JP2022136277A - Thin film forming device and thin film forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a thin film forming device which can perform uniform coating with high precision, and to provide a thin film forming method.

SOLUTION: A thin film forming device 1 includes: a suction table 9 for sucking and holding a coating object 100; a plurality of coating heads 4 for carrying out thin film formation while discharging a coating material from an inkjet type nozzle on a surface of the coating object 100 sucked and held by the suction table 9; and a gantry 3 for moving the coating heads 4 at a position above the coating object 100. The gantry 3 further includes a heat source 31 for heating the surface of the coating object 100.

SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

COPYRIGHT: (C)2022,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to an inkjet thin film forming apparatus and a thin film forming method.

The inkjet system is a system in which ink droplets as a coating material are discharged little by little with high accuracy from an inkjet coating head using air bubbles or piezoelectric elements as a coating head. An inkjet coating apparatus is a device that applies ink droplets to a member to be coated by highly accurate ejection of the ink droplets. In recent years, this has attracted attention as a device that can achieve high-definition application of ink, and its applicability is being explored not only for printing on paper, but also in all industrial fields, and some have already been put into practical use. be.

A plurality of nozzles are provided at a predetermined pitch at the tip of the lower surface of the coating head, and the pitch of the nozzles determines the ejection interval of droplets of the coating material. Since the pitch of the nozzles is small and the presence or absence of ejection can be individually controlled for each nozzle, a plate mold such as that used in the flexographic printing method is not required, and coating can be performed in a free shape within a plane.

On the other hand, since the viscosity of the coating material is adjusted so that droplets can be discharged from the nozzle, the coating material spreads on the substrate after being discharged. Therefore, the stability of the surface shape formed by one droplet and one adjacent droplet becomes a problem, and in particular, the line shape at the outermost periphery of the surface shape greatly affects the quality of the product.

For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-100000 discloses a method in which an alignment film material is ejected from an inkjet head and deposited on a substrate. In the method of forming an alignment film by drying and solidifying, a surface tension adjusting solvent and a degassing solvent added to the alignment film material to obtain a viscosity suitable for ink jet ejection are disclosed. This is intended to improve the ejection operation of the inkjet and the leveling property on the substrate after ejection, and the drying and solidification is transferred to the next drying device as a separate process (see Non-Patent Document 1). ).

Japanese Patent No. 3073493

Yoshihiro Iwai and Kenji Koshiishi, "A Thorough Comparison of Liquid Crystals, PDPs, and Organic ELs", 1st Edition, Industrial Research Institute, July 2004, pp. 50-58

Hitherto, the relative positional relationship between the target coating interval and the nozzle pitch of the coating head has been the main focus in seeking high coating position accuracy and film thickness uniformity in inkjet coating.
However, in order to utilize inkjet coating in various fields, in addition to the operation at the time of coating, it is also important how to manage from immediately after coating to drying and fixing on the substrate.

In particular, in the case of application to the manufacture of liquid crystal glass substrates, as the size of substrates increases, the state of adhesion becomes extremely important. For this reason, it is desirable to apply the ink while controlling the position by an inkjet method, and to dry quickly so that the controlled position can be maintained.
However, in the conventional method as shown in Non-Patent Document 1, the drying process is performed after a series of coating processes are finished. Therefore, the drying process is not performed during the period from the start of the coating process to the start of the drying process after being set in the drying device. For this reason, the droplets applied to the glass substrate may move before the drying process is started, or leveling due to overlap between the droplets may occur in an unintended chain reaction.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a thin film forming apparatus and a thin film forming method capable of performing uniform coating with high accuracy.

