JPWO2011033864A1 - Coating apparatus and coating method - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a coating apparatus capable of suppressing splashes that may occur in a discharge confirmation step. An application apparatus 100 that applies a solution 16 to a substrate 90 by an inkjet method, and includes an inkjet head 11 including a nozzle 12 that discharges the solution 16 onto the substrate 90, and a solution receiving unit 20 that receives the solution 16 discharged from the nozzle 12. The solution receiving unit 20 is a coating apparatus 100 including a container part 21 having an opening 25 through which the solution 16 passes on an upper surface and an opening reducing part 22 that narrows the opening 25 of the container part 21. .

Description

The present invention relates to a coating apparatus and a coating method, and more particularly to a coating apparatus and a coating method for coating a solution on a substrate by an inkjet method. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a coating apparatus and a coating method for forming an alignment film or the like of a liquid crystal panel by an ink jet method.
This application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-215683, filed on Sep. 17, 2009, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. .

  A liquid crystal panel, which is a component of a liquid crystal display device, has a structure in which a pair of substrates are opposed to each other with a predetermined gap secured. A liquid crystal layer containing liquid crystal molecules is sealed in the gap between the substrates. In addition, an alignment film for aligning liquid crystal molecules is formed on the surfaces of both substrates on the liquid crystal layer side.

  This alignment film is formed by applying a solution containing polyimide onto the surface of the substrate. As a method for applying the polyimide solution to the substrate, an inkjet method has been proposed in addition to the spin coating method and the spray method (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

JP 2007-264597 A JP 2006-248102 A

  When forming an alignment film by the inkjet method, the alignment film is applied by discharging a coating liquid (for example, a polyimide solution) from the inkjet head coating apparatus onto the surface of the substrate. Here, when the coating process is executed in a state where the ejection of the inkjet head coating apparatus is abnormal, a portion where the alignment film is not formed or a portion where the coating is applied nonuniformly occurs.

  In order to prevent such a problem from occurring, the inventors of the present application are performing a discharge confirmation process before performing the coating process by the inkjet head coating apparatus. Then, after it is recognized that the ejection is normal in the ejection confirmation process, the alignment film is formed by performing the coating process.

  FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams for explaining a discharge confirmation process examined by the present inventors. FIG. 1A is a process diagram (schematic diagram) when the ink jet head 1000 is viewed from the side surface, while FIG. 1B is a process diagram (schematic diagram) when the ink jet head 1000 is viewed from the top surface.

  As shown in FIG. 1A, in the ejection confirmation step, a droplet 1200 (for example, a polyimide solution) is ejected from the nozzle 1100 of the inkjet head 1000. As shown in FIG. 1B, the ink jet head 1000 is disposed at a position off the upper side of the substrate 1900 placed on the table 1500, and the droplet 1200 ejected in the ejection confirmation step is Instead of being coated on the substrate 1900, it is received by the droplet receiving portion 1300 as shown in FIG.

  In the ejection confirmation step, the ejected droplet 1200 may be scattered by the droplet receiver 1300 and become a droplet 1210. When the droplet 1210 moves as indicated by an arrow 1250 and adheres to the substrate 1900, the deposit 1220 is formed. The presence of such a deposit 1220 is not preferable because the thickness of the alignment film becomes nonuniform. In addition, there is little problem when the splash 1210 adheres immediately on the substrate 1900 in a liquid state, but once it dries and then adheres on the substrate 1900, the adhering matter (foreign matter) 1220 is defective in pixel. Since it can be a cause, it is not preferable.

  This invention is made | formed in view of this point, The main objective is to provide the coating device and the coating method which can suppress the splash which may generate | occur | produce in a discharge confirmation process.

