JPWO2006112453A1 - Coating apparatus and coating method - Google Patents

Abstract

When the head (5) having a large number of nozzles (53a) in the Y direction sprays the solution onto the substrate (W) to form a coating pattern, the amount of solution sprayed between the nozzles (53a) arranged in the Y direction Have a difference. Therefore, the head (5) is moved by a distance ΔL in the Y direction, coating is performed a plurality of times so as to form the same coating pattern, and variations in coating thickness (irregularities) are corrected to make the coating thickness uniform. Plan.

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement in an ink jet coating apparatus and a coating method for spraying a solution from a nozzle so as to form a predetermined coating pattern on a substrate.

  In general, in a film forming process in a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device or a semiconductor device, a functional thin film such as an alignment film or a resist is formed on a substrate surface such as a glass substrate or a semiconductor wafer.

  In the case of forming a functional thin film on the substrate surface, an ink jet type coating apparatus is used in which a solution for forming the functional thin film is ejected (discharged) from a number of nozzles and applied to the substrate in the form of dots (see Patent Document 1). ).

  A conventional inkjet-type coating apparatus has a transport table for transporting a substrate, and a plurality of heads in which a number of nozzles (pores or orifices) are formed in rows above the transport table. The coating pattern is formed by jetting the solution supplied to the head toward the relative moving substrate in parallel with the direction perpendicular to the transport direction.

The coating apparatus ejects the solution in a dot form from each nozzle while the substrate is transported by the transport table for a predetermined distance. Therefore, an application pattern in which dot rows of the solution are linearly arranged at the same interval as the nozzle interval along the substrate transport direction, usually a rectangular application pattern as a whole, is formed on the substrate. The solution applied in the form of dots flows on the substrate and spreads, and the adjacent solutions are connected to each other and leveled to form a coating film.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-105938

  In an inkjet-type coating apparatus that applies a solution to a substrate surface, a plurality of heads are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the substrate transport direction, and each head has a number of nozzles arranged in a row in the direction of arrangement. Since they are arranged and formed, a required number of nozzles are selected according to the width dimension of the coating pattern, and the solution is ejected over a predetermined length (distance).

  However, it has been found that in such a head, irregular variation occurs between the nozzles in one injection amount (discharge amount).

  If there is a variation in the amount of sprayed solution between the nozzles, the size of the solution dots in the dot rows forming the coating pattern, that is, the amount of solution applied varies from row to row. Therefore, the uniformity of the film thickness formed through application of the solution → leveling of the solution → drying of the solution is impaired, and a phenomenon that good film quality cannot be obtained with a functional thin film or the like has occurred.

  Therefore, the present invention forms a good coating film by bringing the thickness of the coating film in the coating pattern close to a uniform state when the solution is sprayed from a large number of nozzles arranged in a row toward the substrate. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet type coating apparatus and coating method.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an inkjet-type coating apparatus that sprays a solution from a plurality of nozzles formed on a head and applies the solution to a substrate surface so as to draw a set coating pattern. A first movement mechanism capable of relatively moving the substrate in a direction intersecting the longitudinal arrangement direction of the nozzles; and a second movement capable of relatively moving the head and the substrate in the longitudinal arrangement direction of the nozzles. The mechanism, the first moving mechanism, and the solution jetting operation of the nozzles are controlled, and the head and the substrate are controlled by controlling the second moving mechanism based on the spray amount variation between the plurality of nozzles. And a controller that controls the solution to be applied a plurality of times by changing the relative position of the solution in the longitudinal array direction.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an inkjet-type coating apparatus that sprays a solution from a plurality of nozzles formed on a head and applies the solution to a substrate surface so as to draw a set coating pattern. A first movement mechanism capable of relatively moving the substrate in a direction intersecting the longitudinal arrangement direction of the nozzles; and a second movement capable of relatively moving the head and the substrate in the longitudinal arrangement direction of the nozzles. The mechanism, the first moving mechanism, and the solution jetting operation of the nozzle are controlled, and when the pitch in the longitudinal array direction of the nozzle is P and a positive integer is n, the relative relationship between the head and the substrate And a controller for controlling the application of the solution a plurality of times by changing the position in the longitudinal array direction (n × P + P / 2).