In order to solve such problems, the present invention provides a gantry provided on the gantry and capable of moving in the longitudinal direction of the gantry. , a plurality of coating heads provided on the gantry and movable in the width direction of the gantry orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the gantry and in the vertical direction of the mounting surface of the gantry to apply a thin film to the surface of the object to be coated. and a head recovery device provided adjacent to the suction table provided on the pedestal, wherein the head recovery device has a plurality of suction ports for suction recovery of each of the plurality of coating heads. Each of the suction ports is arranged in a line, and includes a light emitting element for confirming droplets of the material discharged from the nozzle of the coating head, and a camera that shoots a shadow when the light emitting element is lit. and an electronic balance for adjusting the discharge amount per application between the coating heads. characterized by moving so as to

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the thin film forming apparatus and thin film forming method which can apply|coat uniformly with high precision can be provided.

1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a thin film forming apparatus according to this embodiment; FIG. FIG. 4 is a structural schematic diagram for explaining the structure on the back side of the gantry; 4 is an enlarged view of the head recovery device; FIG. 4A and 4B are schematic diagrams for explaining the operation of the head recovery device; FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating functions of a control unit; FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining a thin film forming method of the thin film forming apparatus according to the present embodiment; 4 is a flowchart for explaining an outer frame coating process; It is a flowchart explaining an inner surface coating process. It is a schematic diagram explaining the outer frame coating process of the thin film forming apparatus which concerns on this embodiment, (a) shows the time of an outward pass, and (b) shows the time of a return pass. It is a structural schematic diagram explaining the structure of the gantry of the thin film forming apparatus which concerns on a modification. It is a schematic diagram explaining the outer frame coating process of the thin film forming apparatus which concerns on a modification, (a) shows the time of an outward pass, and (b) shows the time of a return pass.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the form (henceforth "embodiment") for implementing this invention is demonstrated in detail, referring drawings suitably. In addition, in each figure, the same code|symbol is attached|subjected to the common part and the overlapping description is abbreviate|omitted.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a thin film forming apparatus 1 according to this embodiment.
The thin film forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has a wide variety of uses, such as flat panel displays and flexible electronic paper called flexible displays to which electrophoresis is applied. In the following description, the thin film forming apparatus 1 according to this embodiment forms (applies) a polyimide thin film on a glass substrate 100 used for a flat panel display. The polyimide thin film formed (applied) on the glass substrate 100 by the thin film forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment becomes an orientation film by being subjected to the main drying treatment and the orientation treatment (rubbing). However, in this description, the thin film before the main drying treatment and orientation treatment is also referred to as the "orientation film".

The thin film forming apparatus 1 includes a pedestal 2, a gantry 3, a coating head unit 5 having a plurality of coating heads 4, an X-axis moving mechanism 6, a Y-axis moving mechanism 7, a Z-axis moving mechanism 8, and an alignment film. A suction table 9 for vacuum-sucking and fixing a glass substrate 100 to be formed (applied), a head recovery device 10, a heat source device 31, an alignment camera 32 (see FIG. 2), and an alignment camera moving mechanism 33. (see FIG. 2) and a control unit 50 (see FIG. 5).

In the following description, as shown in FIG. 1, the longitudinal direction of the gantry 2 (moving direction of the gantry 3) is the X-axis, and the width direction of the gantry 2 (the direction perpendicular to the X-axis on the horizontal plane) is the Y-axis. , and the vertical direction is the Z-axis. In addition, it is assumed that the movement of the gantry 3 in the positive direction of the X-axis is the outward path, and the movement in the negative direction of the X-axis is the return path.

The gantry 3 is a gate-type gantry having an opening 3 a between itself and the gantry 2 , and is provided on the gantry 2 via an X-axis movement mechanism 6 .
A coating head unit 5 having a plurality of coating heads 4 is provided on the return path side of the gantry 3 via a Y-axis moving mechanism 7 and a Z-axis moving mechanism 8 .
A heat source device 31 is provided on the forward path side of the gantry 3 . An alignment camera 32 (see FIG. 2) is provided on the forward side of the gantry 3 via an alignment camera moving mechanism 33 (see FIG. 2).

