JP2017104854A - Film pattern drawing method, coating film base material and coating applicator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a film pattern drawing method, a coating film base material and a coating applicator such that when a film pattern is formed on the base material by an inkjet method, drawability can be improved and a film pattern formation time can be suppressed from increasing as the drawability is improved.SOLUTION: There is provided a film drawing method of forming a film pattern 33 by dripping liquid 30b in a film formation region on the base material by an inkjet method, the film drawing method comprising: a base film forming process of forming a base film pattern 32 by discharging a fine amount of droplets 30a capable of forming the film formation region on the base material; and a thick film forming process of forming a thick film pattern 33 by discharging droplets 30b larger in liquid amount than the droplets having formed the base film pattern 32 on the base film pattern 32.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to a film pattern formed by discharging a coating liquid onto a substrate, and the film pattern drawing that can suppress an increase in the pattern drawing performance and an increase in the film pattern formation time accompanying the improvement in the drawing performance. The present invention relates to a method, a coating film substrate obtained by the film pattern drawing method, and a coating apparatus suitable for the film pattern drawing method.

  It is desired to form a coating film (referred to as a film pattern) having various shapes such as a line segment and a rectangular shape by discharging droplets on a substrate such as glass or film by an ink jet method. For example, a wiring pattern on a wiring substrate (base material) such as a printed circuit board or a package substrate and an insulating film pattern of a power semiconductor have been conventionally formed by photolithography. However, in photolithography, many processes such as coating, exposure, and etching are required. Further, since a large amount of coating material is consumed in the etching process, the coating material is wasted in a small number of processes by using the inkjet method. It has been studied to form a film pattern without doing so.

  For example, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, when the film pattern 101 is formed along the outer periphery 100 a of the rectangular electrode 100, in photolithography, a coating material for forming the film pattern 101 is applied over the entire surface, and the film pattern 101 is formed. Since the coating material other than is removed, the coating material other than the film pattern 101 is wasted. On the other hand, in the ink jet method, since the coating material can be applied to the film pattern 101 portion, the coating material that is a problem in photolithography is wasted by supplying the coating material only to the film pattern 101 portion requiring the coating material. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1 below). In the drawing by the ink jet method, a film formation region 103 corresponding to the film pattern 101 is set on the base material 102, and a large number of droplets 104 having a constant particle size as a coating material are discharged to the film formation region 103. Is done. That is, the droplet unit is scanned on the substrate 102 placed on the stage by a coating apparatus including a stage on which the substrate 102 is placed and a droplet unit that discharges the droplets 104, and the substrate 102 is set. A film pattern 101 is formed by discharging droplets 104 to the formed film formation region 103.

JP 2000-133649 A

  In recent years, higher performance of the wiring substrate 102, power semiconductor, etc., and the complexity of the film pattern shape and higher precision of coating by thinning are required in accordance with the expansion of applications. For this reason, the formation of the film pattern 101 by the conventional ink jet method sometimes fails to meet the demand for higher drawing accuracy. That is, as shown in FIG. 10A, when the droplet 104 is applied to the film formation region 103 by the ink jet method, the droplet 104 (coating material) that has landed on the film formation region 103 runs along the surface of the substrate 102. Because it spreads wet, it spreads over a slightly larger area than the shape at the moment of landing. Considering this, even if it is applied by landing a little inside the film formation region 103, the first droplet 104 and the subsequent droplet 104 overlap, so that only one droplet is dropped. Since the liquid amount and the dry state are different between the liquid droplet 104 and the liquid droplet 104 in which the liquid enemies overlap each other, a phenomenon in which wetting and spreading is different occurs. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10B, the end portion (edge portion 101 a) of the actual film pattern 101 has a undulating shape when viewed microscopically. There is a problem that when the edge portion 101a of the film pattern 101 exceeds the allowable range as shown by the arrow in FIG. .

  Therefore, the present invention can improve drawing performance when forming a film pattern on a substrate by an ink jet method, and can further suppress an increase in film pattern formation time accompanying improvement in drawing performance. It is an object to provide a pattern drawing method, a coating film substrate, and a coating apparatus.

  In order to solve the above problems, a film pattern drawing method of the present invention is a film pattern drawing method for forming a film pattern by applying droplets to a film forming region on a substrate by an ink jet method. A base film forming step of forming a base film pattern by discharging micro droplets capable of drawing a forming region, and discharging droplets larger in size than a droplet in which the base film pattern is formed on the base film pattern And a thick film forming step of forming a film pattern.

  According to the film pattern drawing method, the base film pattern is formed with the fine droplets by the base film forming step, and then the large liquid having a larger liquid volume than the micro droplets is formed on the base film pattern by the thick film forming step. Since the film pattern is formed by applying the droplet, the film forming region can be drawn with high accuracy, and an increase in the application time due to high-precision application can be suppressed. In other words, by drawing with fine droplets that can draw the film formation region, in other words, with high-resolution droplets, even a complicated and thin film pattern can be precisely and precisely dropped. it can. That is, since the particle size of the droplet is small and the amount of one droplet is small, the drying speed when landing on the film forming region is increased and the spread of wetting is suppressed. Specifically, even when the droplets that have landed on the film formation region overlap each other, the amount of liquid is less than that of conventional droplets, so wetting and spreading are suppressed. As a result, the wavy phenomenon at the edge (edge portion) can be suppressed, and the drawing accuracy can be improved. Then, after a base film pattern corresponding to the film formation region is formed, large droplets having a larger liquid volume than fine droplets are landed by the thick film formation step. That is, the final film pattern is formed by the large droplets becoming familiar with the base film pattern. Accordingly, since the number of ejections and the number of scans can be reduced as compared with the case where the film pattern is formed with only minute droplets, it is possible to suppress an increase in the time required for forming the film pattern. That is, when a film pattern is formed with only minute droplets, the processing time (tact time) required for one substrate increases, and further, the drying speed of the minute droplets increases as the processing time increases. There is a possibility that the quality of the film itself may be affected by the occurrence of unevenness of the film, unevenness of the muscles, unevenness of the muscles, etc. However, in the thick film formation process after the base film pattern is formed, the film pattern is formed with droplets that are larger than fine droplets. The number of times can be reduced, the coating operation can be shortened, and the time required for forming the film pattern can be shortened.

