KR100665406B1 - Coating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

      The present invention relates to a coating device, wherein when the resist liquid is discharged from the nozzle of the coating head on the monitoring unit at the standby position toward each pressure sensor, and the pressure of the outlier is detected by any of the pressure sensors, It is determined that an abnormality such as clogging has occurred in any of the discharge holes in the nozzle, and a technique capable of performing the nozzle cleaning process in the cleaning unit is proposed.

Description

Coating device {COATING APPARATUS}

1 is a perspective view of a coating and developing treatment system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of a coating apparatus in the coating and developing processing system shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the structure of the coating head in the coating device shown in FIG. 2. FIG.

4 is a front view schematically showing a state where the application head shown in FIG. 2 is in a standby position.

FIG. 5 is a side view (part 1) of the application head shown in FIG. 4. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a side view (part 2) of the application head shown in FIG. 4. FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the coating device shown in FIG. 2.

8 is a side view of the application head according to the second embodiment.

9 is a side view of the application head according to the third embodiment.

10 is a front view of the application head according to the fourth embodiment.

11 is a perspective view of an application head according to a fifth embodiment.

12 is a partial cross-sectional view of the application head shown in FIG. 11.

13 is a perspective view of an application head according to a sixth embodiment.                 

14 is a side view of the application head according to the seventh embodiment.

15 is a side view of the application head according to the eighth embodiment.

16 is a front view of an application head according to the ninth embodiment.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

1: Coating development processing system 2: Loader part

3: first processing unit 4: relay unit

5: second processing unit 6: exposure apparatus

7, 27: exchange part 10-12, 25: cassette

13, 26: tweezers 15, 22: the main substrate transfer device

16, 23: conveying path 17: brush cleaning device

18: developing device 19: advice processing device

20: heat treatment apparatus 21: cooling treatment apparatus

24 coating device 31 holding plate

32: opening 33: X direction conveying member

34: Y-direction conveying member 35: drive unit

36: application head 39: discharge hole

40: nozzle 41: standby position

44: monitoring unit 45: cleaning unit

46: pressure sensor 48: container

81: ultrasonic vibrator 91: optical sensor                 

101: supply path 102: pressure sensor

117: resist liquid supply pipe 118, 119: switching valve

120: cleaning liquid supply pipe 121: nitrogen gas supply pipe

123: exhaust pipe 137: donation (基部)

138: tip 139: discharge hole

140: nozzle 146: pressure sensor

181: ultrasonic vibrator G: glass substrate

The present invention belongs to the technical field in which a glass substrate used for a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal display, for example, is processed using photo-lithography technology, and particularly, for example, on a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate. A coating apparatus for applying a coating liquid such as a resist liquid.

In the manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device, for example, in order to form an ITO thin film or a pattern on a glass substrate, photoresist is reduced by exposing a circuit pattern or the like using photolithography techniques similar to those used in a semiconductor manufacturing process. A series of processings are performed to transfer them to and develop them.

Such a series of processes include, for example, a cleaning apparatus, an adhesion treatment apparatus, a cooling treatment apparatus, a resist coating apparatus, a heat treatment apparatus, and the like along a conveyance path in which a conveying apparatus for conveying a glass substrate is allowed to travel. It is performed by the coating and developing processing system of the structure which arrange | positioned the developing processing apparatus. In such a coating and developing treatment system, the glass substrate is washed with a washing apparatus, and then, the glass substrate is subjected to hydrophobic treatment in an adjuvant treatment apparatus, cooled in a cooling treatment apparatus, and then subjected to a resist coating apparatus. A photoresist film is formed by coating. Thereafter, the photoresist film is heated in a heat treatment apparatus, prebaked, cooled, and exposed in a predetermined pattern in an exposure apparatus connected to the system, and the exposed glass substrate is exposed to a developer in a developing apparatus. After application | coating and developing, the developing solution is wash | cleaned with a rinse liquid, a post-bake process is performed, and a series of processes are complete | finished.

However, in the above-mentioned resist coating apparatus, for example, a spin coat method is used in which a glass substrate is placed on a spin chuck and rotated, and a resist liquid is supplied to the rotation center thereof. In the case of applying the resist liquid by using the resin solution, there is a problem that the resist liquid supplied on the glass substrate is scattered by a considerable amount to the outside of the glass substrate by centrifugal force and is wasted.

