook-shaped cross section, and engages with the side edge of the substrate holding stage without deviation. Therefore, the number of parts can be reduced and the installation man-hours can be reduced, and at the same time, the level of the substrate suction stage does not shift when the apparatus is transported. Moreover, the area | region for arrange | positioning the guide rail conventionally required on the surface of the stone surface plate utilizes the side edge of a board | substrate holding | maintenance stage, and can reduce in size and weight of an apparatus.

  Further, since it is configured as an integrated stage, level adjustment between the stone surface plate and the stage, which is necessary in the conventional apparatus, is not necessary. Therefore, a stage with high plane accuracy can be obtained.

  Furthermore, the substrate holding stage has only a slider and a nozzle disposed on the upper surface, and the amount of bending is small, and the amount of deflection can be kept small, so that poor running due to deflection is unlikely to occur and stable coating can be performed.

  Also, in the past, the number of rails was two, but the shape is as if it were composed of one rail, so that the effort to adjust the parallelism of the two rails so that chattering does not occur And there is an effect that the risk of it disappearing.

  Hereinafter, a coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A coating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a substrate holding stage 2 that holds a glass substrate (hereinafter abbreviated as a substrate) 100, and a slider 3 that is configured to be slidable along the longitudinal direction of the substrate holding stage 2. Is provided.

  The substrate holding stage 2 is a rectangular parallelepiped member having an upper surface 6 having a larger area than the substrate 100 for applying the coating liquid, and is created by polishing granite. As shown in FIG. 3, the substrate holding stage 2 has a substrate holding region 11 having an upper surface 6 provided in the center portion, and a smooth region 10 provided in a region extending from the outside in the width direction of the substrate holding region to the side edge 10a. have.

  The substrate holding region 11 is a region for holding the substrate 100, and firmly holds the substrate 100 by vacuum suction from a suction hole 11a provided on the surface. The width direction dimension B of the substrate holding region 11 is configured to be larger than the width direction of the substrate to be processed. The substrate holding region 11 may be configured to arrange a plurality of substrates side by side.

  The smooth region 10 is an outer region of the substrate holding region, and the width dimension A is preferably about 100 to 500 mm. In this embodiment, it is 300 mm. If the size of the substrate holding region is too large, the size of the substrate holding stage 2 is increased, and the apparatus is unnecessarily enlarged. On the other hand, if the size is too small, the slider 3 described later is difficult to move smoothly. The smooth region 10 is subjected to smooth polishing so as to be smoother than the substrate holding region 11. The degree of smoothness of the smooth region is preferably configured so that the flatness based on JIS B0602 is 5 μm or less.

  The substrate holding stage 2 is provided with priming means (not shown). The priming means is, for example, for wiping off an excess coating liquid remaining at the discharge port of the nozzle 5 after the coating operation and cleaning the discharge port uniformly. The priming means is composed of a roller that rotates around an axis extending in the extending direction of the nozzle 5, and the nozzle 5 is brought into contact with the surface of the roller to clean the nozzle 5. Do. The priming means is preferably configured so that a recess is provided on the surface of the substrate holding stage 2 and is mounted in the recess.

  The slider 3 includes a pair of holding members 4 arranged side by side in the width direction of the substrate holding stage 2 and a nozzle 5 provided between the holding members. The nozzle 5 is configured to be movable in the vertical direction, and its position can be adjusted according to the thickness dimension of the substrate to be used. As shown in FIG. 2, the nozzle 5 is longer than the width dimension of the substrate 100 to be processed. The linear nozzle is configured to be shorter than the width dimension of the substrate holding stage 2 and can uniformly discharge the coating liquid in the extending direction. The nozzle 5 is arranged with a very small gap of about 80 to 150 μm depending on the type of the coating solution, and the substrate 100 is scanned over the substrate 100 while discharging the coating solution. A coating solution is applied to the surface of the film. At this time, if the distance between the nozzle 5 and the substrate 100 changes, the coating film of the coating liquid becomes uneven in thickness. Therefore, it is possible to perform scanning while keeping the parallelism along the surface of the substrate 100 as much as possible. That is what is generally required.

  The holding member 4 of the slider 3 is placed on the upper surface 6 of the substrate holding stage 2. At the lower end of each holding member 4, an engaging portion 13 is provided along the side surface of the substrate holding stage 2 at a position outside the substrate holding stage side edge. Due to the engagement portion 13 and the lower surface of the holding member 4, the lower end portion of the holding member 4 has a hook-shaped cross section.