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an inkjet-type coating method in which a solution is sprayed from a plurality of nozzles formed on a head and a solution is applied to a substrate surface so as to draw a set coating pattern. The solution is applied a plurality of times at different relative positions between the head and the substrate in the longitudinal array direction of the nozzles based on the variation in the spray amount between the nozzles.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an inkjet-type coating method in which a solution is sprayed from a plurality of nozzles formed on a head and a solution is applied to a substrate surface so as to draw a coating pattern. When the pitch is P and the positive integer is n, the relative position between the head and the substrate between the previous application position and the current application position is changed by (n × P + P / 2) to obtain a solution. Is applied a plurality of times.

  As described above, according to the inkjet-type coating apparatus and coating method according to the present invention, at least the relative position between the head and the substrate is varied in the nozzle arrangement direction, and the solution is applied a plurality of times. A good coating film can be obtained by correcting the variation in the injection amount between the nozzles.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a first embodiment of a coating apparatus according to the present invention. 2A is a left side view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is an enlarged plan view of the main part of FIG. 2A. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the head shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the head shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a control circuit diagram of the head shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory view of the second embodiment of the coating apparatus according to the present invention.

  In a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device or a semiconductor device, there is a film forming process for forming a circuit pattern or the like on a substrate such as a glass substrate or a semiconductor wafer. In this film forming process, a functional thin film such as an alignment film or a resist is formed on the plate surface of the substrate.

  In the case of forming a functional thin film on a substrate, an ink jet type coating apparatus that sprays a solution for forming the functional thin film from a plurality of nozzles onto a plate surface of the substrate may be used.

  In such an ink jet type coating apparatus, there may be variations in the amount of injection between nozzles. Even in such a case, the present invention shifts the relative position between the substrate and the head in the nozzle arrangement direction. In addition, by applying the solution a plurality of times, the non-uniformity of the coating film thickness due to the variation in the spray amount is eliminated. An embodiment of the coating method will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  1 is a front view showing a first embodiment of an ink jet type coating apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 (a) is a left side view thereof, and FIG. 2 (b) is a main portion of FIG. 2 (a). It is an enlarged plan view.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A, the ink jet type coating apparatus has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped base 1, and legs 1a are provided at predetermined positions on the lower surface of the base 1, The base 1 is supported horizontally.

  At both ends of the upper surface of the base 1 in the width direction (arrow Y direction in FIG. 2), long attachment plates 1b are provided along the longitudinal direction (arrow X direction in FIG. 1). A pair of guide rails 1c are provided along the longitudinal direction from the inside.

  On the pair of guide rails 1c, a substantially rectangular plate-shaped transport table 2 is supported so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction via a slide member 2a having a substantially L-shaped cross section provided in parallel on both sides of the lower surface thereof. Yes. On the transfer table 2, a substrate W such as a glass substrate used in a liquid crystal display device is detachably held by a holding means such as an electrostatic chuck or a suction chuck.

  The guide rail 1c and the conveyance table 2 constitute a first moving mechanism together with a drive mechanism (not shown) for the conveyance table 2, and are configured to be movable in the X direction (longitudinal direction).

  Further, a gate-shaped support 3 is erected at the intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction of the base 1 so as to straddle the pair of guide rails 1c.

  A guide member 3a is horizontally provided in the width direction (Y direction) at an upper position of the gate-shaped support body 3, and the holding table 4 is movable in the guide member 3a while being guided in the width direction. It is supported by.

  On one side of the holding table 4, as shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 2 (b), a plurality of ink jet heads (seven in this embodiment) 5 are directed in the direction of the arrow Y. In addition, they are arranged and fixed in a staggered manner on the left and right. As will be described later, each head 5 is formed with a large number of nozzles (pores) arranged in a row in the Y direction.

  Therefore, since the guide member 3a and the holding table 4 constitute a second moving mechanism together with a driving mechanism (not shown) for the holding table 4, the plurality of heads 5 as a whole are integrated with the substrate W on the transfer table 2. The relative position in the Y direction can be adjusted.

