JP2015024503A - Printer, printing method and printed matter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide highly definite, high-quality printed matter by completely and easily removing an unnecessary ink causing the quality deterioration of a product from a relief printing plate without generating foreign materials or dust in a reverse offset printing method.SOLUTION: A printer is provided with: a transfer plate (300) having an outermost surface configured by a silicone rubber or fluororubber; a transfer cylinder (140) in which the transfer plate (300) is retained; a coating machine (130) set to face the transfer plate (300); a relief printing plate (302) having a groove structure equivalent of an image line section and a protrusion equivalent of a non-image section; a plate stage (120) retaining the relief printing plate (302); a substrate stage (121) retaining a base material (301) to be printed; and a washing machine (000) installable to overhang the relief printing plate (302). The washing machine (000) comprises an ultrasonic transducer facing the relief printing plate (302) and a chamber holding the ultrasonic transducer.

Description

  The present invention relates to a field in which a fine pattern needs to be printed, specifically, a liquid crystal display device, an organic EL display device, an electrophoretic display device, an electronic fluid separation display device, a microcapsule display device, and an electrowetting display. The present invention relates to a technique for forming a pattern in manufacturing a display device such as a device, an electrochromic display device, a sensor, an RFID, a logic circuit, a power transmission sheet, a touch panel, and an electromagnetic shielding member.

  Conventionally, photolithography and vacuum processes have been used to form electronic components such as circuit substrates and display devices. In recent years, with the advancement of electronic technology, the size of elements has become smaller and the pattern forming the element has been required to be miniaturized, while the size of the mother substrate has increased. Yes. Therefore, compared with the manufacturing method using a conventional photoresist, a fine pattern using various printing methods in place of the photolithography method for productivity, cost, high accuracy, large area, and further miniaturization. The manufacturing method of this is proposed.

  Printing methods include printing methods such as letterpress printing, intaglio printing, planographic printing, screen printing, and ink jet printing. These methods have a resolution limit of about 30 μm, which is a low resolution for forming a semiconductor device or a display device.

  The reverse offset printing method may be used for forming color filters, wiring patterns, electrode patterns, and the like. In the reverse offset printing method, an ink film is formed on the entire surface of a blanket with high ink peelability wound around a cylinder, preliminarily dried to form a preliminarily dried ink film, and then contacted with the blanket and the ink relief printing plate. An unnecessary portion of the dried ink film is transferred to the convex portion of the ink relief printing plate. As a result, a desired pattern of ink corresponding to the concave portions of the ink relief printing plate remains on the blanket. Further, the blanket and the substrate to be printed are brought into contact with each other to transfer a desired ink pattern onto the substrate to be printed.

  In the reverse offset printing method, it is easy to adjust the ink film thickness, and since the image pattern is formed on the ink-peeling blanket, the ink transfer property to the substrate to be printed is good. Furthermore, there is a feature that a fine pattern can be formed with a thin film.

  However, in order to manufacture electronic products with stable quality, it is indispensable to remove unnecessary ink remaining on the ink relief printing plate. Therefore, a plate cleaning device is required, but in the conventional plate cleaning device, in order to remove unnecessary ink on the plate, an organic solvent or the like is sprayed on the relief plate to dissolve the ink, which is then removed with a blade or doctor such as rubber. The technique of scraping was taken.

  However, when an apparatus using this method is used, the ink once dissolved in the organic solvent cannot be scraped off with a blade or the like, re-dried by evaporation of the organic solvent, and reattached to a part of the relief surface or around the cleaning apparatus. The removal could be left behind. Further, a part of the blade may be lost and become a foreign object.

  In addition, the ink letterpress has irregularities on the surface, and when using a letterpress cleaning device that wipes unnecessary ink on the letterpress with a cloth, fiber dust is generated due to the contact between the letterpress irregularities and the cloth, and foreign matter is thereby removed. May occur. In that case, there is a problem that the foreign matter is transferred to the product and the remaining quality is deteriorated in the pixel.

