JP2014188494A - Coating-liquid coating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a coating-liquid coating apparatus in which productivity in coating-liquid coating to a substrate can be improved.SOLUTION: Upon cleaning a discharge surface 7a of a discharge head 7 by using a suction nozzle 9, a movement device 10 is controlled so that suction movement of the suction nozzle 9 is switched between a first direction A1 from one end to the other end of the discharge surface 7a and a second direction A2 from the other end to one end whenever coating-liquid coating to one substrate W is completed. Counting from the first substrate W, the suction movement direction upon cleaning implemented after coating completion of odd-numbered substrates is set as the first direction A1 and the suction movement direction upon cleaning implemented after coating completion of even-numbered substrates is set as the second direction A2.

Description

  The present invention relates to a coating liquid coating apparatus that coats a substrate with a coating liquid.

  In the liquid crystal display panel manufacturing process, semiconductor manufacturing process, etc., an inkjet-type coating liquid coating is performed by coating a coating liquid such as an alignment film solution or a resist solution on the surface of the substrate to form a coating film such as an alignment film or a resist film The device is used.

  Such an ink jet type coating liquid coating apparatus includes a coating head in which a plurality of ejection openings are linearly arranged. Then, while relatively moving the coating head and the substrate, the coating liquid is ejected in droplets from each ejection port, and the coating liquid is applied to the surface of the substrate to form a coating film.

  In addition, such an ink jet type coating liquid coating apparatus is known to have a suction cap as a suction member that removes the coating liquid adhering to the ejection port of the coating head, that is, the ejection surface by negative pressure. (For example, see Patent Document 1).

  Such a suction cap cleans the discharge surface by moving the suction cap along the discharge surface. That is, the suction surface and the discharge surface of the suction cap are brought close to each other with a slight gap formed therebetween. Then, in a state where negative pressure is applied to the suction hole of the suction cap, the suction cap is moved in one direction from one end of the discharge surface to the other end along the discharge surface. The coating liquid adhering to the surface was removed by suction.

JP 2004-306546 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide a coating liquid coating apparatus capable of improving the productivity of coating liquid coating on a substrate.

A coating liquid coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a discharge surface in which a nozzle for discharging a coating liquid is opened, a coating head for coating the coating liquid on a substrate, a suction nozzle including a suction hole, and the coating A moving device that relatively moves the head and the suction nozzle along the discharge surface, and applies a negative pressure to the suction hole during the relative movement to suck the coating liquid adhering to the discharge surface. In the coating liquid application device to be cleaned,
Each time the cleaning is performed a predetermined number of times, a controller is provided that controls the moving device so that the relative movement is performed in different directions.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, productivity of the coating liquid application | coating with respect to a board | substrate can be improved.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an overall configuration of a coating liquid coating apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the negative pressure supply device. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the cleaning device. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a cleaning state by the suction nozzle. FIG. 6 is a front view showing the overall configuration of the coating liquid coating apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a plan view of FIG. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the cleaning device.

  A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The coating liquid coating apparatus 1 has a base 2 as shown in FIGS. On the base 2, a transfer table 4 is movably provided through a pair of guide rails 3 provided along the arrow Y direction.

  The transport table 4 is reciprocated along the Y-axis direction (the arrow Y direction in the drawing), which is the extending direction of the guide rail 3, by a drive mechanism (not shown). On the upper surface of the transfer table 4, a substrate W as an object to be coated is sucked and held by suction means such as vacuum suction or electrostatic chuck. Here, as the substrate W, for example, a rectangular glass substrate for manufacturing a display panel is used.

  A gate-type frame 5 that straddles the transport table 4 is provided at a substantially central position of the base 2 along an X-axis direction (arrow X direction in the drawing) orthogonal to the Y-axis direction. The portal frame 5 includes a support frame 6 having a rectangular frame shape in a plan view spanned between one leg and the other leg. A plurality of, in this embodiment, three application heads 7 (7A to 7C) are attached to the support frame 6 in a staggered arrangement along the X-axis direction.

