JP2010269281A - Method and system for controlling loading interval of substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent foreign matter from being produced due to drying and curing of a coating at the tip of a nozzle through controlling the loading intervals of substrates, even in a case a delay arises in a pretreating process of a coating device, in a production line containing the coating device applying by discharging a coating through the nozzle. <P>SOLUTION: Whether a delay in the pretreatment is caused or not is detected and whether the delay is within tolerance or not is determined. When the delay is out of tolerance, whether a time until loading the substrate to the coating device stops is within tolerance or not is determined, and when the time of loading the substrate is out of tolerance, the time interval of loading the substrate to the coating device is controlled to be longer than under the normal operation. The suspended time of the coating device is equalized by lengthening the time interval, thereby preventing the foreign matter from being produced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for controlling a time interval for loading a substrate into a coating apparatus in a production line including a device for discharging a coating material from a nozzle and coating the substrate on a substrate and a pretreatment device for the device.

  An example of such a production line is a color filter production line used for a color display.

  The color filter is a component that enables color display by coloring display light of the display. In general, a transparent substrate such as a glass plate is used as a substrate, and a transparent colored film is arranged on the substrate surface for each pixel of the display. As the transparent colored film, three colored films of red, green and blue are generally used. In addition, a light-shielding film is disposed between these pixels to prevent the colored light transmitted through these pixels from being mixed with the colored light transmitted through the adjacent pixels. The light shielding film may be called, for example, a black stripe or a black matrix.

  Various methods are known for forming these transparent colored films and light-shielding films on a transparent substrate. From the viewpoint of quality, cost, yield, etc., there is a pigment dispersion method using a negative photosensitive resin paint. Many are used. This method is a method in which a negative photosensitive resin paint mixed with a colorant is applied to the substrate and exposed and developed in a pattern to form the transparent colored film or the light-shielding film. The light shielding film is formed using a negative photosensitive resin paint mixed with a black pigment.

  A method using a die coater is known as a method for applying this negative photosensitive resin coating on a substrate. The die coater is a method in which a coating material is discharged from a nozzle in a bead shape and a substrate is brought into contact with the bead and applied.

  That is, a production line for producing a color filter using a die coater includes this die coater and a pretreatment apparatus for performing a pretreatment for the pretreatment of the coating process (for example, a washing process or a drying process of the substrate). And a post-processing apparatus that performs a pre-process (for example, an exposure process and a development process) of the coating process, and the substrate is transported between these devices, and the substrate is transported between the devices by the devices in the transport path. A color filter is manufactured by applying a predetermined process to the filter.

  By the way, when the operation of the die coater is stopped for a long time, the photosensitive resin paint may be dried or hardened in the nozzle or around the nozzle to generate foreign matters. When foreign matter adheres to the inside and outside of the nozzle in this way, it becomes difficult to apply a uniform thickness.

  In view of this, the die coater is designed to prevent the sticking of foreign matter to the nozzles by inserting the substrate at regular intervals to prevent the substrate from stopping for a long time. However, if a delay occurs in the pretreatment process, the substrate to be put into the die coater is insufficient, and a waiting time occurs in the die coater. And when this waiting time becomes long, a foreign material will generate | occur | produce in a nozzle or the circumference | surroundings of a nozzle, and normal application | coating will become difficult.

In order to prevent this, for example, there is a method in which a stocker is provided between the devices, and a substrate processed by each device is stored in the stocker until the device in the next process becomes acceptable.
However, when the stocker is arranged in this way, there is a problem that the necessary equipment becomes enormous.

  Patent Documents 1 to 3 propose a method of preventing the drying by immersing the nozzle in a solvent when the die coater is stopped. According to this method, it is possible to prevent drying of the photosensitive resin coating at the tip of the nozzle even in a stopped die coater. However, according to this method, there is a possibility that uniform coating thickness cannot be applied as a result of the solvent being mixed into the paint at the nozzle tip. For this reason, when the nozzle of the die coater is immersed in a solvent, it is necessary to extrude and discard the photosensitive resin paint mixed with the solvent (this process is called “priming operation”) before the coating operation. This priming operation causes a problem that consumption of the photosensitive resin paint increases.

JP 2003-10767 A JP 2004-121980 A JP 2006-263535 A

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to prevent the occurrence of foreign matter at the nozzle tip by controlling the substrate loading interval even when a delay occurs in the pretreatment process of the coating apparatus.