An application apparatus according to the present invention is an application apparatus that applies a solution to a substrate by an inkjet method, an inkjet head including a nozzle that discharges the solution onto the substrate, and a solution receiving portion that receives the solution discharged from the nozzle. The solution receiving part is configured by a container part having an opening part for allowing the solution to pass therethrough on an upper surface and an opening reducing part for narrowing the opening part of the container part.
In a preferred embodiment, an angle formed by a line connecting the opening end portion of the reduced opening portion and the nozzle and a perpendicular is 15 ° or more and 45 ° or less.
In a preferred embodiment, the container portion has a rectangular parallelepiped shape with an upper surface opened, and the opening reduction portion is an inclined surface provided at an upper end of the rectangular parallelepiped shape.
In a preferred embodiment, a porous member is disposed inside the container portion.
In a preferable embodiment, a stage unit that holds the substrate is further provided, the substrate is a glass substrate for a liquid crystal panel, and the solution is a polyimide solution.
The coating method according to the present invention is a coating method in which a solution is applied to a substrate by an inkjet method, and a step of discharging the solution to the substrate using a nozzle, and before discharging the solution to the substrate, A discharge confirmation step of discharging the solution toward a solution receiving portion that receives the solution discharged from the nozzle, and the solution receiving portion prevents the solution from scattering outside the solution receiving portion. A scattering prevention member is provided.
In a preferred embodiment, the solution receiving part is a container part having an opening part for allowing the solution to pass therethrough on an upper surface, and the scattering prevention member is constituted by an opening reducing part for narrowing an opening part of the opening part of the container part. Has been.
In a preferred embodiment, the substrate is a glass substrate for a liquid crystal panel, and an alignment film is formed in a step of discharging to the substrate.

  According to the present invention, the solution receiving portion that receives the solution discharged from the nozzle of the ink jet head is composed of the container portion having the opening portion on the upper surface and the opening reducing portion that narrows the opening portion. When discharging toward the receiving part, it is possible to suppress splashing of the solution from the solution receiving part. As a result, a thin film (for example, an alignment film) can be formed satisfactorily.

(A) is the process figure which looked at the inkjet head 1000 in the discharge confirmation process from the side, (b) is the process figure which looked at the inkjet head 1000 from the upper surface. It is a side view for demonstrating the structure of the coating device 100 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed typically the modification of the coating device 100 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a side view showing an example of head unit 10 concerning an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows typically an example of a structure of the coating device 100 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows an example of the solution receiving part 20 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows an example of the solution receiving part 20 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the relationship between the nozzle 12 and the solution receiving part 20A. It is a perspective view which shows an example of the solution receiving part 20 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a relationship between a nozzle 12 and a solution receiving unit 20. It is a figure for demonstrating the relationship between the nozzle 12 and the solution receiving part 20B. It is a figure for demonstrating the relationship between the nozzle 12 and the solution receiving part 20C. It is sectional drawing which shows the modification of the solution receiving part 20 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. (A) to (c) is a process diagram for explaining a coating method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following drawings, components having substantially the same function are denoted by the same reference numerals for the sake of brevity. In addition, this invention is not limited to the following embodiment.

  FIG. 2 schematically shows the configuration of the coating apparatus 100 of the present embodiment. The coating apparatus 100 of the present embodiment is an apparatus (inkjet coating apparatus) that applies a solution to a substrate by an inkjet method.

  The coating apparatus 100 according to this embodiment includes an inkjet head 11 including a nozzle 12 that discharges a solution (droplet) 16 onto a substrate, and a solution receiver 20 that receives the solution 16 discharged from the nozzle 12. The solution receiving part 20 is composed of a container part 21 having an opening part 25 through which the solution 16 passes on the upper surface and an opening reducing part 22 that narrows the opening part 25 of the container part 21. The solution receiving part 20 is comprised from the resin material or the metal material, for example.

  When forming a thin film (for example, alignment film) using the coating apparatus 100 of this embodiment, the solution 16 discharged from the nozzle 12 is apply | coated to the surface of a board | substrate (for example, glass substrate). In this embodiment, it is confirmed whether or not the discharge of the solution 16 from the nozzle 12 is normal before being applied to the surface of the substrate. For this reason, the solution receiving portion 20 is used to receive the solution 16 discharged from the nozzle 12 at the time of discharge confirmation.