  Thus, since the first moving mechanism moves the substrate W in the X direction and the second moving mechanism moves the head 5 in the Y direction, the head 5 and the substrate W move relative to each other in the XY direction. Is possible.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the base 1 incorporates a controller 6 capable of overall control of solution injection at each nozzle of the head 5 together with the first and second moving mechanisms.

  FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the head 5 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged bottom view of the head 5.

  3 and 4, the head 5 includes a head main body 51. The head main body 51 has an opening 51a that communicates from the upper surface side to the lower surface side. The lower surface opening is a flexible plate. 52 is occluded.

  The flexible plate 52 is further covered with a nozzle plate 53, and a main tube 54 a and a liquid chamber 54 formed on the main tube 54 a are formed between the flexible plate 52 and the nozzle plate 53.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a large number of nozzles (pores or orifices) 53a form a row having a pitch P in the longitudinal direction (Y direction) at the center of the nozzle plate 53, and are formed in a staggered pattern. It is installed.

  Therefore, a supply hole 51b communicating with the main pipe 54a is formed at one longitudinal end of the head body 51, and a solution for forming a functional thin film such as an alignment film or a resist is supplied to the supply hole 51b. The main pipe 54a and the liquid chamber 54 are filled with the solution supplied through 51c.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a large number of piezoelectric elements 55 are arranged on the upper surface of the flexible plate 52 so as to face the respective nozzles 53a. These piezoelectric elements 55 are connected to the drive unit 6a. The drive unit 6 a supplies a drive voltage to each piezoelectric element 55. By supplying the driving voltage, the piezoelectric element 55 expands and contracts, so that the portion of the flexible plate 52 corresponding to the piezoelectric element 55 is deformed. As a result, a volume change occurs in the liquid chamber 54, and an amount of the solution corresponding to the volume change is sprayed and applied from the nozzle 53 a corresponding to the piezoelectric element 55 toward the substrate W on the transport table 2.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a recovery hole 51d communicating with the main pipe 54a is formed at the other end in the Y direction (the left end in the figure) of the head main body 51, and is not ejected from the recovery hole 51d. The remaining solution in the main pipe 54a is pushed up and collected through the drain pipe 51e.

  FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing a control system between the controller 6 and each head 5, and the controller 6 controls the driving of the piezoelectric element 55 of each head 5 via each drive unit 6a.

  The operation of the ink jet type coating apparatus having the above configuration, that is, the coating method will be described with reference to FIG. 6 in addition to FIGS.

  In the inkjet type coating apparatus having the above-described configuration, the controller 6 controls the first and second moving mechanisms, and drives and controls the piezoelectric elements 55 corresponding to the nozzles 53a of all seven heads 5; Although the solution can be applied to the surface of the substrate W, in the following description of the operation, for convenience of explanation, the controller 6 controls the drive of the piezoelectric element 55 corresponding to the nozzle 53a of one head 5, and 2 A description will be given assuming that a predetermined coating pattern is obtained by repeated coating.

  That is, FIG. 6A is a curve formed by connecting the values of the ejection amount of the solution ejected from one head 5 having the nozzles 53a arranged at the length L with the pitch P, It is the curve A which shows the injection quantity of the solution from each nozzle 53a. As shown in FIG. 6A, irregular variations in the injection amount occur between the nozzles 53a.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, the controller 6 controls the second moving mechanism in order to correct that the solution is applied with variation in one head 5 corresponding to the position of the nozzle 53a. Then, by applying again with the relative position in the Y direction between the substrate W and the head 5 being different by the distance ΔL, the non-uniformity of the application distribution on the application pattern due to the variation is corrected by cancellation, The coating film thickness can be made uniform.

  That is, in the first application, the controller 6 is in the position shown in FIG. 6A, and the nozzle 53a located in the range from the left end of the head 5 to the distance ΔL stops the application by spraying. Coating is performed by moving W in the X direction. Thereby, on the substrate W, a coating pattern is formed in which the dot rows of the solution are linearly arranged in the transport direction of the substrate W at the same interval as the nozzle interval. And this application | coating pattern has dispersion | variation in the application quantity of a solution between dot rows. Therefore, when the solution is leveled on the substrate W, the uneven coating film having a height shape shown in FIG. 6B is formed on the substrate W.