Here, the inventors have proposed a technique of eliminating the waste of the resist liquid by applying the resist liquid only to a necessary area by scanning a nozzle for ejecting the resist liquid on the surface of the glass substrate.

However, in the nozzle of the related constitution, the diameter of the discharge hole cannot be made large to prevent the resist liquid from falling out from the discharge hole of the nozzle when the supply of the resist liquid is stopped from the nozzle, and thus the nozzle discharge hole is clogged. There is a problem that it is easy. Such clogging of the nozzle discharge hole can be detected by direct visual confirmation or by discovering that the coating film on the substrate is interrupted, but the coating becomes poor during the detection until the yield is lowered. If the same blockage is overlooked, a large amount of coating failure will occur.

The present invention is based on such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a coating apparatus capable of quickly detecting clogging of a discharge hole of a nozzle for applying a coating liquid.

In order to achieve the above object, a main aspect of the present invention is a holding member for holding a substrate, a nozzle provided with a discharge hole for discharging the coating liquid toward the surface of the held substrate, and a coating liquid discharged from the discharge hole. An applicator is provided having a monitoring means for monitoring the state of the gas.

In this invention, since the monitoring means which monitors the state of the coating liquid discharged from the discharge hole of a nozzle is provided, clogging of a nozzle discharge hole etc. can be found quickly by the related monitoring means.

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

In the following examples, the case where the present invention is applied to a coating and developing processing system in which a resist film is formed on a glass substrate and the glass substrate after exposure is developed will be described.                     

First, the first embodiment will be described.

1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a coating and developing treatment system according to a first embodiment.

The coating and developing processing system 1 shown in this figure includes a loader section 2 for carrying in and carrying out a glass substrate G (hereinafter referred to as "substrate G") and a first portion of the substrate G. The processing part 3 and the 2nd processing part 5 provided in parallel with the 1st processing part 3 via the relay part 4 are mainly comprised. In addition, the 2nd processing part can be provided with the exposure apparatus 6 side by side for exposing a predetermined | prescribed micropattern to a resist film via the exchange part 7 through the 2nd process part.

The loader unit 2 is provided with a cassette station 10, and a plurality of cassettes 11 for accommodating the unprocessed substrate G and a cassette 12 for accommodating the substrate G on which the processing is completed are provided. I can wit it. With the substrate import / export tweezers 13 which can move and rotate in the horizontal (X, Y) direction and the vertical (Z) direction and rotate (θ) so as to carry in and out the substrate G between the cassettes 11 and 12. Consists of.

The first processing unit 3 includes a substrate G on one side of the transfer path 16 on which the main substrate transfer device 15 capable of moving and rotating in the X, Y, and Z directions can travel. The brush cleaning device 17 and the developing device 18 for brush-cleaning are arranged side by side, and on the other side of the conveying path 16, after the advice processing apparatus 19 for hydrophobizing the surface of the substrate G, the developing treatment The heat treatment apparatus 20 which performs the post-baking to heat, and the cooling processing apparatus 21 which cools the board | substrate G to predetermined temperature are arrange | positioned in multiple stages.

In the second processing unit 5, similar to the first processing unit 3, one of the transfer paths 23 in which the main substrate transfer device 22 capable of moving and rotating in the X, Y, and Z directions can move. The coating apparatus 24 is arrange | positioned at the side, and the heat processing apparatus 20 and the cooling apparatus 21 which perform the prebaking which heats a board | substrate after apply | coating a resist liquid to the other side of the conveyance path 23 are arrange | positioned in multiple stages.

The exchange section 7 includes a cassette 25 for temporarily waiting the substrate G, a transfer tweezers 26 for entering and exiting the substrate G between the cassette 25, and The exchange base 27 of the board | substrate G is provided.

2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the coating device 24 described above.

In the substantially center of this coating device 24, the holding plate 31 as a holding member for holding the substrate G is disposed. On this holding plate 31, a plurality of support pins (not shown) for supporting the substrate G from the surface thereof are arranged so that they can be projected. Then, in the state where the support pin protrudes from the surface of the retaining plate 31, it is exchanged with the main substrate transfer device 22 via the opening 32 of the coating device 24, and the support pin holds The coating treatment is performed while the substrate G is immersed from the surface of the plate 31 and the substrate G is placed on the holding plate 31.