The X-axis movement mechanism 6 is a linear motor actuator composed of a stator (magnet plate) 6 a provided on the gantry 2 and a mover (coil) 6 b provided on the gantry 3 . can be moved in the X-axis direction.
The Y-axis movement mechanism 7 is a linear motor actuator composed of a stator (magnet plate) 7a provided on the gantry 3 and a mover (coil) 7b provided on the coating head unit 5. The coating head unit 5 can be moved in the Y-axis direction.
The Z-axis moving mechanism 8 is composed of a servomotor, and is capable of moving the coating head unit 5 with respect to the gantry 3 in the Z-axis direction.
That is, the coating head unit 5 (coating head 4, nozzles 4a to be described later) can be moved in the X-axis direction by the X-axis moving mechanism 6, and can be moved in the Y-axis direction by the Y-axis moving mechanism 7. , and can be moved in the Z-axis direction by the Z-axis moving mechanism 8 .
The X-axis moving mechanism 6, the Y-axis moving mechanism 7, and the Z-axis moving mechanism 8 are controlled by the controller 50. FIG.

A coating head unit 5 having a plurality of coating heads 4 is provided. A plurality of coating heads 4 are provided in order to ensure the continuity of the pitch of the nozzles that eject the alignment film material. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the coating head unit 5 may have four coating heads 4 arranged in a row along the Y-axis direction, and three rows of coating heads 4 arranged in the X-axis direction. Illustrated. Furthermore, a plurality of nozzles (not shown) for ejecting the alignment film material for one coating head 4 are arranged in a row along the Y-axis direction, and the nozzle rows are arranged in a plurality of rows (not shown). ). The coating head 4 is an inkjet head that ejects a small amount of liquid droplets from a nozzle with high accuracy using a piezoelectric element or the like.
The control unit 50 can control whether or not the alignment film material is ejected, the timing, and the amount of the alignment film material to be ejected for each nozzle of the coating head 4 .

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of the rear side of the gantry 3. As shown in FIG. 2, the mover 6b of the X-axis moving mechanism 6, the Y-axis moving mechanism 7, and the Z-axis moving mechanism 8 are omitted.
As shown in FIG. 2, the heat source device 31 arranged on the forward path side of the gantry 3 (back side in FIG. 1) is composed of, for example, an infrared lamp, and can irradiate infrared rays in a substantially vertical direction. ing. That is, the object (glass substrate 100) passing through the opening 3a (see FIG. 1) of the gantry 3 can be irradiated with infrared rays when the gantry 3 returns.
The heat source device 31 is controlled to be turned on/off by the controller 50 .

Although the thin film forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is described as using an infrared lamp as the heat source device 31, it is not limited to this, and a visible light lamp (not shown) that emits visible light is used. Alternatively, an ultraviolet lamp (not shown) that irradiates ultraviolet rays may be used as long as it can heat the alignment film material applied to the glass substrate 100 .
Incidentally, when an ultraviolet lamp (not shown) is used as the heat source device 31, it takes time for the intensity of the irradiated ultraviolet rays to stabilize after the power of the ultraviolet lamp is turned on. It is desirable to control the start and stop of irradiation by opening and closing the shutter instead of controlling the lighting and extinguishing of the lamp.
Alternatively, the heat source device 31 may be a hot air blower (not shown) that heats clean air containing no dust or the like and blows it onto the object (glass substrate 100). The target (glass substrate 100) can be further heated by blowing heated clean air as a heat medium onto the target. Also, a combination of a hot air blower and an infrared lamp (visible light lamp, ultraviolet lamp) may be used.

The alignment camera 32 is used for positioning with the glass substrate 100 sucked by the suction table 9, and also for observing the alignment film material discharged from the coating head 4 and coated on the glass substrate 100. .
The alignment camera moving mechanism 33 can move the alignment camera 32 in the Y-axis direction with respect to the gantry 3 . That is, the alignment camera 32 can be moved in the X-axis direction by the X-axis moving mechanism 6 and can be moved in the Y-axis direction by the alignment camera moving mechanism 33 .
The X-axis moving mechanism 6 and the alignment camera moving mechanism 33 are controlled by the controller 50 . An image captured by the alignment camera 32 is transmitted to the control unit 50 and used for correcting the position of the coating head 4 .