  Preferably, the thick film forming step is started after the base film forming step is completed and before the base film pattern is completely dried, and is completed before the base film pattern is completely dried. .

  According to the above configuration, when a large droplet having a large amount of liquid is applied by the thick film forming step after the base pattern is formed, the large droplet is pulled by the surface tension of the base film pattern, The film pattern can be formed while preventing the droplets from spreading over the base pattern. Then, since the thick film forming process is completed before the base pattern is completely dried, all large droplets are dropped before the base pattern is dried. As a result, a uniform film pattern is formed as a whole, and the occurrence of film unevenness, muscle unevenness and the like can be suppressed.

  Further, at least in the base film forming step, the relative position between the droplet unit that discharges droplets to form a film pattern on the substrate and the substrate, and the discharge set for each nozzle of the droplet unit A configuration may be adopted in which droplets are ejected from the droplet unit when the position coordinates match.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to discharge droplets with improved positional resolution as compared with the conventional method of drawing a film pattern by discharging droplets from each nozzle based on bitmap data. The drawability of the film pattern can be improved.

  In order to solve the above problems, the coating film substrate of the present invention is characterized by being formed by the film pattern drawing method.

  According to the coating film base material, it is possible to obtain a high-quality coating film base material having no film unevenness, streak unevenness and the like.

  In order to solve the above problems, the coating apparatus of the present invention discharges droplets while moving relative to a stage on which a substrate is placed and the substrate placed on the stage. A droplet unit that forms a film pattern on the material, and the droplet unit includes a micro droplet nozzle that ejects micro droplets capable of drawing a film forming region on a base material, and the micro droplet. It has a thick film nozzle that discharges a large amount of liquid droplets.

  According to the coating apparatus, the microdroplet nozzle that discharges microdroplets to the droplet unit and the thick film nozzle having a larger diameter than the microdroplets are provided. After forming the base film pattern, large droplets with a large amount of liquid can be discharged immediately, so before the base film pattern is completely dried, large droplets are discharged from the thick film nozzle. Can be formed. Moreover, the coating film base material by the film | membrane pattern drawing method which has the said base film formation process and thick film formation process can be formed with one apparatus.

  The droplet unit includes a first nozzle head having the minute droplet nozzle, a second nozzle head having the thick film nozzle, and a head for moving the first nozzle head and the second nozzle head onto the stage. It is good also as a structure provided with the moving mechanism.

  According to this configuration, one of the nozzle heads can be flushed while the other nozzle head is being applied, so that it is possible to suppress clogging caused by drying of the droplets in the minute droplet nozzle. .

  In addition, a position detection unit that detects a relative position between the minute droplet nozzle and the thick film nozzle and the substrate on the stage, and each of the minute droplet nozzle and the thick film nozzle ejects droplets. A storage unit for storing the discharge position coordinates for each nozzle, and a drive signal for discharging a droplet from each nozzle when the position detected by the position detection unit matches the discharge position coordinates A drive signal output unit that outputs the signal may be provided.

  According to this configuration, since the droplet is ejected when the relative position between each nozzle and the substrate detected by the position detection unit matches the ejection position coordinate set for each nozzle, position detection is performed. The droplets can be ejected in accordance with the position resolution in the part. Therefore, it is possible to improve the positional resolution of the ejected droplets compared to the conventional method of drawing the film pattern by ejecting the droplets from each nozzle based on the bitmap data.

In addition, a position detection unit that detects at least a relative position between the minute droplet nozzle and the substrate on the stage, and a discharge position coordinate at which each nozzle of the minute droplet nozzle discharges a droplet are stored for each nozzle. A storage unit,
You may make it the structure which has a drive signal output part which outputs the drive signal which discharges a droplet from each said nozzle, when the position detected by the said position detection part and the said discharge position coordinate correspond.

  According to this configuration, only for the minute droplet nozzle, since the droplet is ejected when the relative position between each nozzle and the substrate coincides with the ejection position coordinates set for each nozzle, Only the minute droplet nozzle can eject droplets in accordance with the position resolution in the position detection unit. That is, for example, only a contour that requires high resolution can be drawn with a micro droplet nozzle, and then a region inside the contour can be drawn with a thick film nozzle, and a film pattern having a complicated contour can be formed in a short time. Can do.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, when forming a film | membrane pattern on a base material by the inkjet method, drawing property can be improved and also the increase in the film pattern formation time accompanying drawing property improvement can be suppressed.