  The coating heads 7A to 7C are ink jet type coating heads, and a plurality of ejection ports 7b (see FIG. 4B) are linearly arranged along the arrow X direction on the ejection surface 7a which is the lower surface thereof. Provided. Each of the discharge ports 7 b communicates with a liquid chamber (not shown) that stores a coating liquid in the coating head 7. The liquid chamber is provided with a flexible partition wall (not shown) that is deformed by a drive element (not shown) such as a piezoelectric element. Due to the volume change in the liquid chamber caused by the piezoelectric element being bent and deformed, the coating liquid is discharged from the discharge port 7b in the form of droplets.

  Such coating heads 7A to 7C can adjust the amount of liquid droplets ejected from the ejection port 7b by changing the magnitude of the driving voltage applied to the piezoelectric elements, and change the driving voltage application interval. The discharge frequency (discharge time interval) can be adjusted.

  The coating liquid is supplied to the coating heads 7A to 7C by a coating liquid supply unit (not shown). As the coating solution, for example, an alignment film solution for forming an alignment film, a resist solution for forming a resist film, or the like can be used.

  A cleaning device 8 is provided at one end (the right end in FIGS. 1 and 2) in the moving direction (Y-axis direction) of the transport table 4. The cleaning device 8 includes a suction nozzle 9 as a suction member corresponding to each of the coating heads 7A to 7C.

  As shown in FIG. 4, each suction nozzle 9 has a suction surface 9a at the upper end, and a slit-like suction hole 9b is formed in the suction surface 9a. The suction surface 9a is formed in a rectangular shape, and the long side direction is the Y-axis direction which is a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the discharge ports 7b of the coating head 7, in other words, the discharge surface 7a of the coating head 7. Arranged along the short side direction. The length of the long side of the suction surface 9a is longer than the length of the short side of the discharge surface 7a by a predetermined length, and the length of the suction hole 9b formed in the suction surface 9a along the long side direction is It is formed equal to or slightly longer than the length of the short side of the discharge surface 7a.

  Returning to FIGS. 1 and 2, each suction nozzle 9 is supported by the X-axis direction moving device 10. These X-axis direction moving devices 10 are provided on a lifting plate 12 fixedly supported at the tip of an operating rod 11a of an air cylinder 11 as a lifting drive means. The air cylinder 11 is supported and fixed to a horizontal portion of a bracket member 13 having a substantially L-shaped cross section fixed to the side wall of the transfer table 4. Thereby, each suction nozzle 9 can be moved in the Y-axis direction by the movement of the transport table 4, and can be moved along the X-axis direction, that is, the arrangement direction of the discharge ports 7b by driving the X-axis direction moving device 10. It is said.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the cleaning device 8 includes a negative pressure supply device 14 for applying a suction force to the suction hole 9 b of the suction nozzle 9. The negative pressure supply device 14 includes a vacuum pump 15 that generates a negative pressure, a vacuum pipe 16 that connects the vacuum pump 15 and the suction nozzle 9, and an electromagnetic on-off valve 17 that supplies / stops the negative pressure to the suction nozzle 9. And an electropneumatic regulator 18 that adjusts the magnitude of the negative pressure supplied to the suction nozzle 9 and a gas-liquid separator 19 that separates the gas sucked by the suction nozzle 9 from the coating liquid.

  That is, one end of the first vacuum pipe 16 a is connected to the suction hole 9 b of the suction nozzle 9. The other end of the first vacuum pipe 16 a is connected to the gas-liquid separator 19. The gas-liquid separator 19 is a tank having a predetermined volume, and the other end of the first vacuum pipe 16a penetrates the ceiling of the gas-liquid separator 19 in an airtight manner above the space in the tank. Open. Therefore, when the mixed fluid of the gas sucked from the suction hole 9b and the coating liquid is discharged from the other end portion (end portion on the gas-liquid separator 19 side) of the first vacuum pipe 16a, it is sufficient as compared with the gas. The heavier coating liquid drops and accumulates at the bottom of the gas-liquid separator 19. Thereby, gas and a coating liquid are isolate | separated. A drainage pipe 19b provided with an electromagnetic on-off valve 19a is connected to the bottom of the gas-liquid separator 19, so that the coating liquid accumulated in the gas-liquid separator 19 can be discharged.

  In addition, one end of the second vacuum pipe 16 b is airtightly connected to the ceiling of the gas-liquid separator 19. The other end of the second vacuum pipe 16 b is connected to the vacuum pump 15. In the second vacuum pipe 16b, an electromagnetic on-off valve 17 and an electropneumatic regulator 18 are arranged in this order from the vacuum pump 15 side.