The X direction conveyance member 33 comprised by the endless belt, for example is arrange | positioned at the both sides along the X direction of the application apparatus 24, and is made to span between these X direction conveyance members 33, and Y The direction conveyance member 34 is arrange | positioned. On the other hand, at one end of the X-direction conveying member 33, the drive part 35 for driving the X-direction conveying member 33 comprised by the endless belt, for example, and conveying the Y-direction conveying member 34 to an X direction Is installed. Moreover, on the Y direction conveyance member 34, while carrying the application head 36 along the Y direction conveyance member 34 to the Y direction, the conveyance part 37 which drives up and down in the Z direction can be moved. It is arranged.

Moreover, the standby position 41 which the application | coating head 36 waits when the resist liquid is not apply | coated to the board | substrate G is provided so that it may be adjacent to one side of the holding plate 31. As shown in FIG. And the above-mentioned conveying system enables the coating head 36 to be conveyed between the holding plate 31 and the standby position 41.

3 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the coating head 36 described above. 4 is a schematic front view of the state where the application head 36 is in the standby position 41, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are side views of FIG.

Below the main body 38 of the coating head 36, a plurality of, for example, five discharge holes 39 for discharging the resist liquid as the coating liquid toward the surface of the substrate G held by the retaining plate 31. Nozzles 40 are arranged side by side. The nozzle 40 is supplied with a resist liquid from a resist liquid storage tank 43 via a pump 42.

On the other hand, in the standby position 41, the monitoring part 44 provided with the monitoring means concerning this invention, and the washing | cleaning part 45 provided with the washing | cleaning means concerning this invention are arrange | positioned adjacently.

When the application head 36 is conveyed to the upper part as shown in FIG. 5, the monitoring part 44 discharges the discharge pressure of the resist liquid discharged | emitted from each discharge hole 39 of the nozzle 40. As shown in FIG. Five pressure sensors 46 to detect are provided in parallel with each discharge hole 39. In addition, the resist liquid discharged from each discharge hole 39 toward the pressure sensor 46 is exhausted to the outside via the exhaust hole 47. In the washing | cleaning part 45, the container 48 in which acetone was stored as a washing | cleaning liquid, for example is arrange | positioned. As shown in FIG. 6, when the nozzle is cleaned, the application head 36 moves upward of the container 48 to descend from the position into the container 48 until the nozzle 40 is soaked in the cleaning liquid.

As shown in FIG. 4, the result detected by the pressure sensor 46 is sent to the control part 49, and the control part 49 conveys the said pump 42 or the application | coating head 36 based on the detection result. To control the system and the like.

Next, the operation of the coating and developing processing system 1 configured as described above will be described.

First, the unprocessed board | substrate G accommodated in the cassette 11 is taken out by the loading / unloading tweezers 13 of the loader part 2, and then handed to the main board | substrate conveyance apparatus 15 of the 1st process part 3 And conveyed into the brush cleaning device 17. The substrate G brush-washed in the brush cleaning apparatus 17 is subjected to hydrophobization treatment in the adjuvant processing apparatus 19, cooled in the cooling processing apparatus 21, and then onto the relay unit 4. Wit

The main board | substrate conveyance apparatus 22 of the 2nd process part 5 passes this board | substrate G, and conveys it to the coating device 24. FIG.

In the coating device 24, the substrate G is passed from the main substrate transfer device 22 in a state where a supporting pin (not shown) protrudes from the surface of the holding plate 31, and the supporting pin 31 holds the holding plate 31. It immerses from the surface of and arrange | positions the board | substrate G on the holding plate 31.

At that time, the application head 36 is on the monitoring unit 44 in the standby position 41 as shown in FIG. 5. Here, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation when the application head 36 is in the standby position 41.

The resist liquid is discharged from the nozzle 40 of the coating head 36 on the monitoring unit 44 at the standby position 41 toward the pressure sensors 46 (step 701). When the normal pressure is detected by the pressure sensors 46 (step 702), the counter value in the control unit 49 described later is cleared (step 703), and the resist coating operation is started. On the other hand, when the pressure of the outlier (including 0) is detected by any of the pressure sensors 46 (step 702), more specifically, for example, when no pressure is detected or lower than usual, the nozzle It is determined that an abnormality such as clogging has occurred in any of the discharge holes 39 in the 40, and the cleaning section 45 performs the cleaning process of the nozzle 40 (step 704). Then, when the cleaning process is completed, the counter value in the controller 49 is increased by one (in this case, the counter value is 1) (step 705), and the operations of steps 701 and 702 are executed again. The cleaning process of step 704 is repeated until no abnormality in pressure is detected, but when the counter value of the counter in the control unit 49 is 5, that is, even if the washing process is repeated five times, Step 706) In the cleaning process, it is determined that clogging or the like of the nozzle 40 is not cured, and an alarm is generated by the display unit and a speaker (not shown) or the like (step 707). By generating the alarm in this way, it is possible to prevent the ineffective cleaning from being repeated insignificantly. Incidentally, in the above example, the alarm was generated at the counter value 5, but this is only one example, and of course it may be less or more.

