JP2008246938A - Fine pattern printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fine pattern printing method whereby a high-fine pattern is continuously formed on a flexible substrate such as a glass substrate and plastic film, especially long plastic film with good production efficiency. <P>SOLUTION: A film substrate 13a with ink peelability is manufactured by plasma processing a peelable film substrate 13 at an atmospheric plasma part 110. Furthermore, an ink liquid film 21 is formed on a film substrate 13a with ink peelability at a painted part 120 and pre-dried, thereby forming a pre-dried ink film 21a. Further, an intended ink film pattern 21c is formed on the film substrate 13a by eliminating unnecessary pre-dried ink film on a film substrate 11a by a relief plate at a part 140 where the pattern is eliminated. Then the ink film pattern 21c is transferred on the substrate 31 at a part 150 where the pattern is transferred, thereby forming the intended ink pattern 21d. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a fine pattern printing method for continuously forming a high-definition pattern on a flexible substrate such as a glass substrate or a plastic film, in particular, a long plastic film with good production efficiency.

  In recent years, flat panel displays have been used as image display devices for various uses such as stationary, wall-mounted, and portable types in terms of energy saving, space saving, and portability.

  In particular, in the portable type, there is a demand for plasticization from the viewpoints of impact resistance that does not break even when dropped while carrying, light weight, and thinning. In addition, the wall-hanging type also has a demand for a flexible display from the viewpoint of installing the display on a columnar column.

  However, all of the conventional flat panel displays are manufactured on a glass substrate, and it is difficult to manufacture on a plastic substrate.

  The reason is that the production of the members of the conventional flat panel display includes a heating process and a photolithography process at a high temperature.

  For example, in manufacturing a color filter for a liquid crystal display, patterning of a photosensitive resin involves processes such as development, washing, and baking, and the plastic substrate is damaged or stretched by heat.

  Moreover, in the manufacturing process of the thin film transistor which is a drive electrode of the display, the formation of the silicon semiconductor and the insulating film includes a high temperature process of 300 ° C. or more, which exceeds the heat resistance of the plastic substrate.

  In addition, since the photolithography process performs film formation, exposure, development, and peeling for each material, the manufacturing equipment becomes large and the manufacturing cost increases.

  From the above, a printing method capable of fine patterning on a plastic substrate has been demanded.

As one of printing methods on a plastic substrate, an ink jet method has been studied.
The ink-jet method is expected as the simplest patterning method because a predetermined material can be patterned only in a predetermined portion, so that the use efficiency of the material is high and a plate is not used.

  However, the diameter of ink droplets of the current ink jet is about several tens of μm, and the landing accuracy is about several μm.

  In addition, in order to perform precise patterning using the ink jet method, a partition wall must be formed on a substrate in advance by a photolithography process, and a pattern of about 10 μm such as a black matrix of a color filter or a thin film transistor wiring of a printing method is formed. As a method of forming, it is difficult to adopt.

Examples of methods other than the inkjet method include screen printing. The screen printing method has been put to practical use in the printing of wirings, resistors and dielectrics in electronic parts.

  However, since it is stencil printing, the ink is limited to a paste-like high-viscosity ink. Even if it can be used as a printing method for a thick film of about several tens of micrometers because of the fineness of the screen mesh, it is still about 10 μm. It is difficult to adopt as a pattern forming method.

  Therefore, as a method other than the inkjet method and the screen printing method, a transfer method in which a dry ink film is provided on a film in advance, a so-called dry film is removed by hot pressure, and the remaining pattern is transferred to a target substrate is proposed. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

  However, since the thermal pressure is used when transferring the ink layer from the film, it involves expansion / contraction of the film base, expansion of the plate, and melting / softening of the ink layer. It is difficult to obtain reproducibility. In addition, the apparatus for uniformly applying the heat pressure becomes complicated, and it becomes difficult to cope with a large screen.

In addition, ink is applied onto a blanket wound around a plate cylinder and pre-dried to form an ink film, and then an image pattern is formed on the blanket by pressing the relief plate on which the non-image area pattern is formed against the ink film. Finally, a printing method in which an image pattern on a blanket is transferred onto a substrate to be printed and an image pattern is formed on the substrate to be printed has been attempted (for example, see Patent Document 2).
This method is easy to adjust the ink film thickness. In this printing method, since an image pattern is formed on an ink-peeling blanket, ink transfer to a substrate to be printed is good. Further, it is possible to form a fine pattern with a thin film.
JP-A-9-90117 JP 2001-56405 A

However, the method of Patent Document 2 has a problem that the ink wettability and transferability of the blanket surface become unstable when the ink is pre-dried on a blanket made of silicone rubber or silicone resin. .
This is because it is difficult to perform uniform pre-drying because the blanket is fixed to the plate cylinder, and the solvent in the coated ink is absorbed into the blanket and swells, resulting in partial transferability. This is because of variations in accuracy.