  On the other hand, the electronics-related products, which are products, have the necessary and sufficient amount of ink for each pattern and the amount and shape of the ink. If there are foreign objects other than unnecessary ink in the pixel, the required performance can be obtained. There was a problem that it could not be done, leading to quality degradation. In addition, the wiring pattern and the electrode have a problem that a portion having a high resistance value or a disconnected place occurs.

  As a plate cleaning method for solving the above problem, a method using a film-like pressure-sensitive adhesive substrate having a pressure-sensitive adhesive has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Further, in the reverse offset printing method, ink or ink residue adhering to the side surface portion of the plate concave portion or plate convex portion is reversely transferred to the blanket and transferred to the substrate to be printed. In such a case, in order to perform plate cleaning using the above-mentioned pressure-sensitive adhesive substrate, it is necessary to cause the pressure-sensitive adhesive substrate to follow not only the convex portion of the relief plate but also the concave portion, and be pressure-bonded.

  For this purpose, an indentation roll having such flexibility that it can be deformed in accordance with the shape of the concave portion of the relief plate is necessary, but such a roll does not exist, and as a result, the base material is divided into the concave portion of the relief plate. It was not possible to make it sufficiently crimped. As a result, it has been very difficult to clean the ink adhering to the side portions of the plate concave portions and the plate convex portions.

  It is also conceivable to use ultrasonic cleaning as a plate cleaning method. Conventional ultrasonic cleaning machines are generally of a type in which a substrate is immersed in a cleaning tank, and therefore do not support on-machine cleaning in which a plate is cleaned while attached to a printing press. An example in which ultrasonic cleaning is applied to on-machine cleaning has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2). Although the ultrasonic transducer is disposed close to the substrate via the vibration plate, there is a problem that the ultrasonic transducer is damaged by the reflected wave when the distance between the ultrasonic transducer and the substrate is 100 mm or less. On the other hand, when the ultrasonic vibrator is separated from the substrate by 100 mm or more, there is a problem that a large amount of cleaning liquid is used and the time for water injection and drainage becomes long.

  In particular, when performing plate cleaning on the machine, there is a problem of insufficient cleaning due to space limitations in the printing machine, a problem of insufficient cleaning, a problem of longer tact, and dust generated during cleaning and adhering to the printed matter. There is a problem to do.

JP 2006-255998 A JP 2012-91414 A

  The present invention provides a high-definition and high-quality printed matter by removing unnecessary ink that causes a decrease in product quality from a letterpress plate completely and easily without generating foreign matter and dust in the reverse offset printing method. The task is to do.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems in the present invention, first, in the invention of claim 1, the transfer plate having the outermost surface made of silicone rubber or fluororubber, the transfer cylinder holding the transfer plate, and the transfer plate are opposed to each other. Coating machine installed in such a manner, a relief plate having a groove structure part corresponding to an image line part and a convex part corresponding to a non-image part, a plate stage on which the relief plate is held, and a substrate holding a substrate to be printed A material stage and a washer that can be installed to cover the letterpress,
The cleaning machine is a printing machine including an ultrasonic vibrator facing the relief plate and a chamber for holding the ultrasonic vibrator.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printing machine according to the first aspect, the chamber includes a partition wall between the relief plate and the ultrasonic transducer.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printing machine according to the second aspect, the partition is provided with an inclination of an inclination angle of 15 ° or less.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the printing machine according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the ultrasonic vibrator is swung or rotated.

The invention according to claim 5 is a printing method performed by the printing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A first step of forming an ink film on the transfer plate with a coating machine; a second step of producing a dry ink film by volatilizing the solvent of the ink film; and pressing the dry ink film against the relief plate to A third step of transferring the dry ink film of the non-image portion to the convex portion of the relief plate, and a fourth step of transferring the dry ink film of the image portion to the printing substrate by bringing the transfer plate and the printing substrate into contact with each other. A printing process for sequentially performing
After the third step, an initializing step of sequentially performing a step of performing ultrasonic cleaning by covering the letterpress with a washing machine, a step of rinsing, and a step of drying,
In the printing process, a printing method is characterized in that a printed matter is manufactured using a relief printing plate that has undergone an initialization process.

