JP2009011884A - Cleaning-fluid set, ink/cleaning fluid set, and droplet ejector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cleaning fluid set excellent in displacement between the cleaning-fluid and ink, and capable of suitably eliminating ink passage fouling and droplet ejection head clogging in a droplet ejector, to provide an ink/cleaning fluid set, and to provide a droplet ejector using such cleaning fluid set. <P>SOLUTION: The cleaning fluid set is applied to the production of an inkjet-type color filter and is provided with a plurality of types of cleaning fluids used in cleaning a droplet ejector that ejects a plurality of types of inks, wherein the plurality of the cleaning fluids correspond to their respective inks, and the cleaning fluids each contains a liquid medium and a dispersant, each ink contains a pigment and a dispersion medium in which the pigment is dispersed, the dispersion medium in which the ink is dispersed and the liquid medium of the cleaning fluid corresponding to the ink each contains a liquid component a common thereto, and the dispersant of the ink and the dispersion medium of the cleaning fluid corresponding to the ink each contains a constituent m common thereto. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cleaning liquid set, an ink-cleaning liquid set, and a droplet discharge device.

A color filter is generally used for a liquid crystal display (LCD) or the like that performs color display.
A color filter has conventionally formed a coating film composed of a material (colored layer forming composition) containing a pigment, a photosensitive resin, a functional monomer, a polymerization initiator, etc. on a substrate, and then passed through a photomask. Have been manufactured using a so-called photolithography method in which a light-sensitive process, a development process, and the like are performed. In such a method, the colors are usually overlapped by repeating the operation of forming a coating film corresponding to each color on almost the entire surface of the substrate, curing only a part thereof, and removing most of the other part. Manufacture color filters so that they do not match. For this reason, only a part of the coating film formed in the production of the color filter remains as a colored layer in the finally obtained color filter, and most of it is removed in the production process. Become. For this reason, not only the manufacturing cost of a color filter rises but it is not preferable also from a viewpoint of resource saving.

  On the other hand, in recent years, a method of forming a colored layer of a color filter using an ink jet head (droplet discharge head) has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Such a method can easily control the discharge position of the droplets of the colored layer forming material (colored layer forming composition) and can reduce waste of the colored layer forming composition. The manufacturing cost can also be suppressed. In general, the color filter ink (ink) constituting such droplets is obtained by dispersing a pigment having excellent weather resistance such as light and heat in a dispersion medium.

  By the way, a droplet discharge device (for industrial use) used for manufacturing a color filter is completely different from that applied to a printer (for consumer use). For example, a large number of droplets are long for mass production. It is required to discharge over time. In addition, droplet discharge devices (industrial use) used in the manufacture of color filters generally have a higher viscosity than inks used in printers (consumer use), so the liquid runs out during discharge. The ink tends to remain at the discharge port (nozzle) of the inkjet head. As a result, when the ink is continuously discharged, the components contained in the ink adhere to the ink flow path of the droplet discharge device, and the supply of ink to the droplet discharge head becomes unstable. In addition, the solid portion of the aggregated pigment or the like is likely to cause clogging of the discharge port of the droplet discharge head, and the flight of the droplet frequently occurs. For this reason, for example, a method in which droplets are discharged from a portion without a substrate (work) for a color filter of a droplet discharge device (strib discharge) or a suction unit is used to accumulate in the droplet discharge head. By a method of forcibly sucking the ink that is present, aggregates and adhering substances present in the droplet discharge head and the ink flow path are removed, and contamination and clogging due to ink and the like are eliminated. However, such a method alone cannot sufficiently remove agglomerates and deposits. If droplets are ejected again, the droplet ejection amount becomes unstable or ejected in a relatively short period of time. There was a problem that the exit was clogged again. In such a case, it is necessary to frequently replace the droplet discharge head and other members, and the productivity of the color filter is extremely reduced.

JP 2002-372613 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning liquid set, an ink-cleaning liquid set, and an ink-cleaning liquid set that are excellent in substituting the cleaning liquid with ink and that can suitably eliminate stains in the ink flow path of the droplet discharge device and clogging of the droplet discharge head Another object of the present invention is to provide a droplet discharge device using a cleaning solution set.

Such an object is achieved by the present invention described below.
The cleaning liquid set of the present invention is applied to manufacture of a color filter by an ink jet method, and includes a plurality of types of cleaning liquids used for cleaning a droplet discharge device that discharges a plurality of types of ink.
The plurality of types of cleaning liquids are used corresponding to the plurality of types of inks, respectively.
The cleaning liquid includes a liquid medium and a dispersant,
The ink includes a pigment, a dispersion medium for dispersing the pigment, and a dispersant.
The dispersion medium of the ink and the liquid medium of the cleaning liquid corresponding to the ink both contain a common liquid component a,
The dispersant for the ink and the dispersant for the cleaning liquid corresponding to the ink both contain a common component m.
Accordingly, it is possible to provide a cleaning liquid set that is excellent in replaceability of the cleaning liquid with ink and that can suitably eliminate contamination in the ink flow path of the droplet discharge device and clogging of the droplet discharge head.

In the cleaning liquid set of the present invention, it is preferable that the content of the constituent component m in each of the cleaning liquids constituting the cleaning liquid set is 0.1 to 10.5 wt%.
As a result, dirt adhering to the ink flow path and clogging of the discharge ports can be more reliably eliminated.
In the cleaning liquid set of the present invention, the content of the liquid component a in each of the cleaning liquids constituting the cleaning liquid set is preferably 8.5 to 95.5 wt%.
Thereby, the ink and the cleaning liquid can be particularly easily replaced, and clogging and contamination of the droplet discharge device can be eliminated particularly quickly. Further, when the flow path and the droplet discharge head are filled with ink after cleaning, the remaining cleaning liquid can be made particularly small.

In the cleaning liquid set of the present invention, the plurality of types of inks are C.I. I. Pigment red 177 or C.I. I. Red ink including CI Pigment Red 254; I. Green ink containing CI Pigment Green 36; I. And a blue ink containing CI Pigment Blue 15: 6.
As a result, it is possible to efficiently manufacture a color filter having a high color density while preferably eliminating problems such as contamination of the droplet discharge device and clogging of the discharge port.

In the cleaning liquid set of the present invention, the liquid component a (a _R ) of the red ink is bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether, diethylene glycol dimethyl ether, diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate, ethyl 3-ethoxypropionate, 2- (2-methoxy). It is preferably -1-methylethoxy) -1-methylethyl acetate or 1,3-butylene glycol diacetate.
Thereby, the ink and the cleaning liquid are particularly easily replaced. Further, the dispersibility of the pigment or the like in the cleaning liquid can be made particularly excellent, and clogging of the discharge port of the droplet discharge head and contamination of the ink flow path can be particularly easily eliminated.

In the cleaning liquid set of the present invention, the liquid component a (a _G ) of the green ink is diethylene glycol diethyl ether, 1,3-butylene glycol diacetate, bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether, 2- (2-methoxy-1). -Methylethoxy) -1-methylethyl acetate or diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate is preferred.
Thereby, the ink and the cleaning liquid are particularly easily replaced. In addition, the cleaning liquid is particularly excellent in dispersibility of the pigment, and can effectively prevent problems such as contamination and clogging of the droplet discharge device.

In the cleaning liquid set of the present invention, the liquid component a (a _B ) of the blue ink is triethylene glycol dimethyl ether, 2- (2-methoxy-1-methylethoxy) -1-methylethyl acetate, 1,3-butylene glycol. Diacetate, propylene glycol-n-butyl ether, bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether, or diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate is preferred.
Thereby, the ink and the cleaning liquid are particularly easily replaced. In addition, the ink flow path becomes extremely small, and the amount of ink droplets in the droplet discharge device is particularly stable.

In the cleaning liquid set according to the present invention, at least one or more of the cleaning liquids constituting the cleaning liquid set includes 3.0 to 40.0 wt% of the liquid component b having a composition different from that of the liquid component a as the liquid constituting the liquid medium. % Content rate,
The solubility of the constituent component m in the liquid component b at 20 ° C. is preferably larger than the solubility of the constituent component m in the liquid component a.
Thereby, the solid matter such as the pigment to which the constituent component m is adhered can be more reliably dispersed and dissolved in the liquid medium containing the liquid component b. For this reason, the cleaning liquid can particularly easily eliminate clogging of the discharge port of the droplet discharge head and contamination of the ink flow path.

The cleaning solution set of the present invention, the liquid component b of the cleaning solution corresponding to the red ink (b _R) is butyl cellosolve, propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, cyclohexanone, ethyl octanoate, ethyl acetate, or is ethylene glycol diacetate It is preferable.
As a result, the solid matter such as the pigment to which the constituent component m is adhered can be more reliably dispersed and dissolved in the liquid medium, and the discharge port of the droplet discharge head is clogged and the ink flow path is stained. In particular, it can be easily eliminated.

In the cleaning liquid set of the present invention, the liquid component b (b _G ) of the cleaning liquid corresponding to the green ink is propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, 1,6-hexanediol diacetate, cyclohexanone, ethyl octoate, ethyl acetate, or Ethylene glycol diacetate is preferable.
As a result, the solid matter such as the pigment to which the constituent component m is adhered can be more reliably dispersed and dissolved in the liquid medium, and the discharge port of the droplet discharge head is clogged and the ink flow path is stained. In particular, it can be easily eliminated.

In the cleaning liquid set of the present invention, the liquid component b (b _B ) of the cleaning liquid corresponding to the blue ink is 3-methoxybutyl acetate, cyclohexanone, ethyl octoate, ethyl acetate, propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, or ethylene glycol. A diacetate is preferred.
As a result, the solid matter such as the pigment to which the constituent component m is adhered can be more reliably dispersed and dissolved in the liquid medium, and the discharge port of the droplet discharge head is clogged and the ink flow path is stained. In particular, it can be easily eliminated.

In the cleaning liquid set of the present invention, it is preferable that the surface tension of the cleaning liquid constituting the cleaning liquid set is lower than that of the corresponding ink.
Thereby, at the time of washing | cleaning, a washing | cleaning liquid can spread suitably in the washing | cleaning site | part of a droplet discharge apparatus. For this reason, the amount of dirt remaining on the cleaned portion after cleaning is particularly small.

In the cleaning liquid set of the present invention, it is preferable that the viscosity of the cleaning liquid constituting the cleaning liquid set is lower than that of the corresponding ink.
Thereby, at the time of washing | cleaning, a washing | cleaning liquid can spread suitably in the washing | cleaning site | part of a droplet discharge apparatus. For this reason, the amount of dirt remaining on the cleaned portion after cleaning is particularly small.

The ink-cleaning liquid set of the present invention includes ink applied to manufacture of a color filter by an inkjet method using a droplet discharge device, and a cleaning liquid for cleaning the droplet discharge device,
The cleaning liquid includes a liquid medium and a dispersant,
The ink includes a pigment, a dispersion medium for dispersing the pigment, and a dispersant.
The dispersion medium of the ink and the liquid medium of the cleaning liquid corresponding to the ink both contain a common liquid component a,
The dispersant for the ink and the dispersant for the cleaning liquid corresponding to the ink both contain a common component m.
By applying such an ink-cleaning liquid set to a droplet ejection device, when ejecting droplets using the ink, the ejection properties and flight accuracy of the ink droplets are stable over a long period of time. Can be.

The droplet discharge device of the present invention is a droplet discharge device that is used for manufacturing a color filter by an ink jet method and discharges a plurality of types of ink.
The droplet discharge device uses a plurality of types of cleaning liquids for cleaning the corresponding ink flow paths,
A plurality of cleaning liquid storage tanks storing a plurality of the cleaning liquids, and a plurality of ink storage tanks storing a plurality of the inks,
The ink and the cleaning liquid are transported from the ink storage tank and the cleaning liquid storage tank to the ink flow path through a transport path,
The cleaning liquid includes a liquid medium and a dispersant,
The ink includes a pigment, a dispersion medium for dispersing the pigment, and a dispersant.
The dispersion medium of the ink and the liquid medium of the cleaning liquid corresponding to the ink both contain a common liquid component a,
The dispersant for the ink and the dispersant for the cleaning liquid corresponding to the ink both contain a common component m.
Accordingly, it is possible to provide a droplet discharge device that can efficiently produce a color filter that is excellent in droplet discharge stability over a long period of time and has small variations in characteristics among individuals.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.
The cleaning liquid set of the present invention is applied to the manufacture of a color filter by an ink jet method, and is used for cleaning a droplet discharge device that discharges a plurality of types of ink. First, prior to the description of the cleaning liquid set of the present invention, a plurality of types of ink discharged from the droplet discharge device and a color filter ink set composed of the plurality of inks will be described.

<Ink set for color filter>
The color filter ink set (ink set) is an ink set used for manufacturing a color filter (forming a colored portion of a color filter), and particularly used for manufacturing a color filter by an ink jet method.

  The color filter ink set includes a plurality of types of inks (color filter inks). Since the color filter usually corresponds to full color display, it has a plurality of colored portions (usually, three RGB colors corresponding to the three primary colors of light). For forming the colored portions of the plurality of colors, a plurality of types of color filter inks of corresponding colors are used. That is, an ink set including a plurality of color filter inks is used for manufacturing a color filter. In the present embodiment, the color filter ink set will be described as including three types of ink, “red ink (R ink)”, “green ink (G ink)”, and “blue ink (B ink)”.

《Color filter ink》
The color filter ink of the present embodiment is an ink used for manufacturing a color filter (forming a colored portion of a color filter), and particularly used for manufacturing a color filter by an inkjet method.
Each color filter ink (ink) constituting the color filter ink set includes a pigment, a dispersion medium for dispersing the pigment, a dispersant, and the like. In addition, the dispersion medium and dispersant of the color filter ink constitute an ink set in order to improve the dispersion stability and storage stability of components such as pigments and the ejection stability of droplets during ejection. Usually, it differs depending on the composition of other components such as pigments between the inks. For this reason, even if the ink flow path is cleaned with the same cleaning liquid for each ink, it is not possible to perform the cleaning appropriately. However, the cleaning liquid set of the present invention, which will be described later, has a cleaning liquid corresponding to each ink constituting the ink set. Therefore, the ink flow path can be preferably cleaned, and the discharge outlet of the droplet discharge head can be properly observed. Clogging can be eliminated.

<Pigment>
A color filter usually has different colored portions (generally, three colors corresponding to RGB). The pigment is usually selected according to the color tone of the colored part to be formed.
The color filter ink is used for forming a colored portion and contains a pigment. When the color filter ink contains a pigment, the obtained color filter has a sufficiently high color density while widening the color reproduction range. In addition, for color filters that are irradiated with light for a long time, each material constituting the color filter is required to have resistance to light and heat, but pigments have excellent resistance to light and heat. It satisfies the requirements sufficiently.

