KR100495366B1 - Paste coating apparatus and paste coating method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a paste applicator and a coating method capable of drawing a seal pattern having a stable height when producing a plurality of liquid crystal panels from one substrate.

In the present invention, the paste pattern formed on the substrate 9 is decomposed into a straight line pattern of the vertical line pattern SP-Y and the horizontal line pattern SP-X, and each is drawn separately.

In the intersection portion XP or the junction portion JP of the vertical line pattern SP-Y and the horizontal line pattern SP-X, when the vertical line pattern SP-Y is first applied in drawing, the intersection portion XP or the junction portion In the case of (JP), the paste coating amount is smaller than that of the other straight portions, and when the horizontal pattern (SP-X) is applied and drawn next, the intersection portion XP or the junction portion JP and other portions in the paste pattern obtained are different. Paste coating is performed so that the amount of paste coating in the straight portion is equal.

Description

Paste Coating Machine and Paste Coating Method {PASTE COATING APPARATUS AND PASTE COATING METHOD}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paste applicator and a coating method, and more particularly, to a paste applicator and a coating method capable of drawing a seal pattern having a stable height when producing a plurality of liquid crystal panels from a single substrate.

Conventionally, when producing a plurality of liquid crystal panels from one substrate, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-160828, a substantially rectangular seal pattern for enclosing liquid crystals for each liquid crystal panel on the substrate is opened. 2. Description of the Related Art A technique for drawing a liquid crystal panel by drawing two substrates on which resin (paste) is cured by ultraviolet light and drawing the seal pattern is known.

In the case of forming a seal pattern of a plurality of panels on the same substrate, the substrate is held on an XY table (composed of multiple stages of a table moving only in the X-axis or Y-axis direction) for each panel, and a nozzle is placed on the substrate. The paste discharge ports are faced to each other, and the paste is discharged and applied onto the substrate from the paste discharge port of the nozzle while moving the XY table according to a predetermined seal pattern.

By the way, when the pattern drawing in the prior art, in order to produce a large amount of panels, the application time for drawing is long, which is a problem of lowering productivity.

For this reason, in order to shorten the application drawing time, it is conceivable to increase the moving speed of the XY table with respect to the paste discharge port of the nozzle and to apply the paste at high speed. However, when changing the application direction at the rectangular corners of the seal pattern, the XY table has the X axis. Because of the sudden stop and sudden oscillation in each direction of the Y axis and the Y axis, the XY table or the whole device vibrates up and down, left and right, and back and forth, causing the seal pattern to be cut off or meandering in the middle, and thus cannot be applied in a desired shape. .

An object of the present invention is to provide a paste coating device and a paste coating method which can prevent a decrease in productivity when the number of panels to be taken per substrate becomes large.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a paste application method and a paste application method capable of realizing a reduction in coating tact (coating writing time) and stabilization of coating drawing accuracy of a seal pattern even when a large number of panels are taken per substrate. .

A feature of the present invention which achieves the above object is to apply a drawing of a well sperm-shaped paste pattern composed of a combination of a vertical line pattern and a horizontal line pattern, and to apply the paste to the intersection of these vertical line patterns and the horizontal line pattern. By controlling the distance between the nozzle and the substrate surface, the paste ejection pressure, or the relative speed between the nozzle and the substrate, the total paste coating amount by the first paste application at the intersection and the second paste application at the intersection is a straight portion other than the intersection. This means that a means for making the paste coating amount in E is approximately equal.

Specifically, a nozzle having a paste discharge port, a table for holding a substrate to face the paste discharge port, a table-relative drive mechanism for relatively driving one of the table and the nozzle in a direction parallel to the substrate surface, a nozzle and a substrate A paste applicator having a nozzle drive mechanism for varyingly driving the distance between the surfaces and a discharge pressure control mechanism for controlling the pressure applied to the receiving portion of the paste for applying the paste onto the substrate from the nozzle, the nozzle spreader comprising: Table-relative drive mechanism and nozzle drive mechanism based on the pattern data of the well sperm-shaped pattern formed by the combination of a vertical line pattern and a horizontal line pattern formed by applying a paste to the substrate and the position information of the nozzle with respect to the substrate surface obtained from the table relative drive mechanism. And at least one mechanism of the discharge pressure control mechanism Check the position of the intersection of the paste pattern and the junction of the straight part and the end of the paste pattern, and at the intersection and the junction of the paste pattern, the straight part between adjacent intersections of the paste pattern or the straight part between the junction and the intersection part The paste discharge amount equalizing means which makes the paste discharge amount from the nozzle in substantially equal is provided. It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiment of this invention is described based on drawing.

1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a paste applicator according to the present invention.

In Figure 1, 1 is the mount, 2 is the Z-axis table support mount, 3 is the X-axis movement table, 4 is the X-axis servomotor, 5 is the Y-axis movement table, 6 is the Y-axis servo motor, 7 is the substrate holding mechanism, 8 is the θ-axis movement table, 9 is the substrate, 10 is the Z-axis movement table support bracket, 11 is the Z-axis movement table, 11a is the support base, 12 is the Z-axis servomotor, 13 is the paste container (cylinder), 14 Is a nozzle support, 15 is an image recognition camera, 16 is a rangefinder, 17 is a main control, 18 is a secondary control, 18a is a hard disk, 18b is a floppy disk, 19 is a monitor, 20 is a keyboard and 21 is wiring.