Returning to FIG. 1, the suction table 9 can vacuum-suck and fix the glass substrate 100 . The suction table 9 is provided with a θ rotation mechanism (not shown) consisting of a servomotor, so that the suction table 9 can be rotated by a rotation angle θ with the axis in the Z-axis direction as the rotation axis.
Note that the suction table 9 is controlled by a control unit 50 so that the attachment and detachment of the glass substrate 100 and the rotation angle θ are controlled.

Next, the head recovery device 10 will be further described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the head recovery device 10. As shown in FIG.
The head recovery device 10 is a device that discharges from the nozzles of the coating head 4 to prevent clogging of the nozzles and to detect the recovery of the clogging.
The head recovery device 10 includes a suction port 11, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) 12, a camera 13, an LED moving mechanism 12A for moving the LED 12 in the Y-axis direction, and a camera 13 for moving in the Y-axis direction. A camera moving mechanism 13A and an electronic balance 14 are provided. The electronic balance 14 ejects the alignment film material from the nozzles of the coating heads 4 and adjusts the ejection amount per application between the coating heads 4 .

The suction port 11 is connected to a vacuum chamber (not shown) or the like, and arranged so as to correspond to a plurality of coating heads 4 provided in the coating head unit 5 when viewed in the Z-axis direction. That is, corresponding to the coating head unit 5 shown in FIG. 1, four suction ports 11 are arranged in a row along the Y-axis direction, and three rows of the suction ports 11 are arranged in the X-axis direction. .

The LEDs 12 are arranged so as to correspond to the positions of the coating heads 4 arranged in a row along the Y-axis direction provided in the coating head unit 5 . That is, four LEDs 12 are arranged in a line along the Y-axis direction corresponding to the coating head unit 5 shown in FIG. Also, the LED 12 can be moved in the Y-axis direction by an LED moving mechanism 12A.
The LED 12 is controlled to be turned on/off by the controller 50 .

The camera 13 is arranged so as to correspond to the position of the coating heads 4 arranged in a row along the Y-axis direction provided in the coating head unit 5 . That is, four cameras 13 are arranged in a row along the Y-axis direction corresponding to the coating head unit 5 shown in FIG. Also, the camera 13 can be moved in the Y-axis direction by a camera moving mechanism 13A.
An image captured by the camera 13 is transmitted to the control section 50 .

4A and 4B are schematic diagrams for explaining the operation of the head recovery device 10. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of FIG. 1 viewed from the XZ plane. In FIG. 1, a plurality of coating heads 4 and suction ports 11 are arranged in the X-axis direction. are omitted.

First, the controller 50 (head recovery controller 51 to be described later) controls the X-axis moving mechanism 6 and the Y-axis moving mechanism 7 to move the coating head 4 so as to correspond to the suction port 11 . Further, the control unit 50 (head recovery control unit 51) controls the LED moving mechanism 12A and the camera moving mechanism 13A so that the Y-axis coordinates of the LED 12 and the camera 13 match the Y-axis coordinates of the nozzle 4a to be inspected. move to In addition, the camera 13 has an X-axis direction moving mechanism (not shown), and moves the focus position of imaging so as to match the X-axis coordinate of the nozzle 4a to be inspected.

Next, the control unit 50 (head recovery control unit 51) controls the coating head 4 to perform a recovery operation in which droplets 4b of the alignment film material are ejected from the nozzles 4a. The ejected droplets 4b of the alignment film material enter the suction port 11. As shown in FIG.
At this time, the control unit 50 (head recovery control unit 51) turns on the LED 12 and the camera 13 takes an image. The ejected droplets 4b of the alignment film material are imaged as shadows in the image captured by the camera 13 . This makes it possible to detect recovery from clogging of the nozzles 4a.

