JP2010119954A - Functional liquid application apparatus, and apparatus and method for exchanging functional liquid supply head - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus and a method for exchanging a functional liquid supply head which can correct the impact position with good reproducibility without impacting droplets, or can correct the impact position with a simple mechanism, or can correct the impact position with an economical mechanism, and a functional liquid supply and application apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: A specified portion of a head equipped with a plurality of nozzles for applying a functional liquid to a treatment substrate is photographed and the positioning shift between the specified portion of a head after exchange and the specified portion of the nozzle part before exchange is corrected based on results of photographs of both portions. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a functional liquid supply and coating apparatus, and more particularly to a functional liquid supply head replacement apparatus and replacement method that require high precision landing accuracy.

  In the conventional method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, spacer particles are arranged on the pixel electrode, that is, the display portion (pixel region) of the liquid crystal device in order to disperse the spacer particles randomly and uniformly on the substrate on which the pixel electrode is formed. Will be. In recent years, when the spacer particles are arranged in a pixel region serving as a display unit of a liquid crystal display device, the image quality is deteriorated. For example, the spacer particles are disposed on a black matrix.

  Liquid crystal display devices are in the direction of increasing the pixel area and reducing the light-shielding area in order to achieve brighter image quality as the demand for improved display quality increases. This is in a difficult direction when the spacer particles are arranged in the light shielding region, and the spacer particles must be arranged in the light shielding region with high accuracy.

  In general, in a functional liquid supply head that supplies the dispersion liquid containing the spacer particles and the functional liquid of the color filter, the water repellency of the head nozzle surface deteriorates when used for a long time, and the liquid droplets remain on the head surface. It becomes a factor which causes bending and nozzle missing. When the nozzle defect occurs, for example, the spacer particle dispersion liquid in which the spacer particles are dispersed only at that portion is not discharged, and the proper distance between the pair of substrates (cell gap) cannot be maintained. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically replace the head before the head surface deteriorates. When the head is replaced, the landing position shift of the droplets discharged from the functional liquid supply head occurs in the functional liquid supply and application apparatus, and it is necessary to perform alignment again.

  In the conventional technology shown below, as a landing position adjusting means after head replacement, a functional liquid supply head discharges droplets onto a real substrate, images the landing position with a camera, and detects an error from a setting reference. It is disclosed that the functional liquid supply head position is corrected using the error as a correction value.

JP 2006-44059 A

  As recently, high definition of the landing position is required, and correction is required in units of several tens of micrometers. When assembling the apparatus, even if it is mounted with mechanical accuracy, an error of about several tens of μm occurs due to the processing limit. Therefore, it is important to reproduce the previous landing position that was actually used.

  However, the above prior art has the following problems. First of all, in the above prior art, correction is made based on an error from the design standard. However, from the design standard, the mechanical wrinkle of the above-mentioned apparatus cannot be corrected, and the landing position is reproduced. Can't maintain sex. In the above prior art, the X-axis, Y-axis, and θ-axis of each head are driven and automatically corrected. However, it is important to determine how to accurately and mechanically install before the automatic correction. It has become to. However, in the method of applying droplets on the actual substrate with the functional liquid supply head and performing mechanically without automatic correction, the droplets are applied on the actual substrate with the functional liquid supply head, and the landing position Therefore, it is necessary to repeat the correction work several times, and there is a problem that a great amount of time is consumed.

Further, when an automatic correction mechanism is provided, the mechanism becomes complicated, and there is a problem that a sufficient installation space for the head cannot be taken due to high definition.
Furthermore, there exists a subject that apparatus itself will become expensive by having such a mechanism.

  Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide a functional liquid supply head replacement apparatus and replacement method and a functional liquid supply coating apparatus with good reproducibility that can correct the landing position without landing droplets.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a functional liquid supply head replacement device and replacement method, and a functional liquid supply and application device capable of correcting the landing position with a simple mechanism.
A third object of the present invention is to provide a functional liquid supply head replacement device and replacement method, and a functional liquid supply and application device that can correct the landing position with an inexpensive mechanism.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention images a specific part of a head having a plurality of nozzles for applying a functional liquid to a processing substrate, and the specific part of the head after replacement and the nozzle part before replacement The first feature is that the positional deviation between the two locations is corrected based on the imaging result of the specific location.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is characterized in that, in addition to the first feature, the specific portion is a discharge port of the specific nozzle.