The invention according to claim 6 is a printed matter manufactured by the printing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A first step of forming an ink film on the transfer plate with a coating machine; a second step of producing a dry ink film by volatilizing the solvent of the ink film; and pressing the dry ink film against the relief plate to A third step of transferring the dry ink film of the non-image portion to the convex portion of the relief plate, and a fourth step of transferring the dry ink film of the image portion to the printing substrate by bringing the transfer plate and the printing substrate into contact with each other. In the printing process,
Produced using a relief printing plate that has undergone an initialization step that sequentially performs a step of performing ultrasonic cleaning by covering the relief plate with a washing machine, a rinsing step, and a drying step after the third step. The printed matter is characterized by this.

  The invention according to claim 1 and claim 5 and claim 6 is the reverse offset printing method, in which unnecessary ink that causes a reduction in product quality is completely and easily generated from a relief plate without generating foreign matter and dust. There is an effect that it can be removed to provide a high-definition and high-quality printed matter.

  In addition to the effect of the invention according to claim 1, the invention according to claim 2 solves the problem that the ultrasonic vibrator is damaged by the reflected wave when performing relief printing on the machine, and the cleaning liquid is saved. And the effect of reducing the drainage time can be obtained.

  In addition to the effect of the invention according to claim 2, the invention according to claim 3 has an effect of removing bubbles in the cleaning liquid and droplets remaining on the partition wall during drainage.

  In addition to the effect of the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the invention according to claim 4 has an effect of preventing an adverse effect on the cleanability due to the low sound pressure node of the standing wave.

1 is a schematic side view showing a printing press according to an embodiment of the present invention. The side surface schematic diagram which shows the washing machine by one embodiment of this invention. The side surface schematic diagram which shows the washing machine and plate | version | printing stage in washing | cleaning by one embodiment of this invention. The side surface schematic diagram which shows the washing machine and plate | version | printing stage in washing | cleaning by other embodiment of this invention.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing a printing press according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a transfer plate 300 whose outermost surface is made of silicone rubber or fluorine rubber, a transfer cylinder 140 that holds the transfer plate 300, a coating machine 130 that is placed so as to face the transfer plate 300, A relief plate 302 having a groove structure portion corresponding to an image line portion and a projection portion corresponding to a non-image portion, a plate stage 120 on which the relief plate 302 is held, a substrate stage 121 holding the substrate to be printed 301, and a relief plate A cleaning machine 000 that can be installed so as to cover 302 is installed. Further, the gantry 110, the trajectory 111 of the substrate stage 121 and the plate stage 120, the optical substrate alignment camera 204 for observing the alignment mark of the printing substrate 301, and the plate alignment for observing the alignment mark of the relief plate 302 An alignment adjustment mechanism for a substrate or letterpress that performs alignment based on the information of the alignment mark read by the camera 203, the optical camera, the blower 202 installed facing the transfer cylinder 140, and the transfer cylinder 140. The pressure-sensitive adhesive roll 201 and the plate dryer 010 may be installed.

