JPH09160006A - Liquid injector for substrate for liquid crystal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the variation in the processing states on the surfaces of substrates for liquid crystals by processing liquids, such as washing liquids, developers and etching liquids, to the utmost. SOLUTION: This device has plural nozzles 5 for injecting the processing liquids toward the substrates 3 and plural nozzle pipes 1 extending in a direction approximately orthogonal with the transporting direction 4 of the substrates 3. The nozzles 5 are holes formed at 45 deg. downward of the nozzle pipes 1 with respect to a horizontal direction in a lateral view and these holes are so formed that the injection direction of the nozzles 5 inclines 45 deg. with the radial direction of the nozzle pipes 1 in a plane view. The injection direction 2 of the nozzles 5 is in a direction reverse from the injection direction 2 of the nozzles 5 opposite to the nozzles 5 and the processing liquids injected from the nozzles 5 intersect with each other without colliding against the processing liquids injected from the opposite nozzles 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus used in a wet process such as cleaning of a liquid crystal substrate, development for pattern formation, and wet etching in a process of manufacturing a liquid crystal substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal substrate constituting a liquid crystal display device includes many wet processes such as cleaning, development for pattern formation, and wet etching. Usually, in the case of continuously processing a substrate, a wafer or the like in a wet process, (1) a nozzle is arranged on a transfer path of the substrate, and a liquid is sprayed or showered in a fan shape or a conical shape from the nozzle toward the substrate. (2) A method of arranging a processing liquid tank on the transfer path of the substrate and transferring the substrate so that the substrate is immersed in the processing liquid in the processing liquid tank is adopted, but the liquid crystal display device is configured. Since the liquid crystal substrate has a large size, the method (1) described above can be easily handled.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a conventional liquid ejecting apparatus for a liquid crystal substrate corresponding to the method (1). As shown in FIG. 4, the liquid crystal substrate 13 is transported in the transport direction 14 while maintaining the horizontal direction. At the same time, the processing liquid 12 is sprayed or showered in a fan shape or a conical shape toward the substrate 13 from the spray nozzle 11 arranged on the transfer path so as to be parallel to the substrate 13.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method, the following problems occur as the substrate size increases. That is, the method of simply spraying and showering the treatment liquid on the substrate has a problem that the treatment liquid stays in the vicinity of the center of the substrate and the effect of spraying or the like is diminished. Further, there is a problem in that the region where the processing liquid is retained and the region where the processing liquid flows have different liquid exchange speeds on the substrate surface, which also causes the progress of the processing to be different.

Therefore, as a method for avoiding the above problems,
In order to prevent stagnation of the processing liquid on the substrate, a method has been adopted in which the spray or shower has directionality so that the entire processing liquid flows on the substrate. Flow rate upstream and downstream of the flow of processing liquid,
There is a problem that a large difference occurs in the flow rate and a difference occurs in the processing state. In any case, variations in the processing state on the surface of the substrate may cause subtle unevenness in display when the liquid crystal display device is configured, resulting in deterioration of display quality.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and is a liquid crystal that suppresses variations in the processing state on the surface of a liquid crystal substrate due to a processing liquid such as a cleaning liquid, a developing liquid, an etching liquid, etc. as much as possible. An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid ejecting apparatus for a substrate.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the invention, in a liquid ejecting apparatus for a liquid crystal substrate used in a wet process in a process of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, a plurality of treatment liquids are ejected toward the substrate. A plurality of nozzle rows that are composed of nozzles and are arranged in a direction substantially orthogonal to the transport direction of the substrate are provided, and the ejection direction of each nozzle is ejected from the processing liquid ejected from the nozzle and a nozzle facing the nozzle. A liquid crystal characterized by being inclined to the left and right with respect to the substrate transport direction in plan view so that the processing liquid merges on the substrate and flows in a direction substantially orthogonal to the substrate transport direction. It is a liquid ejecting apparatus for a substrate.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first aspect, the substrate of the substrate is seen in a plan view so as to face each nozzle of the nozzle array and jet the processing liquid in a direction opposite to the jet direction of the nozzle. A plurality of nozzle rows, each of which is composed of a plurality of nozzles inclined to the other side with respect to the transfer direction and arranged in a direction substantially orthogonal to the transfer direction of the substrate, are provided, and the processing liquid ejected from the nozzles faces the nozzles. The liquid ejecting apparatus for a liquid crystal substrate is characterized by intersecting with a processing liquid ejected from a nozzle without colliding.