  Further, the coating liquid coating apparatus 1 includes a control device 20. The control device 20 moves the transport table 4, discharges the coating liquid from the coating heads 7 </ b> A to 7 </ b> C, drives the X-axis direction moving device 10, opens / closes the electromagnetic on / off valves 17 and 19 a, and adjusts the pressure adjusted by the electropneumatic regulator 18 Control.

  Further, the control device 20 includes a storage unit 20a, and various data necessary for applying the coating liquid are stored in the storage unit 20a. The various data include, for example, a driving voltage for the piezoelectric element set to eject a predetermined amount of droplets from the ejection port 7b, coating pattern data indicating the coating position of the coating liquid droplets on the substrate W, The moving speed of the transfer table 4 and the pressure feeding conditions for forcibly discharging the coating liquid to recover clogging of the discharge port 7b due to bubbles, dust, and the like.

  Next, the operation will be described.

  In such a coating liquid coating apparatus 1, when the coating liquid is applied to the substrate W, first, the transport table 4 is carried in / out the work position of the substrate W on the guide rail 3 under the control of the control device 20 (FIG. 1). At the left end side position indicated by a two-dot chain line). At this position, the substrate W is supplied onto the transfer table 4 by a transfer robot (not shown).

  The substrate W supplied onto the transport table 4 is sucked and held by a suction unit provided in the transport table 4.

  When the substrate W is held on the transfer table 4, the transfer table 4 moves toward the opposite end (right end) of the guide rail 3 at the moving speed stored in the storage unit 20 a by the control of the control device 20. Start.

  During the movement of the conveyance table 4, the control device 20 takes in the position information of the conveyance table 4 based on the output of a position detector (not shown) such as a linear encoder provided along with the guide rail 3. Based on this positional information, the control device 20 applies driving voltage to each piezoelectric element in accordance with the timing when the substrate W passes under the coating head 7 and is preset from each ejection port 7b of the coating head 7. A predetermined amount of droplets are ejected, and droplets of the coating liquid are applied onto the substrate W in a predetermined coating pattern.

  When the substrate W passes under the coating head 7 and the transport table 4 reaches the right end of the guide rail 3 (position indicated by a solid line in FIG. 1), the movement of the transport table 4 is stopped. Next, the transfer tail 4 is moved toward the left end, and is positioned at the loading / unloading work position of the substrate W.

  When the transfer table 4 is positioned at the loading / unloading work position, the substrate W after application is taken out from the transfer table 4 by a transfer robot (not shown), and a new substrate W is supplied to the transfer table 4.

  By repeating such operations, the coating liquid is sequentially applied to the plurality of substrates W.

  The coating liquid may be applied to the substrate W by passing the substrate W twice or more in addition to passing the substrate W under the coating head 7 once.

  In such a coating liquid coating apparatus 1, the ejection surface 7 a of the coating head 7 is periodically cleaned using the cleaning device 8 in order to maintain the ejection characteristics of the droplets from the ejection port 7 b.

  Therefore, the cleaning operation of the discharge surface 7a by the cleaning device 8 will be described.

  When cleaning the discharge surface 7a, first, the transfer table 4 is positioned at the loading / unloading work position of the substrate W (the position on the left end side indicated by the broken line in FIG. 1). In this state, the cleaning device 8 that is integrally supported by the transport table 4 is positioned at a position facing (directly below) each of the coating heads 7A to 7C.

  The storage unit 20a is set with a condition for performing a cleaning operation, and the control device 20 causes the cleaning table 8 to perform cleaning when the condition set in the storage unit 20a is met. Is positioned at the loading / unloading work position. Here, the conditions for performing the cleaning operation are “after the application of the application liquid to one substrate W is completed” and “forcible discharge of the application liquid for recovering clogging of the discharge port 7b due to bubbles or the like. "After performing" or "After performing dummy discharge".

  Here, an example will be described in which the cleaning of the ejection surface 7a by the cleaning member 8 is performed every time the application liquid is applied to one substrate W.

  When the application of the coating liquid to one substrate W is completed, the transport table 4 is positioned at the loading / unloading operation position, that is, the cleaning device 8 is positioned at the position facing the coating head 7.