  Further, since it is necessary to adjust the amount of swelling by cleaning after transfer or drying of the blanket for each transfer, it is not suitable for continuous processing. In addition, since the blanket is fixed to the plate cylinder, there is a problem that it is difficult to align the pattern on the blanket and the mark on the substrate when transferring the pattern onto the substrate on which a pattern is formed. is doing.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and is continuously applied to a flexible substrate such as a glass substrate or a plastic film, particularly a long plastic film having a high production efficiency. An object is to provide a fine pattern printing method for forming a high-definition pattern.

In order to solve the above problems in the present invention, first, in claim 1, at least,
(A) A step of producing a film base material having ink releasability by fluorinating the surface of the film base material supplied from the unwinding roll part with atmospheric pressure plasma;
(B) a step of forming an ink liquid film on the film substrate having the ink peelability;
(C) a step of pre-drying the ink liquid film on the film substrate having ink peelability to form a pre-dried ink film;
(D) A relief plate in which a necessary image portion pattern is formed in a recess is pressed against the preliminary dry ink film on the film substrate having the ink peelability, and an unnecessary portion of the preliminary dry ink film is pressed onto the convex portion of the relief plate And forming an image part pattern consisting of a pre-dried ink film on the film substrate having the ink releasability,
(E) The process of forming an image pattern on a to-be-printed base material by transcribe | transferring the image part pattern which consists of a preliminary | backup dry ink film formed on the film base material which has the said ink peelability on a to-be-printed base material. And a fine pattern printing method characterized by comprising:

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the fine pattern printing method according to the first aspect, wherein the film substrate is optically transparent.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the fine pattern printing method according to the first or second aspect, wherein an elastic organic resin layer is formed on the surface of the film substrate.

  Moreover, in Claim 4, the process by the said atmospheric pressure plasma is a plasma process containing the reactive gas which has the molecule | numerator which has a fluorine atom as a main component, The Claim 1 thru | or 3 characterized by the above-mentioned. This is the fine pattern printing method described.

  Further, in claim 5, the pre-dried ink film is in a semi-dry state in which the ink liquid film has adhesiveness by pre-drying of the ink liquid film and the shape is maintained, but the shape is easily changed by an external force at room temperature. 5. The fine pattern printing method according to claim 1, wherein the fine pattern is printed.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the step of transferring an image portion pattern made of a pre-dried ink film formed on the film substrate having ink peelability onto the substrate to be printed, it is previously formed on the substrate to be printed. After aligning the alignment mark formed with the alignment mark formed at the same time when forming the image pattern with the pre-dried ink film on the ink-peelable film substrate with an observation device such as a camera 6. An image pattern comprising a pre-dried ink film formed on the ink-peelable film substrate is transferred to a predetermined position on the substrate to be printed. The fine pattern printing method described in 1).

  Moreover, in Claim 7, the letterpress for removing the said preliminary | backup drying ink film is formed from glass, quartz glass, or a resin material, The one of Claims 1 thru | or 6 characterized by the above-mentioned. This is a fine pattern printing method.

  Furthermore, in claim 8, the film substrate is washed after transferring the pre-dried ink film, and used repeatedly. The fine pattern according to any one of claims 1 to 7, This is a printing method.

According to the invention according to claim 1, after the surface of the film substrate supplied from the unwinding roll part is fluorinated by atmospheric pressure plasma to give ink peelability, an ink liquid film is formed, The ink liquid film is pre-dried to obtain a pre-dried ink film, and then a relief plate having a necessary image portion pattern formed in the concave portion is pressed against the preliminary dry ink film, and the non-image portion is transferred to the convex portion of the relief plate. The image pattern formed by the pre-dried ink film remaining on the ink-peeling film substrate is transferred onto the surface of the target substrate to be printed, so that a high-definition printing method can be achieved.

  Moreover, according to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, since a film base material is optically transparent, it passes on the to-be-printed base material through the image pattern and alignment mark which remained on the film base material of ink peelability. Since the image pattern and the alignment mark can be confirmed, it is easy to accurately match the transfer position, and a high-definition pattern printing method with high reproducibility can be obtained.

  Moreover, according to the invention which concerns on Claim 3, since the organic resin layer with elasticity is formed in the surface of a film base material, the transcription | transfer property to a letterpress or the target printing substrate surface is improved, and reproducibility. High-definition pattern printing method.

