TW201338872A - Method for manufacturing touch panel and device for manufacturing substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

A plurality of first electrodes extending in a first direction and a plurality of second electrodes aligned in a second direction that crosses the first direction and decoupled at the first electrodes are formed on a substrate. (b) At the crossing locations for the rows of second electrodes aligned in the second direction and the first electrodes, an insulating film is formed on the first electrodes. (c) A connection region where second electrodes decoupled at the first electrodes are connected to each other is formed on the insulating film. Step (b) includes the steps of: (b1) a step for determining spaces for landing positions on the basis of the thickness of the insulating film to be formed; (b2) a step for making droplets discharged from nozzle holes land in the plurality of landing positions within the regions where the insulating film is to be formed; and (b3) a step for curing the liquid film in a state where the liquid film has been formed by the droplets that have been made to land in the landing positions being made mutually continuous with each other. The landing positions are set to a spacing determined in the step for determining the spaces of the landing positions.

Description

Touch panel manufacturing method and substrate manufacturing device

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a touch panel in which a droplet is landed on a substrate to form an insulating film, and a substrate manufacturing apparatus.

Fig. 6A is a plan view showing an electrode pattern of a capacitive input device (touch panel). The touch panel includes a plurality of first transparent electrodes 81 extending in the lateral direction and a plurality of second transparent electrodes 82 extending in the longitudinal direction on the glass substrate 80.

Referring to Fig. 6B to Fig. 6D, a method of forming an electrode pattern will be described. As shown in FIG. 6B, a transparent conductive film made of indium tin oxide (ITO) is formed on the glass substrate 80 and patterned. The first transparent electrode 81 includes a plurality of rhombic regions arranged in the lateral direction. The rhombic regions adjacent to each other of the first transparent electrode 81 are connected to each other by a connection region composed of a transparent conductive film. The second transparent electrode 82 includes a plurality of rhombic regions arranged in the longitudinal direction. The rhombic region of the second transparent electrode 82 is separated from each other by the connection region of the first transparent electrode 81.

As shown in FIG. 6C, a rectangular shape is formed on the connection region of the first transparent electrode 81, on the first transparent electrode 81, on a part of the rhombic region of the second transparent electrode 82, and on the glass substrate 80 between the rhombic regions. Insulating film 83.

As shown in FIG. 6D, a transparent conductive film is formed on the insulating film 83 so as to form a diamond-shaped region electrically connected to the second transparent electrode 82. Connection area.

In Fig. 6E, a cross-sectional view of the single-dot chain line 6E-6E of Fig. 6D is shown. On the glass substrate 80, a connection region of the first transparent electrode 81, the insulating film 83, and the second transparent electrode 82 is laminated in this order.

Next, a conventional method of forming the insulating film 83 will be described. First, after the rhombic region shown in FIG. 6B is formed, an insulating film is formed on the entire surface of the glass substrate 80. The insulating film covers a diamond-shaped region composed of ITO. Thereafter, the insulating film pattern is formed using a photolithography technique. Thereby, the insulating film 83 (FIG. 6C) is formed (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).

[Previous Technical Literature] [Patent Document]

Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2011-128674

A perspective view of the nozzle unit 10 is shown in Fig. 7A. The two nozzle heads 10A and 10B are mounted on the nozzle holder (support member) 11 in the X direction. The nozzle heads 10A and 10B have the same configuration. One of the nozzle heads 10A is disposed on the negative side of the X-axis than the other nozzle head 10B. A plurality of nozzle holes 10a and 10b are formed in each of the nozzle heads 10A and 10B. A liquid insulating material (thin film material) which is photocurable (for example, ultraviolet curable) is discharged from the nozzle holes 10a and 10b toward the substrate.

Between the nozzle heads 10A and 10B, the X axis is closer to the nozzle head 10A The light source 13 is disposed on the negative side and on the positive side of the X-axis of the nozzle head 10B. The light source 13 irradiates the substrate with curing light (for example, ultraviolet light).

A bottom view of the nozzle unit 10 is shown in Fig. 7B. Two rows of nozzle rows are formed on the bottom surface of the nozzle head 10A. The two rows of nozzle rows respectively include, for example, a plurality of nozzle holes 10a arranged in the Y direction at a pitch (period) of 169.2 μm. The nozzle row of one of the nozzle rows is arranged to be offset from the positive direction of the X-axis with respect to the other nozzle row, and is only shifted by 84.6 μm in the positive direction of the Y-axis. That is, the nozzle holes 10a of the nozzle head 10A are distributed at equal intervals in the Y direction at a pitch of 84.6 μm. This pitch is equivalent to a resolution of 300 dpi.