  At the loading / unloading operation position, the coating head 7A by the cleaning device 8 is concurrently with the removal of the substrate W on which the coating liquid has been applied and the supply of the substrate W to which the coating liquid is applied next. The discharge surface 7a of ˜7C is cleaned.

  That is, the air cylinder 11 is driven by the control device 20, and the elevating plate 12 is moved up from the standby height shown by the solid line in FIG. 3 to the working height. In a state where the lifting plate 12 is positioned at the working height, a gap t suitable for suction cleaning is formed in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction) between the suction surface 9a of the suction nozzle 9 and the discharge surface 7a. . Further, at this stage, the suction nozzle 9 is on one end side in the arrangement direction (X-axis direction) of the discharge ports 7b on the discharge surface 7a, and the first standby position (see FIG. 4 (A) is indicated by a solid line).

  Next, the control device 20 controls the opening of the electromagnetic on-off valve 17 to cause the negative pressure generated by the vacuum pump 15 and adjusted to a predetermined pressure by the electropneumatic regulator 18 to act on the suction hole 9 b of the suction nozzle 9. At this time, the vacuum pump 15 may be always driven, or may be driven when the control device 20 determines that the condition for performing the cleaning operation stored in the storage unit 20a is satisfied. In the latter case, the driving of the vacuum pump 15 is preferably stopped when the cleaning operation is completed.

  If a negative pressure is applied to the suction hole 9b, the control device 20 controls the X-axis direction moving device 10, and moves the suction nozzle 9 to the first standby position (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 4A). ) To the second standby position (the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 4B), which is the opposite end of the discharge surface 7a, along the discharge surface 7a ("suction movement"). Say.)

  During this movement, the suction nozzle 9 sucks and removes the coating liquid adhering to the ejection surfaces 7a of the coating heads 7A to 7C by the negative pressure applied to the suction holes 9b. The sucked coating liquid is sent to the gas-liquid separator 19 through the first vacuum pipe 16a. The coating liquid sent to the gas-liquid separator 19 falls from the first vacuum pipe 16 a and is stored at the bottom of the gas-liquid separator 19.

  When the suction nozzle 9 reaches the second standby position, the control device 20 stops the movement of the suction nozzle 9 by the X-axis direction moving device 10 and closes the electromagnetic on-off valve 17 to act on the suction hole 9b. Stop the negative pressure.

  When the negative pressure is stopped, the control device 20 drives the air cylinder 11 and lowers the lifting plate 12 to the standby height. The suction nozzle 9 is made to wait at the second standby position.

  In this way, a single cleaning operation is performed on the ejection surface 7a of the coating head 7.

  When the cleaning operation is completed, the coating liquid is applied to the substrate W placed on the transport table 4 as described in the above-described operation.

  When the application of the coating liquid to the substrate W is completed and the transport table 4 is positioned at the loading / unloading operation position, the cleaning operation of the ejection surfaces 7a of the coating heads 7A to 7C is performed.

  Note that the direction of suction movement differs between the previous cleaning operation and the current cleaning operation.

  That is, after the previous cleaning operation is completed, the suction nozzle 9 is in a standby state at the second standby position. Therefore, when performing this cleaning operation, the control device 20 moves the suction nozzle 9 from the second standby position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 4 to the first standby position indicated by the solid line. Next, the X-axis direction moving device 10 is controlled.

  That is, in the coating liquid coating apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the suction movement direction of the suction nozzle 9 during the cleaning operation is changed from the first standby position to the second standby position every time the cleaning operation is executed. Control is performed so as to switch between a direction A1 (first direction) A1 and a direction A2 (second direction) A2 from the second standby position toward the first standby position.

  Thus, by performing the suction movement by the suction nozzle 9 by switching the direction for each cleaning operation, it is possible to improve the productivity of coating liquid application by the coating liquid coating apparatus 1.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 5A, in the vicinity of the end of the suction movement of the discharge surface 7a, the suction hole 9b of the suction nozzle 9 comes off from directly below the discharge surface 7a, and the rear end of the suction surface 9a in the suction movement direction. Only the region between the portion 9a1 and the suction hole 9b where no negative pressure acts is opposed to the ejection surface 7a.

