JP2010135511A - Pattern-formed substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pattern-formed substrate in which a droplet can be applied to a target region and an increase in wiring resistance can be suppressed as much as possible. <P>SOLUTION: The pattern-formed substrate 1b has a predetermined pattern formed by ejecting the droplet, and includes a first region 2 having a first contact angle as a contact angle when the droplet comes into contact, a second region 3 having a second contact angle as a contact angle when the droplet comes into contact and enclosed with the first region 2, and a third region 6 having a third contact angle as a contact angle when the droplet comes into contact and enclosed with the second region 3, the second contact angle being smaller than the first contact angle and third contact angle. The third region 6, a coating region 4 where the droplet is ejected in the second region 3, and a non-coating region 5 where the droplet is not ejected are formed adjacently to one another. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a pattern forming substrate.

  Conventionally, for example, a photolithography method is used to form a conductive film wiring used for an electronic circuit or an integrated circuit. In this photolithography method, a photosensitive material called a resist is applied to a uniform conductive film formed on a substrate in advance by sputtering, a circuit pattern is irradiated and developed, and etching is performed according to the resist pattern. Is a method of forming a wiring pattern of a conductive film. This photolithography method requires large-scale equipment such as a vacuum apparatus and a complicated process, and the efficiency of using the material is about several percent, so that most of the material has to be discarded, and the manufacturing cost is high.

  On the other hand, a method of forming a wiring pattern on a substrate by using a droplet discharge method in which a functional liquid, which is a liquid material, is discharged in the form of droplets using an inkjet device, a so-called inkjet method has been proposed. In this method, a wiring pattern ink, which is a functional liquid in which conductive fine particles such as metal fine particles are dispersed, is directly arranged on a substrate, and then converted into a thin film conductive pattern by heat treatment or laser irradiation. According to this method, there is an advantage that photolithography is not required, the process is greatly simplified, and the amount of raw materials used is small.

  As a method using the inkjet method, for example, a method disclosed in Patent Document 1 can be given. According to this method, it is possible to form a pattern having a desired characteristic by preventing the droplet from adhering to a region where the droplet should not adhere.

  By the way, in recent years, with an increase in the size of a display device such as a liquid crystal television, wirings connecting a driving circuit and a TFT (thin film transistor) in a pixel region tend to be long. The extension of the wiring is accompanied by an increase in wiring resistance, which causes a problem that the driving waveform becomes dull. For example, a pixel located far from the driving circuit has a longer wiring than a pixel located near, and thus has an increased wiring resistance. For this reason, a desired luminance cannot be obtained in a pixel having a dull driving waveform and being far from the driving circuit.

  Further, in recent display devices, the number of frames is increasing in order to smoothly represent the movement of an image. However, as described above, there is a problem that a sufficient drive waveform cannot be obtained within one frame due to the dull drive waveform. Such dullness of the driving waveform is caused by an increase in the wiring resistance accompanying the extension of the wiring, and therefore it is important to reduce the wiring resistance. In order to reduce the wiring resistance, it is necessary to form a film pattern having high purity and capable of forming a thick wiring.

  In the method of reducing the wiring resistance (R = ρ · L / S (R: resistance, ρ: specific resistance, L: wiring length, S: wiring cross-sectional area) and R: reducing the resistance value) Examples thereof include a method of changing to a material having a small resistance (ρ: reducing the value of specific resistance) and a method of forming a thick film with a lot of wiring materials (S: increasing the value of the cross-sectional area).

First, when replacing an existing wiring material with a material having a low resistance, for example, when Al (specific resistance: 2.5 × 10 ⁻⁸ ) is replaced with Cu (specific resistance: 1.55 × 10 ⁻⁸ ), the same amount of wiring material is used. The resistance value can be reduced by 40% compared to when it is used. However, it is not easy to change the wiring material, and in an actual production line, it is necessary to change the members significantly, such as changing the sputtering apparatus or changing the chemical solution during etching, and it is very difficult to introduce.

  Next, when reducing the wiring resistance, a method using an inkjet method or the like can be cited as a method for reducing the wiring resistance by stacking a large amount of wiring material and increasing its cross-sectional area. According to this method, since the cross-sectional area of the wiring material can be increased by further forming a pattern on the existing wiring pattern formed on the substrate, the wiring resistance can be lowered relatively easily. .

Furthermore, as a material that can be used when stacked on an existing wiring pattern, for example, Ag (1.47 × 10 ⁻⁸ ) having a small specific resistance can be used, thereby reducing the wiring resistance.
JP 2004-95896 (published March 25, 2004)

  However, the conventional pattern forming method has a problem that the droplets that have landed on the substrate spread too much.

  More specifically, when a pattern is formed on an existing wiring pattern using an ink jet method, fluid ink (droplet) containing wiring material is ejected and landed on the existing wiring pattern on the substrate. To form a wiring pattern. As described above, when droplets are ejected and landed on the substrate, the landed droplets may spread too much due to the characteristics of the substrate surface, which causes a problem that a desired wiring pattern cannot be obtained.

  Further, in the case where a target for ejecting ink is a TFT substrate constituting a liquid crystal television, thin film transistors (TFTs) of the same number as the number of pixels are arranged in a matrix. Also, gate lines of scanning lines and source lines of signal lines are arranged and connected to the TFTs, respectively.