  On the other hand, the color filter ink in which the pigment is dispersed in the dispersion medium tends to have a high viscosity, and the solid content of the ink is present in the ink flow path of the droplet discharge device and the discharge port (nozzle) of the droplet discharge head. It is easy to adhere and these solid contents are likely to deposit in the ink flow path. For this reason, the channel of the droplet discharge device is easily soiled and the discharge port is clogged easily. In particular, in color filter inks, in order to increase the color density of the color filter cells, it is generally required that the pigment concentration in the ink be relatively high. The viscosity of the ink for use was particularly high, and the above-mentioned flow path stains and clogging of the discharge ports were likely to occur remarkably. However, by cleaning the droplet discharge device using a cleaning liquid corresponding to each color filter ink as will be described later, even if the color filter ink contains a pigment and has a relatively high viscosity, In addition, it is possible to stably discharge droplets.

Moreover, the following can be used for the pigment used for the color filter ink of each color, for example.
Although it does not specifically limit as a pigment which can be used for red ink, For example, C.I. I. Pigment Red 2,3,5,17,22,23,38, 48: 1, 48: 2, 48: 3, 48: 4, 49: 1, 52: 1, 53: 1, 57: 1, 63: 1, 81, 101, 102, 105, 106, 108, 108: 1, 112, 122, 144, 146, 149, 166, 170, 176, 177, 178, 179, 185, 202, 207, 209, 254, etc. And two or more components selected from these can be used in combination. Among the above-mentioned, red ink is C.I. I. Pigment red 177 or C.I. I. When the pigment red 254 is included, the manufactured color filter has a higher color density and can be used for clearer image display. In addition, when such a pigment is included, the droplet discharge device is clogged and often contaminated with dirt. However, when the droplet discharge device is cleaned, it is preferably dispersed in a cleaning liquid as described later. It is possible to effectively eliminate and prevent clogging and contamination of the droplet discharge device. That is, it is possible to efficiently manufacture a color filter having a high color density while preferably eliminating problems such as contamination of the droplet discharge device and clogging of the discharge port.
The content of the pigment in the red ink is preferably 4.0 to 11.0 wt%, and more preferably 5.5 to 9.5 wt%. When the pigment content is within the above range, a higher color density can be secured in the produced color filter, and the pigment can be used for clearer image display.

  The pigment that can be used for the green ink is not particularly limited. I. Pigment Green 7, 15, 17, 18, 19, 26, 36, 50, various metal derivatives, phthalocyanine compounds, and the like, and two or more kinds of components selected from these can be used in combination. Among the above, green ink is C.I. I. When the pigment green 36 is included, the manufactured color filter has a higher color density and can be used for clearer image display. In addition, when such a pigment is included, the droplet discharge device is clogged and often contaminated with dirt. However, when the droplet discharge device is cleaned, the droplet discharge device is preferably dispersed in a cleaning liquid as described later. It is possible to effectively eliminate and prevent clogging and contamination of the droplet discharge device. That is, it is possible to efficiently manufacture a color filter having a high color density while preferably eliminating problems such as contamination of the droplet discharge device and clogging of the discharge port.

  The content of the pigment in the green ink is preferably 5.0 to 12.0 wt%, and more preferably 6.0 to 9.0 wt%. When the content of the pigment is within the above range, a higher color density can be secured in the produced color filter, and the pigment can be used for clearer image display. Further, when the droplet discharge device is cleaned, it can be suitably dispersed in a cleaning liquid as described later, and clogging and contamination of the droplet discharge device can be more effectively eliminated and prevented.

  Although it does not specifically limit as a pigment which can be used for a blue ink, For example, C.I. I. Pigment blue 1,15,15: 1,15: 2,15: 3, 15: 4, 15: 6, 17: 1, 18, 27, 28, 29, 35, 36, 60, 80, etc. Two or more components selected from these can be used in combination. Among the above, blue ink is C.I. I. When Pigment Blue 15: 6 is included, the manufactured color filter has a higher color density and can be used for clearer image display.

  The pigment content in the blue ink is preferably 3.0 to 10 wt%, and more preferably 5.0 to 9.0 wt%. In addition, when such a pigment is included, the droplet discharge device is clogged and often contaminated with dirt. However, when the droplet discharge device is cleaned, the droplet discharge device is preferably dispersed in a cleaning liquid as described later. It is possible to effectively eliminate and prevent clogging and contamination of the droplet discharge device. That is, it is possible to efficiently manufacture a color filter having a high color density while preferably eliminating problems such as contamination of the droplet discharge device and clogging of the discharge port.

  Each ink (color filter ink) may contain a pigment other than the color corresponding to each color. For example, the green ink may contain a pigment other than green, the red ink may contain a pigment other than red, and the blue ink may contain a pigment other than blue. May be included. As a result, for example, the color tone of the colored portion formed by the color filter ink can be adjusted (toning), and the color reproduction range of the color filter manufactured using the color filter ink set is wider. It can be. Examples of such pigments include C.I. in addition to the materials exemplified above. I. Pigment Yellow 1, 3, 12, 13, 14, 17, 34, 35, 35: 1, 37, 37: 1, 42, 43, 53, 55, 73, 74, 81, 83, 93, 94, 95, 97, 108, 109, 110, 129, 138, 139, 150, 151, 153, 154, 157, 168, 184, 185, C.I. I. Pigment violet 1, 3, 19, 23, 50, 14, 16, C.I. I. Pigment orange 5, 13, 16, 20, 20: 1, 36, 43, 104, C.I. I. Pigment Brown 7, 11, 25, 33 and the like, and two or more kinds of components selected from these can be used in combination.

  The average particle diameter of the pigment in the color filter ink is preferably 20 to 200 nm, and more preferably 30 to 180 nm. As a result, the color filter manufactured using the color filter ink is sufficiently excellent in weather resistance, while the dispersion stability of the pigment in the color filter ink and the color developability and depolarization in the color filter are improved. It can be made particularly excellent.

  In addition, as the pigment, a powder made of the above-described material may be used, for example, after surface treatment such as lyophilic treatment (treatment for improving affinity to a dispersion medium described in detail later). Good. Thereby, for example, the dispersibility and dispersion stability of the pigment particles in the color filter ink can be made particularly excellent. As a result, in the droplet discharge device, it is possible to reliably prevent the pigment from aggregating to generate an aggregate, and to reliably prevent the pigment from adhering to the ink flow path. Examples of the surface treatment for the pigment include a treatment for modifying the pigment particle surface with a polymer. Examples of the polymer that modifies the particle surface of the pigment include the polymers described in JP-A-8-259876 and various commercially available polymers or oligomers for dispersing pigments.

<Dispersion medium>
The dispersion medium has a function of dispersing the pigment as described above. In general, most of the dispersion medium is removed in the process of manufacturing the color filter.
The liquid that can be used as the dispersion medium is not particularly limited. For example, ester compounds, ether compounds, hydroxy ketones, carbonic acid diesters, cyclic amide compounds, and the like can be used. Among them, (1) polyhydric alcohols (for example, Ethers (polyhydric alcohol ethers) as condensates of ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, glycerin, etc., and polyhydric alcohols or alkyl ethers of polyhydric alcohol ethers (eg, methyl ether, ethyl ether, butyl ether, hexyl ether) Etc.), esters (eg, formate, acetate, propionate, etc.), (2) esters of polyvalent carboxylic acids (eg, succinic acid, glutaric acid, etc.) (eg, methyl esters), (3) at least 1 in the molecule Water Ether compounds having at least one carboxyl group and group (hydroxy acid), esters and the like, (4) a polyhydric alcohol and a carbonic acid diester having a chemical structure as obtained in the reaction with phosgene is preferred. Examples of the liquid constituting the dispersion medium include triethylene glycol dimethyl ether, triethylene glycol diacetate, diethylene glycol monoethyl ether acetate, 4-methyl-1,3-dioxolan-2-one, methyl glutarate, dimethyl glutarate, and ethylene. Glycol di n-butylate, diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate, tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether, 1,6-diacetoxyhexane, tripropylene glycol monomethyl ether, butoxypropanol, dipropylene glycol dimethyl ether, diethylene glycol dimethyl ether, 1,3-butylene glycol diacetate, Bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether, 2- (2-methoxy-1-methylethoxy) -1 Methyl ethyl acetate, ethyl 3-ethoxypropionate, diethylene glycol ethyl methyl ether, 3-methoxybutyl acetate, diethylene glycol diethyl ether, ethyl octoate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate, cyclohexyl acetate, diethyl succinate, ethylene glycol diacetate, propylene glycol Diacetate, 4-hydroxy-4-methyl-2-pentanone, dimethyl succinate, 1-butoxy-2-propanol, diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, diethylene glycol monomethyl ether, dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether, 3-methoxy-n-butyl acetate , Diacetin, dipropylene glycol n-propyl ether, polyethylene glycol Monomethyl ether, butyl glycolate, ethylene glycol monohexyl ether, dipropylene glycol n-butyl ether, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, triethylene glycol butyl methyl ether, bis (2-propoxyethyl) ether, diethylene glycol diacetate, diethylene glycol butyl Methyl ether, diethylene glycol butyl ethyl ether, diethylene glycol butyl propyl ether, diethylene glycol ethyl propyl ether, diethylene glycol methyl propyl ether, diethylene glycol propyl ether acetate, triethylene glycol methyl ether acetate, triethylene glycol ethyl ether acetate, triethylene glycol propyl ether ether Cetate, triethylene glycol butyl ether acetate, triethylene glycol butyl ethyl ether, triethylene glycol ethyl methyl ether, triethylene glycol ethyl propyl ether, triethylene glycol methyl propyl ether, dipropylene glycol methyl ether acetate, n-nonyl alcohol, diethylene glycol mono Butyl ether, triethylene glycol monomethyl ether, ethylene glycol 2-ethylhexyl ether, triethylene glycol monoethyl ether, diethylene glycol monohexyl ether, triethylene glycol monobutyl ether, diethylene glycol mono-2-ethylhexyl ether, tripropylene glycol n-butyl ether, butyl Rosolve acetate, butyl cellosolve, propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, ethyl octoate, ethyl acetate, 1,6-hexanediol diacetate, 3-methoxybutyl acetate, cyclohexanone, and the like, one or two selected from these A combination of more than one species can be used.

The dispersion medium contains a liquid component a that is a component common to the liquid medium of the corresponding cleaning liquid. In the present specification, when the ink and the corresponding cleaning liquid contain a plurality of liquids as a common component, the liquid component a has the highest content in the dispersion medium among the plurality of liquids. Point to. Thus, the dispersion medium contains a liquid common to the liquid medium of the corresponding cleaning liquid, so that the ink and the corresponding cleaning liquid can be easily replaced. As a result, at the time of cleaning, the ink present at the cleaning site can be surely removed, and when the ink is replenished to the droplet discharge device after the cleaning, the remaining cleaning liquid is extremely small.
The liquid that can be used as the dispersion medium is not particularly limited. For example, the liquids described above can be used, but the following liquids can be used as the dispersion medium for each ink.

  A dispersion medium that can be used for the red ink is not particularly limited, but bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether, diethylene glycol dimethyl ether, diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate, ethyl 3-ethoxypropionate, 2- (2-methoxy-1-). It preferably contains methylethoxy) -1-methylethyl acetate or 1,3-butylene glycol diacetate. Thereby, the red ink is particularly excellent in the dispersibility of the pigment, and the pigment once aggregated can be suitably dispersed. Further, the red ink has a particularly low viscosity. Further, since the liquid as described above has a relatively low saturated vapor pressure, it is possible to reliably prevent the unintentional volatilization of the red ink dispersion medium. As a result, problems such as contamination and clogging of the droplet discharge device can be more effectively prevented. Further, the ejection stability of the ink droplets can be made particularly excellent. In addition, the pigment can be dispersed particularly easily during the production of the red ink.

  The dispersion medium that can be used for the green ink is not particularly limited, but diethylene glycol diethyl ether, 1,3-butylene glycol diacetate, bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether, 2- (2-methoxy-1-methylethoxy). ) -1-methylethyl acetate or diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate is preferably included. Thereby, the green ink is particularly excellent in the dispersibility of the pigment, and the pigment once aggregated can be suitably dispersed. Further, the green ink has a particularly low viscosity. In addition, since the liquid as described above has a relatively low saturated vapor pressure, it is possible to reliably prevent the unintentional volatilization of the green ink dispersion medium. As a result, problems such as contamination and clogging of the droplet discharge device can be more effectively prevented. Further, the ejection stability of the ink droplets can be made particularly excellent. Further, the pigment can be dispersed particularly easily during the production of the green ink.

  The dispersion medium that can be used for the blue ink is not particularly limited, but triethylene glycol dimethyl ether, 2- (2-methoxy-1-methylethoxy) -1-methylethyl acetate, 1,3-butylene glycol diacetate, It preferably contains propylene glycol-n-butyl ether, bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether, or diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate. As a result, the blue ink is particularly excellent in the dispersibility of the pigment, and the pigment once aggregated can be suitably dispersed. In addition, the blue ink has a particularly low viscosity. Further, since the liquid as described above has a relatively low saturated vapor pressure, it is possible to reliably prevent unintentional volatilization of the dispersion medium of the blue ink. As a result, problems such as contamination and clogging of the droplet discharge device can be more effectively prevented. Further, the ejection stability of the ink droplets can be made particularly excellent. Further, the pigment can be dispersed particularly easily during the production of the blue ink.

  Further, the boiling point of each ink dispersion medium under atmospheric pressure (1 atm) is preferably 180 to 300 ° C, more preferably 190 to 290 ° C, and further preferably 230 to 280 ° C. . When the boiling point of the dispersion medium under atmospheric pressure is a value within the above range, the discharge stability of the color filter ink droplets can be made particularly excellent, and at each part of the produced color filter. Color unevenness, density unevenness, and the like can be more effectively suppressed, and uniformity of characteristics among individuals can be made particularly excellent.

  Further, the viscosity at 25 ° C. of the dispersion medium of each ink is not particularly limited, but is preferably 1.2 to 4.5 mPa · s, and more preferably 1.5 to 3.8 mPa · s. When the viscosity of the dispersion medium at 25 ° C. is a value within the above range, the discharge performance (discharge stability) from the liquid droplet discharge head for the color filter is particularly excellent, and at each part of the manufactured color filter. Color unevenness, density unevenness, and the like can be more effectively suppressed, and the uniformity of characteristics among individuals can be made particularly excellent. Further, the productivity of the color filter can be made particularly excellent.

  The content of the dispersion medium in each color filter ink is preferably 70 to 98 wt%, and more preferably 80 to 95 wt%. When the content of the dispersion medium is a value within the above range, the discharge stability of the color filter ink droplets can be made particularly excellent, and the color unevenness at each part of the produced color filter, Concentration unevenness and the like can be more effectively suppressed, and uniformity of characteristics among individuals can be made particularly excellent. Further, the productivity of the color filter can be made particularly excellent.

