KR101234211B1 - Slit coater with a service unit for a nozzle and a fabricating method of liquid crystal display device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A slit coater having a service unit of the present invention and a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal display device using the same have a solvent-based service unit in which a slit nozzle is substantially enclosed in a standby state without performing a coating operation for a predetermined period of time. And the dummy coating liquid is periodically discharged to prevent hardening of the coating liquid at the slit nozzle discharge port, and to maintain homeostasis of the discharge conditions by preliminary discharging before and after the coating process. A table on which a workpiece is to be seated; A slit nozzle unit having a slit nozzle for applying a coating liquid to the surface of the workpiece; And a cleaning tank filled with a cleaning liquid, and a cover disposed to cover the upper surface except for a rotary roller and an exhaust port which are arranged horizontally in the cleaning tank and at the same time the lower part thereof is immersed in the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank and the upper part is exposed to the discharge port of the slit nozzle. And a service unit in which the slit nozzle unit is loaded while the inner space maintains a sealed solvent atmosphere.

Description

SLIT COATER WITH A SERVICE UNIT FOR A NOZZLE AND A FABRICATING METHOD OF LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY DEVICE USING THE SAME}

1 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a typical spin coater.

Figures 2a and 2b is a perspective view showing the basic concept of the slit coater and the photosensitive liquid is applied by the slit coater.

3 is a front view schematically showing a slit coater having a service unit according to the present invention;

4 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a service unit of the slit coater according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the structure of a slit nozzle;

6 is a sectional view schematically showing a service unit of a slit coater according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a sectional view schematically showing a service unit of a slit coater according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

122,222,322: Slit nozzle 160,260,360: Service unit

170A ~ 170C, 270A ~ 270C, 366A ~ 366C: Cleaning Liquid Spray Nozzle

180A, 180B, 280A, 280B, 367A, 367B: Coating liquid removal part

190,290,368: washing tank 370: photosensitive liquid separator

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a slit coater and a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device using the same, and more particularly, to a surface of an object to be processed, such as a flat panel display (FPD) substrate or a semiconductor wafer. In the slit coater for applying a coating liquid, the slit coater having a service unit for preventing the curing of the coating film at the slit nozzle discharge port or preliminarily discharging the coating liquid to improve coating performance of the slit coater, and using the same The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device. The function of the service unit is to prevent the slit nozzle from curing the coating film at the slit nozzle discharge port during standby without performing the coating operation for a predetermined period of time. In addition, another function of the service unit is to improve the coating performance of the slit coater by removing the cured coating liquid in the slit nozzle by preliminarily discharging the coating liquid before starting the coating operation or after the coating operation is finished.

The manufacturing process of a flat panel display device or a semiconductor device includes a thin film deposition process, a photolithography process for exposing a selected region of the thin film, and an etching process for removing the thin film of the selected region a plurality of times. A coating process for forming a photoresist film of a photosensitive material such as a photoresist on a plate or a wafer, and an exposure and development process for patterning it by using a mask having a predetermined pattern formed thereon.

In general, a spray coating method, a roll coating method, or a spin coating method is used for the coating process of forming a photoresist film on a substrate or a wafer.

In the case of the spray coating method and the roll coating method, the spin coating method is used for forming a high precision pattern because the coating film is not suitable for high precision in adjusting the uniformity and film thickness of the coating film.

Hereinafter, a spin coater used in the spin coating method will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a general spin coater.

As shown in the figure, the spin coater not only surrounds the spin chuck 5 and the spin chuck 5 connected to the rotation shaft 6 from the outside, but also opens and closes a cover 7. ) And a nozzle 4 positioned above the spin chuck 5 and moving into the cover 7 when the cover 70 is opened.

The spin chuck 5 has a workpiece 10 coated with a photoresist film thereon, and a drain valve (not shown) for discharging a photoresist such as a photoresist falling downward to the lower portion of the cover 7. Is installed.

The spin coater configured as described above sprays the photoresist on the surface of the workpiece 10 which is first seated on the spin chuck 5 by the nozzle 4 descending to form a coating film on the predetermined workpiece 10. Done.

When the photosensitive liquid is injected onto the workpiece 10, the cover 7 is closed and the motor M rotates, and the rotating shaft 6 connected thereto rotates to spin the workpiece 10 to rest. The chuck 5 is rotated at a predetermined rotational speed.

When the spin chuck 5 rotates, the photosensitive liquid injected onto the upper surface of the workpiece 10 is spread outward by centrifugal force, so that the photosensitive liquid is applied to the entire surface of the workpiece 10.

As described above, when the photosensitive liquid is applied to the entire surface of the workpiece 10, a predetermined pattern is formed on the surface of the workpiece 10 by solidifying it and exposing and developing using a photo mask.