That is, the invention described in claim 1 includes a device for discharging a paint from a nozzle and applying it to a substrate and a pretreatment device thereof, and transporting the substrate between the devices to perform each pretreatment and application. In a production line to be applied, a method for controlling a time interval of loading a substrate into the coating apparatus,
A delay detection step for detecting whether or not a delay has occurred in the preprocessing;
A delay time determination step of determining whether or not the delay time exceeds a predetermined reference value (delay time reference value) when a delay occurs;
When the delay time exceeds the delay time reference value, a time (supplyable time) until the substrate supply to the coating apparatus stops is calculated, and this supplyable time is a predetermined reference value (supplyable time) A supplyable time determination step for determining whether or not it is less than a reference value),
And a control step for controlling the time interval for loading the substrate into the coating apparatus to be delayed from that during normal operation when the supplyable time is less than a supplyable time reference value. It is a control method.

  According to this method, when a delay occurs in the pretreatment, it is possible to delay the loading time of the substrate within a range where the paint at the nozzle tip is not dried or hardened. For this reason, since the coating apparatus does not stop for a long time, no foreign matter is generated at the tip of the nozzle, and normal application is possible.

  In addition, since it is not necessary to immerse the nozzle tip in a solvent and the priming operation is not required, it is possible to reduce the consumption of paint.

  Next, when control is performed so that the time interval for loading the substrate into the coating apparatus is constant, it is possible to maximize the operation time of the coating apparatus and prevent the paint at the tip of the nozzle from drying. However, when this time interval becomes long and the paint at the nozzle tip may be dried or hardened to generate foreign matter, the time interval at which there is no possibility of foreign matter generation needs to be set as the upper limit.

  For these reasons, the second to third aspects limit the specific method for controlling the time interval for loading the substrate into the coating apparatus.

  That is, the invention described in claim 2 is a charging interval control according to claim 1, wherein the control step is a step of controlling the time interval for loading the substrate into the coating apparatus to be constant. Is the method.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the control step sets an upper limit value for a time interval at which the substrate is put into the coating apparatus, and when the control step is less than the upper limit value, the time interval is made constant. 2. The loading interval control method according to claim 1, wherein when the interval is exceeded, the step of controlling the substrate to be loaded at the upper limit value is performed. This upper limit is a value set by determining that there is no possibility that the paint at the nozzle tip dries or hardens to generate foreign matter.

  Next, the invention according to claim 4 is a specific object to be controlled, that is, the control step is a step of controlling a transfer time between the apparatuses. The charging interval control method according to any one of the above. And according to this method, the stop of a coating device can be prevented and the production | generation of a foreign material can be prevented, without preparing the stocker which stores the board | substrate processed at each process.

Next, the invention according to claim 5 is the charging interval control method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the paint is a photosensitive resin paint, and foreign matter is removed by drying and curing. It is clarified that it can be suitably applied to a photosensitive resin coating that is likely to occur.
The invention according to claim 6 is the charging interval control method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the coating apparatus is a die coater, and can be suitably applied to a die coater. It has been clarified.

Next, the invention according to claim 7 relates to a control system for executing the method according to claim 1, that is, an apparatus for discharging paint from a nozzle and applying it to a substrate, and a pretreatment apparatus for the apparatus. A control system for controlling a time interval for loading the substrate into the coating apparatus in a production line for transporting the substrate between the apparatuses and performing each pretreatment and coating,
A delay detecting means connected to the preprocessing device for detecting whether or not a delay has occurred in the preprocessing devices;
A delay time determining means for determining whether or not the delay time exceeds a predetermined reference value when a delay occurs;
When the delay time exceeds a reference value, a time (supplyable time) until the substrate supply to the coating apparatus stops is calculated, and it is determined whether or not the supplyable time is less than a predetermined reference value. Supplyable time determination means to
A substrate loading interval control system comprising: a control unit that controls a time interval for loading the substrate into the coating apparatus to be delayed from that during normal operation when the supplyable time is less than a reference value. is there.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the coating apparatus from being stopped for a long time and prevent foreign matter from being generated at the tip of the nozzle even when the pretreatment is delayed.

Explanatory drawing which shows arrangement | positioning and a conveyance path | route of each apparatus in the production line which concerns on this invention Flowchart of the control method according to the present invention