Further, the content of the liquid component a in the dispersion medium of each ink is preferably 40 to 99 wt%, and more preferably 60 to 95 wt%. Thereby, the replacement of the ink and the cleaning liquid at the time of cleaning can be performed more easily and reliably.
Further, the color filter ink may contain other liquid in addition to the liquid component a as a dispersion medium.

<Dispersant>
The color filter ink contains a dispersant. Thereby, the dispersion stability of the pigment can be made particularly excellent, and the storage stability of the color filter ink can be made particularly excellent. Further, it is possible to reliably prevent adhesion of dirt such as solid content in the ink flow path of the droplet discharge device, aggregation of the pigment in the droplet discharge head, and clogging.

  Further, the dispersant contained in the color filter ink and the corresponding dispersant in the cleaning liquid contain a component m which is a common component. In the present specification, when the ink and the corresponding cleaning liquid contain a plurality of dispersants as a common component, the constituent component m has the largest content in the dispersant among the plurality of components. Point to. The color filter ink contains such a component m, so that even if solids such as pigments aggregate or stains adhere to the ink flow path, the aggregates and stains are caused by the corresponding cleaning liquid. Can be suitably removed.

  Although it does not specifically limit as a component which can be used as a dispersing agent, For example, surfactant of cationic type, anionic type, nonionic type, amphoteric, silicone type, fluorine type etc. is mentioned. Specific examples of the surfactant include polyoxyethylene lauryl ether, polyoxyethylene stearyl ether, polyoxyethylene alkyl ethers such as polyoxyethylene oleyl ether; polyoxyethylene n-octylphenyl ether, polyoxyethylene n-nonyl Polyoxyethylene alkyl phenyl ethers such as phenyl ether; polyethylene glycol diesters such as polyethylene glycol dilaurate and polyethylene glycol distearate; sorbitan fatty acid esters; fatty acid-modified polyesters; tertiary amine-modified polyurethanes; polyethyleneimines In addition, the following trade names are KP (manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.), Polyflow (manufactured by Kyoeisha Chemical Co., Ltd.), F Top (manufactured by Tochem Products), Mega Pack (Dainippon Ink Chemical Co., Ltd.), Florard (Sumitomo 3M Co., Ltd.), Asahi Guard, Surflon (above, Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.), Disperbyk (Bicchemy Japan Co., Ltd.), Sol Sparse 3000 , 5000, 11200, 12000, 13240, 13650, 13940, 16000, 17000, 18000, 20000, 21000, 22000SC, 24000GR (manufactured by Nippon Lubrizol Co., Ltd.), Dinol, Surfynol (manufactured by Air Products), etc. 1 type or 2 or more types can be used in combination.

Moreover, as a dispersing agent, the compound which has a simeride ring can be used, for example. By using such a compound as a dispersant, the dispersant can be particularly suitably attached to the pigment, and the dispersibility of the pigment can be made particularly excellent.
Moreover, as a dispersing agent, the compound which has the partial structure represented by following formula (I) and following formula (II) can be used, for example. By using such a compound as a dispersant, the dispersant can be particularly suitably attached to the pigment, and the dispersibility of the pigment can be made particularly excellent.

（式中、Ｒ^ａ、Ｒ^ｂ及びＲ^ｃは、各々独立に、水素原子、又は置換されていてもよい環状若しくは鎖状の炭化水素基を表すか、Ｒ^ａ、Ｒ^ｂ及びＲ^ｃのうち２つ以上が互いに結合して環状構造を形成する。Ｒ^ｄは水素原子又はメチル基を表す。Ｘは２価の連結基を表し、Ｙ⁻は対アニオンを表す。）

(Wherein, R ^a , R ^b and R ^c each independently represents a hydrogen atom or an optionally substituted cyclic or chain hydrocarbon group, or R ^a , R ^b and R ^c ) Two or more are bonded to each other to form a cyclic structure, R ^d represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, X represents a divalent linking group, and Y ⁻ represents a counter anion.)

（式中、Ｒ^ｅは水素原子又はメチル基を表す。Ｒ^ｆは置換基を有していてもよい環状又は鎖状のアルキル基、置換基を有していてもよいアリール基、又は置換基を有していてもよいアラルキル基を表す。）

(In the formula, R ^e represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group. R ^f represents a cyclic or chain-like alkyl group which may have a substituent, an aryl group which may have a substituent, or a substituent. Represents an aralkyl group which may have

The content of the dispersant in the color filter ink is preferably 0.5 to 15 wt%, and more preferably 0.5 to 8 wt%.
Further, the content of the constituent component m in the dispersant is preferably 50 to 100 wt%, and preferably 80 to 100 wt%. Thereby, the dispersion stability of the pigment in the color filter ink can be made particularly excellent. Further, at the time of washing, solid contents such as pigments can be reliably and easily redispersed by the washing liquid.

<Resin material>
The color filter ink usually contains a resin material (binder resin). Thereby, in the manufactured color filter, the colored layer can be made excellent in adhesion to the substrate, and the durability of the color filter can be made excellent.
As the resin material constituting the color filter ink, any resin material such as various thermoplastic resins and various thermosetting resins may be used, but it is an acrylic resin or an epoxy resin in which polyfunctional molecules are polymerized. Is preferred. These resin materials have high transparency, high hardness, and small heat shrinkage. For this reason, the adhesiveness of the colored portion to the substrate can be made particularly excellent. Among these resin materials, an epoxy resin having a silyl acetate structure (SiOCOCH ₃ ) and an epoxy structure is preferably used as the resin material constituting the color filter ink. Thereby, it is possible to suitably perform the droplet discharge by the ink jet method, to particularly improve the adhesion between the colored layer and the substrate, and to particularly improve the durability of the color filter. Can do.

  The content of the resin material in the color filter ink is preferably 0.5 to 15 wt%, and more preferably 1.5 to 14.5 wt%. When the content of the resin material is within the above range, the durability of the produced color filter is particularly improved while the dischargeability (discharge stability) from the droplet discharge head for the color filter is particularly excellent. It can be excellent. Further, a sufficient color density can be secured in the manufactured color filter.

<Other ingredients>
The color filter ink may contain various other components as required. Examples of such components (other additives) include various crosslinking agents; various polymerization initiators; dispersion aids such as blue pigment derivatives and yellow pigment derivatives such as copper phthalocyanine derivatives; fillers such as glass and alumina; Polymer compounds such as polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene glycol monoalkyl ether, polyfluoroalkyl acrylate; vinyltrimethoxysilane, vinyltriethoxysilane, vinyltris (2-methoxyethoxy) silane, N- (2-aminoethyl) -3-amino Propylmethyldimethoxysilane, N- (2-aminoethyl) -3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-glycidoxypropylmethyldimethoxysilane, 2- (3,4-epoxy Chlohexyl) adhesion promoter such as ethyltrimethoxysilane, 3-chloropropylmethyldimethoxysilane, 3-chloropropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane; 2,2-thiobis Antioxidants such as (4-methyl-6-tert-butylphenol) and 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol; 2- (3-tert-butyl-5-methyl-2-hydroxyphenyl) -5-chlorobenzo UV absorbers such as triazole and alkoxybenzophenone; anti-aggregation agents such as sodium polyacrylate; ink jet ejection performance stabilizers such as methanol, ethanol, i-propanol, n-butanol and glycerin; , EF303, EF35 (Made by Shin-Akita Kasei Co., Ltd.), MegaFuck F171, F172, F173, F178, F178K (Made by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals), Florard FC430, FC431 (Mitsubishi, 3M Co., Ltd.) Asahi Guard AG710, Surflon S-382, SC-101, SC-102, SC-103, SC-104, SC-105, SC-106 (above, manufactured by Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.) ), KP341 (manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.), Polyflow No. 75, no. 95 (above, manufactured by Kyoeisha Yushi Chemical Co., Ltd.) and the like.

  The color filter ink may contain a dye in addition to the pigment. Examples of the dye include azo dyes, anthraquinone dyes, condensed polycyclic aromatic carbonyl dyes, indigoid dyes, carbonium dyes, phthalocyanine dyes, methine, and polymethine dyes. Specific examples of the dye include C.I. I. Direct Red 2, 4, 9, 23, 26, 28, 31, 39, 62, 63, 72, 75, 76, 79, 80, 81, 83, 84, 89, 92, 95, 111, 173, 184 207, 211, 212, 214, 218, 221, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 232, 233, 240, 241, 242, 243, 247, C.I. I. Acid Red 35, 42, 51, 52, 57, 62, 80, 82, 111, 114, 118, 119, 127, 128, 131, 143, 145, 151, 154, 157, 158, 211, 249, 254 257, 261, 263, 266, 289, 299, 301, 305, 319, 336, 337, 361, 396, 397, C.I. I. Reactive Red 3, 13, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 29, 35, 37, 40, 41, 43, 45, 49, 55, C.I. I. Basic Red 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 35, 36, 38, 39, 45, 46, C.I. I. Direct violet 7, 9, 47, 48, 51, 66, 90, 93, 94, 95, 98, 100, 101, C.I. I. Acid Violet 5, 9, 11, 34, 43, 47, 48, 51, 75, 90, 103, 126, C.I. I. Reactive violet 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,16,17,22,23,24,26,27,33,34, C.I. I. Basic violet 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 25, 27, 28, 35, 37, 39, 40, 48, C.I. I. Direct yellow 8, 9, 11, 12, 27, 28, 29, 33, 35, 39, 41, 44, 50, 53, 58, 59, 68, 87, 93, 95, 96, 98, 100, 106, 108, 109, 110, 130, 142, 144, 161, 163, C.I. I. Acid Yellow 17, 19, 23, 25, 39, 40, 42, 44, 49, 50, 61, 64, 76, 79, 110, 127, 135, 143, 151, 159, 169, 174, 190, 195 196, 197, 199, 218, 219, 222, 227, C.I. I. Reactive Yellow 2, 3, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 35, 37, 41, 42, C.I. I. Basic yellow 1, 2, 4, 11, 13, 14, 15, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 32, 36, 39, 40, C.I. I. Acid Green 16, C.I. I. Acid Blue 9, 45, 80, 83, 90, 185, C.I. I. Basic oranges 21, 23, and the like.

  The color filter ink may contain a thermal acid generator or an acid crosslinking agent. The thermal acid generator is a component that generates an acid by heating, and examples thereof include sulfonium salts, onium salts such as benzothiazolium salts, ammonium salts, and phosphonium salts. A benzothiazolium salt is preferred.

  The viscosity at 25 ° C. of the color filter ink is not particularly limited, but is preferably 5 to 12 mPa · s, and more preferably 6 to 10 mPa · s. When the viscosity at 25 ° C. of the color filter ink is within the above range, the discharge property (discharge stability) from the droplet discharge head for the color filter is particularly excellent, and each of the produced color filters Color unevenness, density unevenness, and the like at the site can be more effectively suppressed, and uniformity of characteristics among individuals can be made particularly excellent. Further, the productivity of the color filter can be made particularly excellent.

  Further, the surface tension of the color filter ink at 25 ° C. is preferably 25 to 38 dyn / cm, more preferably 25 to 35 dyn / cm, and more preferably 25 to 32 dyn / cm. Further preferred. Thereby, the discharge property of the droplet can be made particularly stable, and the characteristic difference between the individual color filters to be produced can be made particularly small. In addition, the wettability of the ink to the substrate during droplet discharge can be made excellent.

Next, the cleaning liquid set and the cleaning liquid of the present invention will be described.
《Cleaning liquid set》
The cleaning liquid set of the present invention is used for cleaning a droplet discharge device used for manufacturing a color filter. In particular, the cleaning liquid set is a liquid used for manufacturing a color filter by an in-jet method to which the ink set as described above is applied. It is used for cleaning the droplet discharge device.

  By the way, a droplet discharge device (for industrial use) used for manufacturing a color filter is completely different from that applied to a printer (for consumer use). For example, a large number of droplets are long for mass production. It is required to discharge over time. In addition, droplet discharge devices (industrial use) used in the manufacture of color filters generally have a higher viscosity than inks used in printers (consumer use), so the liquid runs out during discharge. The ink tends to remain at the discharge port (nozzle) of the inkjet head. As a result, when droplets are continuously ejected, solid components such as pigments contained in the ink adhere to the ink flow path of the droplet ejection device, and the ink supply to the droplet ejection head becomes unstable. . Further, the discharge port of the droplet discharge head is likely to be clogged by the solid content such as the aggregated pigment. As a result, the droplet discharge device is inferior in droplet volume uniformity and discharge properties at the time of droplet discharge, and the flying curve of the droplets frequently occurs, and the resulting color filter is uniform among individuals. It will be inferior. For this reason, for example, a method of ejecting droplets at a portion without a substrate (work) for a color filter of a droplet ejection device (spit ejection) or a piezo is vibrated at a high frequency and adhered to the vicinity of the ejection port. By the method of vibrating the meniscus surface of the ink or the method of forcibly sucking the ink accumulated in the droplet discharge head using the suction means, the droplet discharge head, aggregates present in the ink flow path, Remove kimono, etc., and remove dirt and clogging with ink. However, with only such a method, aggregates and deposits in the droplet discharge device cannot be sufficiently removed, and when the discharge is restarted, the droplet discharge amount can be reduced in a relatively short period of time. There was a problem that it became unstable or the discharge port was clogged again. In such a case, it is necessary to frequently replace the droplet discharge head and other members, and the productivity of the color filter is extremely reduced. Further, in order to ensure a wider color reproduction range in color filters, in recent years, there is a tendency to use inks for color filters that have a high pigment content. However, the higher the pigment content, the more The problem of contamination and clogging of the liquid droplet ejection device by the ink becomes more prominent.

  Therefore, as a result of intensive studies, the present inventors have found that the above-described problems can be solved by using a cleaning liquid set including a plurality of cleaning liquids that can suitably clean the ink flow paths of the droplet discharge device. The present invention has been reached. In other words, in order to stably discharge for a long time under harsh conditions, the ink flow path of the droplet discharge device is washed, and dirt adheres to the ink flow path due to solid matter such as agglomerated pigments. The inventors have invented a cleaning liquid set for eliminating clogging of discharge ports.

  The cleaning liquid set of the present invention includes a plurality of types of cleaning liquids respectively corresponding to the plurality of types of ink (color filter ink) provided in the color filter ink set as described above. As described above, by using the cleaning liquid corresponding to the color filter ink and cleaning the flow path of the color filter ink in the droplet discharge device, the flow path of each color filter ink can be reliably and easily cleaned. it can.

Hereinafter, the cleaning liquid will be described.
《Cleaning liquid》
The cleaning liquid (cleaning ink) is used for cleaning the droplet discharge device, and in particular, eliminates stains and clogging of the droplet discharge device due to the color filter ink (ink) in which the pigment is dispersed in the dispersion medium. Is.