In the figure, the X-axis movement table 3 is provided on the mount 1, and the Y-axis movement table 5 is moved in the X-axis direction so as to be orthogonal to this on the X-axis movement table 3. I install it possibly. The Y-axis movement table 5 moves on the X-axis movement table 3 in the X-axis direction by the drive of the X-axis servomotor 4 provided in the X-axis movement table 3. The substrate holding mechanism 7 is provided on the Y axis moving table 5 so as to be movable in the Y axis direction. The substrate holding mechanism 7 moves the Y-axis movement table 5 on the Y-axis direction by driving the Y-axis servomotor 6 provided on the Y-axis movement table 5. The substrate holding mechanism 7 has a θ axis moving table 8, and the substrate holding mechanism 7 is driven by a θ axis by rotating the θ axis moving table 8 by a θ axis servomotor (not shown). Rotationally driven in the direction (rotational direction around the Z axis). The substrate 9 is mounted and held on the substrate holding mechanism 7 and moved in the X and Y axis directions by the drive of the servo motors of the X, Y, and θ axes in the respective movement tables 3, 5, and 8; and rotate in the θ-axis direction to position at a predetermined position.

In this embodiment, the substrate 9 is moved in its surface direction to position the paste or to paste the paste. As described later, the same positioning and the paste coating are controlled by moving the nozzle. It is possible. The θ-axis movement table 8 may be omitted, and the configuration may be such that only the substrate holding mechanism 7 moves in the Y-axis direction on the Y-axis movement table 5 that moves in the X-axis direction. The drive system which moves the whole mechanism or the nozzle which drives these moving tables 3, 5, and 8 to the surface direction of the board | substrate 9 is hereafter generically called a table relative drive mechanism (abbreviated as table drive mechanism).

The Z-axis table support stand 2 is installed on the mount 1, and the Z-axis move table 11 is installed on the Z-axis table support stand 2 via the Z-axis move table support bracket 10. have. The support base 11a is installed on the Z-axis movement table 11 so as to be movable in the Z-axis direction, and the support base 11a is driven by driving the Z-axis servomotor 12 provided on the Z-axis movement table 11. ) Moves in the Z-axis direction (up and down direction) (this drive system is referred to as a nozzle drive mechanism hereinafter).

The image recognition camera 15, the rangefinder 16, etc. are provided in this support base 11a which has the paste container 13 provided with the nozzle support 14 in the lower end, and the mirror cylinder provided with the light source which can be illuminated. Doing. Although not shown, the nozzle is provided at the tip of the nozzle support 14.

In addition, the paste container 13 is detachably attached to the support base 11a. The image recognition camera 15 is provided so as to face the substrate 9 for positioning of the substrate 9 and shape recognition of the paste pattern.

The main control part 17 is provided in the lower part of the mount 1, and this main control part 17 is connected with the sub control part 18 provided separately by the wiring 21. As shown in FIG. The sub control unit 18 includes an external storage device using a storage medium such as a hard disk 18a or a floppy disk 18b, a monitor 19, and a keyboard 20.

The main control unit 17 controls the servomotors 4, 6, 12 of the tables 3, 5, 11, the servomotor of the θ-axis movement table 8, and the like. Data for various processes in the main control unit 17 is input by the keyboard 20, and the image captured by the image recognition camera 15 and the processing status in the main control unit 17 are displayed on the monitor 19. FIG. Data input from the keyboard 20 is stored in a storage medium such as a hard disk 18a or a floppy disk 18b which is an external storage device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the main control unit 17 and its control system in FIG. 1, and the same reference numerals are given to the parts corresponding to FIG.

In Fig. 2, 8a is an θ-axis servomotor, 13a is a nozzle, 17a is a microcomputer, 17b is a motor controller, 17c is a data communication bus, 17d is an external interface, 17e is an image processing device, 17f to 17i is a motor driver, 22 is a negative pressure source, 23 is a positive pressure source, 22a and 23a are regulators, 24 is a valve unit, and 25 is atmosphere.

In the figure, the main controller 17 is an image processing apparatus 17e for processing video signals obtained by the microcomputer 17a, the motor controller 17b, the motor drivers 17f to 17i, the image recognition camera 15, The microcomputer 17a incorporates an external interface 17d for signal transmission to and from the sub-control unit 18, the regulators 22a and 23a, the control of the valve unit 24, and the measurement input of the rangefinder 16. The motor controller 17b, the external interface 17d, and the image processing device 17e are connected to each other by the data communication bus 17c.

Further, the microcomputer 17a includes a main operation unit (not shown) and a ROM which stores a processing program for performing application drawing described later, a processing result of the main operation unit, or input data from the external interface 17d and the motor controller 17b. And an input / output unit for exchanging data with the external interface 17d or the motor controller 17b.