However, the spin coating method using the spin coater is suitable for coating a photosensitive film on a small workpiece such as a wafer, and has a large and heavy substrate for a flat panel display device (for example, a liquid crystal display panel). Glass substrates) are not suitable for coating a photoresist film.

This is because it is very difficult to rotate the substrate at high speed as the substrate to which the photoresist is coated is large and heavy, and breakage and energy consumption of the substrate at the high speed are very large.

In addition, the spin coating method has a problem that waste of the photoresist is severe because the amount of waste is excessively large compared to the amount of the photoresist used for coating. That is, a considerable amount of the photosensitive liquid applied to the surface of the substrate is scattered out of the spin chuck during high speed rotation. Not only is the amount of wasted liquid much higher than that of practically used photoresist, the scattered photoresist is more likely to act as a foreign material in the subsequent thin film formation process, and may be an environmental pollution source.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and includes a slit coater having a service unit capable of uniformly applying a coating liquid such as a photoresist, a developing solution, a color filter, and the like to a large area substrate, and a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device using the same. The purpose is to provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a slit coater having a service unit capable of preventing the curing of the coating liquid at the slit nozzle discharge port and maintaining a constant discharge condition, and a manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display device using the same.

Other objects and features of the present invention will be described in the following description of the invention and claims.

In order to achieve the above object, the slit coater of the present invention is a table on which the workpiece is mounted; A slit nozzle unit having a slit nozzle for applying a coating liquid to the surface of the workpiece; And a cleaning tank filled with a cleaning liquid, and a cover disposed to cover the upper surface except for a rotary roller and an exhaust port which are arranged horizontally in the cleaning tank and at the same time the lower part thereof is immersed in the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank and the upper part is exposed to the discharge port of the slit nozzle. And a service unit in which the slit nozzle unit is loaded while the inner space maintains a sealed solvent atmosphere.

In addition, the manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display device of the present invention comprises the steps of applying a coating liquid to the object to be processed using the slit nozzle of the slit coater; Monitoring the workpiece to determine when maintenance of the slit coater is required; Loading the slit nozzle into a service unit in which a solvent atmosphere is maintained by a cleaning liquid; And separating the slit nozzle from the service unit.

In addition, another manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display device of the present invention comprises the steps of moving the slit nozzle to the service unit to maintain a solvent atmosphere in which the inner space is substantially sealed; Moving the substrate for the liquid crystal display to the slit nozzle; And applying a coating liquid to the liquid crystal display substrate using the slit nozzle.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of a slit coater having a service unit according to the present invention and a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal display device using the same.

In general, in the semiconductor manufacturing field and flat panel display device manufacturing field, a photolithography process is required as described above in order to pattern a thin film performing a specific function, for example, an oxide thin film, a metal thin film, or a semiconductor thin film, into a desired shape. In the photolithography process, a photoresist such as a photoresist chemically reacting with light is used.

At this time, the photoresist film should be formed in a very uniform thickness on the substrate on which the thin film is formed so that no defect occurs during the process. For example, when the photoresist film is formed thicker than the designated thickness, a desired portion of the thin film is not etched. When the photoresist film is formed thinner than the designated thickness, a problem occurs that the thin film is etched more than the desired etching amount.

In particular, the application of such a uniform photoresist is one of the very important factors in the current trend of increasing the size of the substrate as the substrate of the flat panel display device, especially the liquid crystal display panel, becomes larger.

In order to solve the above problem, a nozzle method of spraying a predetermined photosensitive liquid using a slit nozzle without using a spinner like a conventional spin chuck has been proposed. Since the nozzle method does not use a spinner, the photosensitive liquid is injected through a spinless coater or a slit, so it is called a slit coater. The slit coater is suitable for applying a photoresist to a large liquid crystal display panel by supplying the photoresist through a slit-shaped nozzle having a length longer than its width to apply a photoresist to a surface of the substrate.

2A and 2B are exemplary views illustrating a basic concept of a slit coater and a photosensitive liquid applied by the slit coater.

As shown in the figure, the slit coater of the present invention includes a nozzle 22 having a narrow and long slit shape, and supplies a photosensitive liquid 30 through the slit nozzle 22 to surface the substrate 100. The photosensitive liquid 30 is coated on the surface.

That is, the slit coater is a device for applying a predetermined amount of the photosensitive liquid 30 to the substrate 100 or the like through the bar-shaped long slit nozzle 22, and has a constant speed from one side of the substrate 100 to the other side. By applying a predetermined amount of the photosensitive liquid 30 through the fine slit nozzle 22 while moving to it is possible to form a uniform photosensitive film on the surface of the substrate 100.

In addition, the slit coater can apply the photosensitive liquid 30 only to the surface of the desired substrate 100, and thus has an advantage that the coating liquid can be used more wastelessly than the above-described spin coater. It can be applied and is suitable for large substrates and square substrates.