  The object of the control method of the present invention is a production line including a coating apparatus and its pretreatment apparatus. An example of this production line is a color filter production line. Examples of the pretreatment device include a substrate cleaning device and a drying device. In addition, the production line may include a post-processing device that processes a post-process of the coating process. Moreover, you may provide the stocker which stores the board | substrate processed at each process temporarily.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory view schematically showing the arrangement of each device and the conveyance path in the production line according to the present invention. This production line includes a coating apparatus, a pretreatment apparatus, and a stocker. The coating device is a device that discharges paint from a nozzle and applies it to a substrate, and is preferably a die coater. Further, the production line shown in FIG. 1 includes m devices from device 1 to device m as pretreatment devices. The device m is a substrate loading device for this production line, and the substrates are transported in the order of the device m-1, the device m-2,..., The device 5 from the loading device m. Processing is performed. The apparatus 4 is a recovery apparatus, and the substrate processed by each of the apparatuses m-1 to 5 is stored in a cassette by the apparatus 4 and stored in a stocker provided after the apparatus 4 and waits. To do. Then, after preparation for receiving the apparatus 3 is completed, the apparatus is loaded from the stocker into the loading apparatus 3, transported in the order of the apparatus 1, the apparatus 1, and the coating apparatus, and processed by these apparatuses. And after apply | coating a coating material with a coating device, it is carried out to the post-processing treatment which is not shown in figure.

Next, the number of substrates that can be processed at one time in each pre-processing unit, respectively, _{X m sheets, X m-1} sheet, ‥, ₃ sheets _{X, 2} sheets _X, a _{single X.} Therefore, if these pre-processing apparatus is operating, the inside of each of these devices, respectively, _{X m sheets, X m-1} sheet, ‥, ₃ sheets _{X, 2} sheets _{X, 1} sheet _X of the substrate Will stay. Although the stocker can store a sufficient number of sheets, the storage number when a delay occurs will be described as Y sheets.

  Next, each device in the production line according to the present invention is connected to a control system (not shown). This control system can be constituted by a known computer system. In other words, each of these devices and the stocker are provided, a terminal device that detects the operation status and transfers the obtained operation data, a host computer that performs arithmetic processing based on the operation data, these operation data and A storage device for storing calculation results, a display for displaying these operation data and calculation results, an input device for inputting various reference values to be described later, and the like. The operation data includes the actual processing time T′m required for processing each substrate by each device, the number of substrates Xm staying in each device, and the number of substrates stored in the stocker. Y. Further, a set value Tm of a processing time set as a time required for processing each substrate by each of the apparatuses, a delay time reference value α indicating an allowable limit of the delay time of each of the apparatuses, and a substrate supply to the coating apparatus A reference time Tw that is set in advance as an upper limit of the time until stoppage, and a time that indicates the upper limit of the time interval at which the substrate is loaded into the coating apparatus as the time that no foreign matter may be generated at the nozzle of the coating apparatus An interval upper limit value Ts (max) and the like are input by the input device and stored in the storage device. The supplyable time reference value Tw is a value calculated by multiplying the time interval upper limit value Ts (max) by the total number of substrates Z described later, and takes a different value depending on the total number of substrates Z.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 2, the control method of the present invention will be described by taking as an example a case where a delay occurs in any one of the devices a to m.

  That is, first, the delay in the device a is evaluated. That is, as a first step, it is detected whether or not a delay has occurred. Next, as a second step, the delay time, that is, the difference T′ma−Tma between the actual processing time T′ma required for processing one substrate and the set value Tm, and the delay time reference value α Compare When the difference T′ma−Tma is equal to or less than the delay time reference value α, it is an allowable delay, and therefore it is not necessary to correct the time interval for loading the substrate into the coating apparatus.

  If the difference T′ma−Tm exceeds the delay time reference value α, the delay of the apparatus a is transferred to the coating apparatus in consideration of the delay state of other apparatuses m other than the apparatus a. Evaluate the impact on the substrate supply.

  That is, when a delay occurs in the apparatus a, the number Z of substrates between the apparatus a where the delay occurs and the coating apparatus is the sum of the number of substrates being processed in each apparatus ΣXm (where m is 1 to m). -1) and the number Y of substrates stored in the stocker. Therefore, the supplyable time Tv is calculated by multiplying the total number Z of substrates by an initial set value Ts (0) set in advance as a time interval for loading the substrates into the coating apparatus. Then, a time (supplyable time) Tv until the substrate supply to the coating apparatus stops is calculated, and this is compared with a preset supplyable time reference value Tw. By this comparison, it becomes possible to evaluate the influence of the delay of the apparatus a on the substrate supply to the coating apparatus. If the supplyable time Tv is smaller than the supplyable time reference value Tw, the delay is an allowable delay. Even when a delay occurs in the other device at the time when the delay occurs in the device a, the total number of substrates Z = ΣXm is an actually measured value, so that the supplyable time Tv is accurately grasped. Can do. Further, the initial setting value Ts (0) need not be an actual measurement value. As will be described below, when the supplyable time Tv is larger than the supplyable time reference value Tw, and thus the delay is outside the allowable range, the time interval Ts for loading the substrate into the coating apparatus is the initial set value Ts (0). This is because it can be controlled independently of the control.