A third aspect of the present invention is the liquid-jet apparatus for a liquid crystal substrate according to the first or second aspect, wherein the treatment liquid is a cleaning liquid, a developing liquid, or an etching liquid.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a liquid ejecting apparatus for a liquid crystal substrate according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of a liquid ejecting apparatus for liquid crystal substrates according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof. As described above, the liquid ejecting apparatus of the present invention is used in the wet process such as cleaning of the liquid crystal substrate, development for pattern formation, and wet etching in the manufacturing process of the liquid crystal substrate.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the liquid ejecting apparatus for a liquid crystal substrate according to the present invention has a plurality of nozzles 5 for ejecting a processing liquid toward the substrate 3, and the substrate 3 carrying direction. A plurality of nozzle pipes 1 extending in a direction substantially orthogonal to 4 are provided. The nozzle pipe 1 faces the substrate 3 to be conveyed, and the processing liquid flows inside thereof.

The nozzle pipe 1 is made of a hard vinyl chloride pipe having an outer diameter of 22 mm, and the distance from the substrate 3 is 25 mm. A large number of nozzle pipes 1 are arranged horizontally and in parallel at a pitch of 40 mm. The nozzles 5 are holes having a diameter of 0.8 mm formed 45 ° below the nozzle pipe 1 with respect to the horizontal direction when viewed from the side, and a large number of nozzles are provided at intervals of 10 mm in the axial direction of the nozzle pipe 1. Further, the hole is formed so that the jet direction of the nozzle 5 is inclined by 45 ° with respect to the radial direction of the nozzle pipe 1 in a plan view.

As is apparent from FIGS. 1 and 2, the nozzles 5 provided on a certain nozzle pipe 1 are opposed to the nozzles 5 provided on one of the adjacent nozzle pipes 1, but are adjacent to each other. It does not face each nozzle 5 provided in the other nozzle pipe 1. That is, each nozzle pipe 1 has a nozzle row in which a plurality of nozzles 5 oriented in one direction are arranged in a row.

The jetting direction 2 of the nozzle 5 is opposite to the jetting direction 2 of the nozzle 5 facing the nozzle 5, and the treatment liquid jetted from the nozzle 5 is discharged from the facing nozzle 5. The nozzles 5 are arranged on the nozzle pipe 1 so as to intersect with the jetted processing liquid without colliding. As shown in FIG. 1, between the position where the processing liquid ejected from the nozzle 5 collides with the substrate 3 and the position where the processing liquid ejected from the nozzle 5 facing the nozzle 5 collides with the substrate 3. It is about 10 mm when viewed from the side.

Using the liquid ejecting apparatus for a liquid crystal substrate having the above-described structure, the resist on the substrate surface was stripped. That is, a stripping solution for stripping the resist was sprayed toward the substrate 3 conveyed from the nozzle 5, and the processing state was observed. The stripping solution sprayed from each nozzle 5 is inclined at about 45 ° below the nozzle pipe 1 with respect to the horizontal direction in a side view and in a direction inclined by about 45 ° with respect to the radial direction of the nozzle pipe 1 in a plan view. Then, it intersected with the stripping solution which was sprayed from the other nozzle 5 and which traveled in the opposite direction.

After the stripping solution sprayed from each nozzle 5 collides with the substrate 3, the stripping solution flows along the arrow 6 as shown in FIG. The stripping solutions sprayed from the nozzles 5 facing each other and inclined to the same side with respect to the transport direction of the substrate 3 merge on the substrate 3 and are substantially orthogonal to the transport direction of the substrate 3. That is, a unidirectional flow occurred in the direction of arrow 7. When viewed from the whole of the substrate 3, a flow of the stripping solution whose direction changes alternately at intervals of about 70 mm occurred. As a result, when the processing speed of this apparatus was compared with the processing speed when spraying the stripping solution by arranging conventional fan-shaped nozzles, an improvement of about 20% was seen.