  Therefore, next, the controller 6 controls the second moving mechanism to move the relative position between the head 5 and the substrate W to the right in the figure by ΔL in the longitudinal arrangement direction of the nozzles (that is, the Y direction).

  That is, the controller 6 includes a storage device 6b, and the distance ΔL is input and stored in the storage device 6b by an input device such as a keyboard or a touch panel (not shown). Therefore, the controller 6 reads the distance ΔL stored in the storage device 6b and controls the movement of the head in the Y direction.

  The solution is ejected from each nozzle 53a with the head 5 moved to the right by the distance ΔL. The curve indicating the injection amount of the solution at that time is in a state shifted by ΔL in the right direction in the figure with respect to the curve A, as indicated by a dotted line B in FIG.

  At this time, in order to obtain a coating pattern having the same shape, the nozzle 53a that stops the ejection by the nozzle 53a of the head 5 is opposite to the previous time, that is, at the position shown in FIG. It is assumed that it is located in the range of the distance ΔL from the right end.

  In this second application, the solution is ejected from the nozzle 53a having a larger ejection amount than the nozzle 53a at the first application in the second application to a portion where the solution is ejected from the nozzle 53a having a smaller ejection amount at the first application. Is injected. Further, the solution is ejected from the nozzle 53a having a smaller ejection amount than the nozzle 53a at the first application in the second application to the portion where the solution is ejected from the nozzle 53a having a large ejection amount at the first application. Thereby, the dispersion | variation in the injection amount of the solution between the nozzles 53a is correct | amended. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6D, the coating film formed on the substrate W has a uniform thickness and is flattened over the width (L−ΔL) in the Y direction.

  In the example shown in FIG. 6, for the sake of explanation, the portion where the injection amount is large and the portion where the injection amount is small are just offset by the first and second application. However, in actuality, in the first application, a portion with a large injection amount and a portion with a small injection amount are mixed in the arrangement direction (Y direction) of the nozzles 53a. Based on the curve shown in (a), it is determined in consideration of how much the relative position between the head 5 and the substrate W is moved during the second coating to obtain a uniform coating pattern as a whole coating pattern. Will do. Then, ΔL determined in this way is stored in the storage device 6b from the input device described above.

  In the above description, the controller 6 has been described as controlling the ejection of the solution from each nozzle 53a of one head 5. However, in the case where the seven heads 5 are operated and applied, FIG. By applying the operation of the nozzle 53a located in the range of the distance ΔL from the right end of the head 5 shown in the figure to the head 5 located on the rightmost side, a coating pattern that is long (wide) in the Y direction can be formed.

  In the above application method, it goes without saying that the start position in the X direction may be either the method of returning to the initial position or the return method of returning from the back to perform application twice.

  When a solution is ejected from the heads 5 arranged in a zigzag pattern and the nozzles 53a arranged in a zigzag pattern and a rectangular coating pattern is drawn on the substrate W, the solution ejection from each nozzle 53a is started simultaneously. When stopped, the sprayed dot-like solution becomes staggered at the end in the X direction of the coating pattern, and this portion is uneven.

  Therefore, the controller 6 drives the drive unit to eject the solution from each nozzle 53a in accordance with the timing when the pattern formation scheduled area on the substrate W passes below each nozzle 53a of each head 5 during transport of the substrate W. 6a is controlled. Thereby, the application pattern of the predetermined shape without an unevenness | corrugation in a X direction can be formed.

  As described above, the ink jet coating apparatus and the coating method of this embodiment are arranged in the longitudinal array direction (Y direction) of the nozzles 53a between the first coating and the second coating that is performed so as to overlap the first coating. Control is performed so as to draw the same coating pattern by providing a difference by ΔL. However, when it is further considered that the nozzle 53a has a pitch P in the Y direction, if n is a positive integer, the length of ΔL It is desirable that the nozzle positions do not overlap, that is, (n × P + P / 2), and that n ≧ 5 according to experiments.