It is a top view which shows the coating device of this invention roughly. It is a side view of the said coating device. It is a figure which shows a base material and a film | membrane pattern, (a) is a figure which shows the state by which the base material was affixed on the sheet | seat, (b) is a figure which shows the state by which the film | membrane pattern was formed on the base material. . It is a flowchart which shows the film | membrane pattern drawing method of this invention. It is an image figure which shows the landing state of the droplet to a film formation area. It is a figure which shows the state in which a film | membrane pattern is formed, (a) is a figure which shows the state which made the microdroplet land, (b) shows the state in which the microdroplet overlapped and the base film pattern was formed. FIG. 4C is a diagram showing a state in which a droplet having a larger liquid volume than a micro droplet is landed, and FIG. 4D is a diagram showing a state in which all droplets are overlapped to form a film pattern. It is an image figure which shows the landing state of the droplet to the film formation area in other embodiment. It is a figure which shows the state in which the film | membrane pattern in other embodiment is formed, (a) is a figure which shows the state which made the microdroplet land, (b) has formed the base film pattern in which microdroplets overlap. (C) is a diagram showing a state in which a droplet having a larger liquid volume than a micro droplet is landed, and (d) a state in which all the droplets are overlapped to form a film pattern. FIG. It is a figure which shows the base material in which the film | membrane pattern was formed. It is a figure which shows the state which forms a film pattern in a film formation area by the conventional method, (a) is an image figure which shows the state which made the droplet land on a film formation area, (b) is a film pattern in a film formation area It is a figure which shows the formed state. It is a figure for demonstrating the state discharged based on bitmap information. It is a figure for demonstrating the state which forms a film | membrane between a grating | lattice. It is a figure for demonstrating the state discharged based on discharge position coordinate information. It is a figure which shows the state which made the droplet land on a film formation area based on bitmap information or discharge position coordinate information.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  1 is a top view schematically showing a coating apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the coating apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a substrate and a film pattern. (A) is a figure which shows the state in which the base material was affixed on the sheet | seat, FIG.3 (b) is a figure which shows the state in which the film | membrane pattern was formed on the base material.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the coating apparatus includes a stage 10 on which a substrate W is placed and a droplet unit 2 that discharges a coating material onto the substrate W. The film pattern 3 can be formed on the substrate W by discharging the coating material while relatively moving the unit 2. That is, the stage 10 is formed so as to be movable in one direction, and the nozzle unit 4 for discharging the coating material is formed in the droplet unit 2 so as to be orthogonal to the moving direction of the stage 10. In the area where the head 4 intersects (application area A), the coating material is discharged and the film pattern 3 is formed on the substrate W.

  In the following description, the direction in which the stage 10 moves is the X-axis direction, the direction in which the nozzle head 4 moves is the Y-axis direction, and the direction orthogonal to both the X-axis and the Y-axis directions is the Z-axis direction. I will do it.

  Here, FIG. 3 is a diagram in the case where a power semiconductor chip (hereinafter simply referred to as a chip) is used as a base material W as an example, and FIG. 3A shows a plurality of chips (base material W) on the sheet S. FIG. 3B is a view showing one chip in which the film pattern 3 is formed on the substrate W. FIG. This chip has an electrode part E and an insulating film part R covering the electrode part E, and the insulating film part R is provided so as to cover the periphery of the substantially rectangular electrode part E. In the present embodiment, a substrate in which an electrode portion E is formed on a substrate W is supplied, and a film pattern 3 is formed by applying a coating material to the electrode portion E on the substrate W. Finally, this film The pattern 3 is formed as the insulating film portion R. That is, a film forming region 5 corresponding to the film pattern 3 is set on the base material W, and as shown in FIG. 3B, an annular rectangle and a corner portion are formed in an arc shape. A film formation region 5 is set.

  The film formation region 5 has a line width set in a range of 100 μm to 300 μm, and a line width fluctuation (acceptable range of a wavy portion) is set in a range of 10 μm to 30 μm. When a plurality of such base materials W are pasted on the sheet S and one sheet S is placed on the stage 10, a droplet 30 of the coating material is applied to the film forming region 5 of each base material W. Is ejected to form the film pattern 3. In the present embodiment, a power semiconductor chip will be described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a wiring board such as a printed board or a package board may be used as the base material W. As long as the film pattern 3 having various shapes is formed, the present invention can be applied to anything.

  The coating apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a cross-shaped base 6 as viewed from above, and a stage 10 and a droplet unit 2 are provided on the base 6. Specifically, the droplet unit 2 has a shape extending in one direction (Y-axis direction), and the stage 10 is provided so as to be movable so as to intersect the substantially central position of the droplet unit 2. In this coating apparatus, each processing area is set, a base material replacement area B is set on the front side in the X-axis direction, and a coating area A is set at a position where the stage 10 and the droplet unit 2 intersect. ing. That is, the stage 10 is movable to the base material replacement area B and the coating area A. When the base material W is carried in the base material replacement area B, the stage 10 moves to the coating area A, and the coating area After the film pattern 3 is formed on the base material W in A, the base material W is moved out again by moving to the base material replacement area B.

  The stage 10 is for placing the substrate W, and is placed in a state where the placed substrate W maintains a horizontal posture. In the present embodiment, the sheet S on which a plurality of base materials W are attached is placed. A plurality of suction holes to which a vacuum pump is connected are formed on the surface of the stage 10, and by operating the vacuum pump, a suction force is generated in the suction holes to place the substrate W (sheet S) on the stage. 10 surfaces can be held.