  The cleaning liquid includes a liquid medium and a dispersant capable of dispersing the pigment. The cleaning liquid corresponds to the color filter ink, and the liquid medium and the dispersant have predetermined common components respectively with the corresponding dispersion medium and dispersant of the color filter ink. That is, the liquid medium of the cleaning liquid includes the corresponding ink dispersion medium and the common liquid component a, and the cleaning liquid dispersant includes the corresponding ink dispersant and the common component m. .

  The component m is a component that can maintain good dispersibility of solids such as pigments in the color filter ink. For this reason, at the time of washing | cleaning, the structural component m of a washing | cleaning liquid adheres to solid content, such as a pigment and resin material which adhered to the droplet discharge apparatus, and these solid content can be disperse | distributed reliably. Moreover, the dispersed solid content can be held in a reliably dispersed state. As a result, the cleaning liquid contains a constituent m in common with the corresponding color filter ink dispersant as a dispersant, so that solid stains adhering to the droplet discharge device, aggregates such as pigments, etc. are suitably obtained. Can be removed. Further, the pigment in the color filter ink generally has improved dispersibility and can be stably dispersed by attaching a dispersant. In addition, agglomerates and stains due to solid contents such as pigments, for example, the solid contents cannot be stably dispersed due to the fact that the dispersant is not sufficiently attached near the surface of the solid contents. It is considered that adhesion occurs to and occurs. However, a slight amount of the dispersant remains on the surface of the solid content. For this reason, the component m in the cleaning liquid is easily attracted to the component m that has adhered to the solid content, and the component m in the cleaning liquid can sufficiently adhere to the vicinity of the surface of the solid content. That is, the constituent component m in the cleaning liquid can adhere to the surface of the solid content via the constituent component m attached to the solid content. As a result, solid agglomerates and stains due to pigments and the like adhering to ink droplet ejection heads and droplet ejection device members such as ink channels can be suitably dispersed and dissolved in the cleaning liquid. .

  In addition, since the cleaning liquid contains a liquid medium a common to the color filter ink dispersion liquid as a constituent liquid medium, the cleaning liquid has excellent replacement with the ink, and is quickly mixed and replaced with the remaining ink. be able to. In addition, since the cleaning liquid is excellent in replaceability with ink, the cleaning liquid in the ink flow path can be easily removed using the ink after cleaning. In particular, when the ink is charged into the droplet discharge device after cleaning, the cleaning liquid can be quickly replaced with ink, and the remaining cleaning liquid can be extremely small. For this reason, by using such a cleaning liquid, it is possible to efficiently clean the ink flow path of the droplet discharge device, the members such as the droplet discharge head, and it is easy to refill the droplet discharge device with ink after cleaning. It will be something.

On the other hand, when the cleaning liquid does not contain at least one of the constituent component m or the liquid component a, the above-described effects cannot be obtained.
That is, the cleaning liquid that contains the liquid component a common to the ink dispersion medium and does not include the constituent component m of the dispersant cannot sufficiently clean the ink flow path and the like in the droplet discharge device. Aggregates and stains of solid substances such as pigments are likely to remain on the paths and droplet discharge heads. This is considered as follows. When the cleaning liquid contains no dispersant, the concentration of the dispersant in the mixed liquid becomes low when the cleaning liquid and the ink are mixed. As a result, it becomes difficult to disperse and dissolve aggregates such as stains and pigments adhering to the ink flow path. In addition, the pigment dispersed in the mixed solution is difficult to stably disperse because the concentration of the dispersant in the mixed solution is low. For this reason, in spite of washing | cleaning using a washing | cleaning liquid, generation | occurrence | production of the aggregate by solid substances, such as a pigment, and the adhesion of the pigment etc. in an ink flow path become easy to generate | occur | produce. Further, when the cleaning liquid contains a component of a dispersant other than the constituent component m, when the cleaning liquid and the ink are mixed, the dispersant cannot suitably adhere to aggregates and stains due to solid substances such as pigments. . For this reason, even when the cleaning liquid contains a large amount of a dispersant, solid agglomerates and stains such as pigments cannot be sufficiently dispersed and dissolved. As described above, even if cleaning is performed using a cleaning agent that does not contain the constituent component m, it is not possible to perform cleaning suitably, and when droplet discharge and cleaning are repeated over a long period of time, the droplet amount of the droplet discharge device Uniformity and dischargeability cannot be made sufficiently excellent.

  In addition, as a liquid medium for the cleaning liquid, a liquid medium that does not use the liquid component a of the dispersion medium that constitutes the ink but has a composition different from that of the dispersion medium that constitutes the ink and is excellent in solubility and dispersibility of the components constituting the ink. However, in this case, it is difficult to replace the cleaning liquid with the ink when cleaning the ink flow path and the like, and the cleaning takes time. Further, there is a problem that the cleaning liquid in the droplet discharge device is not easily removed when the ink is filled into the ink flow path, the droplet discharge head, or the like after the cleaning. For this reason, a very small amount of cleaning liquid is mixed in the ink, and the physical properties such as the viscosity of the ink are changed, and the droplet amount at the time of discharging the droplet is not stable.

Hereinafter, each component constituting the cleaning liquid will be described in detail.
<Dispersant>
The dispersant has a function of dispersing a pigment or the like in the cleaning liquid. In particular, in the present invention, the dispersant for the cleaning agent contains the component m in common with the dispersant for the corresponding ink. As described above, by including the constituent component m that adheres favorably to the pigment and can disperse the pigment favorably, it can be applied to the members of the droplet ejection device such as the ejection port of the droplet ejection head and the ink flow path. Aggregates and solids of solid matter such as adhering pigments can be easily redispersed and re-dissolved to reliably eliminate stains in the ink flow path and clogging of the discharge port of the droplet discharge head. it can. In addition, since component m is a component contained in the ink dispersant, a small amount of cleaning liquid remains when the flow path of the droplet discharge device and the droplet discharge head are replaced with ink after cleaning. Even so, changes in physical properties such as the viscosity of the ink can be made extremely small.
Such a dispersant is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include the dispersants described above. Moreover, it does not specifically limit as the structural component m contained in a dispersing agent, For example, the dispersing agent as mentioned above is mentioned.

Moreover, as for the content rate of the structural component m in each washing | cleaning liquid, it is preferable that all are 0.1-10.5 wt%, and it is more preferable that it is 0.2-9.5 wt%. As a result, the viscosity of the cleaning liquid can be made sufficiently low while making the dispersibility and solubility of solids such as pigments at the time of cleaning particularly excellent. For this reason, when the droplet discharge device is cleaned, dirt adhering to the ink flow path and clogging of the discharge port of the droplet discharge head can be more reliably eliminated.
Further, the dispersant may contain components other than the constituent component m.

<Liquid medium>
The liquid medium (liquid medium) has a function of dissolving and dispersing ink components as described later. The liquid medium particularly has a function of dispersing a pigment contained in the ink.
The liquid medium of each cleaning liquid contains a liquid component a which is a component constituting the dispersion medium included in the corresponding color filter ink. As a result, aggregates, deposits, and the like can be easily redispersed and re-dissolved in the cleaning liquid, that is, in the liquid medium containing the constituent component m of the dispersant. The clogging of the discharge port of the discharge head can be reliably eliminated. In addition, since the cleaning liquid contains the same liquid component a as the component constituting the ink, the cleaning liquid has excellent replaceability with the ink, and can be quickly mixed and replaced with the remaining ink. In addition, at the time of filling the droplet discharge device with ink after cleaning, the cleaning liquid can be quickly replaced with ink, and the remaining cleaning liquid can be extremely small. Further, even when the cleaning liquid remains when the ink flow path and the droplet discharge head are replaced with ink, the change in the physical properties of the ink can be made extremely small, and the liquid at the time of droplet discharge can be reduced. Drop volume can be made uniform.

The liquid component a contained in each cleaning liquid is not particularly limited, but is preferably the following liquid.
The liquid component a (a _R ) that can be used for the red ink is not particularly limited, but bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether, diethylene glycol dimethyl ether, diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate, ethyl 3-ethoxypropionate, 2- (2 -Methoxy-1-methylethoxy) -1-methylethyl acetate or 1,3-butylene glycol diacetate is preferred. As a result, the replacement of the cleaning liquid with the ink can be performed more easily and reliably, and the cleaning liquid remaining in the ink flow path after the cleaning can be extremely reduced. Further, the dispersibility of the pigment or the like in the cleaning liquid can be made particularly excellent, and clogging of the discharge port of the droplet discharge head and contamination of the ink flow path can be particularly easily eliminated. In addition, since the viscosity of the red ink tends to increase, the red ink was likely to be contaminated with the ink flow path. However, when the liquid component a _R is a liquid as described above, the ink flow path is reduced. Such a problem can be surely solved by washing. In particular, when the cleaning liquid for red ink contains 1,3-butylene glycol diacetate as the liquid component a (a _R ), the viscosity of the cleaning liquid can be made relatively low, Dirt can be reduced particularly.

The liquid component a (a _G ) that can be used in the green ink is not particularly limited, but diethylene glycol diethyl ether, 1,3-butylene glycol diacetate, bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether, 2- (2-methoxy) -1-Methylethoxy) -1-methylethyl acetate or diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate is preferred. As a result, the replacement of the cleaning liquid with the ink can be performed more easily and reliably, and the cleaning liquid remaining in the ink flow path after the cleaning can be extremely reduced. Further, the dispersibility of the pigment or the like in the cleaning liquid can be made particularly excellent, and clogging of the discharge port of the droplet discharge head and contamination of the ink flow path can be particularly easily eliminated. The pigment of the green ink is C.I. I. When the pigment green 36 is included, the color density of the colored portion of the color filter to be manufactured is suitable, so that the pigment content in the ink is high. Therefore, aggregation of the pigment is easily placed in the ink, although the clogging of the discharge port of the liquid droplet ejection head was achieved, apt to, by using a liquid such as described above as a liquid component a _G, like this The problem can be resolved more reliably. In particular, when the cleaning liquid for green ink contains bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether as the liquid component a (a _G ), the dispersibility of pigments and the like in the cleaning liquid can be made particularly excellent. The effect as described above can be obtained more remarkably.

The liquid component a (a _B ) that can be used for the blue ink is not particularly limited, but triethylene glycol dimethyl ether, 2- (2-methoxy-1-methylethoxy) -1-methylethyl acetate, 1,3- Butylene glycol diacetate, propylene glycol-n-butyl ether, bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether, or diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate is preferred. Thereby, the discharge stability of the droplets can be made particularly excellent. Further, the ink can be easily mixed with a cleaning liquid as will be described later, and the ink and the cleaning liquid are particularly easily replaced. Further, blue ink is likely that many resin materials, these resin materials are attached in the flow path of ink, but were those easily cured, the liquid component a as described above (a _B), these resins The components can be dissolved particularly preferably. For this reason, the contamination of the ink flow path is extremely reduced, and the amount of ink droplets in the droplet discharge device is particularly stable.

  Moreover, it is preferable that all the content rate of the said liquid component a in each washing | cleaning liquid is 40-99 wt%, and it is more preferable that it is 60-95 wt%. Thereby, the ink and the cleaning liquid can be particularly easily replaced, and clogging and contamination of the droplet discharge device can be eliminated particularly quickly. Further, when the flow path and the droplet discharge head are filled with ink after cleaning, the remaining cleaning liquid can be made particularly small.

  Moreover, it is preferable that at least 1 type of washing | cleaning liquid among the washing | cleaning liquids which comprise a washing | cleaning-liquid set contains the liquid component b whose liquid medium has higher solubility of the structural component m in 20 degreeC than the liquid component a. Thereby, the solid matter such as the pigment to which the constituent component m is adhered can be more reliably dispersed and dissolved in the liquid medium. For this reason, clogging of the liquid droplet ejection head and the ink flow path and adhesion of dirt can be eliminated particularly easily. In addition, since the cleaning liquid contains a liquid that is highly compatible with the component m as described above, the pigment can be stably dispersed even when the concentration of the component m is relatively low. It is possible to easily and reliably prevent re-aggregation of the pigment dispersed therein and reattachment to the droplet discharge device.

The liquid component b is not particularly limited as long as the solubility of the constituent component m of the dispersant at 20 ° C. is higher than that of the liquid component a, and the liquid described above can be used.
Further, the content ratio of the liquid component b in the cleaning liquid is preferably 3.0 to 40.0 wt%, and more preferably 4.0 to 38.0 wt%. Thereby, the solid matter such as the pigment to which the constituent component m is adhered can be more reliably dispersed and dissolved in the liquid medium containing the liquid component b. For this reason, the cleaning liquid can particularly easily eliminate clogging of the discharge port of the droplet discharge head and contamination of the ink flow path. Further, when the ink is allowed to flow through the flow path after the cleaning, the liquid component b is quickly removed, and the liquid component b in the cleaning liquid can be reliably prevented from remaining, and the cleaning liquid can be replaced with the ink. Especially excellent.

  In addition, as long as the cleaning liquid containing the liquid component b has at least one or more types constituting the cleaning liquid set, the above-described effects can be obtained with respect to the corresponding ink. However, all the cleaning liquids constituting the cleaning liquid set can be obtained. It is preferable to have the liquid component b. Thereby, the effect mentioned above can be acquired about all the ink which comprises the ink set for color filters. In such a case, the liquid component b contained in each cleaning liquid may be the same component or different components.

Further, when the liquid component b is included in each cleaning liquid, each cleaning liquid preferably includes the following liquid component b.
The liquid component b (b _R ) of the cleaning liquid for red ink is _preferably butyl cellosolve, propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, cyclohexanone, ethyl octoate, ethyl acetate, or ethylene glycol diacetate. Thus, a solid such as a pigment that component m _R are attached, more reliably dispersed in a liquid medium, it can be dissolved. For this reason, clogging of the discharge port of the droplet discharge head and contamination of the ink flow path can be particularly easily eliminated. In particular, when the pigment constituting the red ink contains Pigment Red 254, the viscosity of the red ink tends to increase. For this reason, there is a problem in that dirt is likely to be attached in the ink flow path. by including such a liquid component b _R, at the time of cleaning, reliably and easily, it is possible to remove dirt in the ink flow path.

The liquid component b (b _G ) of the green ink cleaning liquid is preferably propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, 1,6-hexanediol diacetate, cyclohexanone, ethyl octoate, ethyl acetate, or ethylene glycol diacetate. Thereby, solid substances, such as a pigment, to which the constituent component m _G is adhered can be more reliably dispersed and dissolved in the liquid medium. For this reason, clogging of the discharge port of the droplet discharge head and contamination of the ink flow path can be particularly easily eliminated. In particular, when the green ink contains pigment green 36 as a pigment, in order to widen the color reproduction range of the color filter to be manufactured, the pigment content of the green ink tends to be particularly high, and aggregation or ink due to the pigment is likely to occur. It was easy for dirt to adhere to the channel. However, as the liquid component b _G, by using the liquid described above, at the time of cleaning, preferably a pigment can be a dispersed, agglomerates and can be suitably eliminate contamination in the ink flow path.