  According to the invention of claim 4, since the treatment with the atmospheric pressure plasma is a plasma treatment containing a reactive gas mainly composed of fluorine or a fluorine compound, the smoothness of the film substrate surface is maintained. It is possible to reduce the wettability of the film substrate surface in a short time, increase the transferability to the relief printing plate or the surface of the substrate to be printed, and obtain a high-definition pattern printing method with high reproducibility.

  Further, according to the invention according to claim 5, the pre-dried ink film has adhesiveness by pre-drying of the ink liquid film, and the shape is maintained, but in a semi-dry state in which the shape is easily changed by an external force at room temperature. As a result, it is possible to remove a part of the pattern and transfer it to the substrate to be transferred without performing heat treatment, and the ink peeling property, the thermal expansion of the film substrate or the substrate to be transferred, and the pattern heat melting. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a precise pattern printing method that is not affected by the shape change due to the above.

  According to the invention of claim 6, an image pattern is preliminarily provided on the substrate to be printed, and the image pattern by the pre-dried ink film left on the ink peelable film substrate is printed. When transferring to the substrate surface, the ink-removable film substrate and the substrate to be printed are brought close to each other in parallel, and observed from the ink-removable film substrate or the back surface of the substrate to be printed with an observation device such as a camera. Then, while moving at least one substrate, the alignment mark that the image portion pattern left on the ink peelable film substrate has, and the alignment mark that the image pattern provided on the surface of the substrate to be printed has As a result, the transfer position can be accurately aligned, and a highly reproducible high-definition pattern printing method can be achieved.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 7, a printing method for a high-definition pattern is obtained by using a plate made of glass, quartz glass, or a resin material as a relief plate for removing the pre-dried ink film. Can do.

  Moreover, according to the invention which concerns on Claim 8, in a film base material, it wash | cleans after transferring all the preliminary | backup dried ink films | membranes, By using repeatedly, a film base material can be used in multiple times, and the stable continuous printing is carried out every time. Possible printing methods can be obtained.

Therefore, the present invention is capable of continuously and stably printing a high-definition pattern on a flexible substrate such as a glass substrate or plastic, particularly a long flexible substrate, and a color filter serving as a display member. The black matrix, white matrix, color pattern, spacer, etc. can be produced.
Further, a solution type semiconductor pattern such as a gate electrode, a source / drain electrode, a gate insulating film, and an organic semiconductor of a printing transistor can be manufactured by this printing method.
Furthermore, the patterning of the light emitting layer of the polymer organic EL can be efficiently produced by such a printing method.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a pattern printing apparatus used in the fine pattern printing method of the present invention.
FIGS. 2A to 2G are partial schematic cross-sectional views showing an embodiment of the fine pattern printing method of the present invention in the order of steps.
In the fine pattern printing method of the present invention, the film substrate 13 is supplied from the film substrate unwinding section 101, and plasma treatment is performed in the atmospheric pressure plasma section 110 to produce a film substrate 13a having ink peelability. . Furthermore, the ink liquid film 21 is formed on the film base material 13a having ink releasability at the coating part 120, and the ink liquid film 21 on the film base material 13a is preliminarily dried at the drying part 130, thereby removing the ink. The pre-dried ink film 21a is formed on the film base material 13a having properties.
Further, an unnecessary pre-dried ink film on the film base material 11a is removed with a relief plate at the pattern removing unit 140, thereby forming a desired ink film pattern 21c on the film base material 13a. Further, the ink film pattern 21c on the film substrate 13a is aligned and transferred onto the substrate 31 to be printed by the pattern transfer unit 150 having the alignment unit 152, and the ink film pattern 21c is dried by the drying unit 160. Then, a desired ink pattern 21d is formed on the substrate 21 to be printed.

Hereinafter, the fine pattern printing method of the present invention will be described in the order of steps.
First, the organic resin layer 12 was coated on the surface of the raw film base material 11 to produce a film base material 13 (see FIG. 2A), and then wound into a roll shape, To do.

  In addition to these devices, the tension of the film base material can be adjusted by installing a nip portion in the transport system and holding the base material. As the nip portion, an adsorption nip formed mainly by air adsorption holes provided in the transport roll is used.

  The film substrate can be transported at a rate of 5 m / sec to 10 m / sec when a buffer for continuously transporting the film is provided to ease the time difference required for each process. It is preferable to use a method of drawing out the required length of the conductive film substrate or the substrate to be printed for each step.

  As the raw film base material 11, an optically transparent film can be used. By using a transparent base material, alignment can be facilitated at the time of pattern superposition. For example, films and sheets of polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, polyether sulfone, cycloolefin polymer, polyimide, nylon, aramid, polycarbonate, polymethyl methacrylate, polyvinyl chloride, triacetyl cellulose, and the like can be used.

