JP2011189281A - Droplet discharge apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a droplet discharge apparatus that prevents inconvenience caused by an ink mist without deteriorating discharge accuracy. <P>SOLUTION: The device includes: a stage 2 for mounting a substrate P; a discharge head 5 with a nozzle for discharging a droplet of a functional fluid from the nozzle; and a moving mechanism for reciprocating the stage 2 relatively in the predetermined direction with respect to the discharge head 5. In the stage 2, an air blowing-out mechanism 13 provided on one side and the other side of the predetermined direction to blow the air facing outward of the stage 2, respectively. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a droplet discharge device.

  Conventionally, spin coating methods and flexographic printing methods are generally used as methods for forming functional thin films such as color filters on a substrate. On the other hand, in recent years, the droplet discharge method has been used for various thin film formations because it is effective in reducing the amount of ink used and the number of processes. A droplet discharge apparatus that performs a droplet discharge method includes a discharge head that discharges ink (functional liquid) droplets from a nozzle, and is configured to move a recording medium (substrate) relative to the discharge head. Is generally used (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  By the way, when a color filter is industrially formed by a droplet discharge device, for example, when a color filter forming material (ink) is discharged onto a substrate from a droplet discharge head, the mist (ink mist) of the forming material is formed on the substrate. It may adhere to the top and mix the color filter to be formed. That is, a color filter for full color display is usually formed by arranging R (red), G (green), and B (blue) colors in a predetermined arrangement. For example, the mist of a red color filter is green. When adhering to a blue color filter, color mixing occurs at the adhering location, and the color of the light that has passed through the adhering location becomes different from the desired color.

  In order to prevent such inconvenience due to ink mist, for example, in the liquid ejection device of Patent Document 1, air is blown out from above the head, and the blown out air is collected using a separately provided fan, and the ink mist is collected. To collect.

JP 2009-220499 A

By the way, functional thin films such as color filters and wirings tend to become finer and finer in recent years. Therefore, in order to form these functional thin films with a droplet discharge device, higher discharge accuracy is required.
However, when the air flow is always made as in the liquid ejecting apparatus of Patent Document 1, although ink mist recovery is effective, it affects the ink ejectability, that is, the straightness. Discharge accuracy is impaired.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a droplet discharge device that prevents inconvenience caused by ink mist without impairing discharge accuracy.

In order to achieve the above object, a droplet discharge apparatus of the present invention includes a stage on which a substrate is placed, a nozzle, a discharge head that discharges droplets of functional liquid from the nozzle, and the stage as the discharge head. A moving mechanism for reciprocating relative to a predetermined direction,
The stage is characterized in that a gas blowing mechanism is provided on one side and the other side in the predetermined direction to blow out a gas toward the outside of the stage.

According to this droplet discharge device, the gas blowing mechanism for blowing the gas toward the outside of the stage is provided on one side and the other side of the stage, respectively. Even if mist (ink mist) stays below the ejection head, when the stage is moved relative to the ejection head, the mist is ejected by a gas blowing mechanism provided on one side or the other side of the stage. It is possible to eliminate the outside of the stage from below.
Further, after the functional liquid is discharged onto the substrate on the stage, the stage is further moved relative to the discharge head, and when the stage passes relatively below the discharge head, the mist generated again by the discharge of the functional liquid is removed. The gas blowing mechanism provided on one side or the other side of the stage can be excluded from the lower side of the ejection head to the outside of the stage.
Furthermore, while the functional liquid is being discharged from the discharge head to the substrate, the gas blown out from the gas blowing mechanism is not directed to the substrate side, i.e., directly below the discharge head, which may impair the discharge accuracy of the discharge head. Absent.

In the droplet discharge device, it is preferable that the moving mechanism is configured to reciprocate the stage in the predetermined direction with respect to the discharge head.
In this way, since the ejection head is fixed before and after the functional liquid is ejected, the ejection accuracy of the ejection head is not impaired.

In the droplet discharge device, it is preferable that the gas blowing mechanism is provided on the outermost side on one side and the outermost side on the other side of the stage in the predetermined direction.
In this way, the effective area of the stage on which the substrate is placed is hardly reduced. Moreover, the influence of the gas blown out from the gas blowing mechanism on the substrate on the stage can be reduced.

In the liquid droplet ejection apparatus, it is preferable that the gas blowing mechanism has a plurality of gas blowing ports for blowing gas aligned in a direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction.
In this way, gas can be blown from the entire width of the stage in the direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction, so that mist of the functional liquid is reliably prevented from staying on the substrate on the stage. be able to.