The liquid component b (b _B ) of the blue ink cleaning liquid is preferably 3-methoxybutyl acetate, cyclohexanone, ethyl octoate, ethyl acetate, propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, or ethylene glycol diacetate. This makes it possible to more reliably disperse and dissolve the solid matter such as the pigment to which the constituent component m _B is adhered in the liquid medium. For this reason, clogging of the discharge port of the droplet discharge head and contamination of the ink flow path can be particularly easily eliminated. In addition, when the blue ink contains Pigment Blue 15: 6 as a pigment, the pigment content is relatively low compared to other inks in order to adjust the color reproduction range and light transmittance of the color filter to be manufactured. It is likely to be required to be small. In such a case, in order to make the thickness of each pixel portion (cell) of the color filter uniform in each color, a large amount of resin material may be included in the blue ink. Usually, the resin material is dissolved in the liquid medium of the ink. However, when the resin material is contained in the ink in a large amount, the resin material adheres to the ink flow path and tends to be cured. there were. However, even in such a case, such a cured resin material can be suitably re-dissolved because the cleaning liquid is the liquid as described above as the liquid component b _B. For this reason, the cleaning liquid is particularly excellent in cleaning properties.

Further, the liquid medium may include liquids other than the liquid component a and the liquid component b as described above.
In addition, it is preferable that the cleaning liquid has a lower surface tension at 25 ° C. than the corresponding ink. Thereby, at the time of washing | cleaning, a washing | cleaning liquid can spread suitably in the washing | cleaning site | part of a droplet discharge apparatus. For this reason, the amount of dirt remaining on the cleaned portion after cleaning is particularly small.

  The surface tension of the cleaning liquid at 25 ° C. is not particularly limited. For example, the surface tension of the ink is preferably 25.0 to 35.0 dyn / cm, and preferably 26.0 to 34.0 dyn / cm. More preferably. Thereby, at the time of washing | cleaning, a washing | cleaning liquid can spread suitably on the washing | cleaning site | part of a droplet discharge apparatus, and it can make the washing | cleaning property of the washing | cleaning liquid excellent. Even if the cleaning liquid remains in a very small amount, the influence on the surface tension of the ink described later can be made extremely small. In addition, in this specification, the value measured based on JISK3362 can be employ | adopted for surface tension.

  The cleaning liquid preferably has a viscosity at 25 ° C. lower than that of the corresponding ink. Thereby, at the time of washing | cleaning, a washing | cleaning liquid can spread suitably in the washing | cleaning site | part of a droplet discharge apparatus. Further, at the time of cleaning, the cleaning liquid can increase the flow velocity in the ink flow path. For this reason, the amount of dirt remaining on the cleaned portion after cleaning is particularly small.

  The viscosity of the cleaning liquid at 25 ° C. is not particularly limited, but is preferably, for example, 2.0 to 9.0 mPa · s, and more preferably 3.0 to 7.0 mPa · s. Thereby, at the time of washing | cleaning, a washing | cleaning liquid can spread suitably on the washing | cleaning site | part of a droplet discharge apparatus, and it can make the washing | cleaning property of the washing | cleaning liquid excellent. Further, even when a minute amount of the cleaning liquid remains, the influence on the viscosity of the ink described later can be made extremely small. In the present specification, as the value of the viscosity, a value obtained by measurement at 25 ° C. using a vibration viscometer can be adopted, and in particular, the viscosity is measured at 25 ° C. in accordance with JIS Z8809. The required value can be adopted.

<Ink-cleaning liquid set>
The ink-cleaning liquid set includes an ink as described above and a cleaning liquid corresponding to the ink. By applying such an ink-cleaning liquid set to a droplet ejection device, when ejecting droplets using the ink, the ejection property and ejection amount of the ink droplets are stable over a long period of time. Can be.

  In addition, the ink-cleaning liquid set may include at least one kind of ink as described above and a cleaning liquid corresponding to the ink, but all the inks constituting the color filter ink set as described above, It may have a corresponding cleaning liquid. By applying such an ink-cleaning liquid set to the droplet discharge device, the droplet discharge device can stably discharge droplets in all inks over an extremely long period of time.

<Droplet ejection device>
Next, an example of a droplet discharge device to which the cleaning liquid set of the present invention is suitably applied will be described. 1 is a perspective view showing a droplet discharge device used for manufacturing a color filter, FIG. 2 is a view of droplet discharge means in the droplet discharge device shown in FIG. 1 observed from the stage side, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a view showing a bottom surface of a droplet discharge head in the droplet discharge device shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a view showing a droplet discharge head in the droplet discharge device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. ) Is a cross-sectional view. In addition, the cleaning liquid set as described above, for example, cleans the droplet discharge device 100 by flowing a cleaning liquid corresponding to the color filter ink flow path in the droplet discharge apparatus 100, and sets the color filter ink flow path. It is intended to remove solid agglomerates such as residual pigment and deposits on the flow path.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the droplet discharge device 100 used in this process is supplied with a color filter ink 2 from a tank 101 holding a color filter ink 2, a tube 110, and the tube 110. A discharge scanning unit 102. The ejection scanning unit 102 includes a droplet ejection unit 103 in which a plurality of droplet ejection heads (inkjet heads) 114 are mounted on a carriage 105, and a first position control device 104 (movement) that controls the position of the droplet ejection unit 103. Means), a stage 106 for holding the substrate 11 on which the partition wall 13 is formed in the above process (hereinafter also simply referred to as "substrate 11"), and a second position control device 108 (moving means) for controlling the position of the stage 106. ) And a control means 112. The tank 101 and a plurality of droplet discharge heads 114 in the droplet discharge means 103 are connected by a tube 110, and the color filter ink 2 is compressed by compressed air from the tank 101 to each of the plurality of droplet discharge heads 114. Supplied. In the illustrated configuration, the droplet discharge device 100 shows only one color of the tank 101 and the tube 110, but the droplet discharge device 100 includes a plurality of members that the color filter 1 has these members. A plurality of colors corresponding to the colored portion 12 are provided.

  The first position control device 104 moves the droplet discharge means 103 along the X-axis direction and the Z-axis direction orthogonal to the X-axis direction in response to a signal from the control means 112. Further, the first position control device 104 also has a function of rotating the droplet discharge means 103 around an axis parallel to the Z axis. In the present embodiment, the Z-axis direction is a direction parallel to the vertical direction (that is, the direction of gravitational acceleration). The second position controller 108 moves the stage 106 along the Y-axis direction orthogonal to both the X-axis direction and the Z-axis direction in response to a signal from the control unit 112. Further, the second position control device 108 also has a function of rotating the stage 106 around an axis parallel to the Z axis.

The stage 106 has a plane parallel to both the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. Further, the stage 106 is configured so that the substrate 11 having the cells 14 to which the color filter ink 2 to be applied as shown in FIG. 6 (6c) described later can be fixed or held on the plane.
As described above, the droplet discharge means 103 is moved in the X-axis direction by the first position control device 104. On the other hand, the stage 106 is moved in the Y-axis direction by the second position control device 108. That is, the first position control device 104 and the second position control device 108 change the relative position of the droplet discharge head 114 with respect to the stage 106 (the substrate 11 held on the stage 106 and the liquid droplet discharge means 103 are relative to each other). Move on).

The control unit 112 is configured to receive ejection data representing a relative position at which the color filter ink 2 is to be ejected from an external information processing apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 2, the droplet discharge means 103 includes a plurality of droplet discharge heads 114 each having substantially the same structure, and a carriage 105 that holds these droplet discharge heads 114. In the present embodiment, the number of droplet discharge heads 114 held by the droplet discharge means 103 is eight. Each droplet discharge head 114 has a bottom surface provided with a plurality of nozzles 118 described later. The shape of the bottom surface of each droplet discharge head 114 is a polygon having two long sides and two short sides. The bottom surface of the droplet discharge head 114 held by the droplet discharge means 103 faces the stage 106 side, and the long side direction and the short side direction of the droplet discharge head 114 are respectively an X-axis direction and a Y-axis direction. Parallel to the direction.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the droplet discharge head 114 has a plurality of nozzles 118 arranged in the X-axis direction. The plurality of nozzles 118 are arranged such that the nozzle pitch HXP in the X-axis direction in the droplet discharge head 114 has a predetermined value. Although the specific value of nozzle pitch HXP is not specifically limited, For example, it can be set as 50-90 micrometers. Here, the “nozzle pitch HXP in the X-axis direction of the droplet discharge head 114” is a plurality of images obtained by projecting all the nozzles 118 in the droplet discharge head 114 onto the X-axis along the Y-axis direction. This corresponds to the pitch between nozzle images.

  In the present embodiment, the plurality of nozzles 118 in the droplet discharge head 114 form a nozzle row 116A and a nozzle row 116B that both extend in the X-axis direction. The nozzle row 116A and the nozzle row 116B are arranged in parallel with a space therebetween. In this embodiment, 90 nozzles 118 are arranged in a line in the X-axis direction at a constant interval LNP in each of the nozzle array 116A and the nozzle array 116B. Although the specific value of LNP is not specifically limited, It can be set as 100-180 micrometers.

The position of the nozzle row 116B is shifted from the position of the nozzle row 116A by a half length of the nozzle pitch LNP in the positive direction in the X-axis direction (right direction in FIG. 3). Therefore, the nozzle pitch HXP in the X-axis direction of the droplet discharge head 114 is half the nozzle pitch LNP of the nozzle row 116A (or nozzle row 116B).
Accordingly, the nozzle line density in the X-axis direction of the droplet discharge head 114 is twice the nozzle line density of the nozzle row 116A (or nozzle row 116B). In the present specification, “nozzle line density in the X-axis direction” means the number per unit length of a plurality of nozzle images obtained by projecting a plurality of nozzles on the X-axis along the Y-axis direction. It corresponds to. Of course, the number of nozzle rows included in the droplet discharge head 114 is not limited to two. The droplet discharge head 114 may include M nozzle rows. Here, M is a natural number of 1 or more. In this case, in each of the M nozzle rows, the plurality of nozzles 118 are arranged at a pitch that is M times the nozzle pitch HXP. Further, when M is a natural number of 2 or more, the other (M−1) nozzle rows are only i times as long as the nozzle pitch HXP with respect to one of the M nozzle rows. There is no overlap in the X-axis direction. Here, i is a natural number from 1 to (M−1).

  In the present embodiment, each of the nozzle row 116 </ b> A and the nozzle row 116 </ b> B includes 90 nozzles 118, and thus one droplet discharge head 114 has 180 nozzles 118. However, 5 nozzles at both ends of the nozzle row 116A are set as “pause nozzles”. Similarly, 5 nozzles at both ends of the nozzle row 116B are also set as “pause nozzles”. The color filter ink 2 is not ejected from these 20 “rest nozzles”. Therefore, 160 nozzles 118 out of 180 nozzles 118 in the droplet discharge head 114 function as nozzles that discharge the color filter ink 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the droplet discharge means 103, a plurality of the droplet discharge heads 114 are arranged in two rows along the X-axis direction. The droplet discharge heads 114 in one row and the droplet discharge heads 114 in the other row are arranged so as to partially overlap when viewed from the Y-axis direction in consideration of the rest nozzles. Thereby, in the droplet discharge means 103, the nozzle 118 that discharges the color filter ink 2 is continuous in the X-axis direction at the nozzle pitch HXP over the length of the dimension of the substrate 11 in the X-axis direction. It is configured.
In the droplet discharge means 103 of the present embodiment, the droplet discharge head 114 is disposed so as to cover the entire length of the substrate 11 in the X-axis direction. A part of the length of the substrate 11 corresponding to the dimension in the X-axis direction may be covered.

  As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, each droplet discharge head 114 is an inkjet head. More specifically, each droplet discharge head 114 includes a vibration plate 126 and a nozzle plate 128. Between the diaphragm 126 and the nozzle plate 128, a liquid pool 129 in which the color filter ink 2 supplied from the tank 101 through the hole 131 is always filled is located.

  In addition, a plurality of partition walls 122 are located between the diaphragm 126 and the nozzle plate 128. A portion surrounded by the diaphragm 126, the nozzle plate 128, and the pair of partition walls 122 is a cavity 120. Since the cavities 120 are provided corresponding to the nozzles 118, the number of the cavities 120 and the number of the nozzles 118 are the same. The color filter ink 2 is supplied from the liquid pool 129 to the cavity 120 through the supply port 130 positioned between the pair of partition walls 122.

  Further, the vicinity of the nozzle 118 of the nozzle plate 128 is covered with a silica film having an alkyl fluoride group in the vicinity of the surface. As a result, the nozzle 118 has excellent liquid repellency and can repel the ink 2 particularly preferably. In particular, since the nozzle plate 128 has such a silica film, it is possible to prevent the generation of unintended aggregates due to solids such as pigments near the nozzle 118. For this reason, it is possible to reliably prevent the occurrence of flight bends during droplet ejection, fluctuations in the amount of droplets, and clogging of the nozzle 118, and the ejection of droplets of the color filter ink 2 over an extremely long period of time. The property can be made particularly excellent.

  On the diaphragm 126, the vibrator 124 is positioned corresponding to each cavity 120. The vibrator 124 includes a piezoelectric element 124C and a pair of electrodes 124A and 124B that sandwich the piezoelectric element 124C. By applying a driving voltage between the pair of electrodes 124A and 124B, the color filter ink 2 is ejected from the corresponding nozzle 118. The shape of the nozzle 118 is adjusted so that the color filter ink 2 is ejected from the nozzle 118 in the Z-axis direction.

  The control means 112 (see FIG. 1) may be configured to give a signal to each of the plurality of vibrators 124 independently of each other. That is, the volume of the color filter ink 2 ejected from the nozzle 118 may be controlled for each nozzle 118 in accordance with a signal from the control unit 112. The control unit 112 can also set the nozzle 118 that performs the ejection operation during the application scan and the nozzle 118 that does not perform the ejection operation.

  In this specification, a portion including one nozzle 118, a cavity 120 corresponding to the nozzle 118, and a vibrator 124 corresponding to the cavity 120 may be referred to as “ejection unit 127”. According to this notation, one droplet discharge head 114 has the same number of discharge units 127 as the number of nozzles 118.

In manufacturing the color filter 1, a plurality of droplet discharge devices 100 corresponding to the color filter inks 2 of a plurality of colors may be used.
In the present embodiment, the droplet discharge head 114 may use an electrostatic actuator as a driving element instead of a piezoelectric element. In addition, the droplet discharge head 114 may be configured to use an electrothermal conversion element as a drive element and discharge the color filter ink by utilizing the thermal expansion of the material by the electrothermal conversion element.