  The substrate stage 121 and the plate stage 120 are movable along the track 111. The transfer cylinder 140 can rotate and move up and down in the figure. The coating machine 130 can reciprocate up and down in the figure. 000 and the plate dryer 010 can be reciprocated in the vertical direction of the figure. In FIG. 1, the plate stage 120 is moved to the washing machine side, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the washing machine may move to the plate stage side.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing a washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. The cleaning machine 000 includes an ultrasonic vibrator 001 that faces the relief plate and a chamber 002 that holds the ultrasonic vibrator.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing a cleaning machine and a plate stage during cleaning according to an embodiment of the present invention. A partition wall 003 is provided in the chamber 002 and can be partitioned into an ultrasonic transmission unit 009 and a cleaning chamber 011. The ultrasonic transmission unit 009 is used by inserting a medium for transmitting ultrasonic waves such as water. When the distance between the ultrasonic vibrator 001 and the object to be cleaned is close, the ultrasonic vibrator 001 is damaged by the reflected wave, and therefore, it is necessary to leave an interval of about 100 mm or more. By providing the partition wall 003, the capacity of the cleaning chamber 011 surrounded by the chamber 002 and the relief plate 302 can be reduced, the cleaning liquid and rinsing liquid injection time and drainage time can be shortened, and the cleaning time can be shortened. Moreover, the usage-amount of the washing | cleaning liquid and rinse liquid to be used can be reduced. The water injection port can be provided on the side of the chamber 002 or the like, and the drain port can be provided on the plate stage 120 corresponding to the bottom surface of the cleaning chamber 011 in order to reduce the remaining accumulated water as much as possible.

An O-ring is provided at the lowermost portion of the chamber 002 to prevent liquid leakage. The contact portion at the bottom of the chamber 002 may be the relief plate 302 or the plate stage 120 around the relief plate 302. Further, a backing plate may be installed on the outer periphery of the relief plate 302 to bring the lowest part of the chamber 002 into contact. As shown in FIG. 4, the chamber 002 may have a configuration in which a lower part is opened from the partition wall 003 and the cleaning liquid and the rinse liquid are held in the second chamber 004. The backing plate is the relief plate 302 and the plate stage 12.
By eliminating the step of 0, it can be expected that the cleaning liquid and the rinse liquid can easily pass over the relief plate 302 in the cleaning chamber 011.

  When bubbles remain in the cleaning chamber 011, there is a problem that obstructs transmission of ultrasonic waves. Bubbles can be efficiently removed by adjusting the flow rate of the cleaning liquid or rinse liquid in the cleaning chamber 011 to remove the bubbles, or by providing an inclination in the partition wall 003. In addition, the method of lifting the chamber 002 while tilting the plate stage 120 upwards, or by tilting the partition wall 003 makes it possible to efficiently remove droplets remaining on the partition wall 003 during drainage. . If the slope of the partition wall 003 is too gentle, bubbles and droplets cannot be removed, and if it is too steep, the capacity of the cleaning chamber 011 increases, and water injection and drainage time becomes long. For this reason, the inclination of the partition wall is desirably 15 degrees or less. The height of the narrowest part of the cleaning chamber 011 can be selected from 0.1 to 5.0 mm.

  The partition wall 003 is made of metal such as iron, aluminum, copper, nickel, tin, and tungsten, plastic such as polyethylene, polypropylene, vinyl chloride, polycarbonate, and fluororesin, ceramic such as zirconia, alumina, and silicon oxide, metal fiber, and carbon. Fiber, a composite material of glass fiber and plastic may be used. The thickness of the partition wall 003 needs to be strong enough to hold the weight of the medium, and is required to be thin enough to transmit ultrasonic waves to the cleaning chamber 011 satisfactorily.

  When the ultrasonic vibrator 001 is fixed, the cleaning performance may be adversely affected by the influence of the low sound pressure node of the standing wave. In that case, the cleaning performance is improved by swinging or rotating the ultrasonic vibrator 001 in rotation or revolution.

The ultrasonic vibrator 001 is connected to the ultrasonic oscillator via a cable. The ultrasonic vibrator 001 includes a magnetostrictive vibrator such as a nickel vibrator and a ferrite vibrator, a piezoelectric ceramic element such as BaTiO ₃ , PZT, PbTiO ₃ , (Bi, Na) TiO ₃ , a crystal vibrator, and a piezoelectric polymer film. An electrostrictive vibrator such as an element or a ZnO piezoelectric thin film element can be used. Among the electrostrictive vibrators, bolted Langevin vibrators can be used.