  It is necessary to reduce the capacitance at the portion where the gate line and the source line intersect (non-application region). That is, it is required to perform a process that does not stack droplets only in the non-application area. In the equation represented by C = ε · S / d (C: capacitance, ε: dielectric constant, S: area, d: gap), the value of C decreases as the value of d increases. Since an insulator is disposed between the gate line and the source line, and it is preferable to increase the thickness d of the insulator, the thickness of the gate wiring is reduced at the portion where the gate line and the source line intersect. It is desirable to do. Even when the droplets are not directly stacked on the non-application region, the droplets that have landed on the application region may spread too much, and the droplets may flow into the non-application region.

  In order to prevent the droplets from flowing into the non-application region as described above, when the method of Patent Document 1 is used, for example, when a lyophilic pattern is formed in a glass substrate coated with a liquid repellent material, Droplets that have landed on the pattern spread on the lyophilic pattern, but by setting the width of a part of the lyophilic pattern to a specified width or less, the liquid droplets will not enter the lyophilic part that is less than the pattern width. Since it does not spread, the liquid flow can be stopped. Thus, by controlling the pattern width of the lyophilic pattern on the pattern, it is possible to apply the droplets so that the droplets are spread in the application region and are not spread in the non-application region.

  However, according to the method of Patent Document 1, for a wiring pattern formed on a substrate, a droplet does not flow into a region where it is not desired to apply a droplet by partially reducing the line width in the wiring pattern. Even if it can be prevented, it is necessary to reduce the line width of the wiring pattern itself, which raises a problem that the wiring resistance as a whole increases. As a result, the resistance value is significantly increased by the ink drop pattern of the droplets, and thus the wiring resistance, which is the original purpose, cannot be reduced.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and its purpose is to form a pattern that can apply a droplet to a target region and suppress an increase in wiring resistance as much as possible. It is to provide a substrate.

  In order to solve the above problems, the pattern formation substrate according to the present invention has a contact angle when the droplet contacts with the pattern formation substrate on which a predetermined pattern is formed by discharging the droplet. A first contact area having a first contact angle, and a second contact angle when the droplet contacts, and a second region surrounded by the first region and the droplet contact The third contact angle is a third contact angle and the third region is surrounded by the second region, and the second contact angle is smaller than the first contact angle and the third contact angle. In addition, the application region in which droplets are discharged in the second region and the non-application region in which droplets are not discharged in the second region are formed adjacent to each other.

  According to the above invention, the first and third regions have more liquid repellency than the second region because of the contact angle of the first to third regions with respect to the droplet. . For this reason, when a droplet is ejected to the application region, which is the second region, the droplet easily spreads to the second region, and the spread of the droplet is stopped to the first region due to the contact angle. On the other hand, the application region, the non-application region, and the third region are adjacent to each other, and the spread of the droplets that are to spread from the application region is stopped by the difference in the contact angle between the application region and the third region.

  Moreover, since it is not necessary to narrow the width of the application region, it is possible to suppress an increase in wiring resistance as much as possible.

  Moreover, in the pattern formation board | substrate which concerns on this invention, it is preferable that the said 2nd area | region is formed with the electroconductive material.

  Thereby, the pattern formation board | substrate which can suppress the wiring resistance of the conductive pattern formed can be provided.

  In the pattern forming substrate according to the present invention, the third contact angle is preferably greater than or equal to the first contact angle.

  This makes it easier for the droplets to move from the third region to the application region than to move from the first region to the application region, thereby further suppressing the droplets from moving to the non-application region by the third region. Can do.

  In the pattern formation substrate according to the present invention, the first region is formed by forming a liquid repellent film on the glass substrate, and the second region is formed by a conductive wiring pattern including a conductive material, The third region is preferably formed by a hollow pattern in which a liquid repellent film is formed on a glass substrate.

  If it is said pattern formation board | substrate, a conductive film can be formed by discharging a droplet on a conductive wiring pattern, and the cross-sectional area of a conductive part can be increased. For this reason, the pattern formation board | substrate which can make wiring resistance of the wiring pattern formed further smaller can be provided.

  It is preferable that the conductive wiring pattern is formed with a lyophilic film having conductivity and a new liquid property with respect to the droplet.

  Thereby, it is possible to provide a pattern forming substrate in which droplets are more likely to spread in the application region.

  Moreover, in the pattern formation board which concerns on this invention, the shape of the said conductive wiring pattern is linear, The said application area | region and a non-application area | region are alternately formed in the length direction of the said conductive wiring pattern. Is preferred.

  Thereby, for example, a pattern can be formed in which droplets are not applied to the location where the source line and the gate line intersect when forming the TFT source line and gate line.

  Moreover, in the pattern formation board | substrate which concerns on this invention, it is preferable that the said conductive wiring pattern is linear and the width | variety of the said hollow pattern is smaller than the width | variety of a conductive wiring pattern.

  Thus, by setting the cut pattern width to be smaller than the width of the conductive wiring pattern, a wiring pattern narrower than the conductive wiring width can be formed. Thereby, the conductive wiring pattern connected as a whole can be formed.