The amount of rotation is detected by the servomotors 4, 6, 12 for driving the tables 3, 5, and 11 or the θ-axis servomotor 8a for rotationally driving the θ-axis movement table 8 (FIG. 1). The encoder is built in, and the detection result is returned to the corresponding motor drivers 17f, 17g, 17i, and 17h to control the position of the substrate 9 and the nozzle 13a.

The servomotors 4, 6, 8a and 12 rotate forward and reverse based on the data input from the keyboard 20 and stored in the RAM of the microcomputer 17a. Thereby, the board | substrate 9 hold | maintained by the board | substrate holding mechanism 7 has a desired distance in the X- and Y-axis directions with respect to the nozzle 13a provided in the support base 11a in the Z-axis movement table 11 Move it. During the movement, a slight air pressure is continuously applied to the paste storage container 13, whereby the paste is discharged from the paste discharge port at the tip of the nozzle 13a, and the desired paste pattern is applied and drawn onto the substrate 9.

The discharge pressure control mechanism for controlling the application of the paste adjusts the pressure of the regulator 23a for adjusting the pressure of the compressed air supplied from the positive pressure source 23 and the air of the negative pressure supplied from the negative pressure source 22. The regulator 22a, the pipe which supplies the air which adjusted the pressure from these regulators 22a, 23a to the paste storage container 13, and the pipe which opens the inside of the paste storage container 13 to the atmosphere 25 are switched. It consists of the valve unit 24 for control, and it is set as the structure which controls a discharge pressure by applying a desired pressure to the paste in the paste container 13 from the valve unit 24 by this discharge pressure control mechanism.

In addition, while the substrate 9 held by the substrate holding mechanism 7 (FIG. 1) moves horizontally in the X and Y-axis directions, the distance meter 16 spaces between the nozzle 13a and the substrate 9 (hereinafter referred to as a nozzle). Referred to as the height of (13a). Based on this measurement result, the Z-axis servomotor 12 is driven so as to keep the height of the nozzle 13a substantially constant, thereby controlling the movement of the nozzle 13a in the Z direction.

3 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of this embodiment. Hereinafter, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

In FIG. 3, power is first turned on (step 100), and initial setting of the paste coater is performed (step 200).

In this apparatus initial setting process (step 200), the servomotors 4, 6, 8a, and 12 are driven to move the substrate holding mechanism 7 in the X, Y, and θ-axis directions to position at a predetermined reference position. . At the same time, the nozzle 13a is also set at a predetermined home position such that the paste discharge port becomes a position at which the paste application starts (that is, the paste application starting point). Pattern data (position data of the pattern on the substrate), substrate position data (position data of the substrate 9 with respect to the substrate holding mechanism 7), and paste discharge end position of the paste pattern to be applied and drawn on the substrate 9 again. The data and the like are set. As described above, each of these data is input from the keyboard 20, and the input data is stored in a RAM built in the microcomputer 17a.

Next, the substrate 9 is mounted and held on the substrate adsorption mechanism 7 (step 300), and then substrate prepositioning (step 400) is performed.

In the substrate prepositioning process (step 400), the positioning mark pre-installed on the substrate 9 held by the substrate holding mechanism 7 is photographed by the image recognition camera 15, and the position is taken from the photographed image. The center position of the mark for determination is determined by image processing to detect the inclination of the substrate 9 in the θ-axis direction, thereby driving the servomotor 8a to correct the inclination in the θ-axis direction.

In addition, when the amount of remaining paste is small in the paste storage container 13, the paste storage container 13 is replaced with the nozzle 13a in advance so that the paste may not be cut off in the middle of the next paste coating operation. When the nozzle 13a is replaced, a position shift may occur in the X and Y axis planes. In order to eliminate this misalignment, a cross mark is drawn using a new nozzle 13a exchanged in an area in which the paste pattern on the substrate 9 is not formed, and the cross mark is photographed by the image recognition camera 15 to obtain the cross mark. From the photographed image, the center position of the intersection of the cross marks is obtained by image processing. Then, the distance between the center position and the center position of the positioning mark on the substrate 9 is calculated, and the result of the calculation is the microcomputer 17a as the positional displacement amount (dx, dy) of the paste discharge port of the nozzle 13a. Store in the built-in RAM. This completes the substrate preliminary positioning process (step 400).

The position shift amounts dx and dy of the nozzle 13a are used for correcting the position shift of the nozzle 13a at the time of the application drawing operation of the paste pattern performed later.

Next, a paste pattern drawing (step 500) is performed.

In this paste pattern drawing process (step 500), the substrate 9 is moved to the table driving mechanism to provide the position of the paste discharge port of the nozzle 13a at the application start position, and the comparison and adjustment movement of the nozzle 13a position is performed. Is done. For this reason, the nozzle 13a which the position shift amount (dx, dy) of the nozzle 13a obtained by the previous board | substrate prepositioning process (step 400) previously stored in the RAM of the microcomputer 17a is preset. It is judged whether or not it is within the allowable ranges ΔX and ΔY of the position shift amounts.

If the positional displacement amounts (dx, dy) are within this allowable range (ΔX ≥ dx and ΔY ≥ dy), they remain the same, and if the positional displacement amounts (dx, dy) are outside the allowable range (ΔX <dx or ΔY <dy), the positional displacement amounts (dx, dy) are On the basis of this, the substrate 9 is moved to eliminate the deviation between the paste discharge port of the nozzle 13a and the desired position of the substrate 9, and the nozzle 13a is positioned at the desired position.