The nozzle head 10B is mechanically positioned and attached to the nozzle jig 11 so as to be displaced by only 42.3 μm with respect to the positive direction of the nozzle head 10A in the Y-axis.

As shown in Fig. 7C, the nozzle holes 10a, 10b of the nozzle heads 10A, 10B are vertically projected onto the images 15a, 15b of the imaginary plane 16 perpendicular to the X-axis, and are arranged at equal intervals in the Y direction at a pitch of 42.3 μm. . That is, the nozzle holes 10a, 10b of the nozzle unit 10 are arranged at a pitch of 42.3 μm as a whole in the Y direction. This pitch is equivalent to a resolution of 600 dpi.

Fig. 8 is a schematic view showing the nozzle unit 10 and the substrate 90 viewed in a line of sight parallel to the Y-axis. The nozzle heads 10A and 10B and the light source 13 are attached to the nozzle jig 11. The substrate 90 to be formed as a film faces the nozzle heads 10A and 10B.

The light source 13 mounted between the nozzle heads 10A and 10B irradiates the curing light to the surface of the substrate 90 opposite to the region 18A of the nozzle head 10A. The area between the area 18B opposite the nozzle head 10B. The light source 13 mounted on the negative side of the X-axis of the nozzle head 10A irradiates the curing light to a region on the negative side of the X-axis than the region 18A. The light source 13 mounted on the positive side of the X-axis of the nozzle head 10B irradiates the curing light to a region on the positive side of the X-axis than the region 18B.

Thus, when the film is formed by the nozzle heads 10A and 10B whose pitches of the nozzle holes 10a and 10b are fixed, in order to adjust the thickness of the film, it is necessary to control the volume of the droplets of the film material. However, it is difficult to freely adjust the volume of the droplets. The film can be thickened by performing reverse coating. However, it is difficult to form a film which is thinner than the minimum thickness determined by the minimum volume of the droplets or the pitch of the nozzle holes 10a, 10b.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a touch panel and a substrate manufacturing apparatus having a high degree of freedom in film thickness control of an insulating film. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a touch panel capable of forming a high quality insulating film and a substrate manufacturing apparatus.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method of manufacturing a touch panel includes: (a) a process of forming a plurality of first electrodes extending in a first direction on a substrate and arranging in a direction intersecting the first direction a plurality of second electrodes that are separated by the first electrode in the second direction; and (b) a process of arranging the first electrodes at the intersection of the second electrode and the first electrode in the second direction Form a And (c) a process of forming a connection region between the second electrodes that are separated by the first electrode on the insulating film, and the (b) process includes: (b1) a process to make a slave nozzle hole a plurality of landing positions in which the discharged droplets land in a region where the insulating film is to be formed; and (b2) a process in which the liquid droplets are formed in a state in which the droplets landing on the landing position are continuous with each other to form a liquid film. The film is cured, and the landing position is arranged to be an interval determined in accordance with the thickness of the insulating film to be formed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a substrate manufacturing apparatus includes: a carrier that holds a substrate on a holding surface; and a nozzle unit that discharges a droplet of an insulating film material toward a substrate held by the stage; and a moving mechanism The first stage and the second nozzle head are attached to the nozzle holder, respectively a plurality of nozzle holes; and a position adjusting mechanism that changes a relative position of the first nozzle head and the second nozzle head such that one nozzle hole of the first nozzle head and one nozzle hole of the second nozzle head In a direction orthogonal to the aforementioned scanning direction The interval changes.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a substrate manufacturing apparatus includes: a carrier that holds a substrate on a holding surface; and a nozzle unit that discharges a droplet of an insulating film material toward a substrate held by the stage; and moves The mechanism moves the stage relative to the nozzle unit in a scanning direction parallel to the holding surface, and the nozzle unit includes a first nozzle head having a first direction in a first direction intersecting the scanning direction a plurality of nozzle holes arranged at intervals; and a second nozzle head having a plurality of nozzle holes arranged at the first interval in the first direction, and one nozzle of the second nozzle head in the first direction The hole is disposed at a position deviated from a midpoint of a line segment connecting the two nozzle holes adjacent to each other of the first nozzle head.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a substrate manufacturing apparatus includes: a carrier that holds a substrate on a holding surface; and a nozzle unit that discharges a droplet of an insulating film material toward a substrate held by the stage; and moves a mechanism for moving the stage relative to the nozzle unit in a scanning direction parallel to the holding surface, the nozzle unit comprising: The first nozzle head has a plurality of nozzle holes arranged at a first interval in a first direction intersecting the scanning direction, and the second nozzle head has a plurality of nozzle holes arranged at the first interval in the first direction The nozzle hole and the position adjustment mechanism change the posture in which the axis orthogonal to the holding surface is the rotation center in the rotation direction of the first nozzle head and the second nozzle head.