  In the step of confirming ejection, the solution (droplet) 16 ejected from the nozzle 12 is repelled on the bottom surface 21 b of the container portion 21 of the solution receiving portion 20, and then part of the solution 16 becomes droplets 18. Most of the splash 18 stays inside the container portion 21 composed of the side surface (side wall) 21a and the bottom surface 21b, but a part of the splash 18 is indicated by an arrow from the opening 25 surrounded by the upper end of the side surface 21a. As shown in FIG. In the configuration of the present embodiment, since the container portion 21 is provided with the opening reduction portion 22 that narrows the opening portion 25, the opening reduction portion 22 functions as a scattering prevention member, and the splash 18 is the solution receiving portion 20. It is possible to suppress scattering outside.

  Moreover, the solution receiving part 20 in the coating device 100 of this embodiment can be modified as shown in FIG. In the solution receiving portion 20 shown in FIG. 3, a porous member (sponge) 29 is disposed inside the container portion 21. The porous member (sponge) 29 suppresses the generation of splashes 18 from the solution 16.

  Further, in this example, an extension 23 that narrows the opening 25 b defined by the upper end of the opening reduction part 22 of the solution receiving part 20 is provided on a part (upper end) of the opening reduction part 22. The extension portion 23 can further suppress the splash 18 from being scattered outside the solution receiving portion 20.

  Next, an example of the configuration of the coating apparatus 100 of the present embodiment will be further described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 is a side view showing an example of the head unit 10 of the present embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing an example of the configuration of the inkjet coating apparatus 100 of the present embodiment.

  The head unit 10 shown in FIG. 4 includes a head (inkjet head) 11 in which nozzles 12 for discharging a solution are formed on a substrate. The head 11 has a surface (discharge surface) 12 a on which the solution (droplet) 16 is discharged from the nozzle 12. One head 11 is formed with one or a plurality of nozzles 12. In the example shown in FIG. 4, a structure in which two heads 11 are housed in a head cover 13 is shown.

  The ink jet coating apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 5 includes a head unit 10 including the ink jet head 11 and a solution receiving unit 20. Further, the substrate 90 on which the application is performed by the solution (application liquid) discharged from the nozzle 12 is held by the stage unit 30.

  In this example, the solution receiver 20 is disposed adjacent to the wiping unit 50 that wipes the nozzles 12 of the head 11. The wiping unit 50 includes a wiping portion (for example, an elastic blade) 52 that wipes the nozzles 12 of the head 11. The wiping unit 52 is for removing the coating liquid (for example, polyimide solution) remaining on the ejection surface of the inkjet head by wiping. More specifically, if the solution (coating liquid) remains on the discharge surface 12a of the nozzle 12 of the inkjet head 11, the liquid surface of the discharge port (orifice) of the nozzle 12 becomes non-uniform. The liquid droplets discharged from the liquid become unstable. Therefore, when the previous coating process is completed, the wiping of the nozzle 12 is performed before the next coating process is performed. Note that the wiping portion 52 is not limited to an elastic blade, and a water absorbent sheet capable of absorbing the coating liquid can also be used.

  In the present embodiment, the head unit 10, the solution receiver 20 (and the wiping unit 50), and the stage unit 30 are installed in a clean room (not shown) with a filter. The head unit 10 is connected to a tank unit (not shown) that stores a solution (coating liquid), and the solution (coating liquid) is supplied from the tank unit to the head unit 10. In addition, the application process and the discharge confirmation process of the inkjet coating apparatus 100 can be controlled by a computer (for example, a personal computer) arranged outside the clean room.