  Further, the droplet discharge device 100 has an ink storage tank 132 and a cleaning liquid storage tank 133 as shown in FIG. The color filter ink 2 is stored in the ink storage tank 132, and the cleaning liquid 4 corresponding to the color filter ink 2 is stored in the cleaning liquid storage tank 133. The ink storage tank 132 and the cleaning liquid storage tank 133 are provided for each ink 2 of the color filter ink set and each cleaning liquid 4 of the cleaning liquid set. At the time of droplet discharge, the color filter ink 2 is transported to the tank 101 by the transport path 134 and used for manufacturing the color filter 1. Further, at the time of cleaning, the cleaning liquid 4 is transported to the tank 101 by the transport path 134 and is stored after being replaced with the color filter ink 2. The stored cleaning liquid 4 is stored along the flow path of the color filter ink 2. By flowing, the flow path of the color filter ink 2 in the tank 101, the tube 110, the droplet discharge means 103 and the like is cleaned. Such switching of the supply of the cleaning liquid 4 and the color filter ink 2 to the tank 101 is performed by a switching valve 135 in the transport path 134. By having the ink storage tank 132 and the cleaning liquid storage tank 133 in this way, the ink flow path can be cleaned more easily and reliably. In addition, the color filter ink 2 can be efficiently flowed after cleaning, and the cleaning liquid 4 can be quickly replaced with the color filter ink 2. As a result, the droplet discharge device 100 can be operated efficiently and droplets can be discharged suitably, so that the productivity of the color filter 1 can be improved.

<Dropping device cleaning method>
With respect to the liquid droplet ejection apparatus as described above, the ink flow path can be cleaned using the cleaning liquid set of the present invention.
The cleaning may be performed at any time. For example, when the droplet discharge is stopped, the color filter ink 2 is replaced or replenished, before or after the droplet discharge device 100 is operated, when the droplet discharge head is replaced, This can be done at the time of replacement of parts in the flow path.
Examples of the flow path of the color filter ink 2 include portions where the color filter ink 2 flows in the droplet discharge device 100 in order to form a colored portion of the color filter. And a space for the droplet discharge head 114 and the like.

  Further, any method may be used for cleaning the droplet discharge device 100 with the cleaning liquid 4 constituting the cleaning liquid set. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the cleaning liquid 4 along the direction in which the color filter ink 2 normally flows is used. May be allowed to flow through the flow path. Further, for example, the cleaning liquid 4 may be caused to flow in the flow path along the direction opposite to the direction in which the color filter ink 2 normally flows. Further, for example, the cleaning liquid 4 may be applied to the cleaning site of the droplet discharge device 100 or may be sprayed.

Further, at the time of cleaning, the droplet discharge device may be cleaned using all types of cleaning liquid 4 constituting the cleaning solution set, or the droplet discharge device may be set using some types of cleaning liquid 4. It may be washed.
In this way, the droplet discharge device 100 is cleaned by bringing the cleaning liquid 4 into contact with the flow path of the color filter ink 2 in the droplet discharge apparatus 100, and the pigment or the like remaining in the flow path of the color filter ink 2 is removed. Aggregates of solid content and deposits on the channel can be reliably removed. In addition, it is possible to reliably prevent solids such as dispersed pigments from reattaching to the flow path.

  In particular, the cleaning liquid constituting the cleaning liquid set of the present invention is excellent in replacement with the corresponding color filter ink, and can easily disperse and dissolve solid components such as pigments. For this reason, the remaining color filter ink and cleaning liquid can be quickly mixed, and aggregates and solids adhering to the flow path and the like can be reliably removed. In addition, since it can be easily mixed with the color filter ink after cleaning, the cleaning liquid can be surely removed from the color filter ink flow path, and the color filter ink is filled into the droplet discharge device. Can be done quickly. As described above, by performing cleaning using the cleaning liquid, the droplet discharge device has less contamination in the ink flow path, clogging of the discharge port, etc., and the droplet discharge amount over a long period of time. Discharge properties and the like are stable. In addition, a color filter manufactured using such a droplet discharge device has a small variation in characteristics among individuals. For this reason, by using the cleaning liquid set of the present invention that satisfies the predetermined relationship with the color filter ink set, the droplet discharge device can efficiently produce a color filter with small variations in characteristics among individuals. It will be a thing.

"Color filter"
Next, an example of a color filter manufactured using the above-described droplet discharge device and color filter ink (ink set) will be described.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a preferred embodiment of the color filter.
As shown in FIG. 5, the color filter 1 includes a substrate 11 and a colored portion 12 formed using the color filter ink described above. As the coloring portion 12, a first coloring portion 12A, a second coloring portion 12B, and a third coloring portion 12C having different colors are provided. A partition wall 13 is provided between the adjacent colored portions 12.

<Board>
The substrate 11 is a plate-like member having optical transparency, and has a function of holding the colored portion 12 and the partition wall 13.
The substrate 11 is preferably made of a substantially transparent material. Thereby, a clearer image can be formed by the light transmitted through the color filter 1.

  The substrate 11 is preferably excellent in heat resistance and mechanical strength. Thereby, for example, deformation due to heat applied during the manufacture of the color filter 1 can be reliably prevented. Examples of the constituent material of the substrate 11 that satisfies such conditions include glass, silicon, polycarbonate, polyester, aromatic polyamide, polyamideimide, polyimide, norbornene-based ring-opening polymer, and hydrogenated products thereof.

<Coloring part>
The colored portion 12 is formed using the droplet discharge device and the color filter ink set as described above.
Since the colored portion 12 is formed using the droplet discharge device and the color filter ink set as described above, variation in characteristics among the pixels is small. For this reason, the color filter 1 is highly reliable because it suppresses the occurrence of color unevenness, density unevenness, and the like, and prevents unintentional color mixing.

Each colored portion 12 is provided in a cell 14 which is a region surrounded by a partition wall 13 which will be described later.
The first colored portion 12A, the second colored portion 12B, and the third colored portion 12C have different colors. For example, the first colored portion 12A can be a red filter region (R), the second colored portion 12B can be a green filter region (G), and the third colored portion 12C can be a blue filter region (B). A set of different colored portions 12A, 12B, and 12C constitutes one pixel. In the color filter 1, a predetermined number of colored portions 12 are arranged in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction. For example, when the color filter 1 is a high-definition color filter, 1366 × 768 pixels are arranged, and when the color filter 1 is a full high-definition color filter, 1920 × 1080 pixels are arranged. In the case of a super high vision color filter, 7680 × 4320 pixels are arranged. Note that the color filter 1 may be provided with a spare pixel outside the effective area, for example.

<Partition wall>
A partition wall (bank) 13 is provided between the adjacent colored portions 12. Thereby, it can prevent reliably that the adjacent coloring parts 12 will mix colors, As a result, a clear image can be displayed reliably.
The partition wall 13 may be made of a transparent material, but is preferably made of a light-shielding material. Thereby, an image with excellent contrast can be displayed. The color of the partition wall (light shielding part) 13 is not particularly limited, but is preferably black. Thereby, the contrast of the displayed image can be made particularly excellent.

  The height of the partition wall 13 is not particularly limited, but is preferably larger than the thickness of the colored portion 12. Thereby, the color mixture between the adjacent coloring parts 12 can be prevented reliably. The specific thickness of the partition wall 13 is preferably 0.1 to 10 μm, and more preferably 0.5 to 3.5 μm. As a result, color mixing between the adjacent colored portions 12 can be reliably prevented, and the viewing angle characteristics of the image display device and electronic apparatus including the color filter 1 can be improved.

  The partition wall 13 may be made of any material, but for example, is preferably made mainly of a resin material. Thereby, the partition wall 13 can be easily formed as having a desired shape by a method as described later. Moreover, when the partition 13 has a function as a light-shielding part, it may include a light-absorbing material such as carbon black as a constituent material.

《Color filter manufacturing method》
Next, an example of a method for manufacturing the color filter 1 will be described.
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a method for manufacturing a color filter.
As shown in FIG. 6, in this embodiment, a substrate preparation step (6a) for preparing the substrate 11, a partition formation step (6b, 6c) for forming the partition 13 on the substrate 11, and a color filter by an ink jet method. An ink application step (6d) for applying the ink 2 to a region surrounded by the partition wall 13 and a colored portion forming step (6e) for removing the dispersion medium from the color filter ink 2 to form a solid colored portion 12. Have.

<Board preparation process>
First, the substrate 11 is prepared (6a). The substrate 11 prepared in this step is preferably subjected to a cleaning process. In addition, the substrate 11 prepared in this step has been subjected to appropriate pretreatment such as chemical treatment with a silane coupling agent or the like, plasma treatment, ion plating, sputtering, gas phase reaction method, vacuum deposition, and the like. Also good.

<Partition forming process>
Next, the radiation-sensitive composition for forming the partition walls of the substrate 11 is applied to almost the entire one surface of the substrate 11 to form the coating film 3 (6b). In addition, after giving a radiation sensitive composition on the board | substrate 11, you may perform a prebaking process as needed. The pre-bake treatment can be performed, for example, under the conditions of heating temperature: 50 to 150 ° C. and heating time: 30 to 600 seconds.

Then, the partition 13 is formed by performing a post-exposure baking process (PEB) by irradiating with a radiation through a photomask and further performing a developing process using an alkaline developer (6c). PEB can be performed, for example, under the conditions of heating temperature: 50 to 150 ° C., heating time: 30 to 600 seconds, and radiation irradiation intensity: 1 to 500 mJ / cm ² . The development processing can be performed by, for example, a liquid piling method, a dipping method, a vibration dipping method, or the like, and the development processing time can be set to, for example, 10 to 300 seconds. Further, after the development process, a post-bake process may be performed as necessary. The post-bake treatment can be performed, for example, under the conditions of heating temperature: 150 to 280 ° C. and heating time: 3 to 120 minutes.

<Ink application process>
Next, the color filter ink 2 is applied to the cell 14 surrounded by the partition wall 13 by an inkjet method (6d).
This step is performed using a plurality of types of color filter inks 2 corresponding to the plurality of colored portions 12 to be formed. At this time, since the partition wall 13 is provided, it is reliably prevented that two or more kinds of color filter inks 2 are mixed.

  The color filter ink 2 is applied to the color filter corresponding to the colored portions 12 of the color filter 1 using the droplet discharge device 100 shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 as described above. This is done by applying ink 2 into the cell 14. By using the droplet discharge device 100 to which the cleaning liquid 4 as described above is applied, the discharge property of the color filter ink 2 becomes excellent, and a desired amount of the color filter ink 2 is efficiently put into the cell 14. Can be granted.

<Colored part forming step>
Next, the dispersion medium is removed from the color filter ink 2 in the cell 14 to form a solid colored portion 12 (6e). Thereby, the color filter 1 is obtained. Moreover, in this process, you may make a resin material react with a crosslinking component etc. as needed. The removal of the dispersion medium can be performed by heating, for example. At this time, the substrate 11 to which the color filter ink 2 is applied may be placed in a reduced pressure environment. Thereby, removal of a dispersion medium can be advanced more efficiently, preventing generation | occurrence | production of the bad influence to the board | substrate 11 grade | etc.,. In this step, irradiation with radiation may be performed. Thereby, reaction with the crosslinking component of a resin material, etc. can be advanced efficiently. The color filter 1 obtained in this way is formed by applying a desired amount of the color filter ink 2 in each cell 14 and prevents undesired color mixing and the like. Therefore, the occurrence of color unevenness, density unevenness and the like is suppressed, and reliability is high.

<Image display device>
Next, a preferred embodiment of a liquid crystal display device that is an image display device (electro-optical device) having the color filter 1 will be described.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a preferred embodiment of the liquid crystal display device. As shown in the figure, the liquid crystal display device 60 includes a color filter 1, a substrate (opposite substrate) 66 disposed on the side of the color filter 1 on which the colored portion 12 is provided, a color filter 1 and a substrate 66. And a polarizing plate 67 provided on the surface side opposite to the surface of the substrate 11 of the color filter 1 opposite to the liquid crystal layer 62 (lower side in FIG. 7). And a polarizing plate 68 provided on the surface side opposite to the surface facing the liquid crystal layer 62 of the substrate 66 (upper side in FIG. 7). A common electrode 61 is provided on the surface of the color filter 1 on which the colored portion 12 and the partition wall 13 are provided (the surface opposite to the surface of the colored portion 12 and the partition wall 13 facing the substrate 11). On the surface of the (opposite substrate) 66 facing the liquid crystal layer 62 and the color filter 1, pixel electrodes 65 are arranged in a matrix at positions corresponding to the colored portions 12 of the color filter 1. Further, an alignment film 64 is provided between the common electrode 61 and the liquid crystal layer 62, and an alignment film 63 is provided between the substrate 66 (pixel electrode 65) and the liquid crystal layer 62.

The substrate 66 is a substrate having optical transparency with respect to visible light, and is, for example, a glass substrate.
The common electrode 61 and the pixel electrode 65 are made of a material having optical transparency to visible light, and are made of, for example, ITO.
Although not shown in the drawing, a plurality of switching elements (for example, TFT: thin film transistor) are provided so as to correspond to each pixel electrode 65. For each pixel electrode 65 corresponding to each coloring portion 12, by controlling the voltage application state between the common electrode 61, in the region corresponding to each coloring portion 12 (each pixel electrode 65), Light transmittance can be controlled.

  In the liquid crystal display device 60, light emitted from a backlight (not shown) enters from the polarizing plate 68 side (upper side in FIG. 7). And the light which permeate | transmitted the liquid crystal layer 62 and entered into each coloring part 12 (12A, 12B, 12C) of the color filter 1 is polarized as light of the color corresponding to each coloring part 12 (12A, 12B, 12C). The light is emitted from the plate 67 (lower side in FIG. 7).

As described above, since the colored portion 12 is formed using the droplet discharge device 100 to which the cleaning liquid 4 as described above is applied and the color filter ink 2, there is variation in characteristics between pixels. It has been suppressed. As a result, in the liquid crystal display device 60, it is possible to stably display an image in which color unevenness, density unevenness, and the like at each part are suppressed.
The above-described image display device includes, for example, a personal computer (mobile personal computer), a mobile phone, a digital still camera, a television (for example, a liquid crystal television), a video camera, a viewfinder type, and a monitor direct view type video. Tape recorder, laptop personal computer, car navigation system, pager, electronic notebook (including communication function), electronic dictionary, calculator, electronic game machine, word processor, workstation, video phone, security TV monitor, electronic binoculars, POS terminal, equipment with touch panel (for example, cash dispenser of financial institution, automatic ticket vending machine), medical equipment (for example, electronic thermometer, blood pressure monitor, blood glucose meter, electrocardiogram display device, ultrasonic diagnostic device, endoscope display device) ), Fish finder, various measurements Vessels, instruments (e.g., gages for vehicles, aircraft, and ships), a flight simulator, various monitors, and a projection display such as a projector. In particular, televisions have a remarkable tendency to increase the size of display portions in recent years. However, in electronic devices having such a large display portion (for example, a display portion having a diagonal length of 80 cm or more), conventional color filter inks are used. In particular, when color filters manufactured using this method were applied, problems such as color unevenness and density unevenness were particularly likely to occur.However, while applying the cleaning liquid set of the present invention to the droplet discharge device, the color filter ink was discharged. By doing so, occurrence of such a problem can be reliably prevented. That is, when applied to an electronic device having a large display unit as described above, the effects of the present invention are more remarkably exhibited.