  Moreover, in the pattern formation board | substrate which concerns on this invention, the said conductive wiring pattern is linear, The said hollow pattern is arrange | positioned in the position which equally divides the length of the width direction of the said conductive wiring pattern. preferable.

  In this case, since the cut pattern on the conductive wiring pattern is formed at a position that equally divides the width direction of the conductive wiring pattern, the area of the cut pattern can be minimized.

  Further, in the pattern forming substrate according to the present invention, the conductive wiring pattern is linear, a plurality of the hollow patterns are formed in the width direction of the conductive wiring pattern, and the hollow pattern is It is preferable that the conductive wiring patterns are arranged at equal intervals in the width direction.

  As a result, it is possible to provide a pattern formation substrate that can keep the area of the cutout pattern very low and low.

  As described above, in the pattern formation substrate of the present invention, in the pattern formation substrate on which a predetermined pattern is formed by discharging droplets, the contact angle when the droplets contact is the first contact angle. The contact angle when the droplet contacts the first region is the second contact angle, and the contact angle when the droplet contacts the second region surrounded by the first region is the first contact angle. A third region surrounded by the second region, the second contact angle being smaller than the first contact angle and the third contact angle, the third region, and the third region The application area where droplets are discharged in the two areas and the non-application area where no droplets are discharged in the second area are formed adjacent to each other.

  Therefore, when a droplet is ejected to the application region, which is the second region, the droplet easily spreads to the second region, and the spread of the droplet is stopped to the first region due to the contact angle. On the other hand, the application region, the non-application region, and the third region are adjacent to each other, and the spread of the droplets that are to spread from the application region is stopped by the difference in the contact angle between the application region and the third region. In addition, since it is not necessary to reduce the width of the application region, an increase in wiring resistance can be suppressed as much as possible.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 as follows.

(Pattern forming substrate)
First, the pattern forming substrate according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a pattern forming substrate 1 according to the present embodiment. The pattern forming substrate 1 can be used for forming conductive film wirings used in electronic circuits, integrated circuits, and the like.

  As shown in the figure, in the pattern forming substrate 1, a first region 2 having a contact angle θ1 and a second region 3 having a contact angle θ2 are formed on a glass substrate. The second area 3 is an area indicated by a broken line, and is an area excluding the third area 6. Furthermore, a third region 6 having a contact angle θ3 is formed so as to be surrounded by the second region 3.

  A droplet is discharged to the pattern forming substrate 1 because a predetermined pattern such as a wiring pattern is formed. This droplet is a fluid ink containing a wiring material, and a known material can be used. For example, an ink in which metal nanoparticles are dispersed in an organic solvent can be used. Since the coating film 7 is formed, the droplets are ejected to the coating region 4.

  The droplets are made of a dispersion liquid in which conductive fine particles are dispersed in a dispersion medium. Examples of the conductive fine particles include metal fine particles containing at least one of gold, silver, copper, palladium, and nickel, oxides of the metal fine particles, conductive polymers, and superconductor fine particles. Can be mentioned. As an example, an ink material in which Ag particles are dispersed is used for the droplets on the pattern forming substrate 1.

  As the metal fine particles, metal nanoparticles having a small particle diameter are preferably used. The particle diameter of the metal nanoparticles is preferably 1 nm or more and 0.1 μm or less. When the particle diameter is larger than 0.1 μm, there is a possibility that clogging may occur in the discharge nozzle of the inkjet head described later. On the other hand, if it is smaller than 1 nm, the volume ratio of the coating agent to the conductive fine particles becomes large, and the ratio of the organic matter in the obtained film becomes excessive.

  The dispersion medium is not particularly limited as long as it can disperse the conductive fine particles and does not cause aggregation. For example, in addition to water, an organic solvent can be used. For example, alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, n-heptane, n-octane, decane, dodecane, tetradecane, toluene, xylene, cymene, durene, indene, dipentene, tetrahydronaphthalene, decahydronaphthalene, cyclohexylbenzene, etc. Hydrocarbon compounds of, and ethylene glycol dimethyl ether, ethylene glycol diethyl ether, ethylene glycol methyl ethyl ether, diethylene glycol dimethyl ether, diethylene glycol diethyl ether, diethylene glycol methyl ethyl ether, 1,2-dimethoxyethane, bis (2-methoxyethyl) ether, Ether compounds such as p-dioxane, propylene carbonate, γ-butyrolac Emissions, N- methyl-2-pyrrolidone, dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, can be exemplified polar compounds such as cyclohexanone. Of these, water, alcohols, hydrocarbon compounds, and ether compounds are preferred from the viewpoints of fine particle dispersibility, dispersion stability, and ease of application to the inkjet method, and more preferred dispersion media , Water, and hydrocarbon compounds.

  The viscosity of the dispersion is preferably 1 mPa · s to 50 mPa · s. When discharging the functional liquid as droplets using the inkjet method, if the viscosity is less than 1 mPa · s, the periphery of the discharge nozzle is easily contaminated by the outflow of ink, and if the viscosity is greater than 50 mPa · s, the discharge is performed. The frequency of clogging at the nozzle holes increases, and it becomes difficult to smoothly discharge droplets.