For reference, reference numeral 40 denotes a table on which the substrate 100 is seated, and an arrow indicates that the photosensitive liquid 30 is sprayed and applied in the direction of the arrow in the direction in which the slit nozzle 22 moves.

The slit coater of the present invention can keep the slit nozzle in an optimal state by storing the slit nozzle inside the service unit in which the solvent atmosphere is formed. In this case, the service unit maintains the slit nozzle in an optimal state while the slit nozzle is waiting for the next process without performing a coating process for a predetermined period, which will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is a front view schematically showing a slit coater having a service unit according to the present invention.

As shown in the figure, the slit coater 120 of the present embodiment is a table 140 on which the substrate 100 is seated, and a slit nozzle part 120 for applying a coating liquid, for example a photoresist such as a photoresist, onto the substrate 100. And a driving unit 150 installed at both ends of the slit nozzle unit 120 to move the slit nozzle unit 120 at a constant speed.

The driving unit 150 is installed at both ends of the slit nozzle unit 120 to move forward and backward across the pair of Z-axis driving unit 151 and the table 140 for moving the slit nozzle unit 120 in the vertical direction. As a result, the slit nozzle unit 120 includes a pair of Y-axis driving units 152 to uniformly spray the photosensitive liquid onto the surface of the substrate 100 by moving the slit nozzle unit 120 at a constant speed.

In this case, the Y-axis driving unit 152 may be composed of a motor (not shown), a moving rail, a moving means (not shown) such as a guide rail, and a non-contact type linear motor may be used as the motor. .

The object to be processed 100 such as a glass substrate is mounted on the table 140, and a plurality of pins 141 are provided inside the table 140 to lift the substrate 100 from the table 140. have. The pins 141 are supported by a plate 142 positioned below the table 140, and the substrate 142 moves in a vertical direction by a driving means (not shown) such as a motor. It serves to seat or lift the 100 to the table 140.

The slit nozzle unit 120 crosses the upper portion of the substrate 100 and has a slit-shaped nozzle 122 having a length corresponding to the width of the substrate 100 and a head 121 on which the slit nozzle 122 is mounted. It consists of

At this time, although not shown in detail in the drawing, the slit nozzle 122 is composed of a nozzle body, inlet and discharge port, has a storage space for storing the photosensitive material inside the nozzle body, the inlet is formed in the nozzle body and the discharge port Is formed on the surface of the nozzle body facing the substrate 100. At this time, the discharge port has a slit shape longer than the width.

In addition, the slit nozzle 122 sprays the photosensitive liquid while moving from one side of the substrate 100 to the other side through the Y-axis driving unit 152 so that a uniform photosensitive liquid is applied to the surface of the substrate 100. Alternatively, the same photoresist coating process may be performed by sliding the substrate 100 while the slit nozzle 122 is fixed.

At this time, although not shown in the figure, a bubble outlet for removing bubbles in the slit nozzle 122 is formed at the upper end of the head 121 of the slit nozzle unit 120.

In the slit coater configured as described above, the coating liquid in the vicinity of the discharge port (not shown) of the slit nozzle 122 when the atmosphere is not performed for a predetermined period of time, the concentration is increased by contact with air, in which case In the discharge port (not shown) of the slit nozzle 122, the coating liquid remains in a hardened state, causing a coating failure when the next process is performed.

The slit coater of the present invention is further provided with a service unit 160 to create a solvent atmosphere. The slit coater provided with the service unit 160 stores the slit nozzle 122 in the service unit 160 during long-term standby of the slit nozzle 122 to prevent contact between the slit nozzle 122 and air. The coating liquid curing problem described above can be solved.

At this time, the service unit 160 of the present invention stores the slit nozzle 122 in a sealed solvent atmosphere state, the inlet is closed by a shutter during the application process of the slit nozzle 122 is closed and sealed By maintaining this condition, it is possible to protect workers from harmful solvent vapors and to prevent environmental pollution.

Hereinafter, a detailed description will be given with reference to the drawings. In this case, the service unit 160 is installed in the front of the table 140, for example, but the present invention is not limited to this, the service unit 160 of the present invention is the table 140 of the It may be installed later.

4 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a service unit of the slit coater according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and is a cross-sectional side view of the service unit shown in FIG. 3.

As shown in the figure, the service unit 160 of the first embodiment is horizontally disposed in the washing tank 190 filled with the washing liquid and the washing tank 190, and the lower part thereof is immersed in the washing liquid in the washing tank 190, It consists of a rotating roller 165 to expose the upper portion to the discharge port 126 of the slit nozzle 122 and the cleaning liquid injection nozzle (170A ~ 170C) for spraying the cleaning liquid toward the surface of the rotary roller 165. .