In the droplet discharge device, it is preferable that the stage is provided with a flushing area on one side and the other side in the predetermined direction.
In this way, even if the functional liquid in the nozzle of the ejection head dries due to the gas flow from the gas blowing mechanism, the functional liquid is flushed in the flushing area immediately after that, thereby restoring the functional liquid ejection performance. It is possible to easily and quickly return to the normal state.

In the droplet discharge device, the gas is preferably air.
Since air is easy to handle and inexpensive, it hardly increases the manufacturing cost.

In the droplet discharge device, the functional liquid may be a color filter forming material.
When the functional liquid is a color filter forming material, color mixing can be prevented from occurring in the color filter obtained by the influence of mist.

1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of a droplet discharge device according to the present invention. It is a top view of the work stage of the droplet discharge apparatus shown in FIG. (A)-(c) is a side view which shows typically the droplet discharge apparatus shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a droplet discharge device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following drawings, the scale of each member is appropriately changed in order to make each member a recognizable size. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, an XYZ rectangular coordinate system is set, and each member will be described with reference to the XYZ rectangular coordinate system. The XYZ orthogonal coordinate system is set so that the X axis and the Y axis are parallel to the work stage 2, and the Z axis is set in a direction orthogonal to the surface of the work stage 2. In the XYZ coordinate system in FIG. 1, the XY plane is actually set to a plane parallel to the horizontal plane, and the Z axis is set to the vertical direction.

1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of a droplet discharge device IJ according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of a work stage 2 of the droplet discharge device IJ shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. (C) to (c) are side views schematically showing the droplet discharge device IJ shown in FIG.
The droplet discharge device IJ according to the present embodiment is a droplet discharge device based on an inkjet method, and particularly a device that discharges droplets of a color filter material (functional liquid) onto a predetermined region of a substrate P to form a color filter. It is.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a droplet discharge device IJ of this embodiment includes a base 1, a work stage (stage) 2, a stage moving device (moving mechanism) 3, a carriage 4, a droplet discharge head (discharge head) 5, A carriage moving device 6, a tube 7, a first tank 8, a second tank 9, a third tank 10, and a control device 11 are provided.

  The base 1 is a support for the work stage 2 and the stage moving device 3. The work stage 2 is installed on the base 1 so as to be able to reciprocate in the X-axis direction (predetermined direction) by the stage moving device 3, and the substrate P transferred from an upstream transfer device (not shown). , And is held on the XY plane by a vacuum suction mechanism (not shown) or the like. The stage moving device 3 includes a bearing mechanism such as a ball screw or a linear guide, and reciprocates the work stage 2 in the X-axis direction based on a stage position control signal indicating the X coordinate of the work stage 2 input from the control device 11. It is to be moved. Therefore, the work stage 2 can reciprocate in the X-axis direction (predetermined direction) with respect to the droplet discharge head 5 by the stage moving device 3.

The carriage 4 holds the droplet discharge head 5 and is provided so as to be movable in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction by the carriage moving device 6.
The droplet discharge head 5 has a plurality of nozzles (not shown) and discharges droplets of a color filter material as a functional liquid based on drawing data and drive control signals input from the control device 11. To do. A plurality of droplet discharge heads 5 are provided corresponding to the color filter materials R (red), G (green), and B (blue). The tube 7 is connected.

  The droplet discharge head 5 corresponding to R (red) is supplied with the color filter material for R (red) from the first tank 8 via the tube 7, and the droplet discharge head corresponding to G (green). 5 is supplied with a color filter material for G (green) from the second tank 9 via the tube 7, and the droplet discharge head 5 corresponding to B (blue) is transferred from the third tank 10 to B via the tube 7. The color filter material for (blue) is supplied.

  In such a plurality of droplet discharge heads 5, the width in the direction orthogonal to the direction in which the work stage 2 moves, that is, the width in the Y-axis direction is the same as or larger than the width of the substrate P placed on the work stage 2. It is comprised so that it may become. Therefore, when the color filter material is discharged onto the substrate P, the substrate P is basically simply moved back and forth in the X-axis direction by the stage moving means 3 without moving the carriage 4 in the Y-axis direction. The color filter material can be discharged over the entire surface.

  The carriage moving device 6 has a bridge structure straddling the base 1, and includes a bearing mechanism such as a ball screw or a linear guide in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction, and is input from the control device 11. Based on the carriage position control signal indicating the Y coordinate and the Z coordinate, the carriage 4 is moved in the Y axis direction and the Z axis direction.

