JPH0532342A - Carriage device for sheet-like flexible substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a sheet-like flexible substrate to be stably carried, and prevent the curling thereof by the removal of static electricity. CONSTITUTION:A substrate 1 placed on a base sheet 21 is carried horizontally via a plurality of feed rollers 22, and the ionizing air A is blown slantingly toward the carrying direction of the substrate 1, at the time of passage below a deelectrifying bar 20, thereby removing static electricity charging the surface of the substrate 1 and preventing the re-deposition of dispersing dust or the like. The substrate 1 after removal of static electricity is passed through space between a coating roller 3 having coating liquid transferred from a doctor roller 2, and a backup roller 23, thereby applying the liquid to the surface of the substrate 1 in state free from repellency due to static electricity, and ensuring uniform film formation throughout.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a roll coating device for a liquid crystal display film substrate (PF-LCD) or a flexible printed substrate, a brush cleaning device, etc., for transporting a single-wafer flexible substrate by rollers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example showing the prior art of the above-mentioned transporting apparatus is shown in FIGS.
Shown in. This example is an apparatus used for roll coating of a sheet-shaped flexible substrate, and is used as a photoresist coating apparatus when forming a fine pattern on the substrate surface by photolithography. With this device,
The sheet-shaped substrate 1 is conveyed by being placed on an underlayment or the like, and the coating liquid transferred from the doctor roll 2 to the coating roll 3 is applied to the coating region 4 on the surface of the substrate 1. In the figure, 5 is a coating liquid supply device, and 6 is the discharge device. However, since the substrate 1 is a thin and flexible film substrate, it is likely to be charged with static electricity, and when coating is performed in the state of being charged with static electricity, the substrate 1 is coated with the coating roll 3
There is a problem in that the film may be caught in the substrate or the coating liquid may be difficult to be applied on the surface of the substrate 1 so that the film cannot be uniformly formed on the entire surface.

Further, since the length of the coating roll 3 is shorter than the entire width of the substrate 1, there is a problem that the film thickness of the coating region 4 may not be uniform on the entire surface. That is, as shown in FIGS. 13 to 17, when an appropriate amount of the coating liquid 7 supplied from the supply device 5 is dropped on the contact portions of both rolls 2 and 3, the dropped coating liquid 7 is in the direction of the arrow in the figure. The excess coating liquid 7 flows to the ends of the contact points of both rolls 2 and 3, and the excess coating liquid 7a spills out from both ends (see FIGS. 14 and 16). The liquid 7a is excessively transferred to both side edge portions of the substrate 1,
As shown in FIG. 7, thick portions 8a are easily formed on both ends of the coating film 8.

Other examples showing the prior art of the above-described transporting device are shown in FIGS. This example is an apparatus used for brush cleaning of a substrate. The substrate 1 is horizontally transported on a transport roll 9, and the front and rear edges of the substrate 1 are rotated by holding both side edges of the rotating brush 10 from above by holding them from above. When cleaning with the brush 10, the rotary brush 10 is rotated in the forward direction, and when cleaning the rear end portion of the substrate 1, the rotary brush 10 is rotated in the reverse direction. Reference numeral 12 in the figure denotes a backup roller that supports the substrate 1 from the back side during brushing. In this apparatus, since the substrate 1 is a flexible and thin substrate, there is a problem that the tip end of the substrate 1 is wrapped around the backup roller 12 during brushing, which easily causes a conveyance failure. JP 61-7
According to the technique (not shown) disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4688, a sensor detects the front end and the rear end of the substrate to prevent the bending of the substrate by a rotating brush by performing forward and reverse rotations of the brush. Was not a means for stable transportation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and is capable of stably transporting a single-wafer flexible substrate, and when used in a roll coating apparatus, it prevents winding due to static electricity removal and film formation. An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet-fed flexible substrate transfer device capable of preventing defects and capable of stable cleaning transfer when used in a cleaning device using a rotating brush.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a transporting apparatus for a sheet-shaped flexible substrate according to the present invention comprises:
A static elimination means for removing static electricity charged on the substrate is installed in the substrate carry-in portion of the single-wafer flexible substrate conveyed by the roller.