The rotating roller 165 is rotatably installed at both ends of the cylindrical rotating roller 165 on opposite side walls in the vertical direction of the ground of the washing tank 190. At this time, although not shown in the drawing, one end of the shaft of the rotary roller 165 is equipped with a pulley (pulley) and the pulley and the rotating shaft of the motor is coupled to the belt, the driving force of the motor through the belt rotating roller 165 Will be delivered).

At this time, the rotary roller 165 may be formed of a metal such as stainless steel, aluminum, titanium.

As described above, the washing tank 190 of the service unit 160 is filled with a cleaning liquid such as a highly volatile organic solvent, and the lower portion of the rotary roller 165 is immersed therein.

In addition, both side walls of the service unit 160 are provided with first and second cleaning liquid spray nozzles 170A and 170B for spraying the cleaning liquid toward the surface of the rotating roller 165, and the lower portion of the rotating roller 165. In the washing tank 190, a third cleaning liquid injection nozzle 170C is provided.

A cover is provided at an upper end of the sidewall on which the first and second cleaning liquid injection nozzles 170A and 170B are installed to cover the upper surface of the service unit 160 excluding an exhaust port (not shown), thereby allowing evaporation of the cleaning liquid. One block is made to keep the inside of the service unit 160 in a solvent atmosphere. At this time, the gas containing the cleaning liquid accumulated in the cleaning tank 190 is discharged through a duct (not shown) connected to the exhaust port.

Referring to FIG. 5, the slit nozzle 122 stored in the service unit 160 includes a first nozzle body 123A, a second nozzle body 123B, an inlet 125, and an outlet 126. .

As such, the slit nozzle 122 has a structure in which two parts of the nozzle bodies 123A and 123B are coupled, and is pressurized by a pumping means between the first nozzle body 123A and the second nozzle body 123B. Iii) A storage space 124 is formed in which a predetermined amount is temporarily stored in order to uniformly spray the photosensitive liquid.

In this case, the inlet 125 is formed on the second nozzle body 123B to supply the photosensitive liquid to the storage space 124, and the discharge hole 126 has a slit shape having a length longer than the width of the substrate ( It is formed on the surface facing the 100) to apply a surface-sensitive photosensitive liquid to the surface of the substrate 100.

The gap between the first nozzle body 123A and the second nozzle body 123B is determined and maintained by a very thin shim 127 made of stainless steel.

As described above, the service unit 160 of the present embodiment prevents the photoresist hardening at the discharge port 126 of the slit nozzle 122 by the solvent atmosphere inside the service unit 160.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the inside of the service unit 160 has a solvent atmosphere formed by the cleaning liquid injection nozzles 170A to 170C and the inner bottom cleaning liquid, and the slit inside the service unit 160 of the solvent atmosphere. By storing the nozzle 122, the photosensitive liquid in the slit nozzle 122 is prevented from being evaporated by a solvent atmosphere, thereby preventing hardening of the photosensitive liquid at the discharge port 126 of the slit nozzle 122.

However, even when the inside of the service unit 160 is in a solvent atmosphere, curing of the photoresist may proceed at the discharge port 126 of the slit nozzle 122, and if curing is performed for a certain period of time, for example, an hour or more, the curing proceeds. As a result, the coating may not be easily discharged during the coating process.

Accordingly, in the present embodiment, the slit nozzle 122 periodically discharges the dummy photoresist to prevent curing of the photoresist at the discharge port 126 of the slit nozzle 122.

That is, the discharge port 126 of the slit nozzle 122 is brought close to the surface of the rotary roller 165 to periodically discharge the dummy photoresist 130 ', thereby curing the photoresist at the discharge port 126 of the slit nozzle 122. Can be prevented.

At this time, as described above, the service unit 160 of the present embodiment includes the rotary roller 165 and the cleaning liquid injection nozzles 170A to 170C, and the discharged dummy photosensitive liquid 130 'is the rotary roller 165. As it rotates, it is pulled out and attached to the surface of the rotary roller 165, and the dummy photosensitive liquid 130 'is washed and removed by the cleaning liquid jet nozzles 170A to 170C and the cleaning liquid of the lower cleaning tank.

At this time, since the side surface of the discharge port 126 of the slit nozzle 122 is contaminated with the dummy photosensitive liquid 130 'when the dummy photosensitive liquid 130' is discharged, the slit nozzle 122 is rotated from the discharge port 126 by the rotating roller 165. ) To a degree close to the surface tension is removed to form a constant discharge interval (d) to discharge the dummy photosensitive liquid (130 ').

In this case, the discharge interval d from the rotary roller 165 to the discharge port 126 of the slit nozzle 122 may be, for example, about 30 to 500 μm, and the discharge interval d is If too large, the slit nozzle 122 side surface may be contaminated due to the surface tension of the dummy photosensitive liquid 130 ′ being discharged.