  The tube 7 is a color filter material supply tube that connects the first tank 8, the second tank 9, the third tank 10, and the carriage 4 (droplet discharge head 5). The first tank 8 stores the color filter material for R (red) and supplies the color filter material to the droplet discharge head 5 corresponding to R (red) via the tube 7. The second tank 9 stores the color filter material for G (green) and supplies the color filter material to the droplet discharge head 5 corresponding to G (green) via the tube 7. The third tank 10 stores the color filter material for B (blue) and supplies the color filter material to the droplet discharge head 5 corresponding to B (blue) via the tube 7.

  The control device 11 outputs a stage position control signal to the stage moving device 3, and outputs drawing data and a drive control signal to the drive circuit of the droplet discharge head 5, whereby the droplet discharge operation by the droplet discharge head 5 is performed. The color filter substrate P is positioned by the movement of the work stage 2 in synchronization with the positioning operation of the color filter substrate P, and droplets of the color filter material are ejected to a predetermined position on the color filter substrate P. The control device 11 generates a drive signal to be output to the droplet discharge head 5.

  Further, the control device 11 outputs a carriage position control signal to the carriage moving device 6 and moves the carriage 4 to move the droplet discharge head 5 to a maintenance area (not shown). The maintenance area is arranged on the side of the movement path of the work stage 2, and performs various maintenance processes, specifically, a flushing operation for ejecting ink from each nozzle to prevent the ink from increasing in viscosity, and the nozzle A cap is attached to the surface (capping), and suction is performed through the cap, thereby removing the thickened ink in the nozzle and removing air bubbles in the cavity. Wiping the nozzle surface with a wipe member This is a region for performing a wiping operation for removing deposits adhered to the nozzle surface. Such a maintenance process is performed at a different timing from the formation of the color filter by discharging the color filter material (functional liquid) onto the substrate P.

  In the present embodiment, in addition to such a maintenance area, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3A to 3C, flushing for performing a flushing operation (flushing process) on the work stage 2 is also performed. Area 12 is provided. As shown in FIG. 2, the flushing area 12 is provided on one side and the other side in the X-axis direction (predetermined direction) that is the movement direction of the work stage 2, and the Y-axis direction of the work stage 2 is It is a long and thin container formed over the entire width. In this embodiment, the droplet discharge head 5 in this embodiment discharges ink from all the nozzles immediately before discharging the color filter material (functional liquid) onto the substrate P to perform a flushing operation. Is possible.

  Further, the work stage 2 is provided with gas blowing mechanisms 13 on the outside of the flushing area 12, that is, on the outermost side on one side in the X-axis direction and on the outermost side on the other side. In the present embodiment, the gas blowing mechanism 13 has a cylindrical (for example, cylindrical) blowing pipe 14, a flexible pipe 15 connected thereto, a gas source 16 connected to the flexible pipe 15, as shown in FIG. Is configured.

  The gas source 16 is constituted by a compressor in this embodiment, and sends compressed air through the flexible pipe 15 to the blowing pipe 14. Here, since air is easy to handle and inexpensive, it hardly raises the manufacturing cost, and is therefore more advantageous than using an inert gas such as nitrogen. However, when the material to be discharged is a functional material such as a light emitting layer of an organic EL element, for example, when deterioration due to oxygen occurs, it is preferable to use an inert gas such as nitrogen.

A desiccant (not shown), a filter (not shown), and the like are provided between the gas source 16 and the blowout pipe 14, and moisture (humidity) in the air sent from the gas source 16 Fine particles and the like are removed.
A number of air outlets (gas outlets) 17 are aligned and formed on the side surfaces of the outlet pipe 14 along the length direction thereof, that is, the Y-axis direction. In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C, these blowout ports 17 are provided outside the work stage 2 and slightly obliquely upward. Therefore, the air sent from the gas source 16 passes through the blowout port 17 and spreads to the outside of the work stage 2 and obliquely upward to a width greater than the width in the Y-axis direction of the carriage 4, It comes to blow out.

Note that both ends of the blowing pipe 14 are closed, so that air is blown out only from the blowing port 17. In addition, the flexible pipe 15 connected to the gas source is connected to the central portion in the length direction of the blowout pipe 14, so that the blowout pipe 14 blows out air almost uniformly in the length direction. Yes.
Further, the flexible pipe 15 connected to the gas source 16 is branched in two directions through a three-way valve 18 in the middle as shown in FIG. 2, and each branched branch is arranged on one side of the work stage 2. It is connected to the blowing pipe 14 and the blowing pipe 14 disposed on the other side. Here, the operation of the three-way valve 18 can also be controlled by the control device 11.