  The inkjet head 11 in the head unit 10 can discharge a solution (coating liquid) from the nozzle 12. When forming an alignment film on the substrate 90, a solution (coating solution) to be used is, for example, a polyimide solution. The solution to be used is changed depending on the film (functional film) formed on the substrate 90. Examples of the film (functional film) formed on the substrate 90 include a resist film, a conductive film, and an insulating film, and a necessary solution for the film is used.

  The substrate 90 formed with the solution from the nozzle 12 is placed on the stage 32 of the stage unit 30. The stage 32 is provided with lift pins 34 for the substrate 90, and the substrate 90 can be moved by the lift pins 34. The stage unit 30 includes a stage moving mechanism 35 that can move while the substrate 90 is placed on the stage 32. The stage moving mechanism 35 can move the substrate 90 directly below the nozzle 12 of the inkjet head 11.

  The substrate 90 is, for example, a glass substrate, and the substrate 90 in the present embodiment is a glass substrate for a liquid crystal panel. The substrate 90 may be a mother glass before being cut out to the dimensions of the liquid crystal panel, or may be a glass having the size of the liquid crystal panel after being cut out. Further, the substrate 90 may be an array substrate on which a thin film transistor (TFT) is manufactured (or a product in the middle of manufacturing), or a CF substrate on which a color filter (CF) is formed (or a device in the middle of manufacturing thereof). It may be. The substrate 90 may be a glass substrate, a resin substrate, or another thin plate such as a wafer. In addition, the substrate 90 is not limited to the liquid crystal panel 90, and may be a thin substrate for manufacturing a PDP, an organic EL panel, other flat panel displays, or electronic devices.

  Further, whether the ejection of the solution from the nozzle 12 of the inkjet head 11 is normal or abnormal can be performed by a method of visual observation by an operator, a method of image processing using an imaging device such as a camera, or the like. it can.

  FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an example of the solution receiver 20 of the present embodiment. The solution receiving part 20 shown in FIG. 6 is composed of a rectangular parallelepiped container part 21 and an opening reducing part 22 having an inclined surface. Specifically, the container part 21 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape whose upper surface is open, and the opening reduction part 22 is configured by an inclined surface provided at the upper end 21c of the rectangular parallelepiped shape. Therefore, the opening portion 25 of the container portion 21 is narrowed by the inclined surface that is the opening reducing portion 22. Then, the opening reducing portion 22 can prevent the solution from being scattered outside the solution receiving portion 20.

  The length L in the longitudinal direction of the solution receiver 20 is determined according to the length of the head 11. For example, when the substrate 90 is mother glass and the length (length in the longitudinal direction) of the head 11 corresponds to the width of the substrate 90, the length L of the solution receiving portion 20 is long. Can do. It is also possible to arrange a plurality of solution receiving portions 20 in series so as to correspond to the length of the head 11.

  In addition, the distance Wt between the end portions 22 e of the opening reducing portion 22 in the solution receiving portion 20 is determined by the distance from the head 11. When the distance between the head 11 and the solution receiver 20 (especially, the distance between the ejection surface 12a of the head 11 and the surface on which the end 22e of the opening reduction part 22 is located) is short, the end of the opening reduction part 22 The distance Wt between 22e can be reduced. On the other hand, when the distance between the head 11 and the solution receiving part 20 is long, it is desirable to increase the distance Wt between the end parts 22e of the opening reduction part 22. . This is because an air flow is generated in an area where the head 11 and the solution receiving unit 20 exist (for example, in the clean room 70), and the liquid (droplet) 16 discharged from the head 11 is flowed by the air flow, It has been found by the present inventor that there is a case where the head 11 does not move directly under the head 11. In consideration thereof, the distance Wt between the end portions 22e (that is, the distance defining the uppermost opening of the solution receiving portion 20) is caused by the movement caused by the air flow in addition to the position of the nozzle 12 of the head 11. It is desirable to determine the amount after calculating it. In this example, the width Wt defined by the opening reduction part 22 is 60 mm, and the width Wb in the container part 21 is 150 mm.