The ultrasonic frequency of the cleaning machine 000 can be selected from 20 kHz to 1 MHz, but is not limited thereto. What is necessary is just to select suitably according to the particle size and adhesive force of the removal object. Simultaneous oscillation of multiple frequencies or automatic switching of multiple frequencies may be performed. An ultrasonic output of 500 W to 20000 W and an ultrasonic intensity of 1 W / cm ² to 10 W / cm ² can be appropriately selected.

  Drying of the relief printing plate 302 after rinsing can be performed by hot air drying in which hot air is sent into the chamber 002 and drying, or by replacing with a fast drying solvent such as IPA or a fluorine-based solvent, and drying. It is desirable to drain the rinse solution and dry it. The plate dryer 010 is composed of an air knife nozzle or a suction nozzle, and the relief plate 302 passes under the plate dryer 010, so that liquid removal and drying can be performed. The air knife nozzle and the suction nozzle may be combined to perform liquid draining and droplet suction simultaneously.

  Cleaning fluids include hydrocarbons, aromatics, petroleum-based, alcohol-based, ketone-based, ether-based, chlorine-based solvents, fluorine-based solvents, neutral detergents, alkaline detergents, acidic detergents, pure water, etc. An aqueous cleaning solution can be used. The aqueous cleaning solution may contain nitrogen, oxygen, ozone microbubbles or nanobubbles, or water in which ozone is dissolved. In the case of removing the metal filler or metal nanoparticles, an etchant that corrodes the metal to be removed can also be used.

As the rinsing liquid, an organic solvent such as hydrocarbon, aromatic, petroleum, alcohol, ketone, ether, chlorine, fluorine, or pure water can be used. Pure water may contain nitrogen, oxygen, ozone microbubbles or nanobubbles, or water in which ozone is dissolved.

  Cleaning liquid and rinsing liquid can be supplied and discharged by combining new liquid supply, circulation, and overflow. In order to achieve good cleaning performance and minimize the amount of waste liquid, the primary cleaning is circulated, the secondary cleaning is supplied with a new liquid and put into a tank of the circulation system, and the rinse is supplied with a new liquid and combined with overflow. be able to. Each of the washing and rinsing may be performed once or a plurality of times.

  The cleaning machine 000 may be connected to a liquid supply system, a waste liquid system, and a circulation system pipe, and can be connected to a cleaning liquid tank, a rinse liquid tank, a circulating liquid tank, a pressure pump, a suction pump, a mist separator, and the like.

  A transfer plate 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. Silicone rubber or fluorine rubber mainly composed of PDMS can be used for the outermost surface of the transfer plate 300. These are materials characterized by low surface energy, and liquids such as ink are difficult to spread. The surface of the elastomer may be surface-modified with UV, ozone, ashing or the like with an appropriate strength. However, if the surface is excessively modified, the transferability deteriorates. Further, the elastomer may be composed of a plurality of layers, but the outermost layer needs to be silicone rubber or fluororubber for good transferability of the ink.

  The transfer plate 300 includes a method of imitating a smooth surface from a mold made of silicon wafer, quartz glass, photoresist pattern, electroforming, or a method of forming by knife coating, roll coating, spin coating, bar coating, lip coating, or the like. Although it can be used, it is not limited to these methods.

  The relief plate 302 in one embodiment of the present invention is made of a silicon wafer, quartz glass, non-alkali glass, blue plate glass, metal such as SUS, copper, nickel, or resin. The surface of the relief plate 302 may be plated with a metal such as chromium, or may be formed by vapor deposition such as silica or diamond-like carbon. The grooves of the relief 302 can be formed by molding, electroforming, wet / dry etching using photolithography, sand blasting, laser drawing, or the like.

  The substrate stage 121 includes an actuator movable in the X direction, the Y direction, and the θ direction, and can adjust the position of the substrate to be printed 301 attached on the substrate stage 121 with respect to the transfer plate 300. . The θ direction means a horizontal rotation operation.