On the other hand, the first cleaning liquid injection nozzle (170A) and the second cleaning liquid injection nozzle 170B may be installed on the side wall of the service unit 160 via a screw member (not shown), the cleaning tank 190 The bubbling nozzle may be used as the third cleaning liquid injection nozzle 170C installed at the bottom of the nozzle.

As a method of cleaning the bubbling nozzle, for example, a method of flushing a certain amount of cleaning liquid, such as a fountain, to wash away the dummy photosensitive liquid 130 'attached to the rotary roller 165, or a foamy cleaning liquid containing gas. For example, the dummy photoresist 130 'may be washed away.

As described above, the photoresist hardening prevention at the slit nozzle 122 and the discharge port 126 is performed in a solvent atmosphere inside the service unit 160 while the slit nozzle 122 is closed and at the same time set by the user. Through the discharge of the dummy photoresist 130 '.

That is, by discharging the dummy photoresist 130 ′ periodically in a solvent atmosphere, the curing of the photoresist at the discharge port 126 of the slit nozzle 122 is prevented, so that the substrate 100 may not be subjected to the coating process for a long time. The coating conditions can be kept constant at all times.

Hereinafter, the method of discharging the dummy photoresist 130 ′ for preventing the photoresist hardening at the slit nozzle 122 discharge port 126 will be described in detail.

In order to make the discharge condition of the slit nozzle 122 always equal while discharging the slit coater for a long time, the dummy photoresist 130 ′ is discharged in a narrow space with the rotary roller 165. At this time, the dummy photosensitive liquid 130 ′ discharged to the surface of the rotary roller 165 is diluted by the cleaning liquid sprayed by the first cleaning liquid spray nozzle 170A on the left side of the drawing.

At this time, the lower portion of the service unit 160 is a washing tank 190 in which a certain amount of cleaning liquid is accumulated, which allows a part of the rotary roller 165 to be immersed in the cleaning liquid to easily melt the dummy photoresist 130 '. For sake.

In addition, the third cleaning liquid injection nozzle 170C at the bottom of the cleaning tank 190 serves to dilute and remove the dummy photosensitive liquid 130 ′ that is on the surface of the rotary roller 165. The cleaning liquid jet nozzle 170B removes the last dummy photoresist 130 '.

At this time, a first coating liquid removing unit 180A is installed between the third cleaning liquid spraying nozzle 170C and the second cleaning liquid spraying nozzle 170B, and the second coating liquid is disposed on the second cleaning liquid spraying nozzle 170B. The removal unit 180B is provided.

That is, the dummy photosensitive liquid 130 ′ discharged from the slit nozzle 122 is diluted by the first and third cleaning liquid injection nozzles 170A and 170C, and is rotated by the first coating liquid removing unit 180A. The dummy photoresist 130 'buried in 165 is removed. In addition, the rotary roller 165 is finally cleaned by the second cleaning liquid injection nozzle 170B, and the dummy photosensitive liquid buried in the rotary roller 165 by the second coating liquid removing unit 180B on the upper right side. 130 'and the cleaning liquid are finally removed.

As described above, the slit coater having the service unit of the first embodiment makes the slit nozzle in a solvent atmosphere and simultaneously discharges the dummy photoresist to prevent curing of the photoresist at the slit nozzle outlet during long-term standby.

6 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a service unit of a slit coater according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

At this time, the service unit of the present embodiment is composed of the same components as the service unit of the first embodiment except for the recovery tank for reusing the cleaning liquid.

As shown in the figure, the service unit 260 of the second embodiment is disposed in the washing tank 290 filled with the washing liquid and the washing tank 290 horizontally, and its lower part is immersed in the washing liquid in the washing tank 290, and It consists of a rotating roller 265 to expose the upper portion to the discharge port 226 of the slit nozzle 222 and a cleaning liquid spray nozzle 270A to 270C for spraying the cleaning liquid toward the surface of the rotating roller 265. .

The rotary roller 265 is installed so that both ends of the cylindrical rotary roller 265 rotatably on opposite side walls in the vertical direction of the ground of the washing tank 290, the organic solvent of high volatility in the washing tank 290 The cleaning liquid, such as or the like, is filled and the lower part of the rotary roller 265 is immersed therein.

In addition, first and second cleaning liquid spray nozzles 270A and 270B for spraying the cleaning liquid toward the surface of the rotary roller 265 are installed on both sidewalls of the service unit 260, and the lower portion of the rotary roller 265 is provided. In the washing tank 290, a third cleaning liquid injection nozzle 270C is provided. 6 shows a dummy photosensitive liquid 230 'which has a function similar to the dummy photosensitive liquid 130' in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. The first and second coating liquid removing parts 280A and 280B which have a function similar to the first and second coating liquid removing parts 180A and 180B are shown.