  In the example shown in FIG. 6, the solution receiving part 20 including the rectangular parallelepiped container part 21 is shown, but the form of the solution receiving part 20 is not limited thereto, and other forms can be adopted. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a solution receiving portion 20 including a cylindrical container portion 21 may be used. In the solution receiving portion 20 shown in FIG. 7, a substantially conical inclined surface (opening reducing portion) 22 having an upper opening is formed at the upper end of a cylindrical container portion 21. In addition, since the solution receiving part 20 should just be arrange | positioned directly under the nozzle 12, even if the head 11 is long, as shown in FIG. 7 under the nozzle 12 arranged in the head 11 By arranging the various solution receiving portions 20, the solution 16 can be received in the discharge confirmation step without any particular problem.

  FIG. 8 is a view for explaining the relationship (particularly, the angle φ) between the nozzle 12 of the head 11 and the end 22e of the opening reducing portion 22 in the solution receiving portion 20 (20A).

  When the head 11 and the solution receiving portion 20A are disposed at a predetermined distance D (for example, 50 mm or less) between the nozzle 12 and the solution receiving portion 20A, if the droplet 16 falls directly from the nozzle 12, Proceed along (vertical direction) 26 as shown by arrow 16a. However, the manufacturing apparatus as in the present embodiment is installed in a clean room, and an air flow (airflow) is generated in the clean room. This air flow may cause the liquid droplet 16 discharged from the nozzle 12 to flow directly, and proceeds as indicated by an arrow 16b. In particular, when the ejected droplets diffuse in the form of mist, they are more likely to be swept away by the air current and diffuse widely. In addition, there is a possibility that the liquid droplet bounced in the solution receiving portion 20A becomes a mist state and is caused to flow in the air stream. Therefore, in order to reliably receive the droplet 16 discharged from the nozzle 12 by the solution receiving unit 20 at the time of discharge confirmation, the locus of the arrow 16b is predicted, and the opening reduction portion (inclined surface) 22 is located. It is preferable to determine the location (or the length or angle at which the aperture reduction portion 22 extends).

  In addition, if only a small amount of droplets / mist of the liquid droplet 16 that has come out of the solution receiving unit 20 adheres on the substrate 90 to be applied while remaining in a liquid state, the influence is small in the application process. However, if the droplets / mist of the droplets 16 that have come out of the solution receiving unit 20 are dried and solidified to become foreign matters and adhere to the substrate 90, the yield in the manufacturing process is reduced. One factor is not preferable. Therefore, an appropriate distance D between the head 11 (or the nozzle 12) and the solution receiving portion 20 and a position where the opening reducing portion (inclined surface) 22 is positioned are determined, and the solution receiving portion 20 is constructed based on the determination. It is desirable.

  More specifically, it is desirable to make the angle φ formed by the line 27 connecting the end portion 22e of the opening reduction portion 22 and the nozzle 12 and the perpendicular line 26 suitable. The angle φ between the line 27 and the perpendicular 26 is preferably set to 15 ° or more, for example. If the angle φ is less than 15 °, when the droplet 16 (or in the form of a mist) travels directly from the nozzle 12 as indicated by the arrow 16b, it is outside the solution receiving portion 20A. This is because there is a high possibility that it will come out. Further, when the angle φ exceeds 45 °, even when the droplet 16 advances as shown by the arrow 16b, it can be received by the solution receiving portion 20A, but the following problem may occur. That is, when the angle φ exceeds 45 °, the opening 25 of the solution receiving portion 20A becomes too large, and the liquid droplet 16 that has once entered the solution receiving portion 20A bounces off and goes out of the mist. There is a possibility that things in the state will go out.