  The stage 10 can move in one direction. That is, a rail 11 extending in the X-axis direction is provided on the base 6, and a stage 10 is slidably attached to the rail 11. The stage 10 is attached with a linear motor, and can be moved to an arbitrary position and stopped by driving the linear motor. Thereby, the stage 10 can move to the application area A and the base material replacement area B. This application area A is an area in which the film pattern 3 is formed by discharging the droplet 30 onto the substrate W from the droplet unit 2. That is, the stage 10 can move slightly in the X-axis direction with respect to the droplet unit 2 and can accurately move the component in the X-axis direction at a predetermined position.

  The base material replacement area B is an area for replacing the sheet S on which the base material W is pasted, and the base material W is carried in and out via a robot hand or the like. That is, when the substrate W is carried in, the stage 10 moves to the substrate replacement area B, and the sheet S (substrate W) is supplied to the surface of the stage 10. Then, after moving to the coating area A and forming the film pattern 3 on the substrate W, the film pattern is moved again to the substrate replacement area B, and the coating film substrate W (the substrate W on which the film pattern 3 is formed (sheet W (sheet S)) is carried out via a robot hand or the like.

  The droplet unit 2 forms the film pattern 3 by landing the droplet 30 on the substrate W. The droplet unit 2 has a gantry portion 21 extending in one direction (Y-axis direction) and a nozzle head 4 provided on the gantry portion 21.

  The gantry portion 21 is a portal type formed by two leg portions 22 that are spaced apart from each other in the Y-axis direction on the base 6 and a beam portion 23 that extends in the Y-axis direction connecting the leg portions 22. It has a shape. That is, the gantry portion 21 is formed in a shape straddling the rail 11 that moves the stage 10. The beam unit 23 is provided with a nozzle head 4. In this embodiment, the liquid droplet amount is smaller than that of the fine liquid droplet nozzle head 41 (first nozzle head) that discharges the fine liquid droplet 30 a and the fine liquid droplet 30 a. And a thick film nozzle head 42 (second nozzle head) that discharges a large amount of liquid droplets 30b. Here, when it is not necessary to distinguish between the minute droplet nozzle head 41 (first nozzle head) and the thick film nozzle head 42 (second nozzle head), they are simply referred to as the nozzle head 4.

  The nozzle head 4 can move up and down with respect to the substrate W by the beam unit 23 moving up and down with respect to the leg unit 22. Thereby, in the application | coating operation | movement which discharges an application | coating material to the base material W, it adjusts so that the distance of the base material W and the nozzle head 4 may become appropriate. The nozzle head 4 is provided with a plurality of head modules for discharging the coating material. This head module is an ink ejection device using a piezo element as a drive source, and a plurality of nozzles are formed on a flat nozzle surface facing the stage 10. Then, by driving the piezo element, the coating material can be discharged from each nozzle one by one. In the present embodiment, when it is not necessary to distinguish between a micro droplet nozzle and a thick film nozzle described later, they are simply referred to as nozzles.

  Of the nozzle head 4, the micro droplet nozzle head 41 (first nozzle head) is for discharging the micro droplet 30 a to form the base film pattern 3. Here, the base film pattern 3 is a base for forming the film pattern 3, and is the film pattern 3 formed first in the film formation region 5. In the present embodiment, a base film pattern 3 that is a thin film is formed on the entire surface of the film forming region 5, and then an integrated film pattern 3 is formed by forming a thick film pattern 3 described later. The microdroplet nozzle head 41 has microdroplet nozzles, and can draw a film pattern 3 (underlayer film pattern 3) that is complicated and thinned by the microdroplets 30a. The minute droplet 30a is a droplet 30 having a resolution for describing the film pattern 3, and when a coating film is formed by landing, the relationship between the liquid amount and the dry state indicates that the film formation region 5 The liquid droplet 30 is of such a degree that the wavy phenomenon at the end (the edge portion 31 of the film pattern 3) is suppressed and the required accuracy of line width fluctuation at the edge portion 31 of the film pattern 3 can be cleared. In the case of the conventional droplet 30 (10 to 20 pl), when the complicated and thinned film pattern 3 is drawn, a phenomenon of undulation occurs at the end portion (edge portion 31) of the film formation region 5, and the degree of the undulation is determined by the film formation. Although it did not follow the boundary portion of the region 5 and could not meet the demand for high accuracy of drawing, the edge portion 31 can be discharged by ejecting a small droplet 30a having a smaller particle size than the conventional droplet 30. Can be satisfied.

  The micro droplet nozzle head 41 can move in the Y-axis direction along the beam portion 23 (head moving mechanism). Specifically, a rail extending in the Y-axis direction is provided on the beam portion 23, and a micro droplet nozzle head 41 is slidably attached to this rail. The linear motor can be driven and controlled to move to an arbitrary position and stopped. Thereby, the micro droplet nozzle head 41 can move to the application area A where the application is performed on the substrate W and the standby area P. Further, the minute droplet nozzle head 41 can move slightly in the Y-axis direction. In the application area A, a droplet that is a coating material at a predetermined position in the Y-axis direction with respect to the substrate W on the stage 10. 30 can be landed accurately. That is, when the micro droplet nozzle head 41 moves in the Y-axis direction and the stage 10 moves in the X-axis direction, the micro droplet nozzle head 41 and the stage 10 move relative to each other on the substrate W. The micro droplet 30a can be landed accurately at a predetermined position of the film forming region 5 set in the XY plane.