Next, the height of the nozzle 13a is set to the paste pattern drawing height by the Z-axis servomotor 12. The nozzle 13a drops the initial moving distance based on the initial moving distance data of the nozzle. Subsequently, by measuring the surface height of the substrate 9 with the distance meter 14, it is checked whether or not the height of the nozzle 13a is a height for drawing the paste pattern. When it is not set as drawing height, the nozzle 13a is moved down by a small distance, and the measurement of the surface height of the board | substrate 9 and the micro distance fall of the nozzle 13a are performed repeatedly alternately hereafter, The height is set to the height for coating drawing the paste pattern. When the paste container 13 is not replaced, since there is no data of the positional displacement amount (dx, dy) of the nozzle 13a, when the paste pattern drawing process (step 500) is entered, Set the height.

After the above processing is finished, the servomotors 4 and 6 are operated based on the paste pattern data stored in the RAM of the microcomputer 17a. Thereby, in the state where the paste discharge port of the nozzle 13a opposes the board | substrate 9, the board | substrate 9 moves to X and Y directions according to this paste pattern data. At the same time, a desired discharge pressure is applied from the positive pressure source 23 through the regulator 23a and the valve unit 24 to the paste storage container 13 to start discharge of the paste from the paste discharge port of the nozzle 13a. Application drawing of the paste pattern on the substrate 9 is started.

In addition, as described above, the microcomputer 17a inputs measurement data of the height of the nozzle 13a from the rangefinder 16, measures the undulation of the surface of the substrate 9 from this measurement data, and measures the measured value. In response, the nozzle drive mechanism (Z-axis servomotor 12) is operated to keep the height of the nozzle 13a substantially constant at the set value.

Here, a method of coating and drawing the liquid crystal panel paste (seal) pattern in a well sperm shape (this is made of a combination of a vertical line pattern and a horizontal line pattern and has an intersection of the vertical line pattern and the horizontal line pattern) is shown in FIGS. 4 to 9. Explain accordingly.

10 shows a conventional paste pattern, and in the shape as shown, PP2, PP3,... In order from the paste pattern PP1. … , PP6 and the height of the nozzle 13a are measured by a distance meter, and are kept constant, and the paste discharge pressure is kept constant and coating is performed. However, in this method, each paste pattern PP1 to PP6 is independent, and many corner portions (for example, corner portions CN of the paste pattern PP1, etc.) are applied, and the application speed is increased to improve the coating tact. Increasing the vibration of the device in the vertical, front, rear, left and right directions at the corners of the pattern caused a problem that the desired paste pattern was not obtained.

Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, the paste pattern is a substantially linear pattern of vertical line patterns SP-Y-1 to SP-Y-6 and horizontal line patterns SP-X-1 to SP-X-4. The paste pattern is drawn by application of a substantially straight pattern. In the case of applying and drawing the seal pattern in this manner, since the opening pattern (for example, the opening AP in the pattern PP1) is not the same as the pattern shown in Fig. 10, the paste pattern is closed. A liquid crystal panel can be obtained by dripping a liquid crystal in the pattern of one board | substrate 9, and sticking the other board | substrate 9 to it from above, before pasting the application drawing two board | substrates 9 together. .

9, after apply | coating and drawing a paste pattern, it is also possible to change into a paste pattern as shown in FIG.

In this case, what is necessary is just to remove the sealing compound (paste) of the part used as an opening in the place where it became the state of dry-drying (semi hardening).

In the case where the obtained liquid crystal panels are divided and used separately, the pastes MP1 and MP2 which connect the individual patterns for dropping the liquid crystal shown in Fig. 9 are redundant, so that the application of the paste of this portion is explained as described later. It may be stopped.

In the paste coating method of this embodiment shown in FIG. 9, first, the vertical path patterns SP-Y-1 to SP-Y-6 and the horizontal line patterns SP-X-1 to SP-X-4 are formed in a first path ( First, the pattern to apply and the pattern to apply | coat (second) to a 2nd time are determined. That is, the pattern to apply | coat and draw for the first time is set as a vertical line pattern or a horizontal line pattern. Here, the pattern to apply to FIG. 1 is made into the vertical line patterns SP-Y-1 to SP-Y-6, and the pattern drawn to the second is made into the horizontal line patterns SP-X-1 to SP-X-4. .

Thus, first, the vertical line patterns SP-Y-1 to SP-Y-6 are applied and drawn in order, and at this time, the vertical line patterns SP-X-1 to SP-X-4 intersect with each other. The amount of paste coating is reduced at the position (intersection XP) or at the position where the ends of the application drawing are bonded or at the position at which the linear application portion and the end are bonded (bonding portion JP). Subsequently, horizontal line patterns SP-X-1 to SP-X-4 are applied in sequence, but the intersections XP and junctions of the vertical line patterns SP-Y-1 to SP-Y-6 already applied are drawn. The paste coating amount is reduced in (JP), and the paste coating amount at the cross section XP or the junction portion JP is added to the paste coating amount at the time of application drawing of the vertical line patterns SP-Y-1 to SP-Y-6. The paste coating amount is approximately equal to the paste coating amount at positions other than the intersection portion XP or the junction portion JP.