  Furthermore, in order to achieve the above object, in addition to the first feature, the present invention has a third feature that the specific portion is a plurality of marks provided in the nozzle portion.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in addition to the first feature, the imaging means includes a high-power lens and a camera that captures an image of the specific portion with a necessary resolution. In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in addition to the first feature, the fifth feature is that the functional liquid is a spacer particle dispersion liquid dispersed in a black matrix of a liquid crystal substrate. .

  Furthermore, in order to achieve the above object, in addition to the first feature, the present invention includes a plurality of the heads, and adjusting the positions of other heads based on the head in which the positional deviation is corrected is sixth. Features.

  In order to achieve the above object, in addition to the sixth feature, the present invention includes a plurality of specific locations of the head after replacement and a plurality of specific locations of the head before replacement, and imaging of the plurality of specific locations. A seventh feature is that the overall posture of the plurality of heads after the replacement is adjusted based on the result.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a functional liquid supply head replacement apparatus and replacement method and a functional liquid supply coating apparatus with good reproducibility that can correct the landing position without causing droplets to land.

In addition, according to the present invention, it is an object to provide a functional liquid supply head replacement apparatus and replacement method, and a functional liquid supply coating apparatus capable of correcting the landing position with a simple mechanism.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is an object to provide a functional liquid supply head replacement device and replacement method, and a functional liquid supply and application device capable of correcting the landing position with an inexpensive mechanism.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of the present invention as a coating apparatus 100 that applies a spacer particle dispersion as a functional liquid to a black matrix that is a light shielding region of a liquid crystal substrate.
The coating apparatus 100 includes a machine base 20 and a gantry 30 provided so as to straddle the machine base 20. On the upper surface of the machine base 20, there is an X-axis table 21 for moving a mounting table 40 on which a processing substrate such as a liquid crystal substrate is mounted in the X-axis direction. 22 is run-controlled.

  On the other hand, the gantry 30 includes four functional fluid supply blocks 10a to 10d (hereinafter, the first subscript lowercase letters a to d are functional fluid supply blocks, and uppercase letters R and L are the right side. There is a Y-axis table 31 that moves the left side and other capital letters in the Y-axis direction. The Y-axis table 31 is covered with a protective case. A Y-axis rail (not shown) is provided in the upper part of the Y-axis table 31, and a Y-axis linear encoder (not shown) for detecting the position of the functional liquid supply block 10 is provided in the lower part. Is provided.

Each of the functional liquid supply blocks (hereinafter abbreviated as blocks) 10a to 10d has a functional liquid supply block head section (hereinafter referred to as a head) having a number of functional liquid discharge nozzles (hereinafter abbreviated as nozzles) as shown in FIG. 11 to ₄ , head block rotating units 12 a to 12 d for rotating the head unit for each block, and functional liquid supply tanks 13 a to 13 d for supplying functional liquid to the head unit. FIG. 1 shows a state in which the head portions 11a to 11d are not attached. In FIG. 2, the blocks 10 a to 10 d have the same configuration in order to prevent the codes from becoming complicated and difficult to understand, so the subscripts a to d indicating the blocks are omitted. The same applies hereinafter unless otherwise required.

  Therefore, four (the number of units is not limited to this) blocks 10a to 10d are arranged in the Y-axis direction, and the mounting table 40 is moved in the X-axis direction, whereby the spacer particle dispersion liquid is transferred from the nozzle to the black matrix. By applying the functional liquid, the spacer particles can be arranged at a desired position.

  In addition, maintenance areas 50R and 50L are provided on both sides of the gantry 30, and in these areas, dot dropout inspection units 42R and 42L for inspecting nozzle defects in the head, and flushing units (not shown) for periodically cleaning the nozzles. ) Etc. are arranged. In addition, the nozzle replacement operation described later is performed in this region.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the head unit 11 and the head block rotating unit 12 in the block 10.
As described above, the head block rotating section 12 includes the head section rotating section 12H that rotates the head section 11 in the θ direction and the head section mounting section 12T that mounts the head section 11.