  Further, the micro droplet nozzle head 41 can prevent clogging of the micro nozzles by performing flushing in the standby area P. In the present embodiment, after the base film pattern 32 is formed in the application area A, it moves to the standby area P. Then, flushing is performed in the standby area P until the next new sheet S is supplied to the coating area A and the base film patterning process is started, so that clogging of minute nozzles can be prevented. .

  Further, the thick film nozzle head 42 (second nozzle head) forms a thick film pattern 33 on the base film pattern 32 by ejecting a large droplet 30b having a larger liquid volume than the minute droplet 30a. is there. The thick film pattern 33 is an additional pattern (thick film pattern 33) necessary for forming the film pattern 3 by supplementing the base film pattern 32 formed in the film formation region 5 with a coating material. By forming the thick film pattern 33 by applying the droplet 30b to the base film pattern 32, the base film pattern 32 and the thick film pattern 33 are integrated, and the film pattern 3 corresponding to the film formation region 5 is formed. That is, after the base film pattern 32 is formed and before the base film pattern 32 is completely dried, the droplet 30b is discharged, so that the discharged droplet 30b and the base film pattern 32 become familiar and the film pattern 3 is formed. Is done. The droplet 30b of the thick film nozzle head 42 cannot satisfy the resolution of the film formation region 5. However, when the droplet 30b is discharged from the thick film nozzle head 42 to the base film pattern 32 formed in the film formation region 5. When the droplet 30b is affected by the surface tension, the landed droplet 30b is pulled by the base film pattern 32 and can remain in the film forming region 5. That is, the droplet 30b ejected from the thick film nozzle head 42 forms the thick film pattern 33 without leaking (extinguishing) from the film forming region 5, and eventually forms the film pattern 3 by becoming familiar with the base film pattern 32. can do. Thereby, since the amount of liquid supplied to the film forming region 5 can be increased, the film pattern 3 can be formed in a shorter time compared to the case where the film pattern 3 is formed only by the fine droplet nozzles. it can.

  The thick film nozzle head 42 has a thick film nozzle capable of ejecting large droplets (a larger amount of liquid) 30b than the fine droplet nozzle head 41, and is about the same as the conventional droplet 30 (10 to 20 pl). Liquid droplets 30b can be discharged.

  Further, the thick film nozzle head 42 can move in the Y-axis direction along the beam portion 23 (head moving mechanism). Specifically, a rail extending in the Y-axis direction is provided on the beam portion 23 separately from the micro droplet nozzle head 41, and a thick film nozzle head 42 is slidably attached to this rail. The linear motor can be driven and controlled to move to an arbitrary position and stopped. Thereby, the thick film nozzle head 42 can move to the application area A where the application is performed on the substrate W and the standby area P. Further, the thick film nozzle head 42 can move slightly in the Y-axis direction, and in the application area A, a droplet 30b that is a coating material at a predetermined position in the Y-axis direction with respect to the substrate W on the stage 10. Can be landed with high accuracy. That is, when the thick film nozzle head 42 moves in the Y-axis direction and the stage 10 moves in the X-axis direction, the thick film nozzle head 42 and the stage 10 move relatively, and the XY plane on the substrate W The droplet 30b can be landed with high precision at a predetermined position of the film forming region 5 set in (1).

  Further, the thick film nozzle head 42 prevents clogging of the thick film nozzle by performing flushing in the standby area P. In the present embodiment, after the thick film pattern 33 is formed in the application area A, the thick film pattern 33 can be moved to the standby area P. The clogging of the thick film nozzle can be prevented by performing flushing in the standby area P until the next new sheet S is supplied to the application area A and the thick film forming process after the base film forming process is started. It has become.

  The beam unit 23 is provided with an inspection unit on the opposite side of the nozzle head 4. That is, an inspection area C is provided between the application area A and the base material replacement area B, and the positioning of the base material W and the inspection of the formed film pattern 3 are performed in the inspection area C. Specifically, the beam unit 23 is provided with an inspection camera 7 (CCD camera), and the inspection camera 7 waiting outside the inspection area C moves along the direction in which the beam unit 23 extends. The surface of the material W (the surface of the sheet S) can be imaged. Then, by imaging the alignment mark provided on the substrate W, the formation position (film formation region 5) of the film pattern 3 with respect to each substrate W is grasped, and based on the grasped formation position of the film pattern 3 The film pattern 3 is formed by discharging the droplet 30 from the nozzle head 4.

  In addition, after the film pattern 3 is formed on the base material W, each film pattern 3 is imaged by the inspection camera 7, thereby inspecting the quality of each film pattern 3. That is, after imaging the film pattern 3 while the inspection camera 7 moves along the beam portion 23 (moving in the Y-axis direction), the stage 10 moves in the X-axis direction, and the inspection camera 7 again By repeating the operation of performing imaging while moving in the Y-axis direction, all film patterns 3 formed on the substrate W on the sheet S are imaged. Then, the captured image data is transmitted to a control device described later, and the quality of the film pattern 3 is determined by the control device.

  A control device (not shown) drives and controls the driving device of each unit and performs various calculations necessary for the coating operation in order to execute a series of coating operations according to a program stored in advance. In the present embodiment, the film pattern 3 formation position (reference position) based on the alignment mark is stored for each substrate W, and the alignment of the substrate W (sheet S) placed on the stage 10 is stored. The film pattern 3 formation position (reference position) of each substrate W is corrected according to the amount of mark shift. That is, the film pattern 3 formation position is corrected from the position information of the alignment mark imaged by the inspection camera 7, and the ejection position (landing position) of the nozzle head 4 in the film formation region 5 is corrected. Thereby, even when arrangement | positioning of the sheet | seat S on which the base material W was affixed has shifted | deviated somewhat, the film | membrane pattern 3 can be accurately formed with respect to the base material W on the sheet | seat S. FIG.