  Here, ΔL = n × P + P / 2 (n is a positive integer) is that, when ΔL = P / 2, dot rows formed by the same nozzle 53a are adjacent to each other, and variation in the ejection amount between the nozzles 53a. This is because the influence on the thickness of the coating film becomes remarkable.

  This will be described using the head 5 shown in FIG. When the head 5 is moved P / 2 in the left direction by the first application and the second application, a dot row (right end nozzle 53a) formed by a solution sprayed from the right end nozzle 53a in the illustrated case at the second application. The dot row of the right end nozzle 53a at the time of the first application and the dot row (dots of the second nozzle 53a) formed from the solution ejected from the second nozzle 53a adjacent to the left of 1P of the nozzle 53a. Column). If the spray amount of the solution from the nozzle 53a at the right end is larger than the average value of the spray amount of the solution from all the nozzles 53a, two dot rows having a larger coating amount than the average are arranged at the right end of the coating pattern. Become. Therefore, the influence of the excessive spray amount by the nozzle 53a at the right end appears more conspicuously on the coating film, and the coating amount of the solution is larger at the right end of the coating pattern than at other portions, and the thickness of the coating film is different at that portion. It may be thicker than this part.

  On the other hand, when the head 5 is moved n × P + P / 2 in the left direction by the first application and the second application, for example, when n = 1, the nozzle 53a at the right end performs the application twice. Between the two formed dot rows, a dot row ejected from the second nozzle 53a located to the left of the rightmost nozzle 53a is located. As a result, even when the amount of sprayed solution from the rightmost nozzle 53a is larger than the average value, there is a possibility that the dot row of the second nozzle 53a is interposed between the nozzles so as to be alleviated. This is because it can be expected that the injection amount of the solution from the second nozzle 53a is smaller than the injection amount of the solution from the right end nozzle 53a due to irregular variation in the injection amount between the nozzles 53a. Even if the injection amount of the solution from the second nozzle 53a is larger than the injection amount of the solution from the right end nozzle 53a, if the entire nozzle array having irregular variations in the injection amount is viewed, There is a high probability that the variation is alleviated, and the thickness of the coating film as a whole can be made to be uniform.

  In this way, by moving the head 5 by n × P + P / 2, the probability that the variation in the injection amount from the nozzle 53a is alleviated by the solution injected from the other nozzle 53a is increased, and as a result, the thickness of the coating film is increased. The thickness can be brought close to a uniform state.

  The same applies to the case where the injection amount of the solution from the right end nozzle 53a is smaller than the average. Alternatively, the variation in the injection amount of the solution from each nozzle 53a may be obtained, and the above n may be set based on the variation in the injection amount.

  That is, the injection amount of the solution from each nozzle 53a per time is obtained using a measuring instrument such as an electronic balance. For example, the solution is ejected from the nozzle 53a a preset number of times, and the solution is collected. Then, the weight of the collected solution is measured with a measuring instrument. Next, the measured value is divided by the set number of times, and the value is obtained as the injection amount of the solution sprayed from the nozzle once. This is performed for each nozzle 53a.

  The injection amounts for the nozzles 53a thus obtained are arranged in the order in which the nozzles 53a are arranged, and the injection amounts are connected by lines to indicate the injection amount of the solution from each nozzle 53a as shown in FIG. A solid line A is obtained.

  Therefore, the operator sequentially moves the curve having the same shape as that of the solid line A (for example, the dotted line B shown in FIG. 6 (c)) to the right side or the left side in the Y direction by P / 2 from the state where the solid line A is overlapped. On the solid line A, a value of n is obtained in which a portion with a large injection amount of the dotted line B is located in a portion with a small injection amount and a portion with a large injection amount in the solid line A is located with a portion with a small injection amount of the dotted line B.

  Here, it is preferable to set the value of n as small as possible because a coating operation for forming a coating pattern can be efficiently performed. A distance ΔL shown in FIG. 6C indicates a range in which the injection of the solution from the nozzle 53a is stopped. If the value of n is small, the distance ΔL can be reduced. If this distance ΔL is small, the number of nozzles 53a located within the range is reduced, and the number of nozzles 53a for stopping solution injection can be reduced. Therefore, many nozzles 53a among the nozzles 53a arranged in the head 5 can be used for coating, and the coating operation can be performed efficiently.