Thereby, the sealing pattern of the uniform thickness is apply | coated as a whole including the crossing part XP and the junction part JP.

4 is an enlarged view of a portion of the intersection portion XP of the vertical line pattern SP-Y and the horizontal line pattern SP-X.

In the figure, at the intersection XP between the vertical line pattern SP-Y (any one of the vertical line patterns in Fig. 9) and the horizontal line pattern SP-X (any one of the horizontal line patterns in Fig. 9), It is necessary to make the other positions (hereinafter, referred to as straight portions) and the paste coating amount approximately equal.

Therefore, in the vertical line pattern SP-Y applied first, the height of the nozzle 13a is lowered at the intersection XP with the horizontal line pattern SP-X, thereby reducing the amount of paste coating. In the paste coating at the intersection point XP of the subsequent horizontal line pattern SP-X with the vertical line pattern SP-Y, the paste coating amount of the vertical line pattern SP-Y at this intersection XP is taken into consideration. Thus, the height of the nozzle 13a is made equal to the height at the straight portions other than the intersection portion XP of the horizontal line pattern SP-X, and the amount of paste coating is reduced at this intersection portion XP. That is, in the case of the horizontal line pattern SP-X to be applied as the second, the height and paste discharge pressure from the surface of the substrate 9 of the nozzle 13a as a whole are kept constant, and the vertical line pattern SP-Y At the cross section XP, the paste coating amount is reduced.

This means that the paste coating amount is changed by the distance (opposed distance) between the substrate surface to be applied and the discharge port of the nozzle even when the paste discharge pressure is constant. About joining part JP, it is the same as application | coating in the crossing part XP, and description is abbreviate | omitted.

The position of the intersection portion XP and the junction portion JP on the substrate 9 is the pattern data of the paste pattern or the substrate to be applied for drawing, which is stored in the RAM built in the microcomputer 17a (FIG. 2). Read the position data or the like and use the information from the table driving mechanism or the like (information for outputting the encoder of each servomotor 4, 5, 8a, information for driving the motor drives 17f, 17g, 17h, etc.) and the substrate ( The position of the nozzle 13a on 9) can be confirmed.

Therefore, the nozzle 13a is located at the position of the intersection XP or the junction JP from the position information of the intersection XP or the junction JP and the position information of the nozzle 13a on the substrate 9. Can be determined.

FIG. 5: is a figure which shows one specific example of the paste application | coating method in the intersection part XP with the horizontal line pattern SP-X in the vertical line pattern SP-Y apply | coated first.

In the drawing, in the case of coating and drawing the vertical line pattern SP-Y to be applied first, in the straight portion, the paste 13 which maintains the height of the nozzle 13a at a substantially constant height H0 and discharges from the paste discharge port ( When the discharge pressure of the sealant is kept substantially constant, and reaches the intersection portion XP with the horizontal line pattern SP-X, the Z-axis servomotor 12 (Fig. 1) is driven at high speed to control the nozzle ( 13a) is lowered and paste application amount is reduced by making height of nozzle 13a into height H1 lower than height H0 of a linear part. That is, since the paste application amount is determined by the paste discharge pressure and the height of the nozzle 13a as described above, when applying and drawing the vertical line SP-Y to be applied first, the discharge pressure of the paste discharge port of the nozzle 13a is adjusted. While maintaining constant, the nozzle 13a is rapidly lowered from the height H0 to the height H1 at the intersection XP, and the amount of paste applied at this intersection XP is reduced to pass through the intersection XP. Control to rapidly return to the height H0 is performed.

Subsequently, in the application drawing of the horizontal line pattern SP-X applied for the second time, the height of the nozzle 13a is maintained at the height H0 at the intersection portion XP and the straight portion, and the discharge pressure of the paste is also kept constant. do. In this case, at the intersection portion XP of the horizontal line pattern SP-X with the vertical line pattern SP-Y, the height of the nozzle 13a is relatively lowered by the vertical line pattern SP-Y already applied. As a result, the paste coating amount at the intersection portion XP is reduced from that of the straight portion, so that a seal pattern with a paste coating amount substantially equivalent to the straight portion can be formed.

