JPH05309303A - Apparatus for coating hard substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transfer a substrate smoothly when an excessive liquid is removed by a suction rod by installing a controller which transfers the substrate with a substrate stopper made free by contacting a press roller with the substrate while the coated substrate being stopped by the substrate stopper. CONSTITUTION:The following parts are installed: a pass roll 12 which transfers a substrate 10; a suction rod 22 having a suction opening at its upper part; a substrate detecting sensor 34 and a substrate stopper 36 which are installed in the transfer direction of the substrate 10 apart from the suction rod 22; a press roller 38 which contacts and separates the upper surface of the substrate 10; a suction pump which actuates the suction rod 22. By a controller, the substrate 10 is transferred while the coated substrate being stopped by a substrate stopper 36 according to the output of the substrate detecting sensor 34, the suction rod 22 being contacted with the substrate 10 at around its rear end to draw the substrate 10, the press roller 38 being contacted with the substrate 10, and the substrate stopper 36 being made free.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hard substrate coating apparatus used for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel or the like using a glass substrate and for coating a coating liquid such as a photoresist thinly and uniformly on a hard substrate. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the process of manufacturing a liquid crystal plate, there is a process of coating a hard substrate such as a glass substrate with a coating liquid such as photoresist in a thin and uniform thickness. For example, in the manufacture of a color liquid crystal plate, a glass substrate on which a transparent electrode is preformed,
A red color mosaic liquid having a photoresist function is uniformly applied, and then exposed to cure the color mosaic corresponding to red, and the excess liquid is removed to form a red color mosaic. Then, the same processing is repeated for other colors such as green and blue. In the case of applying a coating liquid that becomes a photoresist in this way, it is necessary to strictly control this liquid to have a uniform thickness (for example, about 2 μ ± 5%) and apply it thinly. This is because if the coating thickness is non-uniform, the light transmittance will be uneven and the quality will be deteriorated.

Conventionally, a spin coater has been used for this coating. This spin coater is one in which a coating liquid is dropped near the center of rotation of a rotated substrate and the liquid is scattered by utilizing centrifugal force to apply the liquid. However, in the method using this spin coater, not only the labor efficiency for the replacement of the substrate becomes poor, but also the amount of the liquid scattered and discarded increases. Therefore, there is a problem that the cost is increased.

Therefore, it is considered to use an apparatus for sandwiching a substrate between a pair of upper and lower rollers arranged horizontally and applying the substrate. In this device, the lower part of the bar that serves as the lower roller is immersed in the coating solution, and the substrate is sandwiched between this bar and the pressing roll located above this bar and fed while the bar is used to coat the lower surface of the substrate. Is.

[0005]

However, in this case, when the terminal end of the substrate separates from the bar, the coating liquid remains thick on the substrate due to the surface tension and viscosity of the coating liquid, resulting in thick coating near the substrate end. .. This thick coating part cannot be properly treated in various processing steps such as exposure and cleaning set for the regular coating thickness, and residues such as debris and debris due to untreatment of this thick coating part In the subsequent process, it was mixed with the coating liquid, which caused a defective product. Therefore, there is a problem that the yield of the products is reduced.

Therefore, it has been considered that a suction rod is brought into contact with the thick coating portion near the rear end of the substrate to suck the excess liquid by negative pressure (see Japanese Patent Application No. 3-12543).
That is, the suction rod having the suction port along the longitudinal direction is brought into contact with the vicinity of the rear end of the moving substrate.

However, in this case, there is a problem that the substrate cannot be transported smoothly due to the viscosity of the liquid adhering to the suction rod itself. Further, since the suction rod comes into contact with the thick coating portion while sucking, the liquid in the thick coating portion cannot be sucked uniformly uniformly over the entire width, and a slight time variation occurs. Therefore, there is a problem that streaks occur near the rear end of the substrate and the coating state becomes non-uniform.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is a hard disk capable of smoothly transferring a substrate when an excess liquid is removed by bringing a suction rod into contact with a thick coating portion. A first object is to provide a substrate coating device. It is a second object of the present invention to provide a hard substrate coating apparatus capable of uniformly sucking the thick coating portion and improving the coating state in the vicinity thereof.

