KR20140070349A - Substrate manufacturing apparatus and substrate manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a substrate-manufacturing apparatus capable of evading decrease in throughput when membranes with different thicknesses are manufactured in a surface. A substrate for forming a membrane is supported on the supporting surface of a stage. Liquid drops of a membrane material are discharged toward the substrate supported on the stage from a plurality of nozzle holes of a nozzle head facing the stage. A moving device moves one side of the stage with respect to the other side in the direction of injection parallel to the supporting surface. A control device controls a moving device. The nozzle head discharges, from the nozzle holes, the liquid drops of the membrane material with a volume according to a signal waveform corresponding to the nozzle hole if the nozzle head receives, from the control device, a discharge signal having specific correspondence of the nozzle hole to the signal waveform corresponding to the nozzle hole.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a substrate manufacturing apparatus,

The present application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-260867 filed on November 29, 2012. The entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

The present invention relates to a substrate manufacturing apparatus and a substrate manufacturing method for forming a thin film of a predetermined shape by applying a liquid thin film material to a substrate and then curing the thin film material.

There is known a technique in which a liquid droplet containing a material for forming a thin film is discharged from a nozzle head to form a thin film pattern on the surface of the substrate (for example, Patent Document 1). A thin film is formed by discharging droplets from the nozzle head toward the substrate while moving the nozzle head relative to the substrate. The process of ejecting droplets from the nozzle head toward the substrate while moving the nozzle head relative to the substrate is referred to as "scanning ".

In such a thin film forming technique, for example, a printed substrate is used for the substrate, and a solder resist is used for the thin film material. The printed board includes a substrate and wiring, and electronic parts and the like are soldered to a predetermined position. The solder resist exposes a conductor portion for soldering an electronic component or the like, and covers a portion where soldering is unnecessary. It is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost as compared with the method of forming the openings by using the photolithography technique after applying the solder resist to the entire surface.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-104104

When the thickness of the thin film is made different in the substrate surface, a multi-drop method, a double coating method, and a split coating method are considered.

In the multi-drop method, the thickness of the thin film is changed by changing the number of droplets to land on a pixel-by-pixel basis. The number of liquid droplets that land on the pixel that should form the thickest film becomes the greatest. The moving speed of the nozzle head with respect to the substrate is limited depending on the maximum number of droplets to be deposited on one pixel. As the maximum number of droplets to land on one pixel increases, the moving speed of the nozzle head with respect to the substrate must be slowed down. As a result, the throughput is lowered.

In the overlapping coating method, after forming a first thin film of uniform thickness, a second thin film is further formed on the first thin film only in a region where a thick film is to be formed. In the split coating method, the thin film is divided into a plurality of regions for each thickness of the thin film to be formed. A thin film is formed in one region by one scan. In either method, in order to form a thin film having a different film thickness, a plurality of times of scanning must be performed. As a result, the throughput is lowered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate manufacturing method and a substrate manufacturing apparatus capable of avoiding a reduction in throughput when forming a thin film having a different film thickness in a plane.

According to one aspect of the present invention,

A stage for supporting a substrate on which a thin film is to be formed on a supporting surface,

A nozzle head opposed to the stage and discharging droplets of the thin film material from the plurality of nozzle holes toward the substrate supported on the stage;

A moving mechanism for moving one of the stage and the nozzle head with respect to the other in a scanning direction parallel to the supporting surface,

And a control device

Lt; / RTI &

Wherein the nozzle head receives droplets of a thin film material having a volume corresponding to a designated signal waveform from the control device in response to a specified ejection signal indicating a correspondence relationship between the nozzle hole and a signal waveform associated with the nozzle hole, There is provided a substrate manufacturing apparatus for discharging a substrate from a nozzle hole.

According to another aspect of the present invention,

The droplet of the thin film material is discharged from the nozzle hole of the nozzle head while opposing the nozzle head to the substrate and moving one side of the substrate and the nozzle head in the scanning direction parallel to the surface of the substrate with respect to the other side, And a step of forming a thin film on the surface of the substrate,

Based on the information about the thickness of the thin film at a position where the liquid droplet of the thin film material is landed in a period during which one side of the substrate and the nozzle head are moved in the scanning direction with respect to the other side, There is provided a substrate manufacturing method in which the volume of a thin film material to be ejected is different for each of the nozzle holes.