A cover is provided at an upper end of the sidewall on which the first and second cleaning solution injection nozzles 270A and 270B are installed to cover the top surface of the service unit 260 excluding an exhaust port (not shown), thereby allowing evaporation of the cleaning solution. One block is made to keep the inside of the service unit 260 in a solvent atmosphere. At this time, the gas containing the cleaning liquid accumulated in the cleaning tank 290 is discharged through the duct (not shown) connected to the exhaust port.

In addition, a recovery pipe 291 is provided on the side wall of the bottom of the cleaning tank 290 for the recovery and reuse of the cleaning liquid, and a pump 296 and a filter (not shown) are provided in a predetermined region of the recovery pipe 291. It is installed to recover the cleaning liquid in the washing tank 290 to the recovery tank 295.

The cleaning liquid recovered in the recovery tank 295 is injected into the cleaning liquid injection nozzle 270A through the supply pipe 292 to be reused.

In this embodiment, for example, the recovered cleaning liquid is supplied to the first cleaning liquid injection nozzle 270A through the supply pipe 292, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the recovered cleaning liquid is supplied. The second cleaning liquid injection nozzle 270B or the third cleaning liquid injection nozzle 270C may be supplied and reused through the pipe 292. In addition, the supply pipe 292 may supply the cleaning liquid to one of the cleaning liquid injection nozzles 270A to 270C of the cleaning liquid injection nozzles 270A to 270C or the cleaning liquid to the plurality of cleaning liquid injection nozzles 270A to 270C. May be supplied.

At this time, although not shown in the figure, the liquid side sensor is installed on a predetermined sidewall of the service unit 260, and the storage of the cleaning liquid is continued until the predetermined upper limit level is confirmed, and the upper limit is detected according to the liquid level sensor. If it is possible to recover to the recovery tank (295) is recovered to the recovery tank (295) and if it is impossible to recover to the recovery tank (295) to be discarded to the waste tank through the waste liquid pipe (293).

Thus, the service unit of the second embodiment has the advantage that it is possible to prevent the waste of the cleaning liquid by installing the recovery tank and recovering and reusing the cleaning liquid according to a predetermined criterion.

Another embodiment of the service unit for carrying out the preliminary discharge may be installed on one side of the table, the service unit can be used when starting the coating process for the first time, or when preparing the coating of another substrate after the coating process have.

At this time, the service unit for the preliminary discharge of the present embodiment may be a component that is distinct from the service units 160 and 260 in the above-described first and second embodiments, in which case the service unit for the preliminary discharge Is located on the opposite side of the table where the above-described service units 160, 260 are located. In another case, the service unit for preliminary discharge of the present embodiment may be configured to perform the functions of the above-described service units 160 and 260 together with the preliminary discharge function to be described later.

7 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a service unit of a slit coater according to a third embodiment of the present invention, showing that the coating liquid is preliminarily ejected onto the roller surface.

The service unit serves to improve coating uniformity when the slit nozzle applies a coating liquid to a substrate such as a substrate of a liquid crystal display.

As shown in the figure, the service unit 360 of the present embodiment is disposed in the washing tank 368 and the washing tank 368 filled with the cleaning liquid horizontally and at the same time the lower part of the rotating roller immersed in the cleaning liquid in the washing tank 368 It consists of (365). At this time, the upper portion of the rotary roller 365 is exposed to approach the slit nozzle 322. In addition, the service unit 360 includes cleaning liquid spray nozzles 166A to 166C for spraying the cleaning liquid toward the surface of the rotary roller 365.

The rotary rollers 365 are rotatably installed at both ends of the cylindrical rotary rollers 365 on opposite sidewalls in the vertical direction of the ground of the washing tank 368. At this time, although not shown in the figure, a pulley is mounted at one end of the shaft of the rotating roller 365 and the rotating shaft of the pulley and the motor are coupled to the belt, and the driving force of the motor is transmitted to the rotating roller 365 through the belt. Will be.

At this time, the rotary roller 365 may be formed of a metal, such as stainless steel, aluminum, titanium.

The cleaning tank 368 of the service unit 360 is filled with a cleaning liquid such as a highly volatile organic solvent, and the lower portion of the rotary roller 365 is immersed therein.

In addition, first and second cleaning liquid spray nozzles 366A and 366B for spraying the cleaning liquid toward the surface of the rotary roller 365 are installed on both sidewalls of the service unit 360, and the lower portion of the rotary roller 365 is provided. In the washing tank 368, a third cleaning liquid jet nozzle 366C is provided.