  Further, since the direction in which the opening reduction part 22 extends can be defined by the angle φ, the opening reduction part 22 may not be an inclined surface, but may be a horizontal plane as shown in FIG. Further, with reference to FIG. 10, the solution receiving part 20 or the opening reducing part is arranged so that, for example, the angle φ is 15 ° to 45 ° so that the end 22e of the opening reducing part 22 is in a suitable position. 22 should be constructed. In addition, when the opening reduction part 22 is made into an inclined surface as shown in FIG. 8, compared with the case where the opening reduction part 22 is a horizontal surface (refer FIG. 10), there exists an advantage that the cleaning of a corner | angular part becomes easy.

  FIG. 11 shows a case where the tip (nozzle 12) of the head 11 is inserted into the solution receiving portion 20B. Also in this example, since the opening reduction part 22 is provided in the solution receiving part 20B, it can suppress that the droplet 16 scatters. However, in this case, when discharging is confirmed, the discharged droplet 16 cannot be visually observed or imaged, and it cannot be confirmed whether or not the discharge is good. Even if the solution receiving portion 20B is made of a transparent material, the solution receiving portion 20B is clouded by the influence of the droplets 16, so that it is difficult to confirm the ejection.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 12, when the distance D is short between the solution receiving portion 20C and the tip (nozzle 12) of the head 11, the opening reduction portion (inclined surface) 22 visually checks the droplet 16 to be ejected. And imaging may be hindered. Therefore, in order to visually observe or image the droplets 16 ejected from the nozzle 12, the distance D between the nozzle (ejection port) 12 and the solution receiving portion 20 is preferably at least 10 mm (as an example, 50 mm). . In addition, when apply | coating a droplet to a board | substrate, the space | interval of the nozzle 12 and the board | substrate 90 may be several mm, for example, discharge application can be performed at intervals of 2-5 mm.

  The solution receiver 20 can be modified as shown in FIG. 13, for example. The solution receiving part 20 shown in FIG. 13 has a structure in which a drain member 80 for the droplet 16 is provided inside the container part 21. In this structure, the droplet 16 discharged from the nozzle 12 hits a drain member (tilted plate) 80, where it becomes a droplet 81, and thereafter proceeds as indicated by an arrow 82. Next, it proceeds through the drain pipe 83 attached to a part of the container portion 21, and then is recovered in the recovery container 85 as indicated by an arrow 84. The liquid 86 in the collection container 85 may be discarded after a predetermined time has elapsed. In order to suppress the occurrence of splashes from the droplets 16, a porous material (sponge) can be disposed on the drain member (inclined plate). Furthermore, in order to prevent splashes from the droplets 16 from going out of the solution receiving unit 20, a configuration in which suction (arrow 88) is performed from the bottom surface 21b of the solution receiving unit 20 may be employed.

  Next, the coating method of this embodiment is demonstrated, referring FIG. 14 (a) to (c). FIGS. 14A to 14C are process diagrams for explaining the coating method of this embodiment.

  First, as shown in FIG. 14A, a substrate 90 to be coated is placed on the stage 32. In the state where this substrate 90 is prepared, if necessary, the wiping unit 50 (see FIG. 5) is used to perform wiping of the inkjet head 11, and the solution (coating solution) remaining on the ejection surface 12a of the nozzle 12 Wipe off.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 14B, after the solution receiving portion 20 is disposed under the nozzle 12, the solution (coating liquid) 16 is discharged from the nozzle 12 of the inkjet head 11. In this discharge confirmation step, whether the discharge of the solution 16 is normal or abnormal is confirmed by visual observation or imaging.

  In the present embodiment, since the scattering prevention member (opening reduction portion) 22 is provided in the solution receiving part 20, the solution 16 discharged from the nozzle 12 at the time of discharge confirmation is scattered outside the solution receiving part 20. This can be suppressed. In this example, since the solution 16 discharged from the two nozzles 12 is received by the single solution receiving portion 20, the scattering prevention member (opening reduction portion) 22 is based on the position of each nozzle 12. Is determined by the angle φ.