On the other hand, the head unit 11 includes four functional liquid supply heads (hereinafter simply referred to as heads) ₁₁₁ to ₄ . Each head includes a nozzle portion 11H having 128 nozzle openings arranged in a line in the Y-axis direction, a nozzle holding portion 11K that holds the nozzle portion, and a piezo element (not shown). A discharge controller 11C that controls the discharge of the nozzle, a Z-axis correction plate 11Z that holds the nozzle holder 11K and has an adjustment mounting hole (not shown) that can adjust the height in the Z direction, and the Z-axis The correction plate is fixed, and two adjustment mounting holes (not shown) provided in the head portion fixing plate 11F for fixing the head portion 11 to the head portion mounting portion 12T, the X axis, Y of the head portion 11 It comprises an XY axis correction plate 11XY on an L shape that adjusts two axes. Accordingly, each nozzle section 11a to 11d has 128 × 4 = 512 nozzle ports, and the entire apparatus has 512 × 4 = 2048 nozzle ports.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the maintenance area 50L shown in FIG. 1 and shows a portion related to nozzle replacement. In each maintenance region, an imaging unit having a CCD camera 62 equipped with a laser displacement meter 65 for measuring the height of the nozzle unit 11H in the Z-axis direction and a high-magnification lens 61 for imaging the nozzle port with a predetermined resolution. Two 60 units R and L are provided. The laser displacement meter 65 and the two imaging units 60L and 60R are movable in at least one of the X and Y axis directions so that a predetermined role can be performed directly below the nozzle unit 11H when necessary. The movement accuracy has a predetermined accuracy.

  Next, how to replace the nozzles with high reproducibility by the above-described configuration will be described. The basic idea is that, as shown in FIG. 4, the position 2 of the nozzle port after replacement is made to coincide with the position 1 before replacement. For this purpose, in the present embodiment, the same nozzle port is replaced from the bottom (FIG. 4 (a)) and after in the imaging unit 60 of the CCD camera 62 having the high magnification lens 61 shown in FIG. Images are taken in (FIG. 4 (b)), ΔX and ΔY are obtained from the deviations, and the position 2 after replacement is corrected to be the position 1 before replacement. The values of ΔX and ΔY can be obtained by conversion from the size of the imaging area of the screen. In FIG. 4A, the image is at the center of the screen, but it is not always necessary to be at the center as will be described later. In addition, the size of the nozzle opening that can be placed in the present embodiment is about 30 μm. In the following description, the position of the nozzle opening of each head portion 11H is represented by Hα-β (α: head 11α, β: position from the left in the head α).

It is difficult to perform this operation for all nozzle openings. In the present embodiment, correction is performed in units of each head _{111 to 4} . Then, a reference nozzle port is provided in a certain nozzle portion 11H, each nozzle portion 11H is corrected based on the reference nozzle port, and H1-1 is selected as the reference nozzle port. And after correcting each nozzle part 11H, it decided to adjust the whole head part 11 with the nozzle ports H1-1 and H4-128 of both ends.

  The correction flow in each block shown in FIG. 5 will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the target nozzle opening and the imaging unit 60 in each step. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a positional relationship when the nozzle portion of each block is viewed from below, and numerals 1, 65, and 128 indicate the positions of the nozzle openings of each nozzle portion 11H, and FIG. The relationship of the nozzle 11H is shown.

First, the block 10 is moved to the replacement position of the maintenance area 60RL (Step 1). In order to obtain the reproducibility of the posture of the entire head unit, as shown in FIG. 6B, the two imaging units 60L and 60R are moved to both ends of the head unit, that is, directly below the nozzle ports H1-1 and H4-128. These nozzle port images are obtained, and the nozzle port positions (X0, Y0) (X128, Y128) of H1-1, H4-128 before replacement are obtained. Then, the inclination θH of the head portion 11 is obtained by the equation (1). (Step 2).
θH = TAN ⁻¹ (X128−X0) / (Y128−Y0) (1)
Next, the used head part 11 before replacement is removed, and the new head part 11 to be replaced is fixed to the functional liquid supply head part mounting part 12T (Step 3).

  Thereafter, the laser displacement meter 65 is moved in the X-axis direction and disposed below the nozzle opening. Then, the laser displacement meter 65 is scanned in the Y-axis direction to measure the heights of the nozzle ports Hn-1 and Hn-128 (n = 1 to 4) of each head, and each nozzle portion 11A is moved to the Z-axis correction plate 11D. Is set to a predetermined height (Z-axis direction) by two adjustment mounting holes provided in the. FIG. 7 shows the result, which can be within a range of 5.3 μm to −3.8 μm with reference to the nozzle port H1-1, and can satisfy within 10 μm from the target reference position (Step 4). ).