  That is, when the supplyable time Tv is larger than the supplyable time reference value Tw, if this delay is left, a total of Z substrates are put into the coating apparatus, and then the next substrate is put in and the foreign matter enters and leaves the nozzle. May be generated. Therefore, when supplying these Z substrates in total to the coating apparatus, the time interval Ts of charging is controlled to be delayed from that during normal operation, and the nozzle stop time is averaged to prevent the generation of foreign matter. .

  This control can be performed as follows, for example.

  That is, the total delay time Σ (T′m−Tm) of each device including the delay time T′ma−Tma in the device a is divided by the total number of substrates Z, and the value is set as a time interval setting value Ts (0). Is added to calculate the time interval Ts for loading the substrate into the coating apparatus. Then, the time interval Ts is compared with a preset time interval upper limit value Ts (max). This time interval upper limit value Ts (max) is set as the upper limit of the time interval that can prevent the generation of foreign matter in and around the nozzle without requiring the priming operation. For this reason, when the time interval Ts is smaller than the time interval upper limit value Ts (max), if the substrate is put into the coating apparatus at the time interval Ts, the foreign matter is present in or around the nozzle without requiring the priming operation. Can be prevented from being generated.

  On the other hand, when the calculated time interval Ts exceeds the time interval upper limit value Ts (max), the time interval upper limit value Ts (max) is adopted as the time interval Ts for loading the substrate into the coating apparatus. In this case, it is possible to prevent foreign matter from being generated in or around the nozzle without requiring the priming operation until the delay is recovered. If the delay is not recovered, the priming operation may be started from the time when the supplyable time reference value Tw is exceeded to prevent the generation of foreign matter.

Next, each of the above steps can be executed by a terminal device, a host computer, and a storage device provided with each device and the stocker. That is, the operation data can be detected by the terminal device and transferred to a host computer. Next, the host computer uses the operation data transferred from the terminal device and various reference values stored in advance in the storage device through the input device to determine whether or not a delay has occurred in each preprocessing device. A delay detecting means for detecting; a delay time determining means for determining whether or not the delay time exceeds a predetermined reference value when a delay occurs; and when the delay time exceeds a reference value, A supplyable time determination unit that calculates a time until supply of the substrate to the coating apparatus stops (supplyable time) and determines whether or not the supplyable time is less than a predetermined reference value; and the supplyable time And a control means for controlling the time interval for loading the substrate into the coating apparatus so as to be delayed from that during normal operation when the value is smaller than a reference value. Rukoto can.

Claims (7)

In a production line comprising a device for discharging paint from a nozzle and applying it to a substrate and its pretreatment device, and transporting the substrate between the devices to perform each pretreatment and application, the substrate is applied to the application device. A method for controlling a time interval of input,
A delay detection step for detecting whether or not a delay has occurred in the preprocessing;
A delay time determining step for determining whether or not the delay time exceeds a predetermined reference value when a delay occurs;
When the delay time exceeds a reference value, a time (supplyable time) until the substrate supply to the coating apparatus stops is calculated, and it is determined whether or not the supplyable time is less than a predetermined reference value. A possible supply time determination step,
And a control step of controlling the time interval for loading the substrate into the coating apparatus so as to be delayed from that during normal operation when the available supply time is less than a reference value.   2. The charging interval control method according to claim 1, wherein the control step is a step of controlling the time interval for loading the substrate into the coating apparatus to be constant.   The control step sets an upper limit value for the time interval at which the substrate is put into the coating apparatus, and if the time interval is less than or equal to the upper limit value, the time interval is constant, and if the time interval is exceeded, the substrate is set at the upper limit value. 2. The input interval control method according to claim 1, wherein the input interval is controlled to be input.   4. The feeding interval control method according to any one of 1 to 3, wherein the control step is a step of controlling a conveyance time between the apparatuses.   The charging interval control method according to claim 1, wherein the coating material is a photosensitive resin coating material.   The charging interval control method according to claim 1, wherein the coating device is a die coater. In a production line comprising a device for discharging paint from a nozzle and applying it to a substrate and its pretreatment device, and transporting the substrate between the devices to perform each pretreatment and application, the substrate is applied to the application device. A control system for controlling the time interval for charging,
A delay detecting means connected to the preprocessing device for detecting whether or not a delay has occurred in the preprocessing devices;
A delay time determining means for determining whether or not the delay time exceeds a predetermined reference value when a delay occurs;
When the delay time exceeds a reference value, a time (supplyable time) until the substrate supply to the coating apparatus stops is calculated, and it is determined whether or not the supplyable time is less than a predetermined reference value. Supplyable time determination means to
A substrate loading interval control system comprising: a control unit configured to control a time interval for loading a substrate into the coating apparatus to be delayed from that during normal operation when the supplyable time is less than a reference value.

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