The clogging of the nozzles 4a can be resolved by ejecting the droplets 4b of the alignment film material. The moving mechanism 8 (see FIG. 1) may be controlled to lower the coating head 4 so as to come into contact with the suction port 11 to perform suction recovery. Then, the control unit 50 (head recovery control unit 51) controls the Z-axis moving mechanism 8 (see FIG. 1) to return it to a predetermined height, ejects droplets 4b of the alignment film material from the nozzle 4a, and controls the camera. At 13, an image is taken to confirm recovery.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram illustrating functions of the control unit 50. As shown in FIG.
The control unit 50 can control the movement positions of the X-axis movement mechanism 6, the Y-axis movement mechanism 7, the Z-axis movement mechanism 8, the LED movement mechanism 12A, the camera movement mechanism 13A, and the alignment camera movement mechanism 33. ing.
Further, the control unit 50 can control attachment/detachment of the glass substrate 100 and the rotation angle θ on the suction table 9 .
In addition, the control unit 50 can control the lighting and extinguishing of the LED 12 and the heat source device 31 .
Further, the control unit 50 can control whether or not the alignment film material is ejected and the timing for each nozzle of the plurality of coating heads 4 .
Also, the control unit 50 is adapted to receive images captured by the camera 13 and the alignment camera 32 .

The controller 50 includes a head recovery controller 51 , an outer frame coating process controller 52 , and an inner surface coating process controller 53 .
The head recovery control section 51 performs control to recover the nozzles of the coating head 4 .
The outer frame coating process control unit 52 controls the formation of the outer frame of the alignment film to be coated on the glass substrate 100 .
The inner surface coating process controller 53 controls coating of the alignment film material inside the outer frame of the alignment film formed by the outer frame coating process controller 52 .

Next, a thin film forming method of the thin film forming apparatus 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8. FIG.

In step S<b>1 , the head recovery control section 51 of the control section 50 checks whether or not the alignment film material can be normally dropped from the nozzles of the coating head 4 . In addition, the electronic balance 14 is used to adjust the discharge amount of the alignment film material from the nozzles of the coating head 4 .
Specifically, the head recovery control section 51 controls the X-axis movement mechanism 6 and the Y-axis movement mechanism 7 to move the coating head 4 so as to correspond to the suction port 11 . Also, the LED moving mechanism 12A and the camera moving mechanism 13A are controlled to move the LED 12 and the camera 13 so that the Y-axis coordinates of the LED 12 and the camera 13 match the Y-axis coordinates of the nozzle to be inspected.
Then, the head recovery control unit 51 controls the coating head 4 to eject the alignment film material from the nozzles, and the camera 13 images and confirms droplets of the ejected alignment film material.
Note that when the nozzle is clogged and the ink is not dropped, the above-described suction recovery is performed.
After confirming that the droplets can be normally dropped from the nozzles of the coating head 4, the process proceeds to step S2.

In step S2, the controller 50 controls the suction table 9 to suck the glass substrate 100 placed on the suction table 9 by an external substrate loading mechanism (not shown) (substrate loading). Further, the control unit 50 controls the X-axis moving mechanism 6 and the alignment camera moving mechanism 33 to move the alignment camera 32, and based on the image captured by the alignment camera 32, the glass substrate 100 adsorbed to the adsorption table 9. Check the position of Based on the position information of the glass substrate 100 confirmed here, the control unit 50 controls the movement of the coating head 4, which will be described later.

In step S<b>3 , the outer frame coating process controller 52 of the controller 50 coats and forms an outer frame of the alignment film on the glass substrate 100 . Here, the outer frame coating step shown in step S3 will be further described with reference to FIG.
First, in step S31, the outer frame coating process control unit 52 controls the Y-axis moving mechanism 7, and in step S32 described later, the coating head 4 forms the outer frame pattern 110 (see FIG. 9A). (application head Y-axis alignment).