  A measuring instrument such as an electronic balance is preferably provided on the coating apparatus.

  For example, the measuring instrument is arranged on the coating device via a moving device so that the measuring device can be moved below each nozzle 53a of each head 5. A collection container such as a beaker is installed on the sample stage of the measuring instrument. The measuring instrument determines the weight of the collected solution from the weight difference before and after collecting the solution.

  In this way, since the amount of solution spray from each nozzle 53a can be obtained on the coating device, there is no hassle of transferring the collected solution to another measuring instrument, and workability is improved.

  Even if the measurement of the injection amount of the solution from each nozzle 53a by the measuring instrument is performed only once at the start of the coating operation, the processing of the set number of substrates is completed each time the set time elapses. It may be performed every time. The latter method is preferable because the value of n or the distance ΔL can be changed in accordance with the change in the amount of solution injected from the nozzle 53a.

  The measuring instrument has been described by taking an electronic balance as an example to obtain the injection amount of the solution from the nozzle 53a from the weight. However, the measuring device may be any device that can obtain the injection amount, and is ejected from the nozzle 53a. Alternatively, an image processing apparatus that obtains an ejection amount based on a captured image of a solution in flight or a solution applied on a substrate may be used.

  Further, when the amount of solution spray in the nozzle 53a row of the head 5 is the largest at both ends in the row (Y) direction and tends to gradually decrease toward the center, the length of the distance ΔL is L / 2. By doing so, the coating pattern can be made nearly flat.

  That is, in the first embodiment described above, it is described that the coating is performed twice with a difference in the column direction (Y direction) by ΔL at the position of the head 5, but the coating is performed twice with the length of ΔL being L / 2. A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  The second embodiment has the same configuration as the first embodiment described above, and only the control operation by the controller 6, that is, the coating method, is different. Therefore, a particularly different method will be described.

  That is, FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B are plan views showing the positions in the Y direction of the seven heads 5 that are applied twice with a difference of the distance ΔL.

  In the first application (FIG. 7A) and the next application (second time, ie, FIG. 7B), the position of the head 5 is set to have a difference of ΔL = L / 2 in the Y direction. Thus, the controller 6 controls the drive.

  At the time of the first application, the application is executed in the X direction in a state where the spraying of the solution is stopped with respect to the nozzle 53a of the left half (L / 2) of the head 5 at the left end shown in FIG. .

  In the second application, application in the X direction is performed again with the solution spraying stopped on the nozzle 53a in the right half (L / 2) of the head 5 at the right end shown in FIG. 7B. Execute.

  FIG. 7C shows the flat coating pattern Ph applied to the substrate W at the positions of FIGS. 7A and 7B. The length of 6.5 L in the Y direction is obtained by the above operation. A coating film having a flat coating thickness is formed in a rectangular shape having a width.

  As in the description of the first embodiment, in the second embodiment in which seven heads 5 are driven so as to be connected in a zigzag manner, the left end and the right end are respectively applied in the first and next applications. Although the ejection is stopped with respect to the nozzles 53a of the heads 5 and 5, the piezoelectric elements 55 are driven and applied to the nozzles 53a of the five intermediate heads 5 without any stopping. Executed.

  As described above, according to the inkjet-type coating apparatus and coating method according to each of the above-described embodiments, the difference or variation in the solution injection amount based on the difference in the position of each nozzle 53a in the head 5 is corrected, and the substrate W surface is corrected. A good coating film can be formed by bringing the thickness of the formed coating film close to a uniform state.

  That is, in the application of the solution to the substrate W twice, the amount of spraying is greater in the portion where the solution is sprayed from the nozzle 53a having a small spraying amount in the first coating than in the nozzle 53a in the first coating in the second coating. The solution is sprayed from the nozzle 53a with a large amount of liquid, and the amount of spray is larger than the nozzle 53a at the time of the first coating in the second coating in the portion where the solution is sprayed from the nozzle 53a with a large amount of spraying at the first coating. The solution can be ejected from a small number of nozzles 53a. Therefore, since the application amount of the solution is equalized in the entire application pattern, the applied solution is flattened by leveling, and a good application film can be obtained.