  After the discharge of the solution 16 is determined to be normal, the functional film (for example, made of polyimide is formed on the substrate 90 by discharging the solution 16 from the nozzle 12 of the inkjet head 11 as shown in FIG. Alignment film) is formed. Specifically, the substrate 90 disposed on the stage 32 is moved (see arrow 55) to form a functional film in a predetermined region. Note that the functional film may be formed by moving the inkjet head 11 without being limited to the method of moving the substrate 90. Further, when the next film formation process is executed after the formation of the functional film by the inkjet head 11, the state shown in FIG. 14A is obtained again, and after the wiping process, the state shown in FIG. The discharge confirmation process shown in FIG.

  According to the coating method of this embodiment, the step of discharging the solution (coating solution) 16 to the substrate 90 using the nozzle 12 and the solution receiving portion 20 before discharging the solution 16 to the substrate 90. And a discharge confirmation step of discharging toward the head. In this discharge confirmation step, the solution receiving portion 20 is provided with the scattering preventing member (opening reduction portion) 22, so that the splash of the solution 16 is prevented from splashing outside from the solution receiving portion 20 during the discharge confirmation. be able to. As a result, a thin film (for example, an alignment film) can be formed satisfactorily. Specifically, a decrease in the yield of the alignment film can be suppressed, and consequently an increase in manufacturing cost of the liquid crystal panel can be suppressed.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated by suitable embodiment, such description is not a limitation matter and of course various modifications are possible.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the coating device and the coating method which can suppress the splash which may generate | occur | produce in a discharge confirmation process can be provided.

10 head unit 11 head (inkjet head)
12 Nozzle 12a Discharge surface 13 Head cover 16 Solution (droplet)
18 Spray 20 Solution receiving portion 21 Container portion 21a Side surface 21b Bottom surface 21c Upper end 22 Opening reduction portion 22e End portion of opening reduction portion 23 Extension portion 25 Opening portion 29 Porous member 30 Stage unit 32 Stage 34 Lift pin 35 Stage moving mechanism 50 Wiping unit 52 Wiping unit 80 Drain member 81 Droplet 83 Drain pipe 85 Recovery container 86 Liquid 90 Substrate 100 Coating device (inkjet coating device)
1000 Inkjet head 1100 Nozzle 1200 Droplet 1210 Splash 1220 Deposit 1300 Droplet receiver 1500 Table 1900 Substrate

Claims (8)

An application apparatus for applying a solution to a substrate by an inkjet method,
An inkjet head including a nozzle that discharges the solution onto the substrate;
A solution receiving portion for receiving the solution discharged from the nozzle,
The solution receiver is
A container having an opening on the top surface through which the solution passes;
An application apparatus, comprising: an opening reduction part that narrows the opening of the container part.   The coating apparatus, wherein an angle formed between a line connecting the opening end of the opening reduction portion and the nozzle and a perpendicular is 15 ° or more and 45 ° or less. The container portion has a rectangular parallelepiped shape whose upper surface is open,
The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the opening reducing portion is an inclined surface provided at an upper end of the rectangular parallelepiped shape.   The coating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a porous member is disposed inside the container portion. Furthermore, a stage unit for holding the substrate is provided,
The substrate is a glass substrate for a liquid crystal panel,
The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the solution is a polyimide liquid. An application method for applying a solution to a substrate by an inkjet method,
Discharging the solution to the substrate using a nozzle;
A discharge confirmation step of discharging the solution toward a solution receiving portion that receives the solution discharged from the nozzle before discharging the solution to the substrate, and
The coating method according to claim 1, wherein the solution receiving portion is provided with a splash preventing member that prevents the solution from splashing outside the solution receiving portion. The solution receiving part is a container part having an opening on the upper surface through which the solution passes,
The said scattering prevention member is a coating method of Claim 6 comprised from the opening reduction part which narrows the opening of the opening part of the said container part. The substrate is a glass substrate for a liquid crystal panel,
The coating method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein an alignment film is formed in the step of discharging the substrate.

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