That is, the nozzle 40 scans the application head 36 by the injection of the syringe hole comprised by the X direction drive member 33, the Y direction drive member 34, the drive part 35, and the conveyance part 37. The resist liquid is supplied toward the surface of the substrate G from each of the discharge holes 39. As an example of the scanning, the installation direction of the nozzle 40 discharge hole 39 is adjusted to be parallel to the X direction, and the application head 36 is moved in the Y direction by the syringe hole from one end of the X direction of the substrate G. Return to Next, the application head 36 is moved by the syringe hole in the X direction by the application pitch of the entire nozzle 40, and the coating head 36 is transferred in the Y direction by the syringe hole. Hereinafter, by repeating such a scan, the coating head 36 is scanned over the whole surface of the board | substrate G, and a resist liquid is apply | coated to the front surface of the board | substrate G. As shown in FIG.

Subsequently, the substrate G coated with the resist liquid is heated in the heat treatment apparatus 20 to be baked, cooled in the cooling treatment apparatus 21, and then a predetermined pattern is exposed in the exposure apparatus 6. And the board | substrate G after exposure is conveyed in the developing apparatus 18, after developing with the developing solution, the developing solution is wash | cleaned and flowed with a rinse liquid, and a developing process is completed. Thereafter, the substrate G is heated in the heat treatment apparatus 20 to perform a baking treatment, and after being cooled in the cooling treatment apparatus 21, the processed substrate G is stored in the cassette 12 of the loader section 1, and Processing is terminated.

Thus, according to the coating apparatus 24 in the coating and developing process system 1 which concerns on a present Example, the nozzle 40 of the coating head 36 on the monitoring part 44 of the standby position 41 is shown. When the resist liquid is applied to the pressure sensors 46 from each other and the pressure of the abnormal value is detected by any one of the pressure sensors 46, one of the discharge holes 39 in the nozzle 40 is blocked. The nozzle 40 is cleaned by the cleaning unit 45 because it is determined that an abnormality such as an abnormality has occurred, and therefore, the resist due to clogging of the discharge hole 39 of the nozzle 40 without a human hand is used. It can eliminate the poor coating of liquid. In addition, by discharging the resist liquid from the nozzle 40 before application in this manner, the discharge operation of the old resist liquid remaining at the tip end of the nozzle 40 performed before application can be performed simultaneously.

In addition, although the nozzle 40 was wash | cleaned with the washing | cleaning liquid in the Example mentioned above, as a 2nd Example, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, the ultrasonic wave around each discharge hole 39 of the nozzle 40 is shown. By installing the vibrator 81 and supplying a high frequency by a predetermined high frequency source, the nozzle 40 can be cleaned. This eliminates the need to provide the washing section 45 in the standby position 41. Here, when supplying a resist liquid to the nozzle 40, the resist liquid excited by the ultrasonic vibration passes through the nozzle 40, and clogging of a nozzle is prevented. In addition, the cleaning ability of the nozzle 40 can be improved by setting the cleaning liquid to be discharged from the discharge port through the nozzle 40 instead of the resist liquid.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, although the blockage of the nozzle 40 was detected by the pressure sensor 46 arrange | positioned at the monitoring part 44, as a 3rd embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, the nozzle 40 is shown. An optical sensor 91 is integrally provided at the distal end with an optical sensor 91 that irradiates light toward the resist liquid discharged from each discharge hole 39 of the nozzle 40 and detects blockage of the discharge hole 29 based on the reflected light. The monitoring means may be configured. In addition, as an optical sensor, a pair of light emitting elements and a light receiving element may be arrange | positioned so that the discharge hole 39 may be interposed, for example, so that clogging of the discharge hole may be detected by transmitted light. This eliminates the need to provide the monitoring unit 44 in the standby position 41.