On the surface of the unprocessed film substrate 11, an organic resin layer 12 is coated in advance to give elasticity. This elasticity is intended to improve the adhesion to the relief plate and form a high-definition pattern when the pre-dried ink film on the ink-peelable film substrate is transferred to the relief of the relief plate. It is. At this time, the elastic force is preferably 20 to 80 (JISK6301: spring type hardness test A type) in rubber hardness.
Examples of organic resins to be coated include polyethylene resins, polyurethane resins,
Polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl acetate, polyester resins, acrylic resins alone, mixed or copolymerized products, elastomers, etc. are used, but those that satisfy the above rubber hardness are limited to these. is not.

Next, the film base material 13 on which the organic resin layer 12 is formed is subjected to plasma treatment in the atmospheric pressure plasma unit 110 to produce a film base material 13a having ink peelability (see FIG. 2B).
In the atmospheric pressure plasma treatment, plasma irradiation is performed in an atmospheric pressure atmosphere using a reactive gas mainly composed of fluorine or a fluorine compound. The gases used are CF ₄ , CHF ₃ , C ₂ F ₆ , SF ₆ , It is a reactive gas containing a fluorine gas selected from C ₃ F ₈ , C ₅ F _{8 and the} like.

  The atmospheric pressure plasma unit 110 is formed of a dielectric material, a gas introduction port for introducing a plasma source gas, a reaction tube having a gas outlet for discharging plasma generated in the reaction tube toward an object to be processed, and a reaction tube A high frequency that generates a high-frequency electric field in the reaction tube, comprising a gas supply device that supplies a plasma source gas to the gas inlet, and a pair of high-voltage electrodes and a ground electrode that are arranged around the reaction tube and to which a high-frequency voltage is applied from a high-frequency power source It has an electric field generator, and has a structure in which the film substrate 11 is conveyed inside the reaction tube.

  The ink peelability of the film substrate 13a having the ink peelability is such that the contact angle when ink is dropped onto the treated surface is preferably 10 ° or more and 90 ° or less, more preferably 20 ° or more and 70 ° or less. It is. If this contact angle is small, ink releasability in the subsequent process is reduced and pattern defects (such as poor reproducibility) are likely to occur. If the contact angle is large, repelling occurs when forming the ink liquid film, It becomes difficult to form a uniform ink liquid film.

Next, the ink liquid film 21 is formed in the coating part 120 on the film base material 13a which has ink peelability (refer FIG.2 (c)).
The coating unit 120 is provided with a movable stage 121 and a coating device 122 that applies ink to the ink peelable film substrate 11a provided on the movable stage.
The movable stage 121 can be driven by a ball screw, a linear motor, or the like, and can be made of metal or stone, but can reciprocate while maintaining at least the horizontal direction. The ink peelable film substrate 11a can be adsorbed. In order to prevent unevenness of the surface due to adsorption, a method of providing adsorption holes only near the edge of the film or a method of using an adsorption surface using a porous material can be selected.

  Moreover, as a method of forming the ink liquid film 21 in the coating part 120, a well-known coating method can be used by the viscosity of an ink or the drying property of a solvent. That is, for example, dipping method, roll coating, gravure coating, reverse coating, air knife coating, comma coating, die coating, screen printing method, spray coating, gravure offset method and the like can be mentioned. Above all, the die coat, cap coat, roll coat, and applicator can form a uniform ink film for inks with a wide range of viscosity, and continuously on the movable ink peelable film substrate. In the case of forming, die coating is the most efficient and preferable forming method.

  As a material for the ink liquid film, a material obtained by dissolving or dispersing a solvent in an image pattern forming material can be used. For example, when a color pattern (colored layer) consisting of red, green, and blue or a black matrix is formed by the production method of the present invention in a color filter, the pigment component and the resin component are dissolved and dispersed in a solvent to form an ink. Become.

Examples of the pigment include the following pigments that can be used in red, green, and blue colors. The type of pigment is a color index (CI) No. It shows with. First, as a red pigment,
97, 122, 123, 149, 168, 177, 180, 192, 208, 209, 215, etc., 7, 36, etc. as green pigments, 15, 15: 1, 15: 3, 15: 6 as blue pigments , 22, 60, 64 and the like. Examples of black pigments include carbon black and titanium black. Further, in order to improve the color adjustment of these red, green and blue pigments and the fluidity of the ink, the following pigments can be added in necessary amounts.

  Besides red, green, and blue, for example, yellow pigments such as 17, 83, 109, 110, and 128, purple pigments such as 19, 23, and white pigments such as 18, 21, 27, and 28, etc. Examples of the orange pigment include 38 and 43. In addition to the simple substance, the pigment may be a pigment dispersion in which the pigment is previously dispersed in a dispersant or an organic solvent.