  At this time, if the coating liquid Q remains between this region and the ejection surface 7a, it is difficult to remove the coating liquid Q due to the negative pressure acting on the suction hole 9b.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the entire suction surface 9a of the suction nozzle 9 is removed from below the discharge surface 7a, the coating liquid remaining between the discharge surface 7a and the suction surface 9a is In some cases, it may remain attached to the ejection surface 7a of the coating head 7.

  When the direction of the suction movement by the suction nozzle 9 is only one direction, the end of the suction movement is always the same part on the discharge surface 9a, so that the coating liquid adheres to the end of the suction surface on the discharge surface 7a. Will remain.

  The remaining coating liquid after drying dries before the next cleaning operation and the viscosity increases, so it cannot be completely removed by the next cleaning operation, and the coating liquid newly adheres to it. The amount of the coating liquid adhering to the terminal end side of the suction movement gradually increases.

  When the adhesion amount of the coating liquid increases, the adhered coating liquid spreads on the ejection surface 7a and eventually reaches the vicinity of the ejection port 7b, which may cause a problem that the ejection of the coating solution from the ejection port 7b is hindered. Conceivable.

  In such a case, the operator needs to perform a maintenance operation such as removing the coating head 7 and manually removing the coating liquid that has adhered to the discharge surface 7a and solidified. It becomes necessary to interrupt the application of the coating solution, which hinders the improvement of productivity.

  However, when the direction of the suction movement is switched for each cleaning operation as in the present embodiment, the terminal side of the suction movement is switched between the second standby position side and the first standby position side.

  For this reason, there are two portions of the coating head 7 where the coating liquid adheres and remains on the first standby position side and the second standby position side. Since the coating liquid adheres alternately to these two locations, the coating liquid adheres only to one end side of the ejection surface 9a of the coating head 7 when the suction movement direction is only one direction. As compared with the case where the above-described maintenance work remains, the amount of coating liquid applied to the substrate W can be doubled since a double amount of adhesion can be allowed by simple calculation until the coating liquid needs to be maintained. It is possible to continue, and it is possible to improve productivity accordingly.

  Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In 2nd Embodiment, the structure of the cleaning apparatus 8 differs from 1st Embodiment. That is, the cleaning device 8 according to the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the suction nozzle 9 is not provided for each coating head 7, but only one is provided for the plurality of coating heads 7A to 7C. It is different from the form.

  Since the other configuration is the same as that of the coating liquid coating apparatus 1 of the first embodiment, only the configuration of the cleaning device 8 will be described.

  As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the cleaning device 8 includes one suction nozzle 9 for the three coating heads 7 </ b> A to 7 </ b> C. The configuration of the suction nozzle 9 is the same as that of the suction nozzle 9 of the first embodiment.

  The suction nozzle 9 is supported by an X-axis direction moving device 10 that moves the suction nozzle 9 along the X-axis direction. Further, both ends of the X-axis direction moving device 10 are supported by the Y-axis direction moving device 21, respectively.

  As a result, the suction nozzle 9 has the entire arrangement region of the three coating heads 7A to 7C arranged in two rows in a state where the conveyance table 4 is stopped at the loading / unloading operation position, as indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. It can be moved over.

  The cleaning operation of the discharge surface 7a by the cleaning device 8 will be described.

  When the application of the coating liquid to the substrate W placed on the transfer table 4 is completed, the transfer table 4 is positioned at the loading / unloading work position. At this time, as shown in FIG. 8A, the suction nozzle 9 has a right column (hereinafter referred to as “first column”) among the coating heads 7A to 7C arranged in two columns along the Y-axis direction. )) Is positioned at a position corresponding to the coating heads 7A and 7C.

  Further, the X axis direction is positioned on one end side in the X axis direction of the arrangement area of the coating head 7. That is, in FIG. 8A, it is positioned on the upper end side (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 8A) of the coating head 7A shown at the top.

  From this state, the air cylinder 11 is driven by the control device 20, and the lifting plate 12 is moved up from the standby height to the working height. A gap t suitable for suction cleaning is formed between the suction surface 9a of the suction nozzle 9 and the discharge surface 7a in a state where the elevating plate 12 is positioned at the working height.

  When the elevating plate 12 is positioned at the working height, the control device 20 controls the opening of the electromagnetic on-off valve 17 and sucks the negative pressure generated by the vacuum pump 15 and adjusted to a predetermined pressure by the electropneumatic regulator 18. It is made to act on the 9 suction holes 9b.