In addition, as a fourth embodiment, as another example of the monitoring means, as shown in FIG. 10, the resist liquid in the supply path 101 on the supply path 101 through which the resist liquid is fed to the nozzle 40. The pressure sensor 102 for detecting the supply pressure of the gas may be disposed.

11 and 12, the nozzle 140 has a two-layer structure in which the base 137 and the tip 138 are adjacent to each other, and the nozzle 140 is tip 138. As shown in FIG. ) May be designed to slide along the base 137. In this case, a discharge hole 139 is provided in the tip portion 138, and the resist liquid is discharged through the hollow portion provided in the base 137 and the discharge port 139 provided in the tip portion 138. In the present embodiment, when the front end 138 is slidable by allowing the front end 138 of the nozzle 140 to slide, both sides of the base 137 side of the discharge port 139 and the side opposite the base 137 are discharged. Can be soaked in the cleaning solution. Therefore, the shaving of the base 137 side of the discharge port 139, which is difficult to clean, can be sufficiently cleaned. In addition, the tip portion 138 may be detachable or fitted.

In addition, in the second embodiment, the ultrasonic vibrator 81 is provided around the discharge hole 39. In the sixth embodiment, as shown in FIG. 13, the nozzle 40 has a vibration horn 110 and The ultrasonic vibration horn formed by the ultrasonic vibrator 111 is pressed vertically with respect to the scanning direction of the nozzle 40 to discharge the chemical liquid supplied from the chemical liquid supply pipe 109 while flowing ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic transmitter 112. You may have to. When the resist liquid is used as the chemical liquid, the resist liquid excited by the ultrasonic vibration flows through the nozzle to prevent clogging. Moreover, when using cleaning liquids, such as acetone, as a chemical liquid, compared with the case where only a cleaning liquid is used, a washing | cleaning effect improves by ultrasonic vibration.

In addition, in the second embodiment described above, the ultrasonic vibrator 81 is provided around the discharge hole 39. As the seventh embodiment, the ultrasonic vibrator 181 is provided in the container 48 as shown in FIG. The nozzle 40 may be ultrasonically cleaned.

As an eighth embodiment, as shown in FIG. 15, the cleaning liquid can be supplied to the inside of the nozzle 40 via the resist liquid supply pipe 117 via the resist liquid or the cleaning liquid / nitrogen gas supply pipe 116. It may be a structure that can be. The resist liquid supply pipe 117 and the cleaning liquid / nitrogen gas supply pipe 116 are connected to a switching valve 119, and the switching liquid of the switching liquid is nitrogen or the cleaning liquid or nitrogen by the switching of the switching valve 119. It is selected whether gas will be supplied. Nitrogen gas is supplied to the washing | cleaning liquid and nitrogen gas supply pipe 116 through the washing | cleaning liquid supply pipe 120 through the washing | cleaning liquid or the nitrogen gas supply pipe 121. The cleaning liquid supply pipe 120 and the nitrogen gas supply pipe 121 are connected to a switching valve 118, and the cleaning liquid is supplied to the cleaning liquid and nitrogen gas supply pipe 116 by the switching of the switching valve 118. Is selected. Moreover, the exhaust pipe 123 which exhausts the gas in the nozzle 40 is provided, and the gas exhaust in the nozzle 40 is adjusted by opening and closing of the valve 122.

In the eighth embodiment, when discharging the resist liquid, the valve 122 is closed and the switching valve 119 is switched so that the resist liquid from the resist liquid supply pipe 117 is supplied into the nozzle 40. And when the discharge port 39 of the nozzle 40 is clogged, the switching valve 119 is switched and the cleaning liquid is supplied into the nozzle 40 via the washing | cleaning liquid and nitrogen gas supply pipe 116. As shown in FIG. As a result, the fixing resist, which can be said to be the cause of clogging, is dissolved and removed by the cleaning liquid. Thereafter, the switching valve 118 is switched and nitrogen gas is supplied into the cleaning liquid and nitrogen gas supply pipe 116. This nitrogen gas is supplied into the nozzle 40 through the switching valve 119, and the washing | cleaning liquid in a nozzle is dried by nitrogen gas. When nitrogen gas is supplied, the valve 122 is opened and the gas in the nozzle 40 is removed through the exhaust pipe 123.

In the first embodiment, although pressure sensors are provided for each discharge port, as shown in FIG. 16, as the ninth embodiment, three discharge holes 39 are provided for each of three divided regions in the nozzle 40, The pressure sensor 146 may be provided for each area. In this case, by uniformizing the discharge pressure for each region, the resist liquid can be uniformly applied on the substrate.