  Moreover, as a black pigment used for a black matrix, carbon black or titanium black is used alone or in combination.

  As the resin component, one or more selected from the group consisting of polyester resins, acrylic resins, epoxy resins, melamine resins, and benzoguanamine resins are used. As the solvent, an ester solvent, an alcohol solvent, an ether solvent, a hydrocarbon solvent, or the like is used. As ester solvents, propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, ethoxyethyl propionate, and alcohol solvents, 1-butanol, 3methoxy-3-methyl-1-butanol, 1-hexanol, 1,3 butanediol, 1-pentanol, 2 -Methyl 1-butanol, 4-methyl-2-pentanol, ether solvents such as propylene glycol monomethyl ether, propylene glycol monoethyl ether, propylene glycol tertiary butyl ether, dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether, ethylene glycol butyl ether, ethylene glycol ethyl Ether, ethylene glycol methyl ether, diethylene glycol butyl ether, diethylene glycol ethyl ether, hydrocarbon As a solvent, Solvesso 100, Solvesso 150 (product name: manufactured by Exxon Chemical Co., Ltd.) and the like.

  When an organic light emitting layer is formed in an organic EL element, for example, an ink is obtained by dissolving and dispersing a polymer light emitting material such as polyphenylene vinylene (PPV) in an aromatic organic solvent such as toluene or xylene as a solvent. In addition, when wiring is formed on a circuit base material, an ink is obtained by dissolving and dispersing a metal fine particle dispersion such as gold, silver, copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, rhodium in water, alcohol, or glycol solvent. . Moreover, surfactant, antioxidant, a viscosity modifier, a ultraviolet absorber, a leveling agent, etc. may be added to these inks as needed. The ink of the present invention is not limited to these.

  Although the coating part 120 demonstrates the thing of the die | dye system which is excellent in the continuous processing and the uniformity of a film thickness, it is not limited to this. A predetermined amount of ink can be supplied to the die head from a separately prepared ink supply pump. The gap between the die head and the ink peelable film substrate may be set before the start of printing, or may be adjusted by moving the die head up and down in accordance with the conveyance of the movable stage.

Next, the ink liquid film 21 on the film substrate 13a having ink peelability is preliminarily dried in the drying unit 130 to form the preliminarily dried ink film 21a (see FIG. 2D).
Here, for the preliminary drying in the drying unit 130, natural drying, cold air / hot air drying, microwave, vacuum drying, or the like can be used, and radiation such as ultraviolet rays or electron beams can also be used.

The preliminary drying is intended to increase the viscosity, thixotropy and brittleness of the ink liquid film 21, and the ink liquid film 21 is not completely dried. When the drying is insufficient, the ink liquid film tears and a defect occurs when the convex part of the relief printing plate in the subsequent process is pressed and peeled off. On the other hand, if the drying is excessive, the ink is not transferred to the letterpress.
For this reason, the pre-dried ink film 21a has a dry state adjusted by the drying time and the atmospheric temperature depending on the composition of the ink to be used, but a state in which 0.5% to 4% of solvent remains in the dried ink film. Is preferred.

Next, the pattern removing unit 140 presses the relief plate 141 having the necessary image portion pattern formed in the recesses against the pre-dried ink film 21a on the film substrate 13a having ink peelability, and the pre-dried ink film 21a. An unnecessary part is transferred to the convex part of the relief plate 141, and the image part pattern 21c which consists of a preliminary | backup dry ink film is formed on the film base material 13a which has ink peelability (refer FIG.2 (e)).
Here, as the relief plate 141, a mask pattern is formed on a surface of low expansion glass such as non-alkali glass or quartz glass using a photosensitive resin, and then an existing dry etching process, wet etching process, or sand blasting process is performed. Can be used with a plate depth of 2 to 30 μm.

  The pattern removing unit 140 has a resin-made or glass-made relief plate 141 attached to the movable stage by adsorption, and after the surface of the pre-dried ink film 21a on the ink peelable film substrate 11a is brought close to the relief plate 141, the movable stage When the pressure is applied by the impression cylinder 142, the pre-dried ink film 21a in contact with the convex portion of the relief plate 141 is transferred to the relief plate.

  Further, the base plate of the relief plate 141 may be made of nylon, acrylic, silicone resin, styrene-diene copolymer, or the like. Also, rubber plates such as ethylene-propylene, butyl, and urethane rubbers can be used. Such resin-made relief plates have already been used for relief printing and flexographic printing, and can be produced by pouring a predetermined resin into a previously produced mold or engraving. A method using a resin can be manufactured with higher accuracy.