  Also, the line width of the film pattern 3 to be formed and the allowable values relating to the fluctuation of the line width are set. When the film pattern 3 is formed on the substrate W, a line is obtained from the image data captured by the inspection camera 7. The fluctuations in the width and the line width are calculated, and it is determined whether or not these values are within the allowable values. If the film pattern 3 deviates from the allowable value, it is discharged as a defective product in the base material replacement area B.

  Next, the operation of this coating apparatus will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, in step S1, the substrate W is carried in. Specifically, the stage 10 stands by in the base material replacement area B, and the sheet S on which the plurality of base materials W are attached is conveyed by the robot hand and placed on the stage 10.

  Next, in step S2, alignment processing is performed. In this alignment process, the position correction of the film forming region 5 according to the base material W placed on the stage 10 is performed. Specifically, after the stage 10 moves from the base material replacement area B to the inspection area C, the alignment mark position is specified by imaging the alignment mark with the inspection camera 7. Then, the film pattern 3 formation position (reference position) of each substrate W is corrected according to the specified amount of alignment mark displacement, and the ejection position (landing position) of the nozzle head 4 in the film formation region 5 is determined. .

  Next, in step S3, a base film forming process is performed. That is, the base film pattern 32 is formed on each substrate W. Specifically, the stage 10 in the inspection area C moves to the application area A, and the micro droplet nozzle head 41 moves from the standby area P to the application area A. Then, based on the ejection position information calculated in step S <b> 2, the micro droplet 30 a is ejected to the film formation region 5 of each substrate W. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, minute droplets 30 a are ejected inside the boundary of the film formation region 5 to form a uniform base film pattern 32 over the entire film formation region 5. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, when the micro droplet 30a is ejected to the film forming region 5, the micro droplet 30a ejected to the film forming region 5 has a small particle size and a small amount of liquid. For this reason, it stays in the film forming region 5 and starts to dry at the same time as the landing, so that wetting and spreading are suppressed (FIG. 6A). Then, the adjoining minute droplets 30a become familiar with each other, whereby a uniform base film pattern 32 is formed in the film forming region 5 (FIG. 6B). That is, the film formation region 5 that has been complicated and thinned is accurately depicted, and the degree of undulation at the edge portion 31 can be suppressed.

  Next, a thick film forming process is performed in step S4. This thick film forming step is a step of additionally forming a pattern (thick film pattern 33) on the base film pattern 32, and is started and ended before the base film pattern 32 is completely dried. Specifically, after the base film pattern 32 is formed, the thick film nozzle head 42 moves from the standby area P to the application area A, and the droplets 30b are made to correspond to the droplets 30b based on the ejection position information calculated in step S2. It discharges to the film formation area 5 of the base material W. That is, as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6C, the droplet 30b ejected on the base film pattern 32 is pulled by the base film pattern 32 due to the influence of the surface tension of the ejected droplet 30b. It remains in the film forming region 5. Adjacent droplets 30b overlap each other, and at the same time, the film pattern 3 integrated with the base film pattern 32 is formed by adapting to the base film pattern 32 that is not completely dried (FIG. 6D). )).

  Next, in step S5, an inspection process is performed. That is, the quality of the formed film pattern 3 is determined. Specifically, the stage 10 moves to the inspection area C and the inspection camera 7 moves to the inspection area C. And all the film | membrane patterns 3 on the base material W are imaged with the test | inspection camera 7, and the quality determination of the formed film | membrane pattern 3 is performed based on the obtained image data.

  Next, in step S6, the substrate W is discharged. That is, the stage 10 moves from the inspection area C to the base material replacement area B, and the base material W (sheet S) on the stage 10 is placed on the robot hand, whereby the base material W is discharged. The discharged substrate W completely drys the film pattern 3 by a subsequent drying apparatus.

  As described above, according to the coating apparatus and the film pattern 3 drawing method of the present embodiment, the base film pattern 32 is formed with the minute droplets 30a by the base film formation process, and then the base film pattern 32 is formed by the thick film formation process. In addition, since the film pattern 3 is formed by applying the droplet 30b larger than the minute droplet 30a, the film formation region 5 can be drawn with high accuracy, and an increase in coating time due to high-precision coating can be suppressed. The time required for pattern formation can be shortened.

  In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the uniform base film pattern 32 is formed in the entire film formation region 5 in the base film formation step has been described. However, as illustrated in FIGS. The base film pattern 32 along the boundary portion may be formed, and then a thick film forming step may be performed. Specifically, in the base film forming step, micro droplets 30a are ejected along the boundary portion of the film forming region 5, that is, the outer frame (FIG. 8A). The landed micro droplet 30a spreads in a linear manner along the outer frame while overlapping each other. Finally, a linear base film pattern 32 along the boundary is formed at the boundary of the film formation region 5 (FIG. 8B). That is, when the micro droplet 30a is ejected to the film forming region 5, the micro droplet 30a ejected to the film forming region 5 is landed in the film forming region 5 because the particle size is small and the liquid amount is small. In addition, since the drying is started simultaneously with the landing, the spread of wetting is suppressed, and the film forming region 5 is accurately depicted. As a result, the degree of undulation at the edge portion 31 of the formed base film pattern 32 is suppressed.