  The coating machine 130 can use, for example, spray coating, gravure coating, reverse gravure coating, roll coating, flexographic printing, inkjet printing, slot die coating, cap coating, bar coating, etc., but the present invention is not limited to these. It is not done.

  The substrate to be printed 301 is in the form of glass or plastic film. Examples of resin materials for plastic films include polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polyethersulfone, polyetherimide, polyetheretherketone, polyetherketone, polyphenylene sulfide, polyarylate, polyimide, polycarbonate, and cellulose triacetate. , Cycloolefin polymer, polyolefin, polyvinyl chloride, liquid crystal polymer, epoxy resin, phenol resin, urea resin, melamine resin, silicone resin, and the like can be used. It may be configured as a laminated plastic film having a multilayer structure in which two or more kinds of the resin materials are combined and laminated.

  As the ink in one embodiment of the present invention, conductive ink, insulating ink, semiconductor ink, optical ink, or the like can be used.

  Metal nanoparticles can be used for the conductive ink. Metal nanoparticles are nanoparticles made of gold, silver, copper, platinum, palladium, nickel, cobalt, iron, aluminum, manganese metals, or gold, silver, copper, platinum, palladium, nickel, cobalt, iron, aluminum Further, nanoparticles of an alloy made of two or more metals selected from metals such as manganese and molybdenum, metal oxides such as silver oxide, and organometallic compounds such as organic silver can also be used. The average particle diameter of the metal to be used is preferably 50 nm or less from the viewpoint of dispersibility in the ink, and preferably from 10 to 30 nm from the viewpoint of stable production of the particles, but is not limited thereto. A conductive ink of a conductive polymer such as PEDOT or PANI can also be used.

  When forming an electric circuit for electronics use by a printing method, the metal nanoparticles as described above are often used. Compared with spray cleaning, in which droplets of several μm to several hundred μm are applied to the substrate, or brush cleaning or sponge cleaning in which the substrate is rubbed with a micron-order structure, ultrasonic cleaning, which is the cleaning method of the present invention, is Suitable for removing fine particles such as

  Insulating ink is polyimide, polyamide, polyester, polyvinylphenol, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl acetate, polyurethane, polysulfone, polyvinylidene fluoride, cyanoethyl pullulan, epoxy resin, phenol resin, benzocyclobutene resin, acrylic resin, polystyrene, polycarbonate, cyclic Polyolefin, fluororesin, silicone resin, and polymer alloys and copolymers of these resins can be used. Further, the gate insulating film and the interlayer insulating film may be made of a composite material including an organic / inorganic filler.

  As the semiconductor ink, a π-conjugated polymer is used. For example, polypyrroles, polythiophenes, polyanilines, polyallylamines, fluorenes, polycarbazoles, polyindoles, poly (P-phenylene vinylene) s, etc. may be used. it can. In addition, low molecular weight substances having solubility in organic solvents, for example, polycyclic aromatic derivatives such as pentacene, thiophene oligomers, phthalocyanine derivatives, perylene derivatives, tetrathiafulvalene derivatives, tetracyanoquinodimethane derivatives, and the like are used. be able to. A carbon semiconductor made of fullerene, carbon nanotube, or graphene can be used. Silicon inorganic particles or IGZO precursors can be used as the inorganic semiconductor ink.

  As the optical ink, it is possible to use red, green, blue ink, light-shielding ink, organic EL ink, and inorganic EL ink used for color filters.

  A printing method by a printing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a printing process for performing a reverse offset printing method and an initialization process for returning a relief plate used in the reverse offset printing method to a state before printing.

  Below, a printing process is demonstrated in order of the printing processes 1-4.

<Printing process 1>
An ink film is formed on the transfer plate 300 by the coating machine 130.

<Printing process 2>
The solvent of the ink film is volatilized to produce a dry ink film.

<Printing process 3>
The dry ink film is pressed against the relief plate 302 to transfer the non-image portion dry ink film on the transfer plate 300 to the relief portion of the relief plate 302.