  Therefore, the variation in the spray amount of the solution from each nozzle 53a is allowable variation, that is, even if the coating pattern is formed in the pattern formation scheduled area on the substrate W by one transport of the substrate W in the X direction. If the coating film has a thickness enough to obtain a coating film having a thickness variation within the range, the thickness can be made to be more uniform than when the coating pattern is formed by one transport in the X direction. Therefore, it is possible to form a coating film with good quality without unevenness. Therefore, the film quality of the functional thin film formed on the substrate W can be improved.

  Even if the variation in the spray amount of the solution from each nozzle 53a exceeds the allowable variation, the variation in the spray amount is corrected by the second application of the solution. For this reason, it becomes possible to approach a uniform thickness of the coating film obtained from the coating pattern formed by the second solution coating, thereby reducing coating defects and improving the production efficiency.

  This is because, for example, even when the injection amount from one nozzle 53a is reduced or stopped due to clogging of the nozzle 53a or the like, the X direction of the substrate W is compensated to compensate for the injection amount from the nozzle 53a having clogging. By moving the head 5 by the distance ΔL in the Y direction and applying the solution a plurality of times for each movement, the variation in the thickness of the coating film can be reduced. Therefore, even when a problem such as clogging occurs in the nozzle 53a, it is possible to continue the application without immediately stopping the application device for maintenance, thereby improving the production efficiency.

  In the description of each embodiment, it has been described that the coating is performed twice to correct the variation in the coating film thickness. However, the coating may be performed three or more times by the same method and concept. Moreover, although the application pattern formed on the substrate W has been described as having a rectangular shape, it may have another shape. The substrate W is not limited to a glass substrate in a liquid crystal display panel or the like, and may be a semiconductor wafer.

  In addition, when forming an application pattern by applying the solution to the pattern formation scheduled area on the substrate twice, the application pattern is formed by applying the solution once per nozzle 53a. It is good to make it half of the injection amount. Further, when the application pattern is formed by three or more times of application, a value obtained by dividing the spray amount when the application pattern is formed by one application by the number of times of application from the nozzle 53a. It is good to use the amount of injection.

  Further, in the case where the solution is applied m times (two times or more) to the pattern formation scheduled region on the substrate W, the relative position between the head 5 and the substrate W is arranged in the longitudinal direction of the nozzle every time the application is performed. It is preferable to move the distance ΔL = n × P + P / m in one direction in the direction (Y direction shown in FIG. 6).

  For example, the case where the application is performed three times will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the head 5 is moved to the right in the Y direction shown in FIG.

  First, as shown in FIG. 6A, the first application is performed. At this time, the difference from FIG. 6A is that the injection of the solution from the nozzle 53a located within the distance 2 × ΔL = 2 × (n × P + P / 3) from the position of the nozzle 53a at the left end of the head 5 is stopped. It is a point to make.

  When the first application is completed, the head 5 is moved to the right in the Y direction by a distance ΔL. In this state, as shown in FIG. 6C, the second application is performed. At this time, the difference from FIG. 6C is that in addition to the range of the distance ΔL from the position of the nozzle 53a on the right side of the head 5, from the position of the nozzle 53a on the left side of the head 5 from the nozzle 53a located in the range of distance ΔL. It is also a point to stop the injection of the solution.

  When the second application is completed, the head 5 is further moved to the right in the Y direction by a distance ΔL, and the third application is performed in this state. At this time, the injection of the solution from the nozzle 53a located within a distance of 2 × ΔL from the position of the nozzle 53a on the right side of the head 5 is stopped.

  In this way, the solution is applied over the width (L−2 × ΔL = L− (m−1) × ΔL) in the Y direction with respect to the arrangement length L of the nozzles 53a of the head 5 by three times of application. .

  Here, even when the value of m is set to 4 or more, the injection of the solution from the nozzle 53a that will be located out of the range of (L− (m−1) × ΔL) at each application is stopped. By doing so, the coating operation can be performed in the same manner as described above.