The single-wafer flexible substrate transporting device according to the present invention uses a static eliminating bar by blowing out ionized air as the static eliminating means, and the air discharging direction of the static eliminating bar is inclined toward the upstream side in the transport direction of the substrate. It can be configured to be provided.

Further, in the single-wafer flexible substrate transporting apparatus according to the present invention, the flexible substrate has a plurality of openings at both edges thereof, and the flexible substrate has openings at both edges of a transport belt for transporting the flexible substrate. It is possible to adopt a configuration in which a plurality of protrusions into which the are inserted are provided.

Further, the sheet-shaped flexible substrate transporting device according to the present invention may be constructed by providing tapered portions at both ends of the roller.

[0010]

1 and 2 show a roll coating apparatus which is an embodiment of a sheet-fed flexible substrate conveying apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view of the roll coating apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the same. It should be noted that, in the following, the portions common to the conventional ones will be denoted by the common reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

In the figure, numeral 20 is a static elimination bar, which is installed with the direction of spraying the ionized air A inclined with respect to the carrying-in direction of the substrate 1 as shown in FIG. Substrate 1 placed on underlay 21
Is horizontally transported by a plurality of transport rolls 22 and is sprayed with ionized air A when passing below the static elimination bar 20. Then, the static electricity charged on the surface of the substrate 1 is removed, and dusts scattered when the ionized air A is sprayed are removed without reattaching to the substrate 1. The substrate 1 from which static electricity has been removed passes between the coating roll 3 to which the coating liquid has been transferred by the doctor roll 2 and the backup roll 23, and the surface thereof is coated with the coating liquid. Since the surface of the substrate 1 is not charged with static electricity, it may be caught in the coating roll 3 or the coating liquid
The surface of the film does not burst and is difficult to be applied, and a uniform film is formed on the entire surface.

3 to 5 show another example of a roll coating apparatus which is an embodiment of a sheet-shaped flexible substrate conveying apparatus according to the present invention. In the coating roll 25 of this example, the portion of the coating region 4 of the substrate 1 that is applied has a straight tube shape,
The portion outside the application area 4 is the tapered portion 26. The substrate 1 from which the static electricity is removed by passing under the static elimination bar 20 is coated with the coating liquid 7 by the coating roll 25 rotating at a constant speed. Here, since the portion of the coating roll 25 that is applied to the taper portion 26 is not in contact with the substrate 1, the coating liquid 7 is naturally not transferred, and the coating liquid 7 that is excessively transferred to the coating roll 25 is not transferred.
Does not accumulate at both ends of the coating area of the coating roll 25, but flows into the taper portion 26 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Therefore, a thick film is not formed on both edges of the coating region 4 of the substrate 1, and the coating film thickness of the coating region 4 becomes uniform.

6 to 9 show an example of a cleaning device using a rotating brush, which is an embodiment of a transfer device for a single-wafer flexible substrate according to the present invention. The substrate 30 of this example is provided with a plurality of openings 31 on both side edges at regular intervals, and a conveyor belt 32 for conveying the substrate 30 is provided with a mesh portion 33 on the inner side, and both side edge portions 34 thereof. The protrusions 35 are provided at regular intervals. The distance between the openings 31 of the substrate 30,
The protrusions 35 of the conveyor belt 32 have the same spacing, and the substrate 3
0 is placed on the transport belt 32, and the transport support roll 36
The protrusions 35 are fitted into the openings 31 when being transported while being supported by.

Reference numeral 37 in the figure denotes a rotating brush for cleaning the front surface of the substrate 1 supported from the back surface by a backup roller 38. That is, the substrate 1 is the conveyor belt 3
The second protrusion 35 is conveyed with the opening 31 held,
In that state, the rotating brush 37 and the backup roller 3
8 is conveyed in a stable state. Then, the surface is cleaned by the rotating brush 37. Backup roller 3
Reference numeral 8 supports the conveyor belt 32 and the substrate 1 from the back side, and makes the contact between the rotating brush 37 and the substrate 1 uniform to improve the cleaning effect. By forming the central portion of the conveyor belt 32 in a mesh shape, drainage is improved when showering from above, and the conveyor belt 32 can be kept in a clean state at all times to improve quality.