Next, a manufacturing process of the color filter on the substrate P by the droplet discharge device IJ having such a configuration will be described.
First, as shown in FIG. 3A, in order to form a color filter on the substrate P on which the work stage 2 on one side in the X-axis direction with respect to the droplet discharge head 5 is placed and fixed, Move to the droplet discharge head 5 side. That is, the stage moving device 3 moves the work stage 2 in the X-axis direction so that the substrate P is positioned immediately below the droplet discharge head 5.

  At that time, a mist (ink mist) M of the color filter material generated during the previous ejection may remain on the nozzle forming surface 5a side of the droplet ejection head 5. Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the work stage 2 is moved in the X-axis direction by the stage moving device 3 and brought close to the droplet discharge head 5, the work stage 2 does not reach directly below the droplet discharge head 5. In the process of approaching the droplet discharge head 5 from the side, the gas blowing mechanism 13 is operated to blow out air from the blowing pipe 14. Specifically, the gas source 16 is operated, and air is blown out from the outlet 17 of the outlet pipe 14 through the flexible pipe 15.

  At that time, air may be blown out simultaneously from the two blow-out pipes 14, but the blow-out pipe 14 directed to the side opposite to the liquid droplet ejection head 5 side does not substantially function to eliminate the mist. Therefore, by adjusting the three-way valve 18, the air supply to the blowing pipe 14 is stopped. Then, air is supplied only to the blowing pipe 14 that is located on the droplet discharging head 5 side and that has the blowing port 17 facing the droplet discharging head 5. However, in the case where the three-way valve 18 is not provided in order to simplify the device configuration, air may be blown out simultaneously from the two blowing pipes 14 as described above.

  When air is supplied to the blowing pipe 14 in this way, the blowing pipe 14 on the droplet discharge head 5 side approaches the droplet discharge head 5 with the movement of the work stage 2 and moves toward the nozzle forming surface 5a. Blow out the air. Thereby, the mist M of the color filter material remaining on the nozzle forming surface 5a side of the droplet discharge head 5 is moved from the lower side to the outside of the nozzle forming surface 5a, that is, on the moving direction side outside the work stage 2. Eliminated.

  In this way, the work stage 2 is moved while removing the mist M of the color filter material from below the nozzle forming surface 5a, and the work stage 2 is placed directly below the droplet discharge head 5 as shown in FIG. Position. At that time, in particular, when the droplet discharge head 5 reaches relatively directly above the flushing area 12 located inside the blowing pipe 14, the flushing operation is performed from all nozzles of the droplet discharge head 5 as necessary. By doing so, even if the color filter material in the nozzle of the droplet discharge head 5 is dried by the air flow from the blowout pipe 14 and the viscosity thereof is increased, the material having the increased viscosity is put into the flushing area 12. By discharging, the discharge property of the material from each nozzle can be easily and quickly returned to the original normal state.

  Next, when the substrate P on the work stage 2 is moved to a position immediately below the droplet discharge head 5, the color set in a predetermined region of the substrate P from each nozzle of the droplet discharge head 5 is further continued. The color filter material is discharged as droplets L. At that time, since the air blown out from the blowout pipe 14 does not go to the substrate P side, that is, directly below the droplet discharge head 5, the discharge accuracy of the droplet discharge head 5 is not impaired.

Then, when the substrate P is removed from directly below the droplet discharge head 5 by the movement of the work stage 2, the discharge of the color filter material is stopped.
Further, when the work stage 2 is moved and the work stage 2 comes off from just below the droplet discharge head 5 as shown in FIG. 3C, the blowing pipe 14 positioned on the opposite side to the traveling direction is connected to the droplet discharge head. Comes to 5. Therefore, the gas blowing mechanism 13 is operated to blow out air from the blowing pipe 14. As a result, the mist M generated again by the discharge of the color filter material is again removed from the nozzle forming surface 5a side of the droplet discharge head 5 to the outside of the work stage 2.

  Such an operation can be performed by controlling the three-way valve 18 by the control device 11 or the like. However, air may be continuously blown out continuously from the two blowing pipes 14 while the work stage 2 and the droplet discharge head 5 are operating without performing such complicated control. Even in that case, as described above, there is no influence on the discharge property of the droplet discharge head 5 or the like.

  When the work stage 2 is moved in this way and passed directly under the droplet discharge head 5, the carriage 4 is moved by the carriage moving device 6 as necessary, for example, to fill the interval between the droplet discharge heads 5. The droplet discharge head 5 is slightly moved. Then, the work stage 2 is moved again toward the droplet discharge head 5. At that time, the operations in the forward path performed in the order of FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are similarly performed in the return path performed in the order of FIGS. 3C, 3B, and 3A.