  The first region 2 is a liquid repellent region having liquid repellency with respect to the droplet. That is, the wettability with the droplet is low. For example, the liquid repellency means that the contact angle with respect to a droplet is 20 ° or more, preferably 30 ° or more. As a substrate material for forming the first region 2, a glass substrate, quartz glass, plastic or the like on which a liquid repellent film is formed can be used.

  The liquid repellent film is not particularly limited as long as it has a contact angle described later. As a material for forming the liquid repellent film, it is possible to use a liquid repellent material that exhibits liquid repellency by causing a chemical change under the action of radiation such as light or X-ray. To preferred. In addition, the liquid repellent material is a substance having lyophilicity before exposure, and is preferably a substance that exhibits liquid repellent property upon exposure to light. When the above substances are used, the material is applied to the portion where the liquid repellent film and the lyophilic film described later are applied, and after drying, only the portion where the liquid repellent film is formed is exposed to light or X-rays. Thus, a lyophilic film can be formed and a liquid repellent film can be easily formed.

  In addition, as a material which comprises the 1st area | region 2, the liquid repellent film is not formed but the glass substrate itself may use the material which has liquid repellency.

As a method for applying the liquid repellent material on the substrate, a conventionally known method such as a spin coating method, a photolithography method, a plasma processing method using O _2, CF _4, or the like can be used.

  The second area 3 is a lyophilic area having lyophilicity with respect to the droplet. That is, the wettability with the droplet is high. For example, the lyophilic property means that the contact angle with respect to the droplet is less than 20 °, preferably 10 ° or less. The second area 3 has an application area 4 where droplets are applied and a non-application area 5 where no droplets are applied. The material forming the second region 3 is lyophilic and is not particularly limited as long as it has a contact angle described later.

  As a material constituting the second region 3, for example, a material in which the glass substrate itself is made of a lyophilic material can be used. Moreover, it is preferable that the 2nd area | region 3 is formed with the electroconductive material. As the conductive material, aluminum (Al), silver (Ag), copper (Cu), or an alloy containing these can be used. The formation width of the application region 4 and the non-application region 5 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In the case of being formed of a conductive material, it is preferable because a pattern forming substrate capable of suppressing the wiring resistance of the conductive pattern to be formed can be provided.

  In the figure, the second region 3 is formed in a single line (linear shape). However, the number of the second regions 3 is not particularly limited, and a plurality of the second regions 3 may be formed. .

  Next, the pattern formation board | substrate 1 is further demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 2 is a top view showing a region A in FIG. In the figure, for convenience of explanation, the two sets of application region 4 and non-application region 5 are referred to as application regions 4a and 4b, and the non-application region is referred to as 5a and 5b. As shown in the figure, the third region 6 which is a liquid repellent region is formed between the application regions 4a and 4b (between the application regions), and between the non-application regions 5a and 5b (non-application region). (Between application areas). In other words, it can be said that the third region 6 is formed at the boundary between the application region 4 and the non-application region 5.

  The third region 6 is arranged so that the widths of the non-application regions 5a and 5b are both equal to the line width L2, that is, the line-shaped second region 3 is equally divided into two in the width direction. By forming the third region 6 in this way, the line width of the third region 6 in which the non-application regions 5a and 5b having the line width L2 can be formed is preferable.

  In the present specification, the contact angle when the droplet contacts the first region 2 is defined as a contact angle θ1 (first contact angle). Similarly, the contact angle when the droplet contacts the second region 3 is defined as a contact angle θ2 (second contact angle), and the contact angle when the droplet contacts the third region 6 is the contact angle θ2. The contact angle is defined as θ3 (third contact angle). The contact angles θ <b> 1 to θ <b> 3 vary depending on the type of droplet used and the material on the pattern formation substrate 1 corresponding to the first region 2, the second region 3, and the third region 6.

  Since the first region 2 and the third region 6 are liquid-repellent regions and the second region 3 is a lyophilic region, the contact angle θ1 and the contact angle θ3 are larger than the contact angle θ2. . That is, the relationship of contact angle θ1> θ2 and θ3> θ2 is satisfied.

  Since the pattern forming substrate 1 has the above-described configuration, the first region 2 and the third region 6 have the following relationship with respect to the droplets discharged to the application region 4 because of the contact angle between the first region to the third region. Compared to the second region 3, it has more liquid repellency. For this reason, when a droplet is ejected to the application region 4, the droplet easily spreads to the application region 4 and the first region 2 is prevented from spreading due to the contact angle. On the other hand, the coating region 4, the non-coating region 5 and the third region 6 are adjacent to each other, and the droplets that are about to spread from the coating region 4 are caused by the difference in contact angle between the coating region 4 and the third region 6. The spread is stopped. Moreover, since it is not necessary to reduce the width of the coating region 4, an increase in wiring resistance can be suppressed as much as possible.

  Furthermore, when the relationship of contact angle θ3 ≧ contact angle θ1 is satisfied, the droplets are more likely to move from the third region 6 to the application region 4 than to move from the first region 2 to the application region 4. The region 6 can further suppress the movement of the droplet to the non-application region 5.