[0009]

According to the present invention, a first object is to sandwich a hard substrate between a bar whose lower portion is immersed in a coating liquid tank and a pressing roller which is disposed above the bar so as to face each other. In a hard substrate coating device that coats the coating liquid on the lower surface of the hard substrate by feeding, the path roll for transporting the substrate and the bar is lifted below the hard substrate in the feeding direction of the hard substrate. A suction rod having a suction port extending in the longitudinal direction at least in the upper part, a substrate detection sensor and a substrate stopper arranged in the substrate feeding direction from the suction rod, and a substrate feeding direction from the suction rod. In the state where the pressing roller that comes into contact with and separates from the upper surface of the substrate, the suction pump that sucks the inside of the suction rod, and the substrate that has been applied are stopped by the substrate stopper based on the output of the substrate detection sensor. A hard substrate coating apparatus comprising: a controller that brings a suction rod into contact with the vicinity of the rear end of the substrate to suck the substrate and rolls the pressing roller onto the substrate and releases the substrate stopper to move the substrate. To be achieved.

The second object is achieved by bringing the suction rod into contact with the vicinity of the rear end of the substrate, allowing the suction rod to stand still without suction for a while, and starting suction after a fixed time.

[0011]

The substrate is stopped at a predetermined position by the substrate stopper, and the suction rod is brought into contact with the thick coating portion near the rear end of the substrate. Then, the substrate is sandwiched between the pass roller and the pressing roller which descends from above, and is forcibly fed together with the release of the substrate stopper.

The suction rod is brought into contact with the thick coating portion in a non-suction state and is kept stationary for a certain period of time. During this period, the excess liquid in the thick coating portion is uniformly attached along the surface of the suction rod in the longitudinal direction due to the surface tension. When suction of the suction rod is started in this state, the excess liquid uniformly attached over the entire length of the suction rod is simultaneously and uniformly sucked.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is an overall layout drawing of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
Is an operation explanatory view of the main part thereof, FIG. 3 is a view showing an embodiment of the suction rod, and FIG. 4 is a time chart view explaining the operation.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 is a glass substrate, and 12 is a glass substrate.
Is a pass roll, and the glass substrate 10 is fed from the left to the right in the drawing with the left and right edges of the lower surface of the glass substrate 10 placed on the rollers of the pass roll 12. In the middle of the path roll 12, a coating section 14
Are arranged. The coating portion 14 includes a bar 16 having a small diameter and a circular cross section, and a large-diameter pressing roll 18 facing above the bar 16.
And the coating liquid tank 2 in which almost the entire area of the bar 16 is left behind
Has 0 and.

Here, the bar 16 is formed by winding a thin metal wire on the surface of a rod having a circular cross section so as to be in close contact with it, and applies the coating liquid by utilizing a capillary phenomenon due to a groove between the metal wires. ..

The coating liquid tank 20 is long in a direction orthogonal to the feeding direction of the substrate 10, and a new liquid is supplied to the coating liquid tank 20 from a liquid supply pipe while the coating liquid is discharged from a drain port. The depth of this coating liquid is monitored by a liquid level sensor (not shown),
It is constantly managed.

The bar 16 is held horizontally so that the upper part thereof is exposed from the liquid, and one end thereof (the end on the far side in FIG. 1).
Protrudes rearward from the coating liquid tank 20, and the protruding end is connected to the electric motor by a detachable joint. In this electric motor, the feed speed of the glass substrate 10 is the pass roll 12
The rotation is controlled so that the speed becomes constant. The surface of the pressing roll 18 is made of conductive rubber, and is held so that a predetermined clamping pressure is applied to the glass substrate 10 with the glass substrate 10 sandwiched between it and the bar 16.

Reference numeral 22 is a suction rod. The suction rod 22 is provided in the substrate feeding direction with respect to the bar 16, and the substrate 1
It can be raised and lowered below 0. For example, air silling 24
It can be moved up and down by (FIG. 1) and contacts the lower surface of the substrate 10 when rising.