  Next, in the pattern transfer unit 150 having the movable stage 151, the alignment unit 152, and the transfer roll 153, the image portion pattern 21 c made of the pre-dried ink film on the film substrate 13 a having ink peelability is printed. The pattern of the substrate 31 to be printed supplied from the winding unit 201 is aligned with the alignment unit 152, and the image portion pattern 21c made of the pre-dried ink film is transferred to a predetermined position on the substrate 31 to be printed ( (Refer FIG.2 (f)).

  The roller 153 is pressed against the substrate 31 to be printed fixed on the movable stage 151 and the ink peelable film substrate 13a installed with a slight gap, and the roller 153 is moved along with the movement of the movable stage 151. The image pattern 21c can be transferred onto the printing substrate 31 by applying printing pressure while rotating, and then peeling the ink peelable film substrate 13a from the printing substrate 31.

  The alignment unit 152 includes a movable stage 151 and a plurality of microscope cameras. The alignment unit 152 includes a pre-dried ink film on an ink-peelable film substrate on a printing substrate 31 adsorbed on the movable stage 151. After the image part pattern 21c is brought close to 100 to 500 μm, a part of the image part pattern 21c formed on the ink peelable film base material 11a and the alignment are utilized by utilizing the transparency of the ink peelable film base material 11a. The mark pattern for printing and the pattern on the substrate 31 to be printed are recognized by a transmission image, and the movable stage is operated based on the image in which each substrate pattern is recognized to correct the transfer position.

Further, a microscope camera is inserted between the ink peelable film substrate 11a on which the image portion pattern 21c is formed and the substrate 31 to be printed, and the position is corrected based on the image on which the pattern on each substrate is recognized. You can also choose how to do it.

  The microscope camera may be either an optical microscope or a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) microscope, but requires either autofocus, an electrically controllable manual focus control mechanism, or both. For this purpose, it is possible to have an interface to an external monitor or an image processing apparatus for position correction.

Next, the printing substrate 31 to which the image portion pattern 21c has been transferred is dried in the drying unit 160 to produce the printing substrate 31 in which the image pattern 21d is formed at a predetermined position (FIG. 2). (See (g)).
Here, the drying unit 160 can use a drying device such as a hot plate, an oven, hot air, reduced-pressure drying, and ultraviolet irradiation, and the drying conditions necessary for preventing blocking at the time of winding the substrate 31 to be printed. Specifically, it is preferable to perform thermal drying at 120 ° C. for 3 to 5 minutes.

  The fine pattern printing method of the present invention can be applied to printing on glass or plastic plates. For example, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polyethersulfone, cycloolefin polymer, polyimide, nylon Films and sheets of aramid, polycarbonate, polymethyl methacrylate, polyvinyl chloride, triacetyl cellulose, etc. can also be used. What is necessary is just to select according to the drying conditions of the ink applied to printing, and polyethylene naphthalate, polyether sulfone, a cycloolefin polymer, a polyimide, etc. are suitable as a heat resistant thing. Moreover, the base material which consists of material which added the inorganic filler to resin and improved heat resistance may be sufficient. The film and sheet may be a stretched film or an unstretched film, and a flexible substrate is laminated with a gas barrier layer, a smoothing layer, or an ink image-receiving layer on the printing surface or other surface as necessary. May be.

  As described above, the fine pattern printing method of the present invention continuously performs thin film printing of a high-definition pattern on a glass substrate, a flexible substrate such as a plastic film, especially a long flexible substrate. Color filter member such as color pattern, black matrix, white matrix, spacer, gate electrode, source electrode, drain electrode, gate insulating film, transistor member such as organic semiconductor material, organic light emitting layer, etc. It can be used to manufacture organic EL devices such as

Hereinafter, specific examples of the present invention will be described.
First, a film base 13 (see FIG. 2A) in which an organic resin layer 12 is formed by coating polyurethane on a PET base 11 having a thickness of 120 μm and a width of 300 mm is wound into a roll and is a long winding roll. 101 was produced.

Next, the film base material 13 on which the organic resin layer 12 is formed is subjected to an atmospheric pressure plasma unit 110 including an atmospheric pressure plasma surface treatment apparatus RD300 (manufactured by Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.) using a mixed gas of O ₂ / CF ₄ . Plasma treatment was performed to produce a film substrate 13a having ink peelability (see FIG. 2B).