That is, when the work stage 2 is brought close to the droplet discharge head 5 from the state shown in FIG. 3C to the state shown in FIG. Air is blown out from the pipe 14, and mist staying on the nozzle forming surface 5 a side of the droplet discharge head 5 is removed to the direction of travel of the work stage 2.
When the work stage 2 is moved directly below the droplet discharge head 5 and the flushing area 12 is reached directly below the droplet discharge head 5, the flushing operation is performed from all nozzles of the droplet discharge head 5.
Further, the work stage 2 is moved, and when the work stage 2 comes off from directly below the droplet discharge head 5 as shown in FIG. 3A, air is blown out from the blowing pipe 14 located on the opposite side to the traveling direction.
Such a series of operations is repeated until a desired amount of the color filter material is discharged onto the substrate P, and then the substrate P is sent to the next process by a transfer device (not shown).

  In such a droplet discharge device IJ, since the blowing pipe 14 (gas blowing mechanism 13) that blows air toward the outside is provided on one side and the other side of the work stage 2, respectively. Even if the mist M of the color filter material generated along with the droplet discharge stays below the discharge head 5, the mist is discharged by the blowing pipe 14 when the work stage 2 is moved with respect to the droplet discharge head 5. M can be excluded from the lower side of the droplet discharge head 5 to the outside of the work stage 2. Therefore, it is possible to prevent inconvenience such as color mixing in the color filter formed by the mist M.

  Further, after the color filter material is discharged onto the substrate P on the work stage 2, the work stage 2 is further moved with respect to the droplet discharge head 5, and the work stage 2 passes relatively below the droplet discharge head 5. In this case, the mist M generated again by the discharge is removed again from the lower side of the droplet discharge head 5 to the outside of the work stage 2 by blowing air from the blowing pipe 14 located on the opposite side to the traveling direction. Can do. Therefore, this also prevents the inconvenience that color mixing occurs in the color filter formed by the mist M.

  Further, while the color filter material is being discharged from the droplet discharge head 5 to the substrate P, the air blown from the blowing pipe 14 does not face the substrate P side, that is, directly below the droplet discharge head 5. The linearity of the droplets from the droplet discharge head 5 is not affected, and therefore the discharge accuracy is not impaired.

  Further, since a number of outlets 17 for blowing out air are arranged and formed in the Y-axis direction orthogonal to the X-axis direction with respect to the outlet pipe 14, air is supplied from the entire width of the work stage 2 in the Y-axis direction. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent the mist M from staying on the substrate P.

  The preferred embodiments according to the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. is there.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, a single pipe is used as the blowout pipe 14 and a large number of blowout openings 17 are formed on the side surface thereof. However, one or a plurality of pipes are used, and the end opening is used as a work piece. You may arrange | position toward the outer side of the stage 2, and you may make it blow off air (gas) from this edge part opening. In that case, the end opening side may be swung in the Y-axis direction, and the blown-out gas may be expanded in the Y-axis direction.

  In the embodiment, the case where the color filter material is used as the functional liquid and the color filter is formed on the substrate P has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a light emitting layer of an organic EL element or the like. The present invention can also be applied to the case where the light emitting layer and the wiring layer are formed by discharging the functional material and the wiring material onto the substrate.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS IJ ... Droplet discharge apparatus, 2 ... Work stage (stage), 3 ... Stage moving apparatus (movement mechanism), 5 ... Droplet discharge head, 12 ... Flushing area, 13 ... Gas blowing mechanism, 14 ... Blowing piping, 17 ... Air outlet (gas outlet), M ... Mist

Claims (7)

A stage on which the substrate is placed; a discharge head that has a nozzle and discharges droplets of functional liquid from the nozzle; and a moving mechanism that reciprocally moves the stage relative to the discharge head in a predetermined direction; With
The liquid droplet ejection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the stage is provided with a gas blowing mechanism that blows gas toward the outside of the stage on one side and the other side in the predetermined direction.   The liquid droplet ejection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving mechanism is configured to reciprocate the stage in the predetermined direction with respect to the ejection head.   3. The droplet discharge device according to claim 1, wherein the gas blowing mechanism is provided on an outermost side on one side and an outermost side on the other side of the stage in the predetermined direction, respectively. .   4. The droplet discharge according to claim 1, wherein the gas blowing mechanism has a plurality of gas blowing ports for blowing gas aligned in a direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction. 5. apparatus.   5. The droplet discharge device according to claim 1, wherein the stage is provided with a flushing area on each of one side and the other side in the predetermined direction.   The droplet discharge device according to claim 1, wherein the gas is air.   The liquid droplet ejection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the functional liquid is a color filter forming material.

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