The suction rod 22 may have a sectional structure shown in FIG. 3, for example. The suction rod 22A shown in FIG. 3 (A) is a hexagonal tube 2 having six sides curved inward.
A thin metal wire 28 is wound around the outer circumference of 6 and a large number of small holes 30 are formed on each side of the hexagon at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction of the cylinder 26.

The suction rod 22B shown in FIG.
A large number of small holes 30 are provided at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction only on the upper side of the rectangular tube 26B. Suction rod 2 shown in FIG.
In 2C, the small holes 30 are formed only in two sides, that is, the upper side of the hexagonal tube 26C and the diagonally upper side of the substrate feeding side adjacent to the hexagonal cylinder 26C, while the cover 32 surrounding the lower portion of the diagonal side is provided. is there.

The suction rod 22 is sucked by a suction pump 33 ((C) of FIG. 2), and a cylinder 26 (2) of the suction rod 22.
6B, 26C) is made negative pressure. As a result, the metal wire 28
Outside air or liquid can be sucked into the cylinder 26 from the space and discharged through the pump 33. The outside air is discharged, but the liquid is trapped in the trap bin on the way. The pump 33 is controlled by the controller 40 described later.

Reference numeral 34 is a substrate detection sensor, and 36 is a substrate stopper. The substrate stopper 36 is provided at a position substantially away from the suction rod 22 by the length of the substrate 20. The substrate stopper 36 is composed of, for example, an electromagnetic plunger, and the plunger can be moved back and forth into the conveyance path of the substrate 10. When the substrate stopper 36 is operated, the plunger engages with the front edge of the substrate 10 to stop the substrate 10, and when the substrate stopper 36 is released, the plunger sends out the substrate 10 from the transport path so that the substrate 10 can be transferred. When the substrate 10 is stopped by the substrate stopper 36, the lower surface near the rear end of the substrate 10 is located above the suction rod 22.

The substrate detection sensor 34 is the substrate stopper 3
It is located closer to the bar 16 than 6 and detects the front and rear edges of the substrate 10. That is, when the sensor 34 detects the front edge of the substrate 10, the controller 40 described later causes the substrate stopper 36 to move.
Is activated to bring the substrate 10 into a stoppable state.

Reference numeral 38 denotes a pressing roller which can be raised and lowered, and presses the upper surface of the substrate 10 stopped by the substrate stopper 36. The pressing roller 38 presses the substrate 10 to increase the contact pressure between the substrate 10 and the roller conveyor 12 and increase the force for feeding the substrate 10.

Reference numeral 40 is a controller. The controller 40 operates the substrate stopper 36 based on the output of the substrate detection sensor 34, moves the suction rod 22 and the pressing roller 38 up and down at a predetermined timing, and activates / stops the suction pump 33. The operation will be described below with reference to FIGS.

The substrate 10 moves to the right while the lower surface is coated with the liquid by the bar 16. At this time, the suction rod 22 descends, the pressing roller 38 rises, and the substrate stopper 36 is in the released state (states shown in FIGS. 2A and 4A). At this time, the suction pump 33 is in operation, and the suction rod 22 is cleaned and stands by for the subsequent suction operation.

When the front edge of the substrate 10 is detected by the substrate detection sensor 34, the controller 40 actuates the stopper 36 to cause the plunger to project and stop the suction pump 33 (FIG. 2 (B), FIG. State of B)). During this time, the substrate 10 is coated and moved to the right, so that the tip of the substrate 10 contacts the plunger of the stopper 36 and stops.

In the controller 40, the board 10 is the stopper 3
After a sufficient time to stop at 6 (in the example of FIG. 4, the period of (B) is set to 2 seconds),
While the suction pump 33 is stopped, the suction rod 22 is raised and brought into contact with the thick coating portion 42 (see FIG. 2B) near the end of the coating surface (FIG. 2C). Presser roller 3 at this time
8 is also lowered at the same time, and the substrate 10 is sandwiched between the substrate 10 and the pass roll 12.