<Printing process 4>
The transfer plate 300 and the substrate to be printed 301 are brought into contact with each other to transfer the dry ink film of the image portion to the substrate to be printed 301.

  Below, the initialization process is demonstrated in order of the initialization processes 1-3.

<Initialization step 1>
After the cleaning machine 000 is moved onto the plate stage 120, the cleaning machine 000 is covered on the relief plate 302. The relief plate 302 is cleaned by oscillating ultrasonic waves and pouring a cleaning solution. After cleaning with circulating cleaning liquid, drain the cleaning liquid.

<Initialization step 2>
With the ultrasonic wave oscillated, the rinsing liquid is poured to rinse the relief plate 302. After rinsing while circulating the rinse liquid, the rinse liquid is drained. After draining, the washing machine 000 is moved. When there is liquid dripping from the washing machine 000, the liquid dripping receptacle is moved below the washing machine 000, and then the washing machine 000 and the liquid dripping receptacle are moved.

<Initialization step 3>
The plate dryer 010 composed of an air knife nozzle and a suction nozzle is moved, the residual rinsing liquid on the relief plate 302 is drained and dried with an air knife, and splashes are removed with a suction nozzle.

  Since the initialization process can proceed in parallel with the printing process, printed matter can be continuously produced with a clean letterpress without sacrificing tact.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail by way of specific examples. However, these examples are for the purpose of explanation, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

  As a printing pattern, a 6-inch thin film transistor (TFT) array for an electrophoretic display element, 2 × 2 side-by-side, and an alignment mark arranged around each layer were used. In this embodiment, a gate layer composed of a gate electrode, a capacitor, and a bus line is formed on a base material, and a source / drain electrode and a bus line are composed on a substrate to be printed on which an insulating film is formed on the gate layer. The source / drain layer to be formed is patterned.

  As a transfer plate, a PET substrate having a thickness of about 120 μm and a 500 μm-thick silicone rubber laminated thereon was used. As the ink, a silver nanoparticle dispersion was used. Further, as the relief of the pattern, a relief made of glass in which a 2 × 2 surface of a 5-inch TFT array pattern was arranged on 350 × 350 mm was used. Further, a light-transmitting PEN substrate having a film thickness of 125 μm was used as a substrate to be printed. Using the substrate, a printing pattern was formed on the substrate to be printed according to the following procedures (1) to (4).

  (1) The ink was applied on the transfer plate with a coating length of 430 mm by a die coater using a 300 mm wide head.

  (2) After drying the ink coating film, the film was transported to a relief support mechanism on which the relief plate was installed.

  (3) The ink coating film was brought into contact with the relief plate, and the non-image area was transferred to the relief plate.

  (4) The transfer plate was brought into contact with the substrate to transfer the image line portion of the ink film remaining on the transfer plate.

  After the printing pattern is formed, the cleaning machine is moved onto the plate stage to cover the cleaning machine on the relief plate. An ultrasonic wave was oscillated, and the relief liquid was poured to wash the relief plate. After washing while circulating the washing liquid, the washing liquid was drained. With the ultrasonic wave oscillated, the rinse solution was poured to rinse the relief printing plate. After moving the washing machine, the relief printing plate was dried with a plate drier comprising an air knife nozzle and a suction nozzle.

  The chamber size of the cleaning machine was 450 mm (W) × 320 mm (D) × 300 mm (H). When there is no partition in the chamber, 36 L of cleaning liquid is required. On the other hand, in this example, since the partition with a height of the narrowest part of the cleaning chamber of 0.3 mm and an inclination of 1.5 ° was provided, it was possible to clean with a small amount of 1 L of cleaning liquid and to shorten the time of water injection and drainage. Since the partition wall is inclined, the removal of bubbles during water injection and the removal of droplets remaining on the partition wall during drainage can be performed efficiently. In addition, since the ultrasonic vibrator was swung during cleaning, good cleaning without unevenness around the standing wave could be performed.