  Further, if the line width of the coating region 4 is the line width L1, and the line width of the non-coating region 5 branched into two by the third region 6 is the line width L2, the width L2 is sufficiently narrower than the line width L1. That is, the portion where the application region 4 and the non-application region 5 are in contact is sufficiently narrow. As described above, since the line width L1 is large, the droplets spread, so that the required energy is small. On the other hand, since the line of the line width L2 portion is thin, very large energy is required for the droplet to spread to the non-application area 5. Moreover, the 1st area | region 2 and the 3rd area | region 6 which are liquid repellent areas are formed, and a droplet does not spread to these liquid repellent areas.

  For this reason, the liquid droplets that have landed on the application region 4 spread uniformly in the application region 4, but since the line in the line width L <b> 2 portion is thin, it is possible to suppress the liquid droplets from spreading to the non-application region 5.

  Therefore, when the third region 6 having the contact angle θ3 of the same degree (or more) as the contact angle θ1 of the first region 2 is formed in the second region 3 and further droplets are to be applied, the application region 4a 4b and a wide line width L1 of 4b, and a narrow line width L2 of the non-application areas 5a and 5b where it is not desired to apply the liquid droplets, more precisely applying the liquid droplets only to the desired application area 4. can do. Further, it is not necessary to narrow the width of the application region 4, and an increase in wiring resistance can be suppressed as much as possible.

  The line width L1 and the line width L2 are difficult to define unambiguously because the appropriate width differs depending on the type of droplet used. For example, the line width L1 is 40 μm or more, and the line width L2 is It can be less than 25 μm.

  In FIG. 2, one third region 6 is formed in the direction of the line width L2 (the width direction of the second region 3), but a plurality of the third regions 6 may be formed. Good. When two third regions are formed in the width direction of the second region 3, three non-application regions 5 are formed.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the pattern forming substrate 1a. Unlike the pattern formation substrate 1, a conductive wiring pattern 8 is formed on the first region 2 in the pattern formation substrate 1 a. On the conductive wiring pattern 8, a second region 3 (application region 4 and non-application region 5), a hollow pattern (third region) 9 and a conductive film 10 are formed.

  Although the conductive wiring pattern 8 is formed of aluminum, a material capable of forming a conductive wiring pattern can be used, and silver (Ag), copper (Cu), or an alloy containing these can be used. it can.

  The cut-out pattern 9 is obtained by forming a liquid repellent film on a glass substrate. As a method of forming the hollow pattern 9, for example, a method of forming a liquid repellent film by applying a liquid repellent material to a portion of the conductive wiring pattern 8 where a conductive pattern is not formed. Is mentioned.

  The conductive wiring pattern 8 is formed on the pattern formation substrate 1a and is surrounded by the first region 2 on the pattern formation substrate 1a. Note that a liquid repellent film is formed in the first region 2. A lyophilic film is formed on the conductive wiring pattern 8. By forming the lyophilic film in this way, it is possible to provide a pattern forming substrate in which droplets are more likely to spread in the application region.

The lyophilic material for constituting the lyophilic film is not particularly limited as long as it can provide a pattern-formed substrate in which droplets can easily spread in the application region. The lyophilic material is applied onto a substrate using a conventionally known method such as a spin coating method, a photolithography method, a plasma processing method using O _2, CF _{4, and the} like, and then dried to obtain a lyophilic material. A film can be formed.

  On the conductive wiring pattern 8, an application region 4 for applying droplets and a non-application region 5 for applying no droplets are formed. When a conductive droplet (ink) is landed on the conductive wiring pattern 8, the droplet spreads only in the coating region 4, and the conductive film 10 can be formed on the conductive wiring pattern 8.

  Thus, by forming the conductive film 10 on the conductive wiring pattern 8, the cross-sectional area of the conductive portion can be increased, and an electronic circuit with reduced wiring resistance is formed on the pattern formation substrate 1a. It is possible to form the conductive film 10 only in the desired application region 4.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the cut pattern 9 on the conductive wiring pattern 8 is preferably formed at a position that equally divides the width direction of the conductive wiring pattern 8. As a result, the area of the cut pattern can be minimized. In other words, it is possible to provide a pattern formation substrate that can suppress an increase in wiring resistance as much as possible and apply droplets only to a desired region.

  Further, in the pattern forming substrate 1a of FIG. 3, the conductive wiring pattern 8 is formed in one line, but it goes without saying that a plurality of conductive wiring patterns 8 may be formed. It is preferable that a plurality of cutout patterns 9 are formed at equal intervals in the width direction of the conductive wiring pattern 8. As a result, the total area of the cut pattern 9 can be minimized.

  Moreover, in the pattern formation board | substrates 1 * 1a shown in FIGS. 1-3, the application | coating area | region 4 and the non-application | coating area | region 5 are alternately arrange | positioned continuously. For this reason, for example, it is possible to form a pattern in which droplets are not applied to the locations where the source line and the gate line intersect when forming the source line and gate line of the TFT. Therefore, when forming a conductive film on the wiring pattern of the gate line, a broken line pattern can be formed.

  The width of the cut pattern 9 is set to be smaller than the width of the conductive wiring pattern 8. Thus, by setting the width of the hollow pattern 9 to be smaller than the width of the conductive wiring pattern 8, a wiring pattern narrower than the width of the conductive wiring pattern 8 can be formed. Thereby, the conductive wiring pattern connected as a whole can be formed.