By making the volume of the droplet of the thin film material discharged from the nozzle hole different according to the position on the substrate, a thin film whose film thickness varies in the plane can be formed. Further, a thin film having a different film thickness can be formed by one scan. As a result, the throughput can be increased as compared with the conventional method.

1 is a schematic view of a substrate manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment.
2 (2A) is a perspective view of the nozzle unit, and (2B) is a bottom view of the nozzle head and the curing light source.
3B is a cross-sectional view taken along one-dot chain line 3B-3B of 3A, and 3C and 3E are sectional views of the nozzle head during the ejection operation; FIG. 3A is a cross- (3D) and (3F) are sectional views of the nozzle head at the same position as (3B) in the discharging operation. 3G and 3I are sectional views of the nozzle head during the ejection operation at the same position as 3A and 3H and 3J are sectional views of the nozzle head during ejection, In the same figure.
4 is a graph showing an example of a voltage waveform applied to an electrode of a pressurizing chamber.
In Fig. 5, (5) A to 5D are sectional views of the nozzle head during the ejection operation.
6 is a graph showing an example of a voltage waveform applied to an electrode of a pressurizing chamber.
7 is a block diagram of a control device and a nozzle head.
In Fig. 8, (8A) is a diagram showing an example of image data, and (8B) is a cross-sectional view of the substrate and the thin film corresponding to the position of the one-dot chain line 8B-8B in (8A).
9 is a diagram showing a relationship between a signal waveform for discharging droplets of a thin film material and a thickness of a thin film formed on a substrate.
10 is a diagram showing a relationship between a signal waveform when a thin film is formed using a multi-drop method and a thickness of a thin film formed on a substrate.

1 is a schematic view of a substrate manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment. A stage 22 is supported by a moving mechanism 21 on a base 20. A substrate 50 such as a printed wiring board is supported on the upper surface (support surface) of the stage 22. An xyz orthogonal coordinate system is defined in which the direction parallel to the support surface of the stage 22 is the x direction and the y direction, and the normal direction of the support surface is the z direction. The moving mechanism 21 moves the stage 22 in the x direction and the y direction.

The nozzle unit 23 and the image pickup device 30 are supported above the base 20. The nozzle unit 23 and the image pickup device 30 are opposed to the substrate 50 supported on the stage 22. [ The imaging device 30 picks up a wiring pattern formed on the surface of the substrate 50, an alignment mark, a thin film pattern formed on the substrate 50, and the like. The image data obtained by imaging is inputted to the control device 40. The nozzle unit 23 discharges droplets of a thin film material (for example, a droplet such as a solder resist) of a photocurable property (e.g., ultraviolet curable property) toward the substrate 50 from a plurality of nozzle holes. The discharged thin film material is attached to the surface of the substrate 50.

The nozzle unit 23 may be moved relative to the stage 22 and the table 20 in place of moving the stage 22 by fixing the nozzle unit 23 to the table 20.

The control device 40 controls the moving mechanism 21, the nozzle unit 23, and the image pickup device 30. [ The control device 40 includes a storage section 45 for storing image data 46 in raster format or the compressed data thereof defining the shape of the thin film pattern to be formed on the substrate 50. [ An operator inputs various commands (commands) and numerical data necessary for control to the control device 40 through the input device 41. [ The control device 40 outputs various information from the output device 42 to the operator.

2A is a perspective view of the nozzle unit 23. Fig. A plurality of, for example, four nozzle heads 24 are mounted on the nozzle holder 26. In each of the nozzle heads 24, a plurality of nozzle holes 24a are formed. The nozzle holes 24a are arranged in the x direction and the four nozzle heads 24 are arranged in the y direction and fixed to the nozzle holder 26. [

A curing light source 25 is disposed between the nozzle heads 24 and outside the nozzle heads 24 at both ends thereof. The curing light source 25 irradiates the substrate 50 (FIG. 1) with light for curing the thin film material, for example, ultraviolet rays.