  According to the above embodiment, when there is variation in the interval between the dot rows of the solution, the film thickness of the formed coating film tends to be thicker at the portion where the interval between the dot rows is narrower and thinner at the wider portion. Since the dot positions of the solution can be arranged at equal intervals of P / m by moving the relative position of the substrate and the substrate W as described above, the coating film thickness caused by the variation in the intervals of the dot lines of the solution Can be prevented, and the uniformity of the coating film can be improved.

  Further, the example in which the plurality of heads 5 and the plurality of nozzles 53a are arranged in a staggered manner has been described, but the invention is not limited to the staggered shape, and may be arranged in a straight line.

  According to the present invention, when a solution is sprayed from a large number of nozzles arranged in a row toward a substrate, the thickness of the coating film in the coating pattern is brought close to a uniform state, and a good coating film is formed. It is possible to provide an obtained ink jet type coating apparatus and coating method.

Claims (7)

In an inkjet type coating apparatus that sprays a solution from a plurality of nozzles formed on the head and applies the solution to the substrate surface so as to draw a set coating pattern,
A first moving mechanism capable of relatively moving the head and the substrate in a direction intersecting a longitudinal arrangement direction of the nozzles;
A second moving mechanism capable of relatively moving the head and the substrate in the longitudinal array direction of the nozzles;
The relative position between the head and the substrate is controlled by controlling the first moving mechanism and the solution jetting operation of the nozzles, and controlling the second moving mechanism based on a variation in the injection amount between the plurality of nozzles. And a controller for controlling the application of the solution a plurality of times by making the difference in the longitudinal array direction. In an inkjet type coating apparatus that sprays a solution from a plurality of nozzles formed on the head and applies the solution to the substrate surface so as to draw a set coating pattern,
A first moving mechanism capable of relatively moving the head and the substrate in a direction intersecting a longitudinal arrangement direction of the nozzles;
A second moving mechanism capable of relatively moving the head and the substrate in the longitudinal array direction of the nozzles;
The first moving mechanism and the solution jetting operation of the nozzle are controlled, and when the pitch in the longitudinal array direction of the nozzle is P and a positive integer is n, the relative position between the head and the substrate is A controller that controls the application of the solution a plurality of times by differentiating (n × P + P / 2) in the longitudinal array direction. In an inkjet type coating apparatus that sprays a solution from a plurality of nozzles formed on the head and applies the solution to the substrate surface so as to draw a set coating pattern,
A first moving mechanism capable of relatively moving the head and the substrate in a direction intersecting a longitudinal arrangement direction of the nozzles;
A second moving mechanism capable of relatively moving the head and the substrate in the longitudinal array direction of the nozzles;
Controlling the first moving mechanism and the solution jetting operation of the nozzle, and assuming that the pitch in the longitudinal array direction of the nozzle is P, the positive integer is n, and the number of coatings is m, the head and the substrate A controller that controls the solution to be applied m times by changing the relative position of the solution by (n × P + P / m) in the longitudinal array direction;
An ink jet type coating apparatus comprising:   The ink jet type coating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a measuring device that measures a spray amount of the solution from each nozzle. In an inkjet method of applying a solution to a substrate surface by spraying a solution from a plurality of nozzles formed on a head and drawing a set application pattern,
Ink-jet coating, wherein the solution is applied a plurality of times at different relative positions between the head and the substrate in the longitudinal array direction of the nozzles based on variations in the ejection amount among the plurality of nozzles. Method. In an inkjet method of applying a solution to a substrate surface by spraying a solution from a plurality of nozzles formed on the head and drawing a coating pattern,
When the pitch in the longitudinal array direction of the nozzles is P and a positive integer is n, the relative position between the head and the substrate between the previous application position and the current application position is the longitudinal array direction. An ink-jet coating method, wherein the solution is applied a plurality of times with a difference of (n × P + P / 2). In an inkjet method of applying a solution to a substrate surface by spraying a solution from a plurality of nozzles formed on the head and drawing a coating pattern,
When the pitch in the longitudinal array direction of the nozzles is P, a positive integer is n, and the number of coatings is m, the relative between the head and the substrate between the previous coating position and the current coating position An ink-jet coating method, wherein the solution is applied a plurality of times while the position is changed by (n × P + P / m) in the longitudinal array direction.

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