In addition, in the cross section XP, the horizontal line pattern SP-X is applied at the height H0 of the nozzle 13a at the time of the application of the vertical line pattern SP-Y, and applied to the second portion. When the paste is applied while maintaining the same height control of the same nozzle 13a at the time of coating, the coating is already applied at the intersection XP at the intersection XP based on the measurement result of the rangefinder 16 (FIGS. 1 and 2). The Z-axis servomotor 12 acts to raise the height H0 again from the vertical line pattern SP-X, and the nozzle 13a is raised. At the cross section XP, the paste coating amount is higher than the straight portion. Increases. For this reason, when joining the two board | substrates 9 in which the paste pattern was formed, the crossing part XP which this paste application amount increased has a bad influence. For example, it may not be possible to finish it with a liquid crystal panel with regular substrate spacing, or the paste may spread into the panel and may not have a normal panel shape.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, when applying and drawing the horizontal line pattern SP-X as mentioned above, the height of the nozzle 13a is maintained at H0, and in the intersection part XP with the vertical line pattern SP-Y, The height of the nozzle 13a is fixed to the height just before this crossing part XP. In the straight portion of the horizontal line pattern SP-X, the control of maintaining the height of the nozzle 13a at H0 is performed according to the measurement result of the distance meter 16, but in the application period of the intersection XP, the intersection (XP) It is used to keep the measurement result of the distance meter 16 immediately before, and as a result, in the intersection part XP which has already formed the vertical line pattern SP-Y by apply | coating paste, a vertical line pattern SP-Y Regardless of the paste coating thickness, the height of the nozzle 13a with respect to the surface of the substrate 9 is kept equal to the straight portion (H0). Of course, when the paste application of the cross section XP is finished, the height control of the nozzle 13a is started again based on the measurement result of the rangefinder 16. Thereby, the paste application amount in these crossing parts XP after application | coating and drawing the vertical line pattern SP-Y and the horizontal line pattern SP-X becomes the same as those linear part.

In addition, the height control of the nozzle 13a based on the measurement result of the distance meter 16 also in the intersection XP with the vertical line pattern SP-Y at the time of paste application of the horizontal line pattern SP-X to be applied as the second paste. You can also do. In this case, however, the amount of paste applied at the intersection portion XP of the vertical line pattern SP-Y is significantly reduced. Thereby, even if the height of the nozzle 13a is set to the height of H0 from the vertical line pattern SP-Y which is already apply | coated drawing at the cross | intersection XP at the time of paste application | coating of horizontal line pattern SP-X, this intersection is carried out. The paste coating amount in the part XP can be made approximately the same as the paste coating amount in the straight part.

FIG. 6: is a figure which shows the other specific example of the paste application method in the intersection part XP with the horizontal line pattern SP-X in the vertical line pattern SP-Y apply | coated first.

Fig. 7 is a diagram showing a method for carrying out this specific example, in which 24a is a high speed switching valve, and portions corresponding to Fig. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

In this specific example, the height of the nozzle 13a is made constant, and the discharge pressure at the cross section is changed to reduce the paste coating amount.

6 and 7, in the application drawing of the vertical line pattern SP-Y, the height of the nozzle 13a is always controlled to be approximately constant height SH0 based on the measurement result of the rangefinder 16. In FIG. During this coating drawing operation, at the intersection portion XP with the horizontal line pattern SP-X, the valve unit 24 and the high speed switching valve 24a are operated by the control of the main control unit 17 to operate the positive pressure source 23. The supply pressure from the switch is suppressed so as to open the inside of the paste container 13 to the atmosphere 25. This high speed switching valve 4a communicates with the upper portion of the paste storage container 13a, and opens the pressure in the paste storage container 13a to the atmosphere 25 at high speed. As a result, the pressure in the paste storage container 13 drops to atmospheric pressure at a high speed, and the amount of paste applied at the intersection portion XP is greatly reduced. As a result, the paste is applied at a paste application height SH1 which is lower than the paste application height SH0 when the height of the nozzle 13a is SHO.

In the application drawing of the horizontal line pattern SP-X to be applied for the second time, the paste discharge pressure is the same as that of the straight line even at the intersection portion XP with the vertical line pattern SP-Y, and the nozzle 13a is set to the same height. Paste application is performed. That is, as described above, the height of the nozzle 13a is lower by the paste height of the vertical line pattern SP-Y than the height from the substrate 9 so that the paste coating amount is reduced, so that the height approximately equal to the coating height SH0 of the straight portion is obtained. Application | coating can be performed as possible.

Thereby, the paste application amount of the intersection part H and the linear part can be made into substantially equal amount.

In addition, in order to prevent waste of the material, it may be applied so that the seal pattern end point is connected with the already applied pattern by performing intermittent application so as not to apply or draw a paste pattern other than necessary.

That is, in Fig. 9, any one of the vertical line pattern SP-Y and the horizontal line pattern SP-X includes these intersections XP as a whole, and the paste discharge pressure is constant and the height of the nozzle 13a is uniformly uniform. The line pattern of height is formed, and the application | coating of a paste is interrupted at the intersection part XP or the junction part JP about the other line pattern.

For example, in the application drawing of the vertical line pattern SP-Y in FIG. 6, the application of the paste is stopped at the point of contact with the intersection XP (height SH1 = O). In the application drawing of the horizontal line pattern SP-X, the horizontal line pattern having a uniform paste height is made without having to stop the application of the paste at the intersection portion XP by keeping the paste discharge pressure constant and the height of the nozzle 13a constant. To form.

In the application drawing of the horizontal line pattern SP-X, the application of the paste may be stopped at the intersection portion XP or the junction portion JP.

The order of application of the vertical line pattern SP-Y and the horizontal line pattern SP-X may be in accordance with the best path considering the positions of the tip and the end of the seal pattern so that the coating tact is shortest.

As a means for controlling the paste coating amount at the intersection portion XP, there is also a method of changing the moving speed of the substrate 9 or the nozzle 13a in the X and Y axis directions while maintaining the discharge amount per unit time from the nozzle.