In step S32, as shown in FIG. 9A, the outer frame coating process control unit 52 controls the X-axis movement mechanism 6 to move the gantry 3 in the forward direction, and controls the coating head 4. , to control the timing of dropping droplets of the alignment film material from the nozzles of the coating head 4 .
As a result, the outer frame pattern 110 of the alignment film is applied to the glass substrate 100 .

When the movement of the gantry 3 in the forward direction is completed, the process proceeds to step S33.
In step S33, the outer frame coating process controller 52 turns on the infrared lamp, which is the heat source device 31 (heat source device ON).

In step S34, as shown in FIG. 9B, the outer frame coating process control unit 52 controls the X-axis movement mechanism 6 to move the gantry 3 in the backward direction. In this way, the glass substrate 100 that has passed through the opening 3a (see FIG. 1) of the gantry 3 is irradiated with the infrared rays (heating area) .
As a result, the outer frame pattern 110 of the alignment film applied to the glass substrate 100 in step S32 is dried.

When the movement of the gantry 3 in the backward direction is completed, the process proceeds to step S35.
In step S35, the outer frame coating process control unit 52 turns off the infrared lamp, which is the heat source device 31 (heat source device OFF).

In step S36, the outer frame coating process control unit 52 determines whether or not a predetermined number of times has been completed.
In the outer frame coating step shown in step S3, in order to make the outer frame pattern 110 have a predetermined height, the coating and drying of the outer frame pattern 110 are repeated multiple times, and the predetermined number of times has not been completed. (S36, No), the processing of the outer frame coating process control unit 52 returns to step S31. When the predetermined number of times has been completed (S36, Yes), the outer frame coating step (step S3) shown in FIG. 7 is completed, and the process proceeds to step S4 in FIG.

Returning to FIG. 6, in step S4, the inner surface coating process controller 53 of the controller 50 applies the alignment film material to the inner surface surrounded by the outer frame pattern 110 (see FIG. 9) formed in step S3. Here, the inner surface coating step shown in step S4 will be further described with reference to FIG.
In step S41, the inner surface coating process control unit 53 controls the Y-axis moving mechanism 7 to move the position of the Y-axis so that the coating head 4 is arranged at the initial position in the Y-axis direction (coating head Y axis alignment).

In step S42, the inner surface coating process control unit 53 controls the X-axis movement mechanism 6 to move the gantry 3, and controls the coating head 4 to determine the timing of dropping droplets of the alignment film material from the nozzles. Control (gantry movement/coating). It should be noted that the movement of the gantry 3 in S42 does not matter whether it is an outward trip or a return trip. As a result, the alignment film material is applied to the inner surface surrounded by the outer frame pattern 110 (see FIG. 9) formed in step S3.

In step S43, the inner surface coating process control unit 53 determines whether or not a predetermined number of times of coating (N times) has been completed.
As will be described later, the inner surface surrounded by the outer frame pattern 110 is coated N times while moving the coating head 4 by 1/N of the nozzle pitch. As a result, the pitch of droplets dropped on the inner surface surrounded by the outer frame pattern 110 is 1/N of the nozzle pitch of the coating head 4 . Thereby, the film thickness can be made uniform.
If the predetermined number of coatings has not been completed (S43, No), the process proceeds to step S44, and the inner surface coating process control unit 52 controls the Y-axis movement mechanism 7 to move the coating head 4 by 1/N nozzle pitch. . Then, the process returns to step S42.
If the predetermined number of times of coating has been completed (S43, Yes), the inner surface coating step (step S4) shown in FIG. 8 is terminated, and the process proceeds to step S5 of FIG.

In step S<b>5 , the controller 50 controls the suction table 9 to release the suction of the glass substrate 100 placed on the suction table 9 . The glass substrate 100 coated with the alignment film is removed from the thin film forming apparatus 1 by an external substrate loading mechanism (not shown) (substrate unloading).
Note that the glass substrate 100 extracted from the thin film forming apparatus 1 is sent to a drying processing apparatus (not shown) that performs the main drying process.