  Next, in the film thickness forming step, the droplet 30 b is discharged to the film forming region 5 to form the thick film pattern 33. Specifically, the thick film pattern 33 is formed by discharging the droplet 30b on the base film pattern 32 and the substrate W (electrode). That is, when the droplets 30b are ejected, the landed droplets 30b are overlapped with each other and attempt to wet and spread, but the previously formed linear base film pattern 32 serves as a weir, and the landed liquid It is possible to prevent the droplet 30b from spreading over the base film pattern 32 (FIG. 8C). Then, since the foundation film pattern 32 has a suppressed degree of undulation at the edge portion 31, the droplet 30 b discharged thereafter tries to stay within the frame formed by the foundation film pattern 32 due to the influence of surface tension. To do. As a result, the film pattern 3 formed by integrating the landed droplet 30b with the base film pattern 32 is suppressed, and the degree of undulation at the edge portion 31 is suppressed, and the resolution of the minute droplet 30a is not impaired. A good film pattern 3 is formed (FIG. 8D).

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the nozzle head 4 has a thickness that forms the micro-droplet nozzle head 41 (first nozzle head 4) that discharges the micro-droplets 30 a to form the base film pattern 32 and the thick film pattern 33. Although the example in which the film nozzle head 42 (second nozzle head 4) is provided independently has been described, one nozzle head 4 may be provided with a fine droplet 30a nozzle and a thick film nozzle. In this case, since the thick film pattern 33 can be formed without performing the replacement operation of the nozzle head 4 after the base film pattern 32 is formed, the coating material has high quick drying properties, and the base film pattern 32 is Even if it dries quickly, it is preferable in that it can be discharged immediately.

  Further, the ejection position information described in the above embodiment is normally set from bitmap data. That is, as shown in FIG. 11, the head 45 (corresponding to the nozzle 8 head 4 in the above embodiment) is provided with five nozzles 8 (nozzles 81 to 85), and the head 45 moves in the application direction. However, the film pattern 3 is formed by discharging droplets from the nozzle 8. The ejection position information is set as pixel data (bitmap data) obtained by dividing the base material W into a plurality of grids, and is set like a filled pixel K in the example of FIG. A driving signal is output every time one pixel advances in the coating direction, and a droplet is ejected from the target nozzle 8. For example, in the example of FIG. 11, when a drive signal is input to the head 45 in a state where the pixel advances from the left end, a droplet is ejected from the nozzle 81. In addition, when a drive signal is input to the head 45 in a state where two pixels advance from the left end, droplets are ejected from the nozzle 82 and the nozzle 85. In this way, bitmap data corresponding to the film pattern 3 to be formed is prepared, and droplets are ejected based on the ejection position information based on the bitmap data, whereby the film pattern 3 is formed on the substrate W. The

  However, when the discharge position information is set by bitmap data, each nozzle 8 discharges a droplet every time one pixel advances, so the discharge position (position where the film pattern 3 is formed) is limited to the resolution of the bitmap data. Is done. That is, as shown in FIG. 12, when it is desired to form a film pattern 3 between adjacent pixels K, it is not possible to discharge a droplet to the boundary portion V between the pixels K (the x mark in the figure indicates a bit). Landing position of each grid based on map data). In such a case, a droplet is ejected to one of the pixels K. When this position corresponds to the edge portion 31 of the film formation region 5, the drawing accuracy of the edge portion 31 of the film pattern 3 is lowered. It becomes a factor to make.

  Therefore, without using bitmap data as the ejection position information, a droplet is ejected when the relative position between each nozzle 8 and the substrate W matches the ejection position coordinates set for each nozzle 8. By controlling in this way, it is possible to improve the position resolution of the ejected droplets and improve the drawing accuracy.

  That is, when describing such a coating apparatus, the same configuration as the coating apparatus of the above embodiment is omitted, but first, a position detection unit that detects the relative position between each nozzle 8 and the substrate W on the stage 10 is provided. ing. In this embodiment, the position detection unit is provided with an encoder in a drive unit (linear motor) that moves the stage 10, and the output pulse from the encoder is counted by a control device, so that the base on the stage 10 is counted. The relative position between the material W and each nozzle 8 can be detected.

  In addition, the control device is provided with a storage unit that stores discharge position coordinates at which each nozzle 8 discharges droplets, and each control unit uses each alignment mark as a reference according to the film pattern 3 formed on the substrate W. The discharge position coordinates of the nozzle 8 are stored. This discharge position coordinate is corrected by the position information of the alignment mark, and when the alignment mark is imaged by the inspection camera 7 for each conveyed substrate W, the discharge position coordinate is corrected from the position information of the alignment mark, and the correction is performed. The subsequent discharge position coordinates are stored as new discharge position coordinates.

  The control device also includes a drive signal output unit that causes each nozzle to eject droplets. In this embodiment, the micro droplet nozzle head 41 and the thick film nozzle head 42 can eject droplets independently by giving a drive signal to each nozzle (micro droplet nozzle and thick film nozzle). It is configured by nozzles, and by supplying a drive signal from the drive signal output unit to each nozzle, droplets can be discharged only from the given nozzle. The drive signal output unit outputs a drive signal to each nozzle when the position detected by the position detection unit coincides with the discharge position coordinates, and discharges a droplet from each nozzle. Yes.