  If a negative pressure is applied to the suction hole 9b, the control device 20 controls the X-axis direction moving device 10 and the Y-axis direction moving device 21 to move the suction nozzle 9 to the arrow A1 in FIG. As shown by, after moving along the ejection surfaces 7a of the two coating heads 7A and 7C arranged in the first row in a one-stroke trajectory, the left column (hereinafter referred to as "second row"). ) And moved along the ejection surface 7a of the coating head 7B arranged in the second row.

  Thereby, the ejection surfaces 7a of the coating heads 7A to 7C are cleaned.

  When the suction nozzle 9 reaches the upper end side of the second row (position indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 8A), the control device 20 stops the suction movement of the suction nozzle 9 and acts on the suction hole 9b. While stopping the negative pressure which has been made, the elevating plate 12 is lowered to the standby height. The suction nozzle 9 is made to stand by while being stopped at a position corresponding to the second row.

  In this way, when the cleaning operation for the ejection surfaces 7a of the coating heads 7A to 7C is completed, the coating liquid is applied to the substrate W currently placed on the transport table 4.

  When the application of the coating liquid to the substrate W this time is completed and the transfer table 4 is positioned at the loading / unloading operation position, the cleaning operation of the discharge surface 7a of the coating head 7 is performed.

  Also in the present embodiment, the direction of the suction movement is different between the previous cleaning operation and the current cleaning operation, as in the first embodiment.

  That is, when the cleaning operation of this time is executed, the control device 20 applies the coating disposed in the second row with a one-stroke trajectory that follows the arrow A1 in reverse, as indicated by the arrow A2 in FIG. The X-axis direction moving device 10 and the Y-axis direction moving device 21 are controlled so that the suction nozzle 9 is moved in the order of the head 7B and the coating head 7C and the coating head 7A arranged in the first row.

  Such a second embodiment also has the same operational effects as the first embodiment.

  In the second embodiment, the ejection surfaces 7a of the plurality of coating heads 7A to 7C arranged in two rows in the Y-axis direction are cleaned using a single suction nozzle 9. Therefore, since the number of suction nozzles 9 is only one for the plurality of coating heads 7A to 7C, the configuration of the cleaning device 8 can be simplified, and maintenance work of the cleaning device 8 is facilitated. As a result, the maintenance work efficiency is improved, and the time required for the maintenance work can be shortened. Therefore, the time for stopping the coating liquid coating apparatus 1 for the maintenance work of the cleaning apparatus 8 can be shortened, and consequently the coating liquid. The productivity of the coating apparatus 1 can be improved.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, each time the application of the coating liquid to one substrate W is completed, that is, each time the cleaning operation is performed, the suction movement direction is switched. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be performed every time the cleaning operation is performed a predetermined number of times of two or more.

  Further, the suction member is a suction nozzle 9, and the shape of the suction nozzle 9 is a rectangular quadrangular prism shape in plan view, and a slit-like suction hole 9b is formed in the suction surface 9a on the upper surface along the longitudinal direction. However, the shape of the suction member is not limited to this.

  For example, the suction hole provided in the suction surface 9a is not limited to a slit shape, and may be a circular hole or a square hole arranged in a line, or may be a single circular hole.

  Further, the suction member is not limited to a rectangular quadrangular prism, and a suction hole such as a circle or a slit may be provided on the upper surface of a square prism or a cylindrical member. It may be a quadrilateral such as a square or a rectangle, or a polygonal pipe-shaped member other than a quadrangle.

  Furthermore, when the suction holes provided on the suction surface of the suction member are slits or a plurality of suction holes arranged in a line, the longitudinal direction does not need to be orthogonal to the direction of suction movement. , And may be inclined at a predetermined angle such as 45 degrees. In short, the discharge hole causes problems such as bending of discharge when the coating liquid adhering to the periphery of the discharge port 7a of the coating head 7 is discharged from the discharge port 7a in the direction orthogonal to the direction of suction movement. As long as it has a length that can be removed as long as it can be prevented.