Next, on the film substrate 13a having peelability, the following red colored ink for color filter is applied using a coating part 120 made of a die coater having a head width of 200 mm, and an ink liquid made of red colored ink. A film 21 was formed (see FIG. 2C).
<Composition of red pigment dispersion for color filter>
Red pigment:
CIPigment Red254 ("Ilgar Forred B-CF" manufactured by Ciba Specialty Chemicals) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 18 parts by weight
CIPigment Red 177 (“Chromophthal Red A2B” manufactured by Ciba Specialty Chemicals) ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Acrylic varnish (solid content 20%) …………………………………………………… 108 parts by weight A mixture of the above composition is uniformly stirred and mixed, and then a glass bead with a diameter of 1 mm is used to create a sand mill. For 5 hours, and further filtered through a 5 μm filter to obtain a red pigment dispersion.
[Composition of red coloring ink]
・ The above-mentioned red pigment dispersion …………………………………………………………………………………… 100 parts by weight methylated methylol melamine: MW-30 (manufactured by Sanyo Chemical Co., Ltd.) ··········· 20 parts by weight • Leveling agent: Megafac F-483SF (Dainippon Ink Chemical Co., Ltd.) 1 part by weight • Propylene glycol monomethyl ether ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 85 parts by weight / propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate 45 parts by weight A mixture of the above composition was stirred and mixed uniformly, and then filtered through a 5 μm filter to obtain a red colored ink. .

  Next, the ink liquid film 21 on the film substrate 13a having ink releasability was preliminarily dried for 30 seconds in a drying unit 130 composed of a hot plate heated to 40 ° C. to form a pre-dried ink film 21a (FIG. 2 (d)).

Next, the relief plate 141 made of a resin flexo plate (manufactured by Toyobo Co., Ltd.) having a width of 200 mm (pattern effective width is 150 mm) in which a necessary image portion pattern is formed in the concave portion by the pattern removing unit 140 is used as an ink peeling property. Is pressed against the pre-dried ink film 21a on the film base material 13a, and the unnecessary part of the pre-dried ink film 21a is transferred to the convex parts of the relief plate 141, so that the pre-dried ink film is formed on the film base material 13a having ink peelability. An image portion pattern 21c made of (see FIG. 2 (e)) was formed.
As the pattern, a continuous stripe pattern having a width of 20 μm of convex portions and a width of 80 μm of concave portions and an alignment mark provided in 200 μm square located at four corners were provided.

  Next, the pattern transfer unit 150 having the movable stage 151, the alignment unit 152, and the transfer roll 153 is made of a light-transmitting PET film having a film thickness of 120 μm and a width of 300 mm supplied from the printing substrate winding unit 201. After fixing the substrate 31 to be printed on the movable stage 151 and confirming the diagonal alignment mark with the alignment unit 152 made of two alignment cameras, the ink peelable film substrate is made with the transfer roll 153 made of a rubber roller. 13a and the substrate to be printed 31 are bonded to each other, and then the image peeling pattern 21c made of the pre-dried ink film is coated by peeling the ink peelable film substrate 13a from the substrate to be printed 31 while moving from the movable stage 151. It was transferred to a predetermined position on the printing substrate 31 (see FIG. 2F).

  Finally, the printing substrate 31 to which the image portion pattern 21c has been transferred is dried for 120 seconds by the drying unit 110 made of a hot plate, and the color filter in which the image pattern 21d made of red ink is formed on the printing substrate 31 A red pattern was obtained (see FIG. 2 (g)).

In the same process as in Example 1, first, a film substrate 13 (see FIG. 2A) in which an organic resin layer 12 is formed by coating polyurethane on a PET substrate 11 having a thickness of 120 μm and a width of 300 mm in advance is rolled. A long winding roll 101 was prepared.
Furthermore, the film base material 13 on which the organic resin layer 12 is formed is subjected to plasma in an atmospheric pressure plasma unit 110 including an atmospheric pressure plasma surface treatment apparatus RD300 (manufactured by Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.) using a mixed gas of O ₂ / CF _4. The film base material 13a which processed and had ink peelability was produced (refer FIG.2 (b)).

  Next, on the film substrate 13a having peelability, a coating ink 120 made of a die coater having a head width of 200 mm is applied with a conductive ink made of a silver particle aqueous dispersion (average particle size 20 nm), An ink liquid film 21 made of conductive ink was formed (see FIG. 2C).

  Next, the ink liquid film 21 made of conductive ink on the film substrate 13a having ink peelability is preliminarily dried for 30 seconds in a drying section 130 made of a hot plate heated to 40 ° C., and the pre-dried ink film 21a (See FIG. 2D).

Next, a relief plate 141 made of a glass plate having a width of 200 mm (pattern effective width is 150 mm) in which a necessary image portion pattern is formed in the concave portion by the pattern removing unit 140 is preliminarily provided on the film base material 13a having ink peelability. By pressing against the dry ink film 21a, the unnecessary part of the preliminary dry ink film 21a was transferred to the convex part of the relief plate 141, and the image part pattern 21c made of the preliminary dry ink film was formed on the film substrate 13a having ink peelability. (See FIG. 2 (e)).
As the pattern, a continuous stripe pattern having a width of 20 μm of convex portions and a width of 80 μm of concave portions and an alignment mark provided in 200 μm square located at four corners were provided.