(Pattern forming device)
Next, a pattern forming apparatus capable of forming a wiring pattern on the pattern forming substrate according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the pattern forming apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, the pattern forming apparatus 20 includes a stage 11 on which the pattern forming substrate 1 is placed. On this stage 11, an inkjet head 12 as droplet ejection means for ejecting fluid ink (droplets) containing a wiring material onto the pattern forming substrate 1, and y for moving the inkjet head 12 in the y direction A direction driving unit 13 and an x direction driving unit 14 for moving in the x direction are provided.

  Further, the pattern forming apparatus 20 includes a droplet supply system 15 for supplying droplets to the inkjet head 12 and a liquid pipe 17, ejection control for the inkjet head 12, and drive control for the y-direction drive unit 13 and the x-direction drive unit 14. And a device control unit 16 for performing various controls such as the above.

  A liquid pipe 17 is provided between the inkjet head 12 and the droplet supply system 15, and droplet supply control to the inkjet head 12 is performed by the droplet supply system 15.

  A signal cable (not shown) is provided between the inkjet head 12, the y-direction drive unit 13 and the x-direction drive unit 14, and the device control unit 16. Droplet discharge control and drive control of the y-direction drive unit 13 and the x-direction drive unit 14 are performed.

  In other words, wiring pattern information (application position information) is transferred from the apparatus control unit 16 to the pattern forming substrate 1 to the driver (not shown) of the inkjet head 12 in conjunction with the y-direction drive unit 13 and the x-direction drive unit 14. Is input, and a target amount of droplets is supplied to the target position. As a result, it is possible to drop droplets on the entire area of the pattern forming substrate 1.

  As the inkjet head 12, a piezoelectric element that deforms when a voltage is applied is used, and a piezo-type inkjet head that ejects liquid (droplet) from a nozzle by instantaneously increasing the fluid pressure in the ink chamber, or inkjet A thermal ink jet head that generates bubbles in the liquid by a heater attached to the head and pushes out the liquid can be used.

  According to the pattern forming apparatus 20 described above, the conductive film wiring can be formed on the pattern forming substrate 1, but of course, the conductive film wiring is not limited to the pattern forming substrate 1, and the conductive film wiring is not limited to the pattern forming substrate 1. It is possible to form a film wiring.

  In each embodiment, the ink jet method is used as the droplet applying means, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be applied by discharging droplets by a dispenser method or the like. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope shown in the claims, and the technical means disclosed in different embodiments can be appropriately combined. Such embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  An experiment for confirming the effect of the patterned substrate according to the present embodiment was conducted. When droplets were landed on the wiring patterns in the patterns shown in FIGS. 5 to 8, it was confirmed whether the droplets spread only in the application region 4 and did not spread in the non-application region 5.

[Production Example 1]
First, the manufacturing method of the pattern formation board | substrate concerning this invention is demonstrated. In addition, when manufacturing the pattern formation board | substrate 100 in the comparative example 1 mentioned later, although the formation patterns of the non-application | coating area | region 5 etc. differ, the manufacturing method is fundamentally the same.

  FIG. 5 is a top view showing a wiring pattern of the pattern forming substrate 1b according to the present invention. The pattern formation board | substrate 1b was produced with the following method. First, the conductive wiring pattern 8 was formed on the glass substrate of the pattern forming substrate 1b by sequentially performing vacuum film formation, photolithography, etching, and resist stripping steps.

  The patterns of the first region 2 and the cut-out pattern 9 which are ink retaining patterns are formed in advance on the mask pattern. The material of the conductive wiring pattern 8 was an Al alloy. The wiring pattern on the glass substrate needs to be subjected to lyophilic treatment, and other portions on the glass substrate need to be subjected to lyophobic treatment. An example of the forming method is shown below.

  First, a material repellent by photosensitivity and a material exhibiting liquid repellency was applied on a glass substrate by a spin coat method and then dried. The above materials are substances that are lyophilic before exposure. In addition, this material is a substance that exhibits liquid repellency by undergoing a chemical change under the action of radiation such as light or X-rays.

  Next, the said material was exposed by irradiating a 254 nm ultraviolet-ray from the back surface of a glass substrate using an ultra-low pressure mercury lamp.

  The reason for performing such an operation is that the above material is lyophilic before exposure, so that when light is applied from the back surface of the glass substrate, only the glass is exposed to change to liquid repellency, and light is changed. This is because the material on the wiring pattern that is not exposed to the light is not exposed to light and can form a lyophilic film. Further, the wiring pattern is not arranged in the portion where the cut pattern 9 formed on the mask pattern is formed, and the liquid repellent film is formed by transmitting the light in the same manner as described above.

The pattern forming method of the lyophilic film and the lyophobic film is not limited to this, and for example, the lyophilic glass itself may be patterned with photolithography or the like. Further, plasma treatment may be performed using O ₂ and CF ₄ .

[Comparative Example 1]
First, in order to make a comparison with the pattern formation substrate according to the present invention, three patterns of pattern formation substrate 100 were produced according to Production Example 1. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a wiring pattern of the pattern forming substrate 100. A conductive wiring pattern 8 is formed on the pattern forming substrate 100, and the conductive wiring pattern 8 is divided into a coating region 4 and a non-coating region 5. The first region 2 on the pattern formation substrate 100 is a liquid repellent region where a liquid repellent film is formed. A lyophilic film is formed on the conductive wiring pattern 8 and becomes a lyophilic region. ing. Note that the third region (cutout pattern) is not formed.