In addition, a CCD camera may be provided as the monitoring means. In this case, image information of the resist liquid discharged from each discharge hole of the nozzle is obtained by the CCD camera. Then, for example, by putting two pieces of image information into an image processing apparatus and performing a pattern matching method to obtain a difference between the two pieces of image information by performing a process such as binarization on a subtracted difference image. By comparing the resist liquid ejection state of each ejection hole, clogging of the ejection hole and the like can be detected. Alternatively, as a comparison pattern, a pattern obtained by image processing the image information in the case where there is no clogging of the discharge hole is registered in the image processing apparatus, and a pattern obtained by image processing the image information obtained by the CCD camera matches the previously registered pattern. By judging whether or not, the blockage of the discharge hole can be detected.

       Furthermore, in the present invention, for example, not only a glass substrate but also a semiconductor wafer may be used as the substrate. The coating liquid may be not only a resist liquid but also a coating liquid for an insulating film.

As described above, according to the present invention, clogging of the discharge hole of the nozzle for applying the coating liquid can be found quickly. Moreover, such defects can be healed without borrowing human hands.

Claims (21)

Holding member for holding the substrate; A nozzle provided with a discharge hole for discharging the coating liquid toward the surface of the held substrate; And monitoring means for monitoring a state of the coating liquid discharged from the discharge hole. The method according to claim 1, A conveying means for conveying the nozzle between a coating position for applying the coating liquid to the substrate held by the holding member from the nozzle and a standby position where the nozzle waits when the coating liquid is not applied, And said monitoring means is a pressure sensor arranged at said standby position and detecting a discharge pressure of the coating liquid discharged from said nozzle. The method according to claim 2, And a plurality of discharge holes are provided in the nozzle. The method according to claim 3, And the pressure sensor is provided for each of the discharge holes. The method according to claim 2, The nozzle is provided with a plurality of discharge holes for each divided area, Applicator characterized in that the pressure sensor is provided for each of the areas. The method according to claim 1, The monitoring means is provided integrally with the nozzle to irradiate light to the coating liquid discharged from the nozzle, and to monitor the state of the coating liquid discharged from the discharge hole based on the reflected or transmitted light. Applicator characterized in that the sensor. The method according to claim 1, And said monitoring means comprises a CCD camera for obtaining image information of the coating liquid discharged from said discharge hole. The method according to claim 7, And the image information is image processed. The method according to claim 8, In the image processing, the image information is binarized. The method according to claim 8, In the image processing, the image information is processed by pattern matching. The method according to claim 1, A supply passage through which the coating liquid is pumped with respect to the nozzle, And said monitoring means is a pressure sensor for detecting a supply pressure of a coating liquid in said supply line. The method according to claim 6, And a plurality of said discharges are provided in the said nozzle. The method according to claim 1, Means for determining whether or not the state of the discharge hole is deteriorated based on a monitoring result by the monitoring means; And cleaning means for cleaning the nozzle when it is determined that the state of the discharge hole is deteriorated. The method according to claim 13, And said cleaning means is an ultrasonic vibrator arranged near the discharge hole of said nozzle. The method according to claim 13, The cleaning means is a container in which the cleaning liquid is stored; And the nozzle is soaked in the cleaning liquid in the container. The method according to claim 15, And an ultrasonic vibrator in the container. The method according to claim 15, The nozzle is formed by a tip portion having the discharge hole and a base portion having a hollow portion adjacent to the tip portion and communicating with the discharge hole, The tip portion, the coating device, characterized in that the slide is possible along the base. The method according to claim 15, The nozzle is formed by a base having a tip having the discharge hole and a hollow portion adjacent to the tip and communicating with the discharge hole, The distal end portion can be detached from or attached to the base. The method according to claim 13, And the cleaning means is a cleaning liquid supply pipe for supplying a cleaning liquid into the nozzle. The method according to claim 19, A coating liquid supply pipe for supplying the coating liquid into the nozzle; And switching means capable of switching the supply of the cleaning liquid from the cleaning liquid supply pipe and the supply of the coating liquid from the coating liquid supply pipe to the nozzle. The method according to claim 13, And a means for monitoring the state of the coating liquid discharged from the discharge hole of the nozzle cleaned by the cleaning means and, if the state is not good, giving a predetermined notification.

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