The service unit 360 of the present embodiment configured as described above can prevent a coating failure such as unevenness of the coating film from occurring before starting the coating process or after finishing the coating process. The slit nozzle 322 by discharging the highly concentrated photosensitive liquid 330 ′ to the service unit 360 by bringing the discharge port 326 of the slit nozzle 322 close to the surface of the rotary roller 365. The photoresist of a certain concentration remains in the inside, so that the above-described coating failure can be prevented.

In order to maintain the same coating condition at all times, in order to make the best coating condition, the discharge port 326 of the slit nozzle 322 is maintained at a constant distance from the rotating roller 365 before or after the photosensitive liquid is applied to the glass substrate. To discharge the highly concentrated photosensitive liquid 330 '.

At this time, the photosensitive liquid 330 ′ discharged to the surface of the rotary roller 365 is diluted by the cleaning liquid sprayed from the first cleaning liquid spray nozzle 366A on the upper left side of the washing tank 168, and then the photosensitive liquid separating part of the lower left side ( 370 is discharged to the photosensitive liquid outlet (first drain). At this time, the photosensitive liquid separator 370 is to separate and discharge the discharged photosensitive liquid 330 'so as not to be mixed with the cleaning liquid and is installed in close contact with the surface of the rotary roller 365.

In the drawing, for example, the photosensitive liquid separator 370 is installed at the lower left, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the rotation direction of the rotary roller 365 depends on the rotation direction of the rotary roller 365. If the counterclockwise direction is installed on the left side as shown, if the rotation direction of the rotary roller 365 may be installed on the right side. In addition, the photosensitive liquid 330 'discharged by being installed on the upper side or the lower side may be separated from the cleaning liquid.

In addition, the cleaning tank 368 of the service unit 360 always has a certain amount of cleaning liquid, which is part of the rotary roller 365 so as to be immersed in the cleaning liquid. This is to clean the photosensitive liquid 330 '.

In addition, the third cleaning liquid jet nozzle 366C installed at the lower end of the cleaning tank 368 and the second cleaning liquid jet nozzle 366B installed at the right side of the service unit 360 may partially retain the photoresist 330 '. ), And the first photosensitive liquid removing part 367A and the second photosensitive liquid removing part 367B disposed above and below the second cleaning liquid injection nozzle 366B are used to remove the remaining photosensitive liquid 330 '. ) And the last sprayed cleaning liquid.

In this case, the first photosensitive liquid removing unit 367A is illustrated in the case where the first photosensitive liquid removing unit 367A is installed on the right sidewall of the washing tank 368, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Like the second photosensitive liquid removing unit 367B may be installed on the right side wall of the service unit 360. An overflow outlet (second drain) for discharging excess cleaning liquid in the washing tank 369 is provided between the washing tank 368 in which the first photosensitive liquid removing unit 367A is installed and the side wall of the service unit 360. .

The first cleaning liquid injection nozzle 366A and the second cleaning liquid injection nozzle 366B may be installed on the side wall of the service unit 360 through a screw member (not shown), and the bottom of the cleaning tank 368 may be installed. The bubbling nozzle can also be used for the 3rd washing | cleaning liquid injection nozzle 366C installed in this.

As a method of cleaning the bubbling nozzle, for example, a certain amount of cleaning liquid is ejected, such as a fountain, to wash the photosensitive liquid 330 'attached to the rotary roller 365, or a foamy cleaning liquid containing gas. Washing and flowing the photosensitive liquid 330 'and the like.

Thus, the service unit 360 of the present embodiment is provided with a photosensitive liquid separator 370 to be in close contact with the surface of the rotary roller 365 to separate the high concentration photosensitive liquid 330 'discharged to the surface of the rotary roller 365 separately. By discharging, the high concentration photoresist 330 'and the cleaning liquid are not mixed, thereby preventing the cleaning liquid from being contaminated by the photosensitive liquid 330'. As a result, the cleaning effect of the rotary roller 365 may be improved when the cleaning solution is reused, and the number of recycling of the cleaning solution is also increased.

Many details are set forth in the foregoing description but should be construed as illustrative of preferred embodiments rather than to limit the scope of the invention. Therefore, the invention should not be construed as limited to the embodiments described, but should be determined by equivalents to the appended claims and the claims.

As described above, the slit coater having the service unit according to the present invention and the manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display device using the same according to the present invention make the service unit in a solvent atmosphere and periodically discharge the dummy photoresist from the slit nozzle. It prevents hardening and improves the coating condition of the slit nozzle.

In addition, when the dummy photosensitive liquid is discharged, a predetermined discharge interval is formed to discharge the dummy photosensitive liquid so that the side surface of the slit nozzle discharge port is not contaminated with the photosensitive liquid.

In addition, the slit coater provided with the service unit of the present invention and the manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display device using the same, it is possible to prevent the waste of the cleaning liquid by installing the recovery tank to recover and reuse the cleaning liquid according to a predetermined standard.