  The substrate to be printed on which the printing pattern was formed was annealed with a heating device to form the source / drain layers of the TFT array. By using the printing method of the present invention, the positional accuracy of the alignment marks of the in-plane gate layer and the source / drain layer can be controlled within ± 2 μm, and a TFT array with high details and good positional accuracy was obtained. .

  Moreover, since the Example of this example performed plate washing on the machine, the following merits (1) to (4) were obtained as compared with machine-side washing in which the relief plate was removed and washed.

  (1) Since it is washed immediately after printing, it is easy to wash.

  (2) Since the same relief printing plate is used every time, there is no plate variation and the line / space dimensional accuracy is good.

  (3) Since printing can be performed with one letterpress, the plate making cost is low.

  (4) Since the relief printing plate is not removed from the stage, the printing accuracy (long dimension accuracy) is good.

  The printer of the present invention is a liquid crystal display element color filter, TFT array, organic EL, electronic paper or other image display body, memory, RFID, logic circuit, power transmission sheet, touch panel, electromagnetic shielding member, light or heat, It is used to manufacture physical sensors such as stress and magnetism, biological sensors, and chemical sensors. In particular, it is used for the manufacture of flexible electrical devices that are excellent in impact resistance, lightweight and capable of curved surface processing.

000 ... washing machine 001 ... ultrasonic vibrator 002 ... chamber 003 ... partition wall 004 ... second chamber 009 ... ultrasonic transmission part 010 ... plate dryer 011 ... washing chamber 110 ... base 111 ... orbit 120 ... plate stage 121 ... base Material stage 130 ... coating machine 140 ... transfer cylinder 201 ... adhesive roll 202 ... blower 203 ... plate alignment camera 204 ... substrate alignment camera 300 ... transfer plate 301 ... substrate to be printed 302 ... letterpress

Claims (6)

A transfer plate composed of silicone rubber or fluoro rubber on the outermost surface, a transfer cylinder for holding the transfer plate, a coating machine installed so as to face the transfer plate, and a groove structure portion corresponding to the image line portion And a relief plate having a projection corresponding to a non-image portion, a plate stage on which the relief plate is held, a substrate stage holding a substrate to be printed, and a washing machine that can be installed so as to cover the relief plate,
The cleaning machine includes an ultrasonic vibrator that faces the relief plate and a chamber that holds the ultrasonic vibrator.   The printing machine according to claim 1, wherein the chamber includes a partition wall between the relief plate and the ultrasonic transducer.   The printing press according to claim 2, wherein the partition wall is provided with an inclination of an inclination angle of 15 ° or less.   The printing press according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the ultrasonic vibrator is oscillated or rotated. A printing method performed by the printing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A first step of forming an ink film on the transfer plate with a coating machine; a second step of producing a dry ink film by volatilizing the solvent of the ink film; and pressing the dry ink film against the relief plate to A third step of transferring the dry ink film of the non-image portion to the convex portion of the relief plate, and a fourth step of transferring the dry ink film of the image portion to the printing substrate by bringing the transfer plate and the printing substrate into contact with each other. A printing process for sequentially performing
After the third step, an initializing step of sequentially performing a step of performing ultrasonic cleaning by covering the letterpress with a washing machine, a step of rinsing, and a step of drying,
In the printing process, a printed material is manufactured using a relief printing plate that has undergone an initialization process. It is a printed matter manufactured with the printing machine of any one of Claims 1-4,
A first step of forming an ink film on the transfer plate with a coating machine; a second step of producing a dry ink film by volatilizing the solvent of the ink film; and pressing the dry ink film against the relief plate to A third step of transferring the dry ink film of the non-image portion to the convex portion of the relief plate, and a fourth step of transferring the dry ink film of the image portion to the printing substrate by bringing the transfer plate and the printing substrate into contact with each other. In the printing process,
Produced using a relief printing plate that has undergone an initialization step that sequentially performs a step of performing ultrasonic cleaning by covering the relief plate with a washing machine, a rinsing step, and a drying step after the third step. Printed matter characterized by that.

Images