2B is a bottom view of the nozzle head 24 and the curing light source 25. As shown in Fig. Two rows of nozzle arrays 24b are disposed on the respective bottom surfaces (surfaces facing the substrate 50) of the nozzle heads 24. As shown in Fig. Each of the nozzle rows 24b is constituted by a plurality of nozzle holes 24a arranged in a pitch (period) 8Pn in the x direction. One of the nozzle rows 24b is shifted in the y direction with respect to the other nozzle row 24b and is displaced by the pitch 4Pn in the x direction. That is, when one nozzle head 24 is viewed, the nozzle holes 24a are equally spaced at a pitch 4Pn with respect to the x direction. The pitch 4Pn corresponds to a resolution of, for example, 300 dpi.

The four nozzle heads 24 are arranged in the y direction and are mounted on the nozzle holder 26 (Fig. 2A) so as to be shifted from each other in the x direction. 2B, with respect to the leftmost nozzle head 24, the second, third, and fourth nozzle heads 24 are shifted by 2Pn, Pn, and 3Pn in the negative direction of the x-axis, respectively. As a result, when the four nozzle heads 24 are viewed (as the entire nozzle head), the nozzle holes 24a are arranged at regular intervals with a pitch Pn (pitch corresponding to 1200 dpi) in the x direction.

The curing light source 25 is disposed between the nozzle head 24 and the nozzle head 24 farthest from the nozzle head 24 in the y direction. When one nozzle head 24 is viewed, a curing light source 25 is disposed on both sides thereof.

1) of the thin film material to be formed while moving the substrate 50 (Fig. 1) in the y direction, the liquid material of the thin film material is ejected from each nozzle hole 24a of the nozzle unit 23 By discharging the enemy, a thin film pattern can be formed with a resolution of 1200 dpi with respect to the x direction. The operation of applying the thin film material to the substrate 50 by discharging the droplets of the thin film material from the nozzle holes 24a while moving the substrate 50 in the y direction is referred to as "scanning ". The resolution in the x direction can be doubled up to 2,400 dpi by performing the next scanning while shifting by Pn / 2 in the x direction after performing one scanning. Two scans can be realized by reciprocal scanning in which the directions of the first scan and the second scan are reversed. The resolution in the y direction (scanning direction) is determined by the movement speed of the substrate 50 and the ejection period of the droplets from the nozzle hole 24a.

3A and 3B show a schematic sectional view of a part of the nozzle head 24. As shown in Fig. 3A shows a cross-sectional view taken parallel to the xy plane at a position slightly inward of the surface on which the nozzle hole 24a is formed, and FIG. 3B shows a cross- And a cross-sectional view taken on a chain line (3B-3B). The nozzle head 24 is a so-called shear mode piezoelectric element type nozzle head.

As shown in FIG. 3A, a plurality of pressure chambers 27 are arranged in the x direction. The plurality of pressurizing chambers (27) are partitioned by partition walls (28). The partition wall 28 is formed of a piezoelectric material and configured to shear deformation when an electric field in the thickness direction of the partition wall 28 is applied. In correspondence with the pressurizing chamber 27, the nozzle hole 24a is arranged. An electrode (29) is formed on the wall surface of the pressurizing chamber (27).

When the electrodes 29 of the pressure chambers 27 at both ends shown in Fig. 3A are grounded and a voltage is applied to the electrodes 29 of the central pressure chamber 27, An electric field in the thickness direction is applied to the partition walls 28 on both sides. As an example, when a negative voltage is applied to the electrode 29 of the center pressurizing chamber 27, the partition walls 28 on both sides are deformed in directions away from each other, as shown in Fig. 3C. As a result, the volume of the pressurizing chamber 27 at the center becomes large. Conversely, when a constant voltage is applied to the electrode 29 of the center pressurizing chamber 27, as shown in Fig. 3G, the partition walls 28 on both sides are deformed in the direction of approaching each other. As a result, the volume of the pressurizing chamber 27 at the center is reduced.