Claims (29)

A table on which a workpiece is to be seated; A slit nozzle unit having a slit nozzle for applying a coating liquid to the surface of the workpiece; And A washing tank filled with the cleaning liquid, and a cover disposed to cover the upper surface except the rotary roller and the exhaust port, the lower part of which is immersed in the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank and exposed so that the upper part approaches the discharge port of the slit nozzle. And a service unit in which the slit nozzle part is loaded while maintaining a solvent atmosphere in which an inner space is sealed. The slit coater according to claim 1, wherein the coating solution includes a photoresist, a developing solution or a color filter of a photoresist. The slit coater according to claim 1, wherein the slit nozzle part comprises a slit nozzle having a slit shape longer than a length and a head to which the slit nozzle is mounted. The slit coater according to claim 1, wherein the service unit is installed at a place selected from a front part and a rear part of the table. The method of claim 1, wherein the service unit Slit coater, characterized in that it further comprises at least one cleaning liquid injection nozzle for spraying the cleaning liquid to the rotating roller. 6. The slit coater according to claim 5, wherein the slit nozzle discharges the dummy coating liquid periodically while being loaded in the service unit. The cleaning liquid jet nozzle of claim 6, wherein the cleaning liquid jet nozzle is installed at a side of the service unit, and the first cleaning liquid jet nozzle and the second cleaning liquid jet are used to dilute the dummy coating liquid applied to the surface of the rotary roller when discharging the dummy coating liquid from the slit nozzle. A slit coater comprising a nozzle. The slit coater according to claim 7, wherein the cleaning liquid jet nozzle comprises a third cleaning liquid jet nozzle installed in the cleaning tank to dilute the dummy coating liquid applied to the surface of the rotary roller. 9. The slit coater according to claim 8, further comprising at least one coating liquid removing unit installed at a side of the service unit to remove the diluted dummy coating liquid. The slit coater according to claim 5, wherein the service unit maintains the solvent atmosphere by the cleaning liquid sprayed from the cleaning liquid of the cleaning tank and the at least one cleaning liquid spray nozzle. The slit coater according to claim 10, wherein the cleaning liquid comprises a highly volatile organic solvent. The slit coater according to claim 1, further comprising a recovery pipe installed at a side of the service unit for recovering the cleaning liquid used in the service unit and a recovery tank for storing the cleaning liquid recovered from the recovery piping. 13. The slit coater according to claim 12, further comprising a supply pipe for supplying the cleaning liquid recovered from the recovery tank to the service unit. delete Applying a coating liquid to the object to be treated using the slit nozzle of the slit coater; Monitoring the workpiece to determine when maintenance of the slit coater is required; Loading the slit nozzle into a service unit in which a solvent atmosphere is maintained by a cleaning liquid; And And separating the slit nozzle from the service unit. The method of claim 15, wherein the slit coater further comprises a driving unit for moving any one of the slit nozzle and the table in a predetermined direction. delete The cleaning unit of claim 15, wherein the service unit includes a cleaning tank filled with the cleaning liquid, a rotating roller and an exhaust port disposed horizontally in the cleaning tank, the lower part of which is immersed in the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank, and the upper part of the cleaning roller is exposed to the outlet of the slit nozzle. Comprising a cover installed to cover the upper surface, except for the manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display device, characterized in that the slit nozzle is loaded while maintaining a sealed solvent atmosphere. 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising periodically discharging the dummy coating liquid through the slit nozzle to the rotating roller surface of the service unit. delete 20. The manufacturing method of a liquid crystal display device according to claim 19, further comprising diluting a dummy coating liquid discharged onto the surface of the rotating roller by spraying a cleaning liquid on the surface of the rotating roller. 22. The method of claim 21, further comprising physically removing the diluted dummy coating liquid from the surface of the rotating roller. The liquid crystal display of claim 15, further comprising recovering the cleaning liquid of the service unit to a recovery tank through a recovery pipe and supplying the recovered cleaning liquid to the service unit through a supply pipe. Method of manufacturing the device. 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising discarding the cleaning liquid of the service unit into a waste liquid tank through a waste liquid pipe. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the target object includes a substrate for a liquid crystal display device. delete delete The method of claim 15, wherein the loading of the slit nozzle into the service unit Loading a slit nozzle into a service unit including a cleaning tank filled with a cleaning liquid; Rotating the rotating roller installed in the washing tank and discharging the dummy coating liquid from the slit nozzle; And And spraying the cleaning liquid onto the surface of the rotary roller through at least one cleaning liquid spray nozzle. The method of claim 15, wherein the slit nozzle is loaded into the service unit when the target object is monitored and a defect is detected in the target object.

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