This state is held for the period shown in FIG. 4C (4 seconds in this example). As described above, during the period of FIG. 4C, the suction rod 22 is brought into contact with the thick coating portion 42 without being sucked, and is temporarily stopped, so that the liquid of the thick coating portion 42 collects along the suction rod 22 and the surface of the liquid is collected. Evenly distributed in the length direction due to tension.

After the rest time in FIG. 4C, the controller 40 operates the suction pump 33 to start sucking the liquid in the thick coating portion 44 (FIG. 2C, FIG. 4).
(D)). A fixed time (in this example, the period of FIG.
Seconds, the controller 40 releases the stopper 36. Therefore, the substrate 10 is sandwiched between the pass roll 12 and the pressing roller 38 and starts moving (FIG. 2 (D), FIG. 4).
(E)).

By pressing with the pressing roller 38 in this way, even if the rear end of the substrate 10 adheres to the suction rod 22, the substrate 10 can be reliably moved away from the suction rod 22. At this time, the suction pump 33 is operating, so that the substrate 1 is kept in a state where the suction rod 22 continues to suck.
The rear end of 0 moves away from the suction rod 22. Therefore, the suction of the liquid in the thick coating portion 42 is surely performed. Then, the substrate 10 is sent for a predetermined time (FIG. 2 (E), FIG. 4 (F)) sensor 34.
When the rear end of the substrate 10 is detected, the pressing roller 38 moves up and returns to the initial state (FIG. 4A).

[0032]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the substrate is stopped by the stopper and the suction rod is brought into contact with the thickened portion at the rear end of the substrate to suck the substrate, while the substrate is pressed by the pressing roller. The contact pressure with the roller is increased, and the transfer force of the substrate by the path roll is increased. Therefore, at the same time when the stopper is released, the substrate is reliably separated from the suction rod and moved by the path roll. Therefore, the substrate can be transported smoothly.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the suction rod starts suctioning after a predetermined time has elapsed since it contacted the thick coating portion, the liquid in the thick coating portion spreads over the entire suction rod before starting suction. You will need to wait for it to spread evenly and stabilize before you inhale. For this reason, it is possible to suction under uniform conditions over the entire width,
It is possible to more reliably prevent uneven application such as streaks on the application surface.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of a main part.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a suction rod.

[Fig. 4] Time chart diagram

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Substrate 12 Pass Roll 16 Bar 18 Pressing Roll 20 Coating Liquid Tank 22 Suction Rod 34 Substrate Detection Sensor 36 Substrate Stopper 38 Presser Roller 40 Controller

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Reference number in the agency FI Technical indication location H01L 21/027 (72) Inventor Masafumi Ozaki 1005 Kozoen, Ayase City, Kanagawa Prefecture Fuji Micrographix Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tatsuya Emoto 1005 Kozono, Ayase City, Kanagawa Prefecture Fuji Micrographix Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A hard substrate is sandwiched between a bar whose lower part is immersed in a coating liquid tank and a pressing roller which is arranged above the bar so as to face the bar, whereby the lower surface of the hard substrate is coated. In a hard substrate coating apparatus for coating a liquid, a path roller for transporting the substrate and a bar which is separated from the bar in the feeding direction of the hard substrate and is vertically movable below the hard substrate, and at least in the longitudinal direction. A suction rod having a suction port along the substrate, a substrate detection sensor and a substrate stopper arranged in the substrate feeding direction from the suction rod, and rolling contact with the upper surface of the substrate in the substrate feeding direction from the suction rod. A pressing roller that separates, a suction pump that sucks the inside of the suction rod, a state where the applied substrate is stopped by the substrate stopper based on the output of the substrate detection sensor, and the suction rod is placed near the rear end of the substrate. A hard substrate coating apparatus comprising: a controller for rolling the pressing roller onto the substrate while contacting and sucking the substrate, and releasing the substrate stopper to move the substrate. 2. The hard substrate coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller starts the suction pump with a predetermined time delay after the suction rod is brought into contact with the vicinity of the rear end of the substrate stopped by the substrate stopper.