[0015]

As described above, the single-wafer flexible board transporting device according to the first aspect of the present invention is provided with the discharging means for removing the static electricity charged on the board.
It has the effect that static electricity charged on the substrate can be easily removed and the transport can be stabilized, and when used in a roll coating device, there is no repellency between the substrate and the coating liquid due to static electricity and the entire surface is even. There is an effect that it becomes possible to form a film.

In the sheet-shaped flexible substrate transfer device according to the second aspect of the present invention, since the static elimination bar is provided so as to be inclined in the substrate loading direction, in addition to the common effect of stabilizing the transfer, ionized air is applied to the substrate. When sprayed, it is possible to prevent scattered dust and the like from reattaching to the substrate.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the single-wafer flexible substrate transporting device is configured so that the protrusions provided at both edges of the transport belt are fitted into the openings provided at both edges of the substrate for transporting. The effect is that it can be stabilized.

In the sheet-shaped flexible substrate transporting device of claim 4, in addition to the above-mentioned common effects, the both side edges of the substrate are used as the non-coating regions when the roll coating device is used. It is possible to secure the substrate, and when holding the substrate in photolithography (for example, the exposure process), it is possible to prevent the coating liquid applied to the originally non-coated region from falling off, and in the handling work around the substrate. Also, there is an effect that it can be performed without touching the coated surface. In addition, since the film thickness of the coating area becomes uniform and the thick film portion disappears,
There is an effect that it is possible to prevent the undeveloped residue in the developing process, reduce the short circuit defect of the pattern and the variation in the pattern dimension caused by the residual.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a roll coating apparatus which is an embodiment of a sheet-shaped flexible substrate conveying apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the roll coating apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a roll coating apparatus which is another embodiment of the single-wafer flexible substrate transporting apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the roll coating apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged front view of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a cleaning device using a rotating brush, which is an embodiment of a single-wafer flexible substrate transfer device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the cleaning device of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the cleaning device of FIG.

9 is a plan view of the substrate shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a roll coating apparatus which is an example of a conventional sheet-fed flexible substrate transporting apparatus.

FIG. 11 is a side view of the roll coating apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of the substrate shown in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a plan view of another roll coating apparatus which is an example of a conventional single-wafer flexible substrate transporting apparatus.

FIG. 14 is a front view of the roll coating apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a partial side view of the roll coating apparatus of FIG.

16 is a partially enlarged front view of FIG.

FIG. 17 is a front view showing a formation state of a coating film on a substrate.

FIG. 18 is a side view of a cleaning device which is an example of a conventional single-wafer flexible substrate transfer device.

FIG. 19 is a front view of the cleaning device of FIG. 18.

FIG. 20 is a side view of the cleaning device of FIG. 18.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 substrate 2 doctor roll 3 coating roll 4 Substrate coating area 7 coating liquid 7a Excess coating liquid 20 Static elimination bar 25 coating roll 26 Tapered part 30 substrates 31 opening 32 conveyor belt 33 mesh section 35 Projection 37 rotating brush A ionized air

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Tomomi Ishida             1-3-3 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stocks             Company Ricoh (72) Inventor Yoichiro Miyaguchi             1-3-3 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stocks             Company Ricoh

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for transporting a single-wafer flexible substrate by means of rollers, wherein a static electricity removing means for removing static electricity charged on the substrate is provided in the substrate carry-in section. . 2. A charge-removing bar by blowing ionized air as the charge-removing means, wherein the air-blowing direction of the charge-removing bar is inclined toward the upstream side in the transfer direction of the substrate. 1. A single-wafer flexible substrate transfer device. 3. The flexible board is provided with a plurality of openings at both edges thereof, and a plurality of protrusions for fitting the openings of the flexible board are provided at both edges of a conveyor belt for carrying the flexible board. Claim 1 or 2
Conveying device for single-wafer flexible substrates. 4. The single-wafer flexible substrate transporting device according to claim 1, wherein both ends of the roller are provided with taper portions.