As described above, the thin film forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment forms an alignment film by using an inkjet method, and thus does not require a plate as in the conventional flexographic printing method, and forms a small amount of a wide variety of alignment films. (In other words, it is possible to deal with the production of small-lot, high-mix flat panel displays).

Further, when forming the alignment film on the glass substrate 100, the thin film forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment forms the outer frame pattern 110 of the alignment film, and then coats the alignment film material within the frame.
Here, as shown in FIG. 9, when forming the outer frame pattern 110 of the alignment film, the alignment film material coated on the glass substrate 100 is heated by a heat source device 31 such as an infrared lamp. Spreading of the alignment film material from the applied position on the glass substrate 100 can be reduced. As a result, protrusions from the alignment film formation region can be reduced, and the alignment film material can be used efficiently.
Also, the linearity of the edge of the alignment film can be improved. As a result, the non-display area of the flat panel display can be further reduced. In addition, in the case of a multi-panel glass substrate, the space between adjacent alignment film patterns can be reduced, and the number of flat panel displays that can be taken out from one glass substrate can be increased.

Next, the alignment film material applied inside the frame is blocked by the outer frame so that it does not spread any further. As a result, protrusion (spreading by wetting) from the alignment film formation region can be reduced, and the alignment film material can be used efficiently.

Further, the thin film forming apparatus 1 according to this embodiment is provided with a head recovery device 10 adjacent to the suction table 9 . As a result, clogging of the coating head 4 can be prevented, the nozzles can be recovered (cleaned), and the amount of droplets of the alignment film material dropped from the nozzles of the coating head 4 and the timing of dropping can be suitably controlled. be able to.
Further, by taking an image of the alignment film material ejected from the coating head 4 with the camera 13, it is possible to confirm whether or not the material is correctly ejected without clogging. In addition, since the irradiation area (heating area 34 shown in FIG. 9B) of the heat source device 31 is directed toward the lower part of the gantry 3 on the glass substrate 100, clogging of the coating head 4 is not promoted. It's like

<Modification>
It should be noted that the thin film forming apparatus according to this embodiment is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
FIG. 10 is a structural schematic diagram for explaining the structure of the gantry 3 of the thin film forming apparatus according to the modification. Compared to the gantry 3 (see FIG. 2) according to the present embodiment, the gantry 3 (see FIG. 10) according to the modification includes a heat source device 35 also on the return path side (front side in FIG. 1) of the gantry 3. there is Like the heat source device 31, the heat source device 35 is composed of, for example, an infrared lamp, and can irradiate infrared rays in a substantially vertical direction. That is, the heat source device 35 can irradiate an object that has passed through the opening 3a (see FIG. 1) of the gantry 3 during the outward movement of the gantry 3 with infrared rays.
The heat source device 35 is controlled to be turned on/off by the controller 50 .

11A and 11B are schematic diagrams for explaining the outer frame coating process of the thin film forming apparatus according to the modification, in which (a) shows the forward pass and (b) the return pass.
As shown in FIG. 11(a), when the gantry 3 is moved in the forward direction, the coating head 4 is controlled to control the timing of dropping droplets of the alignment film material from the nozzles of the coating head 4. By turning on the device 35 , the glass substrate 100 is irradiated with infrared rays (heating region) 36 .
Further, as shown in FIG. 11(b), when the gantry 3 is moved in the backward direction, the coating head 4 is controlled to control the timing of dropping droplets of the alignment film material from the nozzles of the coating head 4. , the heat source device 31 is turned on to irradiate the glass substrate 100 with infrared rays (heating region) 34 .
As described above, according to the thin film forming apparatus according to the modified example, the alignment film material can be dropped and dried both during the forward and backward passes, and the tact time for forming the outer frame can be shortened.
In addition, since the time from coating (dropping droplets of the alignment film material) to drying (irradiation of infrared rays) can be shortened, the linearity of the outer frame is further improved.