  The holding member 4 is disposed such that the hook shape at the lower end thereof corresponds to the peripheral shape of the substrate holding stage 2. That is, the lower end portion of the holding member 4 is positioned above the smooth region 10 of the substrate holding stage 2, and the engaging portion 13 is positioned along the side surface of the substrate holding stage 2. By providing the slider 3 on the substrate holding stage 2 in this way, the slider 3 is engaged with the side edge 10 a by the engaging portions 13 that are symmetrically arranged with the substrate holding stage 2 interposed therebetween, and the substrate holding stage 2 Shifting in the width direction is prevented.

  In order to make the movement of the slider described later smoother, an air bearing 7 is provided on the stage facing surface 14 facing the holding member 4 and the substrate holding stage 2 as shown in FIG. The air bearing 7 discharges high-pressure air supplied from a high-pressure air source (not shown), thereby slightly separating the surfaces arranged opposite to each other and reducing the frictional force generated therebetween, along the opposite surface. Easy to slide in any direction. That is, the movement of the substrate holding stage 2 and the slider 3 can be made smooth.

  Since the slider 3 and the substrate holding stage 2 are disposed so as to face each other with two surfaces sandwiching the side edge 10a, only two stage facing surfaces 14 on which the air bearings 7 are provided are required. Therefore, the number of air bearings can be reduced as compared with the case where the slider is moved using the guide rail having a rectangular cross section.

  In order to apply a thrust force that slides the slider 3 in the longitudinal direction of the substrate holding stage 2, a driving device (not shown) is provided on either the slider 3 or the substrate holding stage 2.

  In the coating apparatus having the above configuration, since the slider 3 is directly provided on the substrate holding stage 2 that holds the substrate, the configuration of the apparatus can be simplified, and the apparatus can be reduced in size and weight. . Further, the upper surface 6 of the substrate holding stage 2 on which the slider 3 is placed is a smooth region 10 in which the vicinity of the side edge 10a is smoothed, and in the thickness direction of the substrate 100 when the slider 3 is slid. There is no deviation.

  Further, since the surface on which the substrate is placed and the slide surface of the slider are arranged on the same plane, the distance between the nozzle 5 and the substrate 100 is uniquely determined by the thickness dimension of the substrate 100. Can do. That is, once the thickness dimension of the substrate 100 is determined, the thickness level adjustment between the slider and the substrate only needs to be performed by adjusting the height of the nozzle, and the member holding the substrate, that is, the substrate holding stage 2 is completely adjusted. It is unnecessary.

  Further, since a large-sized member is not placed on the member having the smooth region 10 that is a surface for guiding the slider, that is, the substrate holding stage 2, there is no occurrence of displacement during transportation, and the member (substrate) The bending of the holding stage 2) can also be suppressed, and the running failure of the slider hardly occurs.

  In addition, since the conventional rail has two rails, it has a shape as if it was formed by one rail, so that it is not necessary to adjust the two rails so that chattering does not occur.

  As described above, according to the coating apparatus according to the present embodiment, the labor of manufacturing and mounting can be omitted, and the slider can be smoothly moved to be small and light.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, It can implement in another various aspect.

It is a perspective view which shows the structure at the time of the board | substrate holding | maintenance of the coating device concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the positional relationship of the substrate holding stage and slider of the coating device of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the board | substrate holding | maintenance stage of the coating device of FIG. It is a partial expansion perspective view of the holding member of the coating device of FIG. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the structure of the conventional coating device. It is the elements on larger scale of FIG. 5A.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Coating device 2 Substrate holding stage 3 Slider 4 Holding member 5 Nozzle 6 Stage upper surface 7 Air bearing 10 Smooth area 10a Side edge 11 Substrate holding area 11a Suction hole 13 Engagement part 14 Stage facing surface

Claims (3)

A substrate holding stage for holding a glass substrate;
A nozzle configured to be longer than the width dimension of the glass substrate held on the substrate holding stage and shorter than the width dimension of the substrate holding stage; and a pair of holding members arranged side by side in the width direction of the substrate holding stage. And a slider configured to be able to move in the length direction of the substrate holding stage while holding the nozzle between the holding members and holding the nozzle in a non-contact state on the surface of the glass substrate on the stage. ,
The substrate holding stage includes a substrate holding region provided at a center portion thereof and a smooth region provided at a position from a width direction outer side to a side edge of the substrate holding region,
Each of the holding members of the slider includes an engaging portion extending in a lateral direction of the substrate holding stage at a position on the outer side of the substrate holding stage side edge of the lower end, and the inner side edge of the substrate holding stage side of the lower end is the It is configured to be slidable in the length direction of the substrate holding stage without being shifted in the width direction of the substrate holding stage by being placed on the smooth region and being arranged along the side surface. A coating apparatus characterized by comprising:   The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holding member includes air bearings on two surfaces facing the smooth region and the side surface of the substrate holding stage.   The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the smooth region has a surface with a flatness (JIS B0602) of 5 μm or less.

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