  Next, the pattern transfer unit 150 having the movable stage 151, the alignment unit 152, and the transfer roll 153 is made of a light-transmitting PET film having a film thickness of 120 μm and a width of 300 mm supplied from the printing substrate winding unit 201. After fixing the substrate 31 to be printed on the movable stage 151 and confirming the diagonal alignment mark with the alignment unit 152 made of two alignment cameras, the ink peelable film substrate is made with the transfer roll 153 made of a rubber roller. 13a and the substrate to be printed 31 are bonded to each other, and then the image peeling pattern 21c made of the pre-dried ink film is coated by peeling the ink peelable film substrate 13a from the substrate to be printed 31 while moving from the movable stage 151. It was transferred to a predetermined position on the printing substrate 31 (see FIG. 2F).

  Finally, the substrate 31 to which the image portion pattern 21c is transferred is dried for 120 seconds by the drying unit 110 made of a hot plate, and the image pattern 21d made of a conductive material is formed on the substrate 31 to be printed. A printed matter was obtained (see FIG. 2 (g)).

  In the said Example 1 and Example 2, the high-definition pattern which has the outstanding reproducibility was able to be printed stably.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a pattern printing apparatus used in the fine pattern printing method of the present invention. (A)-(g) is a partial schematic cross section which shows one Example of the printing method of the fine pattern of this invention in order of a process.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Unprocessed film base material 12 ... Organic resin layer 13 ... Film base material 13a ... Film base material 21 which has ink peelability ... Ink liquid film 21a ... Pre-drying ink film 21c ... Image part Pattern 21d ... Image pattern 31 ... Printed substrate 101 ... Unwinding part 102 of film substrate having ink peelability ... Winding part 110 of film substrate having ink peelability ... Air plasma part 120 …… Coating part 130 ...... Dry part 140 ...... Pattern removal plate 141 ...... Letter plate 142 ...... Pressure roll 150 ...... Pattern transfer part 151 ...... Movable stage 152 ...... Alignment part 153 ...... Transfer roll 160 ...... ... Drying unit 201 ... Printed substrate unwinding unit 202 ... Printed substrate winding unit

Claims (8)

at least,
(A) A step of producing a film base material having ink releasability by fluorinating the surface of the film base material supplied from the unwinding roll part with atmospheric pressure plasma;
(B) a step of forming an ink liquid film on the film substrate having the ink peelability;
(C) a step of pre-drying the ink liquid film on the film substrate having ink peelability to form a pre-dried ink film;
(D) A relief plate in which a necessary image portion pattern is formed in a recess is pressed against the preliminary dry ink film on the film substrate having the ink peelability, and an unnecessary portion of the preliminary dry ink film is pressed onto the convex portion of the relief plate And forming an image part pattern consisting of a pre-dried ink film on the film substrate having the ink releasability,
(E) The process of forming an image pattern on a to-be-printed base material by transcribe | transferring the image part pattern which consists of a preliminary | backup dry ink film formed on the film base material which has the said ink peelability on a to-be-printed base material. A method for printing a fine pattern, comprising:   The fine pattern printing method according to claim 1, wherein the film substrate is optically transparent.   3. The fine pattern printing method according to claim 1, wherein an elastic organic resin layer is formed on a surface of the film base material.   The fine pattern printing method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the treatment with the atmospheric pressure plasma is a plasma treatment including a reactive gas whose main component is a molecule having a fluorine atom. .   2. The pre-dried ink film is sticky by pre-drying of an ink liquid film and is in a semi-dry state in which the shape is maintained but the shape is easily changed by an external force at room temperature. 5. The fine pattern printing method according to any one of 4 above.   In the step of transferring an image part pattern composed of a pre-dried ink film formed on the film substrate having ink peelability onto the substrate to be printed, an alignment mark previously formed on the substrate to be printed, and The alignment mark formed at the same time as forming the image pattern with the pre-drying ink film on the ink peelable film substrate is observed and aligned with an observation device such as a camera, and then the ink peelable film. The fine pattern printing according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein an image pattern composed of a pre-dried ink film formed on a substrate is transferred to a predetermined position on the substrate to be printed. Method.   The fine pattern printing method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the relief plate for removing the pre-dried ink film is formed of glass, quartz glass, or a resin material.   The method for printing a fine pattern according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the film substrate is washed after transferring the entire pre-dried ink film and repeatedly used.