In other words, only the speed is increased at the position where the paste coating amount is reduced. That is, in the case of application | coating drawing of the vertical line pattern SP-Y apply | coated for the 1st time, the X and Y-axis direction of the board | substrate 9 or the nozzle 13a between adjacent intersection parts XP or in the junction part JP. Increasing the moving speed of the paste reduces the amount of paste applied per unit distance. In the case of coating drawing of the horizontal line pattern SP-X to be applied for the second time, the moving speed in the X and Y axis directions of the substrate 9 or the nozzle 13a at the intersection XP or the junction JP is linear. The paste coating amount at the cross section XP and the joining portion JP is equal to the straight portion in the same manner as the portion.

In addition, in this embodiment, the means for discharging the paste uses the action of compressed air. However, the piston can be precisely moved in the paste storage container 13a, whereby the discharging of the paste may be controlled. That is, the discharge amount of the paste may be controlled by controlling the moving speed of the piston.

By the way, although the embodiment demonstrated above used one nozzle 13a, in order to raise an application | coating tact, you may apply | coat and draw a plurality of linear paste patterns simultaneously using several nozzles.

FIG. 8: is a block diagram which shows the principal part of embodiment of such a paste applicator, 13a1, 13a2, 13a3 is a nozzle, 14a is a nozzle support, and attach | subjects the same code | symbol to the part corresponding to a drawing figure.

In the figure, a nozzle supporter 14a which maintains parallelism with the substrate 9 is provided at the lower end of the paste container 13a. A plurality of nozzles, here three, are provided on the lower surface of the nozzle supporter 14a. The nozzles 13a1, 13a2 and 13a3 are provided. The sealing agent (paste) filled in the paste container 13 is distributed to the nozzle 13a1, 13a2, 13a3 by the nozzle support 14a. The nozzles 13a1, 13a2, and 13a3 apply and draw three vertical line patterns SP-Y to be applied firstly at the same time, and after repeating the application drawing of the vertical line patterns SP-Y to the second, Application drawing is performed simultaneously by three horizontal line patterns (SP-X) to be applied. Here, the intervals d1 and d2 of the nozzles 13a1, 13a2, and 13a3 are determined in accordance with the interval of the pattern applied and drawn on the substrate 9.

Moreover, the coating head which consists of the some nozzle 13a1, 13a2, 13a3 of FIG. 8 may be prepared for each vertical line pattern SP-Y to apply | coat first, and the horizontal line pattern SP-X to apply | coat second, One application | coating head may be rotated 90 degrees by a rotating mechanism, and it may make it common to the vertical line pattern SP-Y and the horizontal line pattern SP-X.

In addition, the coating head having the plurality of nozzles 13a1, 13a2, 13a3 in FIG. 8 is provided with a valve in the middle of a distribution path from the nozzle support 14a to the nozzles 13a1, 13a2, 13a3 to apply paste. The nozzle may be selected. By doing so, even if the number of vertical line patterns SP-Y and horizontal line patterns SP-X applied and drawn on the substrate 9 changes, it is possible to respond freely.

As described above, the drawing of the paste pattern in FIG. 3 proceeds (step 500), but the end of the drawing pattern determined by the paste pattern data in which the paste discharge port of the nozzle 13a is applied and written on the substrate 9. If it is not the final stage, the process returns to the measurement process of the surface undulation of the substrate 9 by the determination of whether the stage is a stage or not, and the above-described application drawing is repeated until the paste pattern formation reaches the final stage of the drawing pattern. Continue.

When the final end of the drawing pattern is reached, the drive control of the Z-axis servomotor 12 is performed to raise the nozzle 13a, and the paste pattern drawing process (step 500) is completed.

Subsequently, the substrate discharge (step 600) for releasing the holding of the substrate 9 by the substrate holding mechanism 7 and discharging it out of the apparatus is performed. Then, it is determined whether to stop all the above steps (step 700), and when the same paste pattern is formed on a plurality of substrates, the process returns to the substrate mounting (step 300) and the above-described processing is repeated for all the substrates. When the same series of processing ends, all the work ends (step 800).

As described above, in the embodiment, when a plurality of liquid crystal panels are formed on one substrate, a plurality of panels are formed by a combination of straight patterns, and the amount of paste applied at the intersections of the intersecting straight patterns In the case of coating on the substrate at the first time so as to be substantially the same as the straight portions other than the intersection, the height of the nozzle applying the paste is lowered, or the discharge pressure is lowered, and the application of the intersection at the second time is different. The paste was applied at the same height as the straight portion at the same discharge pressure. Thereby, the paste pattern can be formed at high speed and without application | coating nonuniformity.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the decrease in productivity in the case where the number of panels per substrate becomes large, thereby eliminating the coating work on the corners of the paste pattern, thereby reducing the coating tact and applying the coating drawing accuracy of the paste pattern. Stabilization can be realized.

1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a paste applicator according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing one specific example of the main control unit and its control system in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1; FIG.