Further, a heating means (not shown) for heating the glass substrate 100 adsorbed on the adsorption table 9 (see FIG. 1) is further provided, and the glass substrate 100 is heated in the outer frame forming step (step S3) to allow the droplets to be dropped. The drying of the droplets of the alignment film material may be accelerated.

1 thin film forming apparatus 2 base 3 gantry 3a opening 4 coating head 4a nozzle 4b droplet of alignment film material 5 coating head unit 6 X-axis movement mechanism 6a stator 6b mover 7 Y-axis movement mechanism 7a stator 7b mover 8 Z Axis moving mechanism 9 Suction table 10 Head recovery device 11 Suction port (ejection position)
12 LED (imaging device)
12A LED moving mechanism (imaging device)
13 camera (imaging device)
13A camera movement mechanism (imaging device)
31 Heat source device 32 Alignment camera 33 Alignment camera moving mechanism 34 Infrared rays (heating area)
35 heat source device 36 infrared rays (heating area)
50 control unit 51 head recovery control section 52 outer frame coating process control section 53 inner surface coating process control section 100 glass substrate (coating object)
110 outer frame pattern

In order to solve such problems, the present invention provides a gantry provided on the gantry and capable of moving in the longitudinal direction of the gantry. , a plurality of coating heads provided on the gantry and movable in the width direction of the gantry orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the gantry and in the vertical direction of the mounting surface of the gantry to apply a thin film to the surface of the object to be coated. and a head recovery device provided adjacent to a suction table provided on the base in the longitudinal direction of the base , wherein the head recovery device recovers the coating head and performs the coating It is characterized by comprising the gantry and a head recovery control section for controlling the movement of the coating head unit with respect to the gantry so that the head unit corresponds to the head recovery device .

Claims (4)

a mount having a suction table that suctions and holds an object to be coated with a thin film;
a gantry provided on the gantry and movable in the longitudinal direction of the gantry;
a plurality of coating heads provided on the gantry and movable in the width direction of the gantry orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the gantry and in the vertical direction of the mounting surface of the gantry to apply a thin film to the surface of the object to be coated; a coating head unit comprising;
a head recovery device provided adjacent to the suction table provided on the pedestal;
The head recovery device includes a plurality of suction ports for suction recovery of each of the plurality of application heads, each of the suction ports being arranged in a row,
A light-emitting element for checking droplets of the material ejected from the nozzles of the coating head, a camera that captures a shadow when the light-emitting element is lit, and an electronic device that adjusts the amount of ejection per application between each coating head. consisting of scales and
An ink-jet type thin film forming apparatus, wherein the light emitting element and the camera, which are arranged to face each other, control their respective moving mechanisms so as to move so as to match the coordinates of the nozzle. a mount having a suction table that suctions and holds an object to be coated with a thin film;
a gantry provided on the gantry and movable in the longitudinal direction of the gantry;
a plurality of coating heads provided on the gantry and movable in the width direction of the gantry orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the gantry and in the vertical direction of the mounting surface of the gantry to apply a thin film to the surface of the object to be coated; a coating head unit comprising;
a head recovery device provided adjacent to the suction table provided on the pedestal;
The head recovery device comprises a light-emitting element for confirming droplets of material ejected from the nozzles of the coating head, a camera for capturing shadows when the light-emitting element is turned on, and an electronic balance for adjusting the discharge amount,
The light emitting elements correspond to each of the plurality of coating heads and are arranged in a line,
An ink-jet type thin film forming apparatus, wherein the light emitting element and the camera, which are arranged to face each other, control their respective moving mechanisms so as to move so as to match the coordinates of the nozzle. 3. The ink jet type thin film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object to be coated with the thin film is a substrate. 2. The ink jet thin film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object to be coated with the thin film is a glass substrate.

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