  That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 13, the head 45 has five nozzles 8 and is configured to run the head 45 in the coating direction. In the storage unit, as the discharge position coordinates, the nozzle 81 is set to discharge at the discharge positions P1 and P2, and the nozzle 82 is set to discharge at the discharge positions P3 and P4. The discharge position coordinates are set to P1 to P9 for the nozzles 81 to 85, respectively. Then, when the head 45 travels in the application direction, the relative position between the substrate W and each nozzle 8 is detected by the output pulse from the encoder. When the relative position reaches the discharge position coordinate P1, a drive signal is output to the nozzle 81, and a droplet is discharged to the discharge position coordinate P1. In this way, when the relative position detected by the output pulse from the encoder coincides with the discharge position coordinates P1 to P9, a drive signal is output to the target nozzles 81 to 85, and droplets are discharged one after another. .

  By applying the discharge method based on the discharge position coordinate information to at least the droplet unit in the base film forming step, the contour of the coating pattern can be formed with high resolution, so that the drawing accuracy can be improved. That is, as shown in FIG. 14, when ejection is performed based on the bitmap data, when the end portion (edge portion 31) of the film pattern 3 is located between the bitmap grids, the droplets are applied to all the grids. Since the film pattern 3 is formed outside the planned position of the edge portion 31, the discharge position is alternately set in the lattice of the edge portion 31 (in FIG. mark). In this case, the undulation phenomenon may remain even with a small droplet, but in the method of discharging based on the discharge position coordinate information, it is planned based on the position resolution of the encoder without being bound by the bitmap data grid. It is possible to discharge to the position of the edge portion 31 (circle mark in FIG. 14). As described above, since the droplets can be ejected to the position corresponding to the resolution of the position detection unit without being caught by the lattice information of the bitmap data, the drawing property of the film pattern 3 can be improved.

  In the above embodiment, the example in which the position detection unit, the storage unit, and the drive signal output unit act on each of the minute droplet nozzle and the thick film nozzle has been described, but at least for the minute droplet nozzle. It is also possible to have a configuration that only acts. That is, as described above, the edge portion 31 can be drawn with high accuracy by discharging only the edge portion 31 based on the discharge position coordinate information by the micro droplet nozzle. Then, a film pattern is formed by dropping the inner region formed by the edge portion 31 (the region surrounded by the edge portion 31) with a thick film nozzle. The region formed by this thick film nozzle Since resolution is not particularly required, coating may be performed based on conventional bitmap data. In this way, only the minute droplet nozzle is formed based on the discharge position table information, the edge portion 31 is formed, and the inner area is formed with the thick film nozzle based on the bitmap data, thereby discharging all of the film. Compared to the case where the film pattern is formed based on the position coordinate information, the tact time can be shortened while drawing the entire film pattern with high accuracy.

  Further, not only the base film forming process but also the thick film forming process may be ejected based on the ejection position coordinate information.

2 droplet unit 3 film pattern 4 nozzle head 5 film formation region 10 stage 30 droplet 30a minute droplet 32 base film pattern 33 thick film pattern 41 minute droplet nozzle head (first nozzle head)
42 Thick film nozzle head (second nozzle head)
A Application area B Substrate replacement area C Inspection area P Standby area W Substrate

Claims (8)

A film pattern drawing method for forming a film pattern by performing droplets by an ink jet method on a film formation region on a substrate,
A base film forming step of forming a base film pattern by discharging micro droplets capable of drawing a film forming region on the substrate;
A thick film forming step of forming a film pattern by discharging droplets having a larger amount of liquid than the droplets forming the base film pattern on the base film pattern;
A film pattern drawing method comprising:   The thick film forming process is started after the base film forming process is completed and before the base film pattern is completely dried, and is completed before the base film pattern is completely dried. 2. The film pattern drawing method according to 1.   At least in the base film forming step, the relative positions of the droplet unit that discharges droplets to form a film pattern on the substrate and the substrate, and the discharge position coordinates set for each nozzle of the droplet unit 3. The film pattern drawing method according to claim 1, wherein a droplet is ejected from the droplet unit when coincides with.   A coating film substrate formed by the film pattern drawing method according to claim 1. A stage on which the substrate is placed;
A droplet unit that discharges droplets to form a film pattern on the substrate while moving relative to the substrate placed on the stage;
With
The droplet unit includes a micro droplet nozzle that ejects micro droplets capable of drawing a film formation region on a substrate;
A thick film nozzle that discharges a droplet having a larger amount of liquid than the minute droplet;
A coating apparatus comprising: The droplet unit includes a first nozzle head having the micro droplet nozzle;
The coating apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising: a second nozzle head having the thick film nozzle; and a head moving mechanism that moves the first nozzle head and the second nozzle head onto the stage. A position detection unit that detects a relative position between the minute droplet nozzle and the thick film nozzle and the substrate on the stage, and ejection in which each of the minute droplet nozzle and the thick film nozzle ejects a droplet. A storage unit that stores position coordinates for each nozzle, and
7. A drive signal output unit that outputs a drive signal for discharging a droplet from each of the nozzles when the position detected by the position detection unit coincides with the discharge position coordinates. The coating apparatus as described in. A detection unit that detects at least a relative position between the minute droplet nozzle and the substrate on the stage; and a storage unit that stores, for each nozzle, discharge position coordinates at which each nozzle of the minute droplet nozzle discharges a droplet. And comprising
7. A drive signal output unit that outputs a drive signal for discharging a droplet from each of the nozzles when the position detected by the position detection unit coincides with the discharge position coordinates. The coating apparatus as described in.

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