As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated based on suitable embodiment, this invention is not limited to these.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, after the color filter ink corresponding to the colored portion of each color is applied to the cell, the dispersion medium is removed from the color filter ink of each color in the cell in batch, that is, In the above description, the colored portion forming step is performed only once. However, the ink application step and the colored portion forming step may be performed repeatedly corresponding to each color.

Further, the color filter may be provided with a protective film that covers the colored portion on the side of the colored portion opposite to the surface facing the substrate. Thereby, damage, deterioration, etc. of a coloring part can be prevented more effectively.
In addition, each unit constituting the color filter, the image display device, and the electronic device can be replaced with an arbitrary one that exhibits the same function, or another configuration can be added.

In the above-described embodiment, the cleaning liquid has been described as including only the liquid medium and the dispersant. However, the cleaning liquid may include other components. For example, a pigment, a dye, a pigment precursor, a pigment derivative, a surfactant, a resin material, and the like may be included.
Further, the cleaning liquid may have been subjected to a process such as deaeration. Thereby, the dissolved gas melt | dissolved in the washing | cleaning liquid can be removed reliably. For this reason, bubbles and the like can be reliably prevented from remaining in the ink flow path and the like during cleaning with the cleaning liquid.

In the above-described embodiment, the cleaning liquid is used only for cleaning the ink flow path and the like, but other portions may be cleaned. For example, the portion of the droplet discharge device to which the ink is attached may be washed.
Further, for example, the cleaning liquid may be used to fill the ink flow path when the liquid droplet ejection apparatus is stopped. By filling the ink flow path with the liquid in this manner, the wettability of the ink flow path of the droplet discharge device, particularly the wettability of the discharge port can be maintained excellent. In such a case, it is preferable to use the cleaning liquid constituting the cleaning liquid set corresponding to each ink.

Further, for example, when the ink flow path of the droplet discharge device is not filled with the liquid, the cleaning liquid may be flowed to fill the ink flow path with the liquid. The cleaning liquid constituting the cleaning liquid set of the present invention can be suitably spread in the ink flow path, and air bubbles can be preferably removed. In addition, the ink can be efficiently filled by filling the flow path with the ink after flowing the cleaning liquid.
Further, the color filter ink set may contain ink using only a dye as a colorant in addition to the ink containing the pigment as described above. In this case, the cleaning liquid set only needs to have a cleaning liquid corresponding to ink using a pigment as a colorant.
In the above-described embodiment, the liquid droplet ejection apparatus has been described as including the ink storage tank and the cleaning liquid storage tank. However, the liquid droplet ejection apparatus may not include these.

[1] Preparation of cleaning liquid set and color filter ink set (Example 1)
[Preparation of cleaning solution set]
As a liquid medium, bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether (liquid component a) and ethyl octoate (liquid component b) were prepared, and these were mixed. Dispersbyk-161 (a compound having a big star ring made by Big Chemie Japan Co., Ltd.) as a dispersant A was added thereto, and the mixture was sufficiently stirred and mixed to prepare a green ink cleaning liquid (G cleaning liquid).
In addition, except that the type of liquid medium to be used is changed as shown in the table, and the blending amounts of the dispersant and the liquid medium are changed as shown in the table, each of the red inks is the same as the cleaning liquid for green ink. Cleaning liquid (R cleaning liquid) and blue ink cleaning liquid (B cleaning liquid) were prepared. As a result, a cleaning liquid set comprising the above three types of cleaning liquids was obtained.

[Preparation of color filter ink set]
First, a resin p as a resin material was synthesized as follows.
After charging 320 parts by weight of n-hexane, 86 parts by weight of methacrylic acid, and 111 parts by weight of triethylamine in a four-necked flask, a thermometer, a reflux condenser, a stirrer, and nitrogen were added to this four-necked flask. A gas inlet was attached. While cooling this four-necked flask with ice water, 120 parts by weight of trimethylchlorosilane was added dropwise. At this time, the temperature in the reaction system was adjusted to 25 ° C. or lower. Thereafter, the reaction was continued at 25 ° C. for 1 hour. Next, the triethylamine hydrochloride was filtered off, and after removing n-hexane from the obtained filtrate under reduced pressure, the residue was purified by distillation under reduced pressure to obtain an ethylenically unsaturated monomer having a silyl acetate structure. .

  Next, a thermometer, a reflux condenser, a stirrer, and a nitrogen gas inlet are attached, and a four-necked flask charged with 100 parts by weight of bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether (liquid component a) as a solvent is prepared. did. The temperature of the bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether (liquid component a) in the four-necked flask was raised to 60 ° C. with stirring, and then the ethylenically unsaturated monomer: 27 parts by weight and glycidyl methacrylate A mixture of 30 parts by weight, styrene: 38 parts by weight, and 2,2′-azobis- (2,4-dimethylvaleronitrile): 6 parts by weight was added dropwise over 1 hour. After dropping, the mixture was kept at 60 ° C. for 1 hour, and then added with 2,2′-azobis- (2,4-dimethylvaleronitrile): 0.08 part by weight, further reacted at 60 ° C. for 6 hours, and then unreacted. The monomer p was removed by a reduced pressure treatment to obtain a solution of a resin p as an epoxy resin having a silyl acetate structure and an epoxy structure.

Meanwhile, bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether (liquid component a) as a dispersion medium is prepared, and Disperbyk-161 (a compound having a simelide ring, manufactured by Big Chemie Japan) as a dispersant B, and a pigment As C.I. I. Pigment green 36, C.I. I. Pigment Yellow 150 was added. Thereafter, the mixture was introduced into a bead mill (zirconia beads: 0.65 mm used) and the pigment was pulverized to obtain a pulverized mixture. Dispersbyk-161 (manufactured by Big Chemie Japan Co., Ltd., a compound having a simeride ring) as a dispersant B was further added to the obtained pulverized mixture, and 1000 kg using an ultrahigh pressure homogenizer LAB2000 (manufactured by SMT Co., Ltd.). / Cm ² , 500 cc / min was dispersed to obtain a pigment dispersion.

  Thereafter, a green color filter ink (green ink) was prepared by mixing the resin p solution and the pigment dispersion. C. in green ink I. Pigment Green 36 and C.I. I. The average particle size of the mixture with Pigment Yellow 150 was 120 nm. The average particle diameter of the pigment was measured with a laser Doppler particle size distribution meter.

  In addition, C.I. I. In place of Pigment Green 36, C.I. I. Pigment red 177 and C.I. I. In addition to using Pigment Red 254, changing the solvent used in resin synthesis, the dispersion medium used for preparing the pigment dispersion, and changing the blending ratio of each component, the red color filter ink is the same as the green ink (Red ink (R ink)) was prepared. C. in red ink I. Pigment red 177, C.I. I. Pigment red 254, and C.I. I. The average particle size of the mixture with Pigment Yellow 150 was 120 nm.

In addition, C.I. I. Pigment green 36, C.I. I. Pigment Yellow 150 instead of C.I. I. Blue color filter in the same manner as green ink except that Pigment Blue 15: 6 is used, the solvent used in resin synthesis, the dispersion medium used for preparing the pigment dispersion is changed, and the blending ratio of each component is changed. Ink (blue ink (B ink)) was prepared. C. in blue ink I. The average particle size of Pigment Blue 15: 6 was 120 nm.
As a result, a color filter ink set composed of the above three types of inks (color filter inks) was obtained.

(Examples 2 to 7)
A cleaning liquid set was obtained by preparing a cleaning liquid in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the types of the dispersant and the liquid medium were shown in the table and the amounts of each component used were shown in the table. . In addition, the color filter ink of each color was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the types of the dispersant and the dispersion medium are shown in the table, and the amount of each component used is shown in the table. An ink set for a color filter was obtained. In addition, when changing the composition of the dispersion medium, resin p is synthesized using a solvent whose composition is changed accordingly, and the solution of resin p thus synthesized is used for the preparation of color filter ink. Using.

(Comparative Examples 1-4)
A cleaning liquid set was obtained by preparing a cleaning liquid in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the types of the dispersant and the liquid medium were shown in the table and the amounts of each component used were shown in the table. . In addition, the color filter ink of each color was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the types of the dispersant and the dispersion medium are shown in the table, and the amount of each component used is shown in the table. An ink set for a color filter was obtained. In addition, when changing the composition of the dispersion medium, resin p is synthesized using a solvent whose composition is changed accordingly, and the solution of resin p thus synthesized is used for the preparation of color filter ink. Using.

  Table 1 summarizes the composition and characteristics of the cleaning solution for each of the Examples and Comparative Examples. Table 2 summarizes the composition and characteristics of the color filter ink (green ink). In the table, C.I. I. Pigment Green 36 is “PG36”, C.I. I. Pigment Yellow 150 is changed to “PY150”, C.I. I. Pigment Red 177 is “PR177”, C.I. I. Pigment Red 254 is "PR254", C.I. I. Pigment Blue 15: 6 is “PB15: 6”, the above-mentioned resin p is “p”, Disperbyk-161 (dispersant) is “d1”, Disperbyk-2000 (dispersant) is “d2”, Solsperse 22000 (dispersant) “D3”, bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether as “L1”, 1,3-butyleneglycol diacetate as “L2”, 2- (2-methoxy-1-methylethoxy) -1-methylethyl acetate as “L3”, “L4” for diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate, “L5” for ethyl 3-ethoxypropionate, “L6” for propylene glycol-n-butyl ether, “L7” for ethyl 3-ethoxypropionate, propylene glycol-n -Butyl ether "L8", diethylene glycol diethyl ether “L9”, ethyl octanoate “L10”, butyl acetate “L11”, cyclohexanone “L12”, propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate “L13”, ethylene glycol diacetate “L14”, 3-methoxybutyl acetate “L15”, butyl cellosolve “L16”, 3-methoxybutyl acetate “L17”, and 1,6-hexanediol diacetate “L18”. In the table, the “viscosity” column indicates the viscosity at 25 ° C. measured in accordance with JIS Z8809 using a vibration viscometer, and the “surface tension” column indicates JIS K 3362. The surface tension at 25 ° C. measured in conformity was shown.

[2] Evaluation of cleaning property and substitution property of cleaning liquid Each ink prepared in each example and comparative example was sealed in a Teflon tube ("Teflon" is a registered trademark) having an inner diameter of 2 mm and a length of 30 cm. The cleaning solution prepared in the comparative example was passed through a Teflon tube (“Teflon” is a registered trademark) for 60 seconds at a flow rate of 0.7 ml / min. When the washing liquid was finished flowing, the ink remaining in the tube was visually observed and evaluated according to the following three-stage criteria. If no ink remains in the tube, it is considered that the inside of the tube is removed in a state in which pigments and the like are suitably dispersed and replaced with a cleaning liquid. That is, it is considered that the cleaning property and the replacement property of the cleaning liquid are high.
A: Ink is not confirmed in the tube.
B: It is confirmed that a slight amount of ink remains in the tube.
C: It is confirmed that ink remains clearly in the tube.

[3] Stability evaluation of droplet discharge (Stable discharge evaluation)
[3.1] Evaluation of landing position accuracy Prepared are a droplet discharge device as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 installed in a chamber (thermal chamber) and color filter inks of the respective examples and comparative examples. With the drive waveform of the element optimized, 10000 (10000 drops) droplets were continuously discharged from each nozzle of the droplet discharge head for the color filter ink. Thereafter, the flow path of the color filter ink was washed with a washing liquid. Cleaning was performed by flowing a cleaning liquid corresponding to the color filter ink at a flow rate of 0.7 ml / min for 150 seconds. After cleaning, the same ink was filled again in the ink flow path of the droplet discharge device. Filling was performed by flowing the color filter ink at a flow rate of 0.7 ml / min for 150 seconds in the ink flow path. Subsequently, 10,000 droplets (10,000 droplets) were continuously discharged from each nozzle of the droplet discharge head. For 10000 droplets ejected from a designated nozzle near the center of the droplet ejection head after filling with ink, the average value of the shift amount d from the center target position of the center position of each landed droplet Was evaluated according to the following four criteria. It can be said that the smaller the value is, the more effectively the occurrence of flight bending is prevented. As the average value of the shift amount d, the average value of the values obtained for the three color inks was employed.
A: The average value of the shift amounts d is less than 0.03 μm.
B: The average value of the shift amount d is 0.03 μm or more and less than 0.08 μm.
C: The average value of the shift amount d is 0.08 μm or more and less than 0.12 μm.
D: The average value of the shift amount d is 0.12 μm or more.

[3.2] Continuous discharge test (clogging evaluation)
1 to 4 installed in a chamber (thermal chamber), using the ink of the color filter ink set obtained in each of the above examples and comparative examples, 50% RH The ink for color filters was ejected by operating the droplet ejection device continuously for 48 hours under the environment. At this time, cleaning was performed using a cleaning solution every 8 hours, and the color filter ink was filled again and discharged. Cleaning was performed by flowing a cleaning liquid corresponding to the color filter ink at a flow rate of 0.7 ml / min for 150 seconds. After washing, the same color filter ink was filled again in the ink flow path of the droplet discharge device. Filling was performed by flowing the color filter ink at a flow rate of 0.7 ml / min for 150 seconds in the ink flow path. The nozzle clogging rate ([(number of clogged nozzles) / (total number of nozzles)] × 100) obtained after continuous operation is found and the nozzles are clogged. With respect to the above, it was examined whether or not clogging can be eliminated by a cleaning member made of a plastic material. The results were evaluated according to the following four criteria. As the value of the occurrence rate of nozzle clogging, the average value of the values obtained for the three color inks was adopted.
A: No nozzle clogging occurs.
B: The occurrence rate of nozzle clogging is less than 0.5% (excluding zero), and clogging can be eliminated by cleaning.
C: The occurrence rate of nozzle clogging is 0.5% or more and less than 1.0%, and clogging can be eliminated by cleaning.
D: The occurrence rate of nozzle clogging is 1.0% or more, or clogging cannot be eliminated by cleaning.
In addition, said evaluation was performed on the same conditions about each Example and each comparative example.