Next, the laser displacement meter 65 is replaced, and as shown in FIG. 6 (a), the imaging units 60L and 60R are moved directly below the nozzle ports H1-1 and H1-128, respectively, and images of both are taken. Here, when the nozzle position of Hα-β is represented as (Xα-β, Yα-β), as described with reference to FIG. 4, the image position of the nozzle port H1-1 after replacement is obtained in step 1. Correction is made with an adjustment mounting hole provided in the XY axis correction plate 11XY so as to come to the previous image position and to make the head 111 parallel to the Y axis according to the following equation.
Nozzle port H1-1 X1-1 = X0
Y1-1 = Y0 (2)
Nozzle port H1-128 X1-128 = X1-1
Y1-128 = Y1-1 + NB (3)
NB: Nozzle width (see Fig. 8))
Actually, it is very difficult to match this number, and each target position is indicated by a round broken line on the screen as shown in FIG. 4 (b). Step5).

Thereafter, the imaging units 60L and 60R are moved to the nozzle openings H2-1 and H2-128, respectively, and the respective imaging is obtained, while receiving the target position on the screen in the same manner as in Step 5, the nozzle opening H2-1. Is corrected by an adjustment mounting hole provided in the XY axis correction plate 11XY so that the nozzle 112 has a predetermined interval with respect to the nozzle port H1-1 and the head 112 is parallel to the Y axis. The target position in this case is as follows (Step 6)
Nozzle port H2-1 X2-1 = X1-1
Y2-1 = Y0 + HB (4)
Nozzle port H2-128 X2-128 = X1-1
Y2-128 = Y1-1 + HB + NB (5)
Where HB: H2-1 interval from H1-1 (see Fig. 8))
The operation of Step 6 is performed on the heads 11 ₃ and 11 ₄ (Step 7).
Finally, the head rotating unit 12H is controlled and corrected so that the inclination of the nozzle opening of the head unit 11a after replacement is θ (Step 8).

  As an example of the result of the above correction, as shown in the table of FIG. 8, the range of 8.45 μm to −4.66 μm in the X-axis direction and 2.33 μm to It was within the range of −7.57 μm, and the target ± 10 μm could be satisfied.

  By performing the correction flow shown in FIG. 6 described above for each block, the entire coating apparatus can be adjusted.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide a functional liquid supply head replacement apparatus and replacement method and functional liquid supply coating apparatus that are substantially the same as before replacement, that is, have good reproducibility.
In addition, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide a functional liquid supply head replacement device and replacement method, and a functional liquid supply coating device that can correct the landing position by providing a simple adjustment mounting hole.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a functional liquid supply head replacement device and replacement method, and a functional liquid supply and application device that can correct the landing position with an inexpensive correction mechanism without using a complicated correction mechanism. it can.

  In the above description, H1-1 is used as the reference nozzle port, but other nozzles may be selected. Further, the nozzle portion 11H may be corrected based on the reference nozzle port, and then other nozzle portions may be corrected with respect to the nozzle portion.

Further, if necessary coordination between Burroku, for example, the 11a is a correction reference of H1-1 adjust the 11 ₁ 11b to the reference, may be performed similarly thereafter.

  Finally, all the adjustments after replacement are performed in the maintenance area. However, in the correction flow of FIG. 5, Steps 1 to 3 and 8 are performed in the maintenance area, and Steps 4 to 7 are performed in the correction apparatus provided in another area. Good. By doing so, the total replacement time can be shortened.

  In the above embodiment, the correction is performed by imaging the nozzle opening. However, for example, by providing a plurality of reference marks on the head and imaging the reference marks, the correction is performed using the same apparatus or procedure as in the above embodiments. Also good.

  Although the above description has focused on applying spacer particles to the black matrix on the liquid crystal substrate, the present invention can also be applied to apparatuses that apply other materials such as ink.