3 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

4 is a perspective view for explaining an intersection of a paste pattern formed by the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing one specific example of a method of applying a paste at an intersection portion of the paste pattern shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a view showing another specific example of the method for applying a paste at the intersection of the paste patterns shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is an air pressure circuit diagram showing the main part configuration of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 for carrying out the specific example shown in FIG. 6; FIG.

FIG. 8 shows another specific example of the coating head portion in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1; FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing one specific example of the paste pattern according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1; FIG.

10 is a view showing an example of a paste pattern by a conventional paste applicator.

Claims (8)

A nozzle having a paste discharge port; A table holding a substrate so as to face the paste discharge port; A table-relative drive mechanism for relatively driving one of the table and the nozzle in a direction parallel to the surface of the substrate; A nozzle drive mechanism for variably driving the gap between the nozzle and the substrate surface; In the paste applicator provided with a discharge pressure control mechanism which controls the pressure applied to the accommodating part of a paste, in order to apply paste on the said board | substrate from the said nozzle, Pattern data of a well sperm-shaped pattern made up of a combination of a vertical line pattern and a horizontal line pattern formed by applying a paste onto the substrate from the nozzle; On the substrate by driving at least one mechanism of the table relative drive mechanism, the nozzle drive mechanism and the discharge pressure control mechanism based on the positional information of the nozzle with respect to the substrate surface obtained from the table relative drive mechanism. Detecting means for detecting the position of the intersection of the paste pattern and the junction of the linear portion and the end of the paste pattern or the junction of the straight ends, and applying the paste at the intersection of the paste pattern and the junction; By driving the nozzle drive mechanism so that the paste amount at the intersection and the junction after the drawing of the paste pattern is approximately equal to the paste amount of the straight portion, the substrate surface is applied in the first paste coating at the intersection and the junction. Cross the height of the nozzle, against The height of the nozzle with respect to the substrate surface is lower than the height of the nozzle with respect to the substrate surface when the paste is applied from a straight portion other than the negative portion, and the paste is applied at the second time at the intersection and the junction. And a paste ejection amount equalizing means for controlling the height of the nozzle with respect to the substrate surface at the time of paste coating at a part. The method of claim 1, And a memory holding means for storing and holding the pattern data in advance. delete The method of claim 1, The paste discharging amount equalizing means drives the table relative drive mechanism so that, in the first paste coating at the intersection portion and the joining portion, the relative moving speed between the table and the nozzle is less than when the paste is applied at the straight portion. To increase the discharge rate of the paste per unit distance, and to change the relative moving speed to approximately the same as when the paste is applied at the straight line in the second paste application at the intersection and the junction. A paste spreader characterized by the above-mentioned. The method of claim 1, The paste ejection amount equalizing means drives the ejection pressure control mechanism to lower the ejection pressure of the paste and lower the ejection pressure of the paste in the first paste application at the intersection portion and the junction portion than when the paste is applied at the straight portion. The paste applicator, wherein the paste paste is changed to approximately the same as when the paste is applied at the straight line in the second paste application at the intersection and the junction. The method of claim 1, And a plurality of nozzles, each having a valve in the middle of the paste supply pipe from the paste storage container to each nozzle, so that the paste can be selectively discharged from each nozzle. The substrate is held on a table so as to face the paste discharge port of the nozzle, and the distance between the nozzle and the substrate surface is variably driven while relatively moving one of the table and the nozzle in a direction parallel to the substrate surface. In a paste coating method for applying a paste on the substrate from a nozzle, The paste pattern coated on the substrate surface is divided into a vertical pattern and a horizontal pattern to apply a paste in a well sperm shape, and the intersection of the vertical pattern and the horizontal pattern and the junction of the straight portion and the end of the paste pattern Or paste from the nozzle at a straight portion between adjacent intersections of the paste pattern or at a straight portion between the junction and the intersection when the paste is first applied when the paste is applied to the joints between the ends of the linear portions. Less than the discharge rate, The total amount of the paste discharge amount when applying the paste at the second time to the joint portion between the intersection portion and the end portion of the straight portion and the end portion of the paste pattern or the end portion of the paste pattern and the discharge amount from the nozzle when first applied. The paste coating method is characterized in that the paste discharge amount from the nozzle is approximately equal to the paste applied to the straight portion. The method of claim 7, wherein When the paste is first applied to the intersection and the junction, the discharge pressure of the paste is set to be smaller than the discharge pressure when the paste is applied to the straight portion, or the relative movement speed of the substrate and the nozzle is set to the straight portion. The paste is made faster than the relative movement speed at the time of paste application, or the distance between the discharge port of the nozzle and the substrate surface is narrower than the distance between the nozzle discharge port and the substrate surface when the paste is applied to the straight portion. Reduces the discharge amount of When the paste is applied to the intersection portion and the bonding portion twice, the discharge pressure of the paste is set to be approximately equal to the discharge pressure when the paste is applied to the straight line portion, or the relative moving speed is applied to the straight line portion. It is set to be substantially equal to the relative movement speed at the time of coating, or the opposing distance between the ejection opening of the nozzle and the substrate surface is approximately equal to the opposing distance between the ejection opening of the nozzle and the substrate surface when paste is applied to the straight portion. And a discharge amount of the paste when the paste is applied to the straight portion so as to be approximately equal to the paste coating method.