Therefore, according to the present apparatus, since the flow of the processing liquid is generated on the substrate in a direction substantially orthogonal to the transport direction of the substrate and the direction of the flow is alternately changed,
The flow of the processing liquid for treating the surface of each part of the substrate is alternately changed by the continuous transfer of the substrate, and the difference in the progress of the processing, which was conventionally generated between the upstream and the downstream by the flow of the processing liquid in only one direction, is alleviated. It In particular, even if the size of the substrate is increased, it is possible to reduce variations in the in-plane processing state.

[0018]

According to the liquid ejecting apparatus for a liquid crystal substrate of the present invention, the ejection directions of the nozzles are the treatment liquid ejected from the nozzle and the treatment liquid ejected from the nozzle facing the nozzle. Since they are merged on the substrate and flow in a direction substantially orthogonal to the substrate transport direction, they are inclined to the left and right with respect to the substrate transport direction in a plan view, so that the substrate is almost entirely covered on the substrate. The processing liquid does not flow partially in the direction substantially orthogonal to the transport direction of the substrate, and the processing liquid does not partially stay on the substrate. It is possible to prevent unevenness caused by hindering the spray or shower from hitting the surface, and it is possible to suppress variations in the processing state on the substrate surface due to a processing liquid such as a cleaning liquid, a developing liquid, or an etching liquid as much as possible.

The liquid crystal substrate liquid ejecting apparatus according to the present invention further conveys the substrate in plan view so as to oppose each nozzle and eject the treatment liquid in a direction opposite to the ejection direction of the nozzle. A plurality of nozzle rows that are inclined to the other side with respect to the direction and are arranged in a direction substantially orthogonal to the substrate transport direction, and the processing liquid ejected from the nozzles is a nozzle that faces the nozzles. Since they intersect without colliding with the processing liquid ejected from the substrate, the flow direction of the processing liquid changes alternately on the substrate, and as a result, the continuous flow of the substrate causes the flow direction of the entire surface of the substrate to change alternately. Since the treatment is performed by the treatment liquid and the variation of the treatment state on the substrate surface can be suppressed as much as possible, and the flow rate of the treatment liquid on the substrate surface increases, cleaning,
Processing time such as etching can be shortened.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of a liquid ejecting apparatus for a liquid crystal substrate according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the liquid ejecting apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of a processing liquid on a substrate.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view showing a conventional liquid ejecting apparatus for liquid crystal substrates.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Nozzle pipe 2 Jet direction 3 Substrate 4 Transfer direction 5 Nozzle

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A liquid ejecting apparatus for a liquid crystal substrate, which is used in a wet process in a process of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, comprising a plurality of nozzles for ejecting a treatment liquid toward the substrate and with respect to a transport direction of the substrate. A plurality of nozzle rows arranged in a direction substantially orthogonal to each other is provided, and the ejection direction of each nozzle is such that the treatment liquid ejected from the nozzle and the treatment liquid ejected from the nozzle facing the nozzle merge on the substrate. The liquid ejecting apparatus for a liquid crystal substrate, which is inclined to the left and right with respect to the substrate transport direction in plan view so that the liquid flows in a direction substantially orthogonal to the substrate transport direction. 2. Further, the nozzle array is inclined to the other side with respect to the transport direction of the substrate in plan view so as to face each nozzle of the nozzle row and jet the processing liquid in a direction opposite to the jet direction of the nozzle. A plurality of nozzle rows that are composed of a plurality of nozzles and are arranged in a direction substantially orthogonal to the substrate transport direction are provided, and the treatment liquid ejected from the nozzles collides with the treatment liquid ejected from a nozzle facing the nozzle. 2. The liquid ejecting apparatus for a liquid crystal substrate according to claim 1, wherein the liquid ejecting apparatuses intersect each other. 3. The liquid ejecting apparatus for a liquid crystal substrate according to claim 1, wherein the processing liquid is a cleaning liquid, a developing liquid, or an etching liquid.