It is an external view which shows embodiment of this invention as a coating device which apply | coats spacer particle dispersion liquid as a functional liquid to the black matrix of a liquid crystal substrate. The structure of the head part 11 and the head block rotation part 12 in the block 10 shown in FIG. 1 is shown. It is the schematic side view of the maintenance area | region shown in FIG. 1, and is the figure which showed the part relevant to nozzle replacement | exchange. The figure which shows the fundamental view of the correction | amendment in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the correction | amendment flow in embodiment of this invention. (a) It is a figure which shows the relationship of the two imaging parts at the time of nozzle part correction | amendment. (b) It is a figure which shows the relationship between the two imaging parts at the time of measuring the inclination of a head part at the time of head part correction | amendment. 2 is a diagram showing a positional relationship of nozzle openings in each head and a table showing an example of correction results in the Z-axis direction. 5 is a diagram showing the dimensions and positional relationship of each head in the head part, and a table showing examples of correction results of the X axis and the Y axis.

Explanation of symbols

1: Nozzle port position before replacement 2: Nozzle port position after replacement 10: Block (functional liquid supply block) 11: Head section (functional liquid supply block head section)
11 _1-4 : Each head in a head part (functional liquid supply head)
11C: Discharge control unit 11H: Nozzle unit 11K: Nozzle holding unit 11F: Head unit fixing plate 11XY: XY axis correction plate 11Z: Z axis correction plate 12: Head block rotation unit 12H: Head unit rotation unit 12T: Head unit mounting unit 13: Functional liquid supply tank 20: Machine base 30: Gantry 40: Placement table 50: Maintenance area 60: Imaging unit 61: High magnification lens 62: CCD camera 100: Coating device Subscripts 1-4: Each head in the head unit Position Subscripts a to d: Block position R: Right side L: Left side.

Claims (18)

In a coating apparatus having a head having a plurality of nozzles for applying a functional liquid to a processing substrate,
Means for imaging a specific part of the head, and means for correcting a positional deviation between the two parts based on an imaging result of the specific part of the head after replacement and the specific part of the head before replacement. An applicator characterized by.   The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specific portion is a discharge port of the specific nozzle.   The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specific location is a plurality of marks provided on the head.   The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the imaging unit includes a high-power lens and a camera that captures an image of the specific portion with a necessary resolution.   The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the heads are provided, and a position of another head is adjusted based on the head in which the positional deviation is corrected.   There are a plurality of specific locations of the head after replacement and a plurality of specific locations of the head before replacement, and the overall posture of the plurality of heads after replacement is adjusted based on the imaging results of the plurality of specific locations. The coating apparatus according to claim 5.   7. The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the functional liquid is a spacer particle dispersion liquid dispersed in a black matrix of a liquid crystal substrate. In the functional liquid supply head exchange device that adjusts the functional liquid supply head section having a nozzle section that includes a plurality of nozzles that apply the functional liquid to the processing substrate.
Means for imaging a plurality of specific locations provided in the nozzle section and arranged in a straight line in the nozzle arrangement direction, and means for adjusting the attitude of the nozzle section based on the result of the imaging means; A functional liquid supply head exchange device characterized by the above.   The functional liquid supply head replacement device according to claim 8, wherein the specific portion is a discharge port of the specific nozzle.   The functional liquid supply head replacement device according to claim 8, wherein the specific location is a mark provided on the nozzle portion.   9. The functional liquid supply head replacement apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the imaging unit includes an imaging unit including a high-power lens that captures an image of the specific portion with a necessary resolution and a camera.   The functional liquid supply head replacement apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the imaging unit includes a unit that moves the imaging unit in the arrangement direction. In a functional liquid supply head replacement method for replacing a head having a plurality of nozzles for applying a functional liquid to a processing substrate,
A step of imaging a specific portion of the head, and a step of correcting a positional shift between the two portions based on the imaging result of the specific portion of the head after replacement and the specific portion of the nozzle part before replacement. A method of replacing a functional liquid supply head, comprising:   The functional liquid supply head replacement method according to claim 13, wherein the specific portion is a discharge port of the specific nozzle.   The functional liquid supply head replacement method according to claim 13, wherein the specific location is a plurality of marks provided in the nozzle portion.   14. The functional liquid supply head replacement method according to claim 13, wherein the functional liquid is a spacer particle dispersion liquid dispersed in a black matrix of a liquid crystal substrate.   The functional liquid supply head replacement method according to claim 13, further comprising a step of adjusting a position of another head based on a head having a plurality of the heads and correcting the positional deviation.   A step of adjusting the overall posture of the plurality of heads after replacement based on the imaging results of the plurality of specific locations, each of the specific location of the head after replacement and the specific location of the head before replacement being plural. 18. The method for replacing a functional liquid supply head according to claim 17, further comprising:

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