As shown in (3B) of Fig. 3, a nozzle hole 24a is formed in the bottom surface of the pressurizing chamber 27. As shown in Fig. All of the pressurizing chambers 27 are connected to one common chamber 33. A liquid thin film material is stored in the pressurizing chamber (27) and the common chamber (33). When the pressurizing chamber 27 is expanded, the thin film material flows into the pressurizing chamber 27 from the common chamber 33.

Next, with reference to Figs. 3A to 3J and Fig. 4, the operation when droplets of the thin film material are discharged from the nozzle holes 24a will be described. In Figs. 3A to 3J, an example is shown in which droplets of the thin film material are discharged from the central nozzle hole 24a. (3C), (3E), (3G), and (3I) in FIG. 3 are cross- And (3J) show cross-sectional views at the same positions as in (3B) of Fig. Fig. 4 shows an example of the voltage waveform applied to the electrode 29 in the center pressurizing chamber 27. Fig. The center pressurizing chamber 27 is simply referred to as the " pressurizing chamber 27 ", and the electrode 29 of the center pressurizing chamber 27 is simply referred to as the " "

3A and 3B show sectional views of the nozzle head 24 when no voltage is applied to the electrode 29 (time t11 shown in Fig. 4). At time ta (Fig. 4), a negative voltage is applied to the electrode 29. Fig.

Sectional views of the nozzle head 24 when negative voltage is applied to the electrode 29 (time t12 shown in Fig. 4) are shown in Figs. 3C and 3D. The partition walls 28 on both sides of the pressure chamber 27 are deformed in directions away from each other, so that the pressure chamber 27 is enlarged. As a result, the thin film material flows into the pressurizing chamber 27 from the common chamber 33.

At the time point of time tb (Fig. 4), the voltage applied to the electrode 29 is returned to the ground potential. 3E and 3F show sectional views of the nozzle head 24 when the potential of the electrode 29 is returned to the ground potential (time t13 shown in FIG. 4). The partition walls 28 on both sides of the pressure chamber 27 return to the neutral state. At this time, pressure is applied to the thin film material in the pressurizing chamber 27, and a part of the thin film material protrudes from the nozzle hole 24a. In this state, the portion 34 protruding from the nozzle hole 24a is continuous with the thin film material in the pressurizing chamber 27. [

At the time point of time tc (Fig. 4), a constant voltage is applied to the electrode 29. Fig. 3 (3G) and 3 (H) show sectional views of the nozzle head 24 when a constant voltage is applied to the electrode 29 (time t14 shown in Fig. 4). The partition walls 28 on both sides of the pressurizing chamber 27 are deformed in the direction of approaching each other, so that the volume of the pressurizing chamber 27 is reduced. The thin film material in the pressurizing chamber 27 is pressed, and the protruded portion 34 becomes large.

At the time point of time td (Fig. 4), the voltage applied to the electrode 29 is returned to the ground potential. (3I) and (3J) of Fig. 3 show a cross-sectional view of the nozzle head 24 when the potential of the electrode 29 is returned to the ground potential (time t15 shown in Fig. 4). The partition walls 28 on both sides of the pressure chamber 27 return to the neutral state. At this time, the pressurizing chamber 27 is enlarged, and a part of the portion 34 (Fig. 3H) protruding from the nozzle hole 24a is returned into the pressurizing chamber 27. Fig. The portion of the protruded portion 34 which is not returned into the pressurizing chamber 27 becomes the droplet 35 and emerges toward the substrate 50 (Fig. 1).

Next, with reference to Figs. 5A to 5D and Fig. 6, another operation of discharging the droplets of the thin film material from the nozzle holes 24a will be described. 5A to 5D show cross-sectional views of the nozzle head 24 at the same positions as in FIG. 3B. 6 shows a voltage waveform applied to the electrode 29. Fig.

5A shows a cross-sectional view of the nozzle head 24 when no voltage is applied to the electrode 29 (time t21 shown in Fig. 6).