[3.3] Stability evaluation of droplet discharge amount The droplet discharge device as shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 installed in a chamber (thermal chamber) and the color filter inks of the above examples and comparative examples were used. In a state where the drive waveform of the piezo element was prepared and prepared, 10,000 droplets (10000 droplets) of the green ink were continuously discharged from each nozzle of the droplet discharge head. Thereafter, the flow path of the color filter ink was washed with the cleaning liquid constituting the cleaning liquid set of each of the above Examples and Comparative Examples. Cleaning was performed by flowing a cleaning liquid corresponding to the color filter ink at a flow rate of 0.7 ml / min for 150 seconds. After cleaning, the same ink was filled again in the ink flow path of the droplet discharge device. Filling was performed by flowing the color filter ink at a flow rate of 0.7 ml / min for 150 seconds in the ink flow path. Subsequently, 10,000 droplets (10,000 droplets) were continuously discharged from each nozzle of the droplet discharge head. For the two specified nozzles on the left and right ends of the droplet discharge head, the total weight of the discharged droplets is obtained, and the absolute value ΔW [ng] of the difference between the average discharge amounts of the droplets discharged from the two nozzles is calculated. Asked. The ratio (ΔW / W _T ) of this ΔW to the target discharge amount W _T [ng] of the droplet was determined and evaluated according to the following four criteria. As the value of [Delta] W / W _T is small, it can be said that the greater the stability of the droplet discharge amount. That is, it is considered that the ink flow path or the like is less clogged with dirt or aggregates due to the solid content of the ink. As the value of [Delta] W / W _T, it was used the average of the values obtained for the three colors of ink.
A: The value of ΔW / _{W T} is less than 0.020.
B: The value of ΔW / _{W T} is 0.020 or more and less than 0.420.
C: The value of ΔW / _{W T} is 0.420 or more and less than 0.720.
D: The value of ΔW / _{W T} is 0.720 or more.

[4] Manufacture of Color Filter Next, a color filter was manufactured as follows using the ink sets obtained in the respective Examples and Comparative Examples.
First, a soda glass substrate (G5 size: 1100 × 1300 mm) on which a silica (SiO ₂ ) film for preventing elution of sodium ions was formed on both surfaces was prepared and subjected to a cleaning treatment.

Next, the radiation-sensitive composition for forming partition walls containing carbon black was applied to the entire surface of one of the cleaned substrates to form a coating film.
Next, prebaking was performed under the conditions of heating temperature: 110 ° C. and heating time: 120 seconds.
Thereafter, irradiation with radiation is performed through a photomask to perform post-exposure baking (PEB), followed by development using an alkaline developer, and further by performing post-baking, thereby separating the partition walls. Formed. PEB was performed under the conditions of heating temperature: 110 ° C., heating time: 120 seconds, and radiation irradiation intensity: 150 mJ / cm ² . The development process was performed by, for example, a vibration dipping method. The development processing time was 60 seconds. The post-bake treatment was performed under the conditions of heating temperature: 150 ° C. and heating time: 5 minutes. The formed partition wall had a thickness of 2.1 μm.

Next, using a droplet discharge device as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 installed in a chamber (thermal chamber), color filter ink was discharged into a cell as a region surrounded by a partition wall. At this time, three color filter inks were used so that the color filter inks of the respective colors were not mixed.
Thereafter, heat treatment was performed on a hot plate at 100 ° C. for 10 minutes, and further, heat treatment was performed in an oven at 200 ° C. for 1 hour, whereby three colored portions were formed. Thereby, a color filter as shown in FIG. 5 was obtained.

  Using the method as described above, 10,000 color filters were produced using the color filter inks (ink sets) of each Example and each Comparative Example. The droplet discharge device cleans the ink flow path using the cleaning liquid obtained in each example and each comparative example and refills the ink every time discharge is completed on 1000 substrates. Using. Further, in addition to the cleaning with such a cleaning liquid set, the droplet discharge device is a method for discharging droplets on a portion of the droplet discharge device where there is no substrate (work) for the color filter (spitting), and The ink flow path was periodically cleaned by a method of forcibly sucking the ink accumulated in the droplet discharge head using the suction means.

[5] Evaluation of color filter The following evaluation was performed using each color filter obtained as described above.
[5.1] Color unevenness, density unevenness, light leakage Of the color filters manufactured using the color filter inks (ink sets) of the respective Examples and Comparative Examples, each was manufactured on the 7500th sheet. A liquid crystal display device as shown in FIG. 7 was manufactured under the same conditions using a color filter.

Using these liquid crystal display devices, in the dark room, green, red, blue monochromatic display, white monochromatic display was observed visually, the occurrence of color irregularities and density irregularities in each part, Evaluation was performed according to the following five-step criteria.
A: Color unevenness, density unevenness, and light leakage are not recognized at all.
B: Color unevenness, density unevenness, and light leakage are hardly observed.
C: Color unevenness, density unevenness, and light leakage are slightly observed.
D: Color unevenness, density unevenness, and light leakage are clearly recognized.
E: Color unevenness, density unevenness, and light leakage are remarkably recognized.
In the above evaluation, each liquid crystal display device was manufactured under the same conditions, displayed under the same conditions, and observed and measured under the same conditions.

[5.2] Characteristic difference between individuals Among the color filters manufactured using the color filter inks (ink sets) of the respective Examples and Comparative Examples, the 2500th, 5000th, 7500th, and 10000th sheets, respectively. The color filter manufactured in the above was prepared, and a single color display of green and a white color were displayed in a dark room, and the color was measured using a spectrophotometer (MCPD3000, manufactured by Otsuka Electronics Co., Ltd.). From the results, for each example and each comparative example, the maximum color difference (color difference ΔE in the Lab display system) is obtained with the color filter manufactured in the above-mentioned number of sheets, according to the following five-stage criteria, evaluated.

A: Color difference (ΔE) is less than 2.
B: Color difference (ΔE) is 2 or more and less than 3.
C: Color difference (ΔE) is 3 or more and less than 4.
D: Color difference (ΔE) is 4 or more and less than 5.
E: Color difference (ΔE) is 5 or more.

In the above evaluation, each color filter was observed and measured under the same conditions.
The evaluation results for the above evaluations are shown in Table 3. In the tables, “G”, “R”, and “B” are green ink and green ink cleaning liquid, red ink and red ink cleaning liquid, blue ink and blue ink cleaning liquid, respectively, in each example and comparative example. The case where is used is shown.

  As is apparent from Table 3, the cleaning liquid set of the present invention was excellent in the cleaning performance of the cleaning liquid to be constituted, and was excellent in replacement with the color filter ink. Also, when the color filter ink was discharged using a droplet discharge device washed with a cleaning liquid, the droplet landing position accuracy and discharge amount uniformity were excellent, and flight bending and clogging were suitably prevented. It was. In addition, the color filter manufactured with the color filter ink set containing the ink of the present invention has suppressed color mixing, color unevenness, density unevenness, and light leakage, and has small variations in characteristics among individuals. . On the other hand, in each comparative example, a satisfactory result was not obtained.

In each Example, the solubility of the used component m in the liquid component a at 20 ° C. was lower than the solubility of the used component m in the liquid component b at 20 ° C.
Further, for Comparative Examples 1 and 2, when the above color filter was evaluated only for the green color of the produced color filter, no color unevenness, density unevenness, or light leakage was observed, and there was a difference in characteristics between individuals. There were few things.
Further, when a commercially available liquid crystal television was disassembled and the liquid crystal display device part was replaced with one manufactured as described above, and the same evaluation as described above was performed, the same result as above was obtained.

  In addition, a method of discharging droplets from a portion without a substrate (work) for a color filter of a droplet discharge device (rib discharge) and ink collected in a droplet discharge head using a suction means Without performing cleaning of the droplet discharge device by the method of forcibly sucking, only cleaning the droplet discharge device with the cleaning liquid of each example and each comparative example, and evaluating the stability of droplet discharge as described above, When the color filter was manufactured and the color filter was evaluated, the same result as above was obtained.

  In contrast, when the color filter was manufactured by periodically cleaning the droplet discharge device using the spit and suction means without using the cleaning liquid set, the droplet discharge amount fluctuated greatly in a short period of time. The flying bend of droplets occurred frequently. For this reason, in the droplet discharge device to which the cleaning liquid set is not applied, 10,000 color filters cannot be manufactured continuously, and the droplet discharge head must be replaced after the droplet discharge device is stopped. . In addition, even when the color filter is manufactured by increasing the frequency of cleaning the droplet discharge device by the spout and suction means as described above without using the cleaning solution set, the droplets are similarly produced in a short period of time. The discharge amount fluctuated greatly, and the flying flight of the droplets occurred frequently. Further, 10,000 color filters could not be manufactured continuously, and the droplet discharge heads had to be replaced.

It is a perspective view which shows the droplet discharge apparatus used for manufacture of a color filter. It is the figure which observed the droplet discharge means in the droplet discharge apparatus shown in FIG. 1 from the stage side. It is a figure which shows the bottom face of the droplet discharge head in the droplet discharge apparatus shown in FIG. 2A and 2B are diagrams illustrating a droplet discharge head in the droplet discharge apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1, in which FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows suitable embodiment of a color filter. It is sectional drawing which shows the manufacturing method of a color filter. It is sectional drawing which shows embodiment of a liquid crystal display device.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Color filter 11 ... Board | substrate 12 ... Coloring part 12A ... 1st coloring part 12B ... 2nd coloring part 12C ... 3rd coloring part 13 ... Partition 14 ... Cell 2 ... Color filter ink 3 ... Coating film 4 ... Cleaning liquid 60 ... Liquid crystal display device 61 ... Common electrode 62 ... Liquid crystal layer 63, 64 ... Alignment film 65 ... Pixel electrode 66 ... Substrate (counter substrate) 67, 68 ... Polarizing plate 100 ... Droplet discharge device 101 ... Tank 102 ... Discharge scanning Numeral 103 ... Droplet discharge means 104 ... First position control device 105 ... Carriage 106 ... Stage 108 ... Second position control device 110 ... Tube 112 ... Control means 114 ... Droplet discharge head (inkjet head) 116A, 116B ... Nozzle array 118 ... Nozzle 120 ... Cavity 122 ... Bulkhead 124 ... Vibrator 124A, 124B Electrode 124C ... piezoelectric elements 126 ... diaphragm 127 ... discharge unit 128 ... nozzle plate 129 ... liquid reservoir 130 ... supply port 131 ... hole 132 ... ink reservoir 133 ... cleaning liquid storage tank 134 ... conveyance path 135 ... switching valve

Claims (15)

Applied to the manufacture of color filters by inkjet method, equipped with a plurality of types of cleaning liquid used for cleaning a droplet discharge device that discharges a plurality of types of ink,
The plurality of types of cleaning liquids are used corresponding to the plurality of types of inks, respectively.
The cleaning liquid includes a liquid medium and a dispersant,
The ink includes a pigment, a dispersion medium for dispersing the pigment, and a dispersant.
The dispersion medium of the ink and the liquid medium of the cleaning liquid corresponding to the ink both contain a common liquid component a,
The cleaning liquid set, wherein both the ink dispersant and the cleaning liquid dispersant corresponding to the ink contain a common component m.   2. The cleaning liquid set according to claim 1, wherein the content rate of the component m in each of the cleaning liquids constituting the cleaning liquid set is 0.1 to 10.5 wt%.   The cleaning liquid set according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the content of the liquid component a in each of the cleaning liquids constituting the cleaning liquid set is 8.5 to 95.5 wt%.   The plurality of types of inks are C.I. I. Pigment red 177 or C.I. I. Red ink including CI Pigment Red 254; I. Green ink containing CI Pigment Green 36; I. The cleaning liquid set according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a blue ink containing CI Pigment Blue 15: 6. The liquid component a (a _R ) of the red ink is bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether, diethylene glycol dimethyl ether, diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate, ethyl 3-ethoxypropionate, 2- (2-methoxy-1-methylethoxy)- The cleaning liquid set according to claim 4, which is 1-methylethyl acetate or 1,3-butylene glycol diacetate. The liquid component a (a _G ) of the green ink is diethylene glycol diethyl ether, 1,3-butylene glycol diacetate, bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether, 2- (2-methoxy-1-methylethoxy) -1- The cleaning liquid set according to claim 4 or 5, which is methyl ethyl acetate or diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate. The liquid component a (a _B ) of the blue ink is triethylene glycol dimethyl ether, 2- (2-methoxy-1-methylethoxy) -1-methylethyl acetate, 1,3-butylene glycol diacetate, propylene glycol-n. The cleaning liquid set according to any one of claims 4 to 6, which is butyl ether, bis (2-butoxyethyl) ether, or diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate. The at least one cleaning liquid constituting the cleaning liquid set includes a liquid component b having a composition different from that of the liquid component a as a liquid constituting the liquid medium at a content of 3.0 to 40.0 wt%,
The cleaning liquid set according to claim 4, wherein the solubility of the constituent component m in the liquid component b at 20 ° C. is greater than the solubility of the constituent component m in the liquid component a. The cleaning liquid according to claim 8, wherein the liquid component b (b _R ) of the cleaning liquid corresponding to the red ink is butyl cellosolve, propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, cyclohexanone, ethyl octoate, ethyl acetate, or ethylene glycol diacetate. set. The liquid component b (b _G ) of the cleaning liquid corresponding to the green ink is propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, 1,6-hexanediol diacetate, cyclohexanone, ethyl octoate, ethyl acetate, or ethylene glycol diacetate. The cleaning liquid set according to claim 8 or 9. 9. The liquid component b (b _B ) of the cleaning liquid corresponding to the blue ink is 3-methoxybutyl acetate, cyclohexanone, ethyl octoate, ethyl acetate, propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, or ethylene glycol diacetate. The washing | cleaning liquid set in any one of thru | or 10.   The cleaning liquid set according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein a surface tension of the cleaning liquid constituting the cleaning liquid set is lower than that of the corresponding ink.   The cleaning liquid set according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the viscosity of the cleaning liquid constituting the cleaning liquid set is lower than that of the corresponding ink. An ink applied to manufacture of a color filter by an ink jet method using a droplet discharge device, and a cleaning liquid for cleaning the droplet discharge device;
The cleaning liquid includes a liquid medium and a dispersant,
The ink includes a pigment, a dispersion medium for dispersing the pigment, and a dispersant.
The dispersion medium of the ink and the liquid medium of the cleaning liquid corresponding to the ink both contain a common liquid component a,
Both the ink dispersant and the cleaning liquid dispersant corresponding to the ink contain a common component m. A droplet discharge device that is used for manufacturing a color filter by an inkjet method and discharges a plurality of types of ink,
The droplet discharge device uses a plurality of types of cleaning liquids for cleaning the corresponding ink flow paths,
A plurality of cleaning liquid storage tanks storing a plurality of the cleaning liquids, and a plurality of ink storage tanks storing a plurality of the inks,
The ink and the cleaning liquid are transported from the ink storage tank and the cleaning liquid storage tank to the ink flow path through a transport path,
The cleaning liquid includes a liquid medium and a dispersant,
The ink includes a pigment, a dispersion medium for dispersing the pigment, and a dispersant.
The dispersion medium of the ink and the liquid medium of the cleaning liquid corresponding to the ink both contain a common liquid component a,
The liquid droplet ejection apparatus, wherein the ink dispersant and the cleaning liquid dispersant corresponding to the ink both contain a common component m.

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