  The non-application area 5 has a pattern narrower than the width of the application area 4 so that the liquid droplets do not flow when the liquid droplets land on the application area 4. The length a1 of the application region 4 is 80 μm, and the length a2 of the non-application region 5 is 40 μm. In addition, three patterns having a line width L1 of the conductive wiring pattern 8 of 80 μm and a line width L2 of the thin line pattern of (1) 15 μm, (2) 20 μm, and (3) 25 μm were produced.

  As droplets used for forming the wiring pattern, ink in which metal nanoparticles are dispersed in an organic solvent was used. In addition to the metal nanoparticles, this ink contains a dispersant for dispersing the metal nanoparticles, and the solid content concentration of the metal nanoparticles and the dispersant is approximately 10 vol%.

  In the pattern forming substrate 100 formed in this way, the contact angle with respect to ink is 5 ° in the coated region 4 and the non-coated region 5 on the wiring pattern, and in the first region 2 that is a liquid repellent film formed on the glass. It was 30 °.

  Ink was ejected to the pattern forming substrate 100 of these three patterns using the pattern forming apparatus 20 of FIG. The ink ejected from the inkjet head 12 was a droplet having a droplet diameter of 20 μm and an ejection volume of approximately 4 pL. Eight drops of ink were ejected into the coating area 4. The obtained results are shown in Table 1.

  As shown in Table 1, the result was that the flow of ink could be stopped before the pattern for the fine line patterns of 15 μm and 20 μm. However, for the 25 μm fine line pattern, ink could not be retained and flowed into the fine line pattern (non-ejection region 5). From the above results, it was confirmed that ink did not flow into a thin wiring pattern of 20 μm or less.

[Example 1]
A patterned substrate 1b was produced according to Production Example 1. A conductive wiring pattern 8 is formed on the pattern forming substrate 1b, and the conductive wiring pattern 8 is divided into a coating region 4 and a non-coating region 5. The non-application area 5 has a pattern narrower than the width of the application area 4 so that the liquid droplets do not flow when the liquid droplets land on the application area 4. Further, on the pattern forming substrate 1b, the first region 2 to which the liquid repellent material is applied and the cut pattern 9 are formed. A lyophilic film is formed on the conductive wiring pattern 8 and is a second region having lyophilicity with respect to the droplet.

  Further, a cut pattern 9 is formed on the conductive wiring pattern 8 at regular intervals in the length direction. The cut pattern 9 is formed at the boundary between the application region 4 and the non-application region 5. A liquid repellent film is formed in the first region 2 on the pattern formation substrate 1b, and has liquid repellency with respect to the droplets. Further, a lyophilic film is formed on the conductive wiring pattern 8 and is lyophilic with respect to the droplet. Further, a liquid repellent film is formed on the cut pattern 9 in the same manner as the first region 2 on the glass substrate, and is liquid repellent with respect to the droplets.

  The size of the cut pattern 9 on the conductive wiring pattern 8 is X in the vertical direction (width direction of the conductive wiring pattern 8) and Y in the horizontal direction (length direction of the conductive wiring pattern 8).

  In the wiring pattern, the length a1 of the application region 4 is 80 μm, and the length a2 of the non-application region 5 is 40 μm. The line width L1 of the conductive wiring pattern 8 is 80 μm, and the horizontal length Y of the cut pattern 9 is 40 μm. In this pattern forming substrate 1b, (1) the line width L2 branched into two is 15 μm, the vertical length X of the hollow pattern 9 is 50 μm, (2) the line width L2 is 20 μm, the vertical length X of the hollow pattern 9 is 40 μm, (3) Three patterns having a line width L2 of 25 μm and a vertical length X of the cut pattern 9 of 30 μm were formed.

  In the pattern forming substrate 1b thus formed, the contact angle with respect to the ink is 5 ° in the coated region 4 and the non-coated region 5 on the wiring pattern, and the first region 2 that is a liquid repellent film formed on the glass and In the hollow pattern 9, it was 30 °.

  Ink was ejected to the three-pattern pattern forming substrate 1b using the pattern forming apparatus 20 of FIG. The ink ejected from the inkjet head 12 was a droplet having a droplet diameter of 20 μm and an ejection volume of approximately 4 pL. Eight drops of ink were ejected into the coating area 4. The obtained results are shown in Table 2.

  As shown in Table 2, the ink flow could be stopped before the cut-out pattern 9 on the pattern wiring board having the cut-out pattern 9 of 40 μm and 50 μm. However, with the 30 μm cut pattern 9, the ink could not be retained and flowed into the non-application area 5.

  Further, as compared with the pattern formation substrate 100 of Comparative Example 1, the surface area of the wiring pattern can be increased by about 12%, and the wiring resistance can also be reduced by 12%.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform coating on a region to be coated and to suppress an increase in wiring resistance.