5B shows a cross-sectional view of the nozzle head 24 when the negative voltage is applied to the electrode 29 and then returned to the ground potential (time t22 shown in Fig. 6). After the pressure chamber 27 is once enlarged, the thin film material protrudes from the nozzle hole 24a by returning to the original position. Thereby, the portion 34 protruding from the nozzle hole 24a is formed.

5C shows a cross-sectional view of the nozzle head 24 after repeatedly applying a plurality of negative voltage pulses to the electrode 29 (time t23 in FIG. 6). By repeatedly expanding and contracting the pressurizing chamber 27, a part of the protruding portion 34 is returned to the inside of the pressurizing chamber 27. As a result, the volume of the projected portion 34 becomes small.

5D shows a cross-sectional view of the nozzle head 24 when a constant voltage is applied to the electrode 29 (time t24 in FIG. 6). The pressurizing chamber 27 is contracted to press the thin film material in the pressurizing chamber 27 so that the protruded portion 34 is separated from the thin film material in the pressurizing chamber 27 to become the droplet 35. [

The volume of the droplet 35 ejected by the operations shown in Figs. 5A to 5D and Fig. 6 is the same as the volume of the droplet 35 ejected by the operations shown in Figs. 3A to 3J and Fig. 35). Thus, by changing the voltage waveform applied to the electrode 29, the volume of the droplet 35 discharged from the nozzle hole 24a can be changed. The voltage waveforms shown in Figs. 4 and 6 are merely examples. The voltage waveform applied to the electrode 29 is different from the waveforms shown in Figs. 4 and 6 by the viscosity of the thin film material, the structure of the nozzle head 24, It has various shapes.

The partition wall 28 (Fig. 3A) of the nozzle head 24 functions as an actuator for changing the volume of the pressurizing chamber 27. Fig. The actuator is driven to change the volume of the pressurizing chamber 27, whereby droplets of the thin film material are ejected from the nozzle holes 24a. The voltage waveform (signal waveform) applied to the electrode 29 (FIG. 3A) of the actuator corresponds to the time variation of the volume of the pressure chamber 27.

Fig. 7 shows a block diagram of the control device 40 (Fig. 1) and the nozzle head 24 (Figs. 2A and 2B). The control device 40 includes a processing unit 43 and a storage unit 45. [ The image data 46 and the volume waveform correspondence table 44 are stored in the storage section 45. [ The image data 46 includes information about the planar shape and the film thickness of the thin film to be formed. The volumetric waveform correspondence table 44 shows the relationship between the volume of the droplets 35 (3J and 5D in Fig. 3) discharged from the nozzle hole 24a and the volume of the electrodes 29 (Fig. 3A) (FIG. 4 and FIG. 6) to which the voltage waveform is applied. The volume waveform correspondence table 44 can be created by driving the nozzle head 24 with various voltage waveforms and actually measuring the volume of droplets ejected from the nozzle holes 24a. For example, voltage waveforms are defined corresponding to four kinds of liquid droplet volumes (V1 to V4). The volume of the droplet is in the order of V1> V2> V3> V4.

An example of the image data 46 is shown in (8A) in Fig. The image data 46 is composed of a plurality of pixels 47 arranged in matrix in the x direction and the y direction. For each pixel 47, thickness information of the thin film formed at the position of the pixel 47 is stored. 8A shows the thickness information of the thin film at the position corresponding to the pixel 47 with the line width of the X display displayed in the pixel 47. In FIG. The larger the line width of the X display displayed on the pixel 47, the thicker the thin film at the position of the pixel 47 is. The blank pixel 47 means that a thin film is not formed at the position of the pixel 47 in question.

Openings (48) and openings (49) in which no thin film is formed are distributed in the substrate surface. For example, the opening 49 has a planar shape approximate to a circle and corresponds to the position of the through hole formed in the substrate 50 (Fig. 1). The opening 48 corresponds to an area for soldering the terminal of the circuit element to the substrate.

It is possible to form a thin film having a target thickness by increasing the volume of the droplet landing on the pixel 47 for thickening the thin film. The thickness of the thin film varies in the x direction in which the nozzle holes 24a ((2B) in Fig. 2) are arranged. By making the volume of droplets to be discharged different for each nozzle hole 24a, a thin film whose film thickness varies with respect to the in-plane direction can be formed by one time of scanning.