  In the second embodiment, the coating surfaces 7a of all the coating heads 7A to 7C included in the coating liquid coating apparatus 1 are cleaned using the single suction nozzle 9, but the present invention is not limited to this. Instead, the coating head 7 provided in the coating liquid coating apparatus 1 may be divided into several groups each including a plurality of coating heads 7, and the suction nozzle 9 may be provided for each group. In this case, the coating heads 7 belonging to one group may be configured by the coating heads 7 arranged in the same row, or may be configured by a combination of the coating heads 7 arranged in a plurality of rows.

  In this way, when the coating liquid coating apparatus 1 includes several tens of coating heads 7, it is possible to assign the number of coating heads 7 responsible for cleaning with one suction nozzle 9 to the cleaning operation. The cleaning device 8 is made as much as possible without impairing the productivity of the coating liquid coating apparatus 1 by setting the number of times that can be cleaned within the time required for unloading and unloading the substrate W at a loading / unloading operation position. Since it becomes possible to configure simply, this makes it possible to achieve both the productivity of the coating liquid application device 1 and the optimization of the maintenance work efficiency of the cleaning device 8.

  In the second embodiment, the ejection surfaces of the plurality of coating heads 7 arranged in two rows are cleaned using the single suction nozzle 9, but the present invention is not limited to this. Alternatively, a plurality of coating heads 7 arranged in three or more rows may be cleaned using a single suction nozzle 9.

  Further, when the plurality of coating heads 7 are arranged in an even number of four or more rows, one cleaning device 8 configured in the same manner as in the second embodiment is provided for each of the two rows of coating heads 7. You may make it arrange | position one by one.

  Further, the direction of the suction movement has been described as switching the movement direction on the same movement locus between the forward direction and the reverse direction. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the suction movement direction is switched so as to move on a different movement locus. Anyway. For example, the direction of the suction movement may be switched between the direction in which the discharge ports 7b are arranged in the coating head 7 and the direction perpendicular thereto, or two or more suction movements that intersect at a predetermined angle smaller than 90 degrees. It is also possible to sequentially switch in the direction.

  As described above, when the direction of the suction movement is switched at a predetermined angle, the longitudinal direction of the rectangular suction hole 9b in the suction nozzle 9 is oriented in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the suction movement. The suction nozzle 9 may be rotated at every switching. In this case, the suction nozzle 9 may be provided with a rotation driving means, and the control device 21 may control the rotation angle of the suction nozzle 9 by the rotation driving means.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Coating liquid coating device 4 Conveyance table 7 (7A, 7B, 7C) Coating head 7a Discharge surface 7b Discharge port 8 Cleaning device 9 Suction nozzle)
9a Suction surface 9b Suction hole 10 X-axis direction moving device 20 Control device 21 Y-axis direction moving device

Claims (5)

A discharge port having a discharge port for discharging a coating liquid is provided, and a coating head for coating the coating liquid on a substrate, a suction member having a suction hole, and the coating head and the suction member are disposed along the discharge surface. A coating device that includes a moving device that relatively moves, applies a negative pressure to the suction hole during the relative movement, and sucks and cleans the coating solution that adheres to the ejection surface;
A coating liquid coating apparatus comprising: a control device that controls the moving device so that the relative movement is performed in different directions each time the cleaning is performed a predetermined number of times.   The control device is configured to perform the relative movement in a first direction from one end of the ejection surface toward the other end and a second direction from the other end toward the one end. The coating liquid coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coating liquid coating apparatus is controlled. The coating head includes a plurality of discharge ports arranged in a line,
3. The coating liquid coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the relative movement is performed along an arrangement direction of the discharge ports. A plurality of the coating heads are provided, and these coating heads are formed by arranging a plurality of coating head rows in which a plurality of coating heads are arranged,
The control device controls the moving device to move the suction member relative to the plurality of application heads along a one-stroke trajectory and performs the cleaning a predetermined number of times during the cleaning. The coating liquid coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving device is controlled so as to switch between a forward direction and a reverse direction of the stroke of the one-stroke writing every time.   The control device performs the cleaning every time the application of the coating liquid to one substrate is completed, and performs the cleaning performed after the application to the odd-numbered substrates is completed, counting from the first substrate. The direction of the relative movement at the time of the cleaning is different from the direction of the relative movement at the time of the cleaning performed after the application to the even-numbered substrates is completed. The coating liquid coating apparatus as described.

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