[Example 2]
A patterned substrate 1c, which is an application example of the present invention, was produced according to Production Example 1. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a wiring pattern of the pattern forming substrate 1c. Like the pattern forming substrate 1c, by increasing the number of the cut-out patterns 9 in the width direction of the conductive wiring pattern 8, the increase in the wiring resistance can be further suppressed, and compared with the pattern forming substrate 100, the wiring resistance Was reduced by 22%. Furthermore, the effect of suppressing the increase in wiring resistance can be further increased by increasing the number of cutout patterns.

Example 3
A patterned substrate 1d, which is an application example of the present invention, was produced according to Production Example 1. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a wiring pattern of the pattern forming substrate 1d. In the pattern forming substrate 1b of FIG. 5, the cut pattern 9 is arranged so as to cross the non-application area 5 (along the non-application area 5), whereas FIG. A cut-out pattern 9 is formed so as to be in contact with both ends (only the boundary between the application region 4 and the non-application region 5).

  A pattern-formed substrate 1d having three horizontal patterns Y of (1) 5 μm, (2) 10 μm, and (3) 15 μm was prepared, and the ink retention effect was confirmed in the same manner as in Example 1. . The vertical length X of the cut pattern 9 is 20 μm. The length a1 of the application region 4 is 80 μm, the length a2 of the non-application region 5 is 40 μm, and the line width L1 of the conductive wiring pattern 8 is 80 μm. The line width L2 is 30 μm. The obtained results are shown in Table 3.

  As a result, it was confirmed that there was an effect of retaining the ink when the horizontal length Y of the hollow pattern 9 was (1) 5 μm, (2) 10 μm, or (3) 15 μm. Therefore, it has been found that the same effect can be obtained even if the cutout pattern 9 is arranged in an island shape without increasing the lateral length.

  Comparing the above results with the results of Comparative Example 1, the surface area of the wiring pattern can be increased by approximately 22%, and the wiring resistance can also be reduced by 22%. Furthermore, by increasing the number of cutout patterns to two, the area of cutout patterns can be doubled and the wiring resistance can be reduced by 28%.

  Therefore, according to the pattern formation board | substrate 1d, it can apply | coat to the area | region to apply | coat and can suppress the increase in wiring resistance.

  According to the pattern formation substrate of the present invention, the conductive film wiring can be suitably formed. Therefore, the present invention can be used in the field using an electronic circuit or an integrated circuit.

It is a perspective view which shows the pattern formation board | substrate which concerns on this invention. It is a top view which shows the area | region A of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the pattern formation board | substrate which concerns on this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the pattern formation apparatus used for the pattern formation which concerns on this invention. It is a top view which shows the wiring pattern of the pattern formation board which concerns on this invention. It is a top view which shows the wiring pattern of the pattern formation board | substrate which concerns on a prior art. It is a top view which shows the wiring pattern of the pattern formation board which concerns on this invention. It is a top view which shows the wiring pattern of the pattern formation board which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pattern formation board | substrate 2 1st area | region 3 2nd area | region 4 Application | coating area | region 5 Non-application | coating area | region 6 3rd area | region 7 Application | coating film 8 Wiring pattern 9 Cut-out pattern 10 Conductive film 11 Stage 12 Inkjet head 13 Y direction drive part 14 X direction starting Section 15 Droplet supply system 16 Device control unit 17 Liquid piping 20 Pattern forming device

Claims (9)

In a pattern formation substrate on which a predetermined pattern is formed by discharging droplets,
A first region whose contact angle when the droplet contacts is the first contact angle;
A contact angle when the droplet contacts is a second contact angle, a second region surrounded by the first region;
A contact angle when the droplet contacts is a third contact angle, and has a third region surrounded by the second region,
The second contact angle is smaller than the first contact angle and the third contact angle,
The third region, the application region in which droplets are discharged in the second region, and the non-application region in which droplets are not discharged in the second region are formed adjacent to each other. Pattern forming substrate.   The pattern formation substrate according to claim 1, wherein the second region is formed of a conductive material.   The pattern forming substrate according to claim 1, wherein the third contact angle is greater than or equal to the first contact angle. The first region is formed by forming a liquid repellent film on a glass substrate,
The second region is formed by a conductive wiring pattern including a conductive material,
The said 3rd area | region is formed by the hollow pattern by which the liquid repellent film was formed in the glass substrate, The pattern formation board | substrate in any one of Claims 1-3 characterized by the above-mentioned.   5. The pattern forming substrate according to claim 4, wherein the conductive wiring pattern is formed with a lyophilic film having conductivity and a new liquid property with respect to the droplet. The shape of the conductive wiring pattern is linear,
The pattern forming substrate according to claim 4, wherein the application region and the non-application region are alternately formed in a length direction of the conductive wiring pattern. The conductive wiring pattern is linear,
The pattern forming substrate according to claim 4, wherein a width of the cut pattern is smaller than a width of the conductive wiring pattern. The conductive wiring pattern is linear,
The pattern forming substrate according to claim 4, wherein the cut pattern is arranged at a position that bisects the length in the width direction of the conductive wiring pattern. The conductive wiring pattern is linear,
A plurality of the cutout patterns are formed in the width direction of the conductive wiring pattern, and the cutout patterns are arranged at equal intervals in the width direction of the conductive wiring pattern. Item 8. The pattern forming substrate according to any one of Items 4 to 7.

Images