8B shows a cross-sectional view of the substrate 50 and the thin film 51, which are associated with the positions of the one-dot chain line 8B-8B in FIG. 8A. On the substrate 50, a thin film 51 is formed. The thin film 51 is formed by curing a thin film material discharged from the nozzle head 24 (2A, 2B, and 2B) and adhered to the surface of the substrate 50. A plurality of openings (48) are formed in the thin film (51). The conductive pattern is exposed in the opening 48. The terminal 53 of the circuit element 52 and the terminal 56 of the circuit element 55 are soldered to the conductive pattern in the opening 48. [

A portion 51A thicker than the thin film 51 formed in the region where the circuit element is not disposed is formed right under one circuit element 52. [ The thickness of the thin film 51 immediately below the other circuit element 55 is substantially equal to the thickness of the thin film 51 formed in the region where no circuit element is disposed. One circuit element 52 is thinner than the other circuit element 55.

One of the circuit elements 52 is brought into contact with the upper surface of the relatively thick portion 51A of the thin film 51 immediately below and the other circuit element 55 is brought into contact with the thick portion 51A ). ≪ / RTI > A relatively thin circuit element 52 is supported on the thick portion 51A of the thin film 51 and a relatively thick circuit element 55 is supported on the relatively thin portion of the thin film 51. [ As a result, the height of the upper surface of the plurality of circuit elements 52 and 55 can be aligned.

Returning to Fig. 7, description will be continued. The nozzle head 24 includes a driver circuit 60 and an electrode 29 (Fig. 3A). The processing device 43 of the control device 40 sends out the discharge signal S1 to the driver circuit 60. [ The correspondence relationship between the nozzle hole 24a and the voltage waveform to be applied to the electrode 29 of the nozzle hole 24a in the discharge signal S1 is specified. The driver circuit 60 receives drive signals having drive waveforms (voltage waveforms) corresponding to the nozzle holes 24a as discharge signals on the electrodes 29 corresponding to the respective nozzle holes 24a upon reception of the discharge signals, (S2).

The nozzle head 24 discharges a thin film material having a volume corresponding to the signal waveform designated by the discharge signal S1 from each of the nozzle holes 24a.

9 shows the relationship between the signal waveform for discharging the liquid droplets of the thin film material and the thickness of the thin film 51 formed on the substrate 50. Fig. A signal waveform is shown at the top of Fig. 9, and a cross-sectional view of the substrate 50 and the thin film 51 is shown at the lower end. The horizontal axis of the signal waveform at the top indicates elapsed time. And the horizontal direction of the cross section at the lower end corresponds to the y direction (scanning direction). The pixels 47a to 47f are arranged in the y direction.

The thin film 51 formed at the positions of the pixels 47a and 47b is the thinnest and the thin film 51 formed at the positions of the pixels 47c and 47d is the thickest and is formed at the positions of the pixels 47e and 47f The thin film 51 has an intermediate thickness of both. The liquid droplets of the volume V4 (Fig. 7) are landed on the pixels 47a and 47b and the liquid droplets of the volume V1 (Fig. 7) larger than the volume V4 are landed on the pixels 47c and 47d, The thin film 51 having the target thickness distribution can be formed by depositing a liquid droplet having an intermediate volume V2 between the volume V1 and the volume V4 to the pixels 47e and 47f.

The control device 40 is configured to allow the nozzle holes 24a (2A and 2B in FIG. 2) to land the pixels 47a to 47f above the pixels 47a to 47f (Fig. 7) containing information specifying the signal waveform corresponding to the film thickness at the position of the pixels 47a to 47f is sent to the driver circuit 60. The driver circuit 60 shown in Fig. Thereby, it is possible to land a droplet of a target volume at the position of the pixels 47a to 47f.

10 shows the relationship between the signal waveform when a thin film having a different film thickness is formed by using the multidrop method and the thickness of the thin film 51 formed on the substrate 50. FIG. The film thickness distribution of the thin film 51 to be formed is the same as the film thickness distribution of the thin film 51 shown in Fig. A droplet of one droplet is landed at the position of the pixels 47a and 47b and a droplet of four droplets is landed at the position of the pixels 47c and 47d and a droplet of two droplets is landed at the position of the pixels 47e and 47f The thin film 51 having a desired film thickness distribution can be formed.

The signal waveform for ejecting four droplets has a time length of about four times the signal waveform for ejecting one droplet. The scanning speed of the nozzle head 24 with respect to the substrate 50 is limited by the time length of the longest signal waveform. In the example shown in Fig. 10, the scanning speed should be reduced to 1/4 as compared with the case where a thin film is formed by landing a droplet of each droplet on all the pixels. As a result, the throughput is lowered.

In the case of the embodiment, in order to make the thickness of the thin film different, the volume of the droplet is changed instead of changing the number of droplets. The difference between the time length of the signal waveform for ejecting a large droplet and the time length of the signal waveform for ejecting a small droplet is smaller than the difference in time length of the signal waveform when the number of droplets is changed. Although the scanning speed is limited by the signal waveform having a long time length, the degree of limitation is small compared with the case of adopting the multi-drop method. In addition, the signal waveform for ejecting one droplet of a large volume is shorter than the time length of the signal waveform for ejecting a plurality of droplets. As a result, deterioration of the throughput can be suppressed.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications, improvements, combinations, and the like are possible.

20 Plate
21 mobile device
22 stage
23 nozzle unit
24 nozzle head
24a nozzle hole
24b nozzle row
25 Light source for curing
26 Nozzle Holder
27 Pressure chamber
28 bulkhead
29 electrodes
30 imaging device
33 Common room
34 protruding portion
35 Thin film material droplets
40 control device
41 input device
42 Output device
43 Processor
44 Volumetric waveform correspondence table
45 memory unit
46 image data
47, 47a to 47f pixels
48, 49 opening
50 substrate
51 Thin film
51A thick part
60 driver circuit

Claims (5)

A stage for supporting a substrate on which a thin film is to be formed on a supporting surface,
A nozzle head opposed to the stage and discharging droplets of the thin film material from the plurality of nozzle holes toward the substrate supported on the stage;
A moving mechanism for moving one of the stage and the nozzle head with respect to the other in a scanning direction parallel to the supporting surface,
And a control device
Lt; / RTI &
Wherein the nozzle head receives from the control device a discharge signal specifying a correspondence relationship between the nozzle hole and a signal waveform associated with the nozzle hole so that the volume of the thin film material corresponding to the signal waveform associated with the nozzle hole And discharges the droplet from the specified nozzle hole. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control device includes image data including information about the planar shape and the thickness of the thin film to be formed on the substrate and a volume defining a correspondence relationship between the volume of the droplet of the thin film material discharged from the nozzle hole and the signal waveform And a storage unit for storing a waveform correspondence table,
And transmits the discharge signal to the nozzle head based on the image data and the volume waveform correspondence table. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Wherein the nozzle head includes a pressurizing chamber arranged corresponding to each of the nozzle holes and an actuator for changing the volume of the pressurizing chamber and the actuator is driven to change the volume of the pressurizing chamber, Wherein a droplet of the thin film material is ejected, and the signal waveform is associated with a temporal change in the volume of the pressurizing chamber. A liquid droplet of a thin film material is discharged from a nozzle hole of the nozzle head while one side of the substrate and the nozzle head are moved in a scanning direction parallel to the surface of the substrate with the other side facing the substrate, And a step of forming a thin film on the surface of the substrate,
Based on the information about the thickness of the thin film at a position where the liquid droplet of the thin film material is landed in a period during which one side of the substrate and the nozzle head are moved in the scanning direction with respect to the other side, Wherein the volume of the thin film material to be ejected is different for each of the nozzle holes. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the nozzle head receives droplets of a thin film material having a volume corresponding to a designated signal waveform by receiving the ejection signal specified by the nozzle hole and a signal waveform corresponding to the nozzle hole, .

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