The degree of freedom of the film thickness of the insulating film can be increased by determining the interval of the landing position and landing the droplet at the determined interval.

[Example 1]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing a substrate manufacturing apparatus 70 according to the first embodiment. The substrate manufacturing apparatus 70 includes a droplet discharge device 73 and an ultraviolet irradiation device 74. The droplet discharge device 73 and the ultraviolet irradiation device 74 are housed inside the casing 71. The casing 71 is provided with a substrate carrying port 71a and a substrate carrying port 71b. Further, the substrate manufacturing apparatus 70 includes conveyors 72a and 72b as conveying means. The conveyor 72a carries a film forming object, for example, the substrate 80, from the outside of the casing 71 through the substrate carrying inlet 71a. Further, inside the casing 71, the substrate 80 is transported to the droplet discharge device 73. The substrate 80 is, for example, as shown in FIG. 6B. The glass substrate on which the patterned transparent electrode film is formed is thus formed. Using the substrate manufacturing apparatus 70 according to the first embodiment, a rectangular insulating film 83 as shown in FIG. 6C is formed on the substrate 80 (on the glass substrate and on the transparent conductive film).

The droplet discharge device 73 is attached to a predetermined region on the substrate 80, and ejects an insulating material such as an ultraviolet curable resin as droplets. The substrate 80 to which the discharged droplets are attached is transported by the conveyor 72b. An ultraviolet irradiation device 74 is disposed above the conveying path of the conveyor 72b. The ultraviolet irradiation device 74 cures the liquid film by irradiating ultraviolet rays to the substrate 80 on which the liquid film is formed by continuously depositing a plurality of droplets. The ultraviolet irradiation device 74 functions as a droplet solidification device that cures the liquid film adhering to the substrate 80. The droplets adhering to the substrate 80 are cured by irradiation of ultraviolet rays, and the insulating film 83 is formed on the substrate 80.

The insulating film 83 which is cured by the liquid film has insulating properties, but the liquid material before curing does not necessarily have to be insulating.

The substrate 80 on which the insulating film 83 is formed is carried out from the substrate carrying-out port 71b to the outside of the casing 71 by the conveyor 72b. The substrate manufacturing apparatus 70 may be configured not to include the casing 71.

The substrate manufacturing apparatus 70 according to the first embodiment further includes a control device 33 and a memory device 34. The control device 33 controls the operations of the droplet discharge device 73, the ultraviolet irradiation device 74, and the conveyors 72a and 72b. In the memory device 34, for example, the time until the film material is discharged toward the substrate 80 by the droplet discharge device 73 and the film material is cured by the ultraviolet light emitted from the ultraviolet irradiation device 74 is recorded as an example. Recall that there are 100 seconds. The control device 33 controls the conveyance speed of the substrate 80 based on the conveyor 72b so that the time until the film material is discharged toward the substrate 80 and the film material adhered to the substrate 80 is solidified is stored in the memory device 34 until it is cured. The time is equal.

In the formation process of the insulating film 83 (Fig. 6C), for example, the processing time of one substrate 80 is required to be 30 seconds or shorter. Further, the time required for applying the film material to the one substrate 80 by the droplet discharge device 73 is, for example, 30 seconds. The substrate 80 to which the film material discharged from the droplet discharge device 73 is attached is placed on the conveyor 72b at a rate of one sheet every 30 seconds. On the transport path (conveyor 72b) from the droplet discharge device 73 to the ultraviolet irradiation device 74, a plurality of substrates 80 to which the thin film material adheres are waited until the curing process while being conveyed. That is, during the curing process performed on a certain substrate, the other at least one of the other substrates ends the application of the film material and is in transit. The substrate 80 passes through the lower portion of the ultraviolet irradiation device 74 at a ratio of one sheet every 30 seconds, thereby curing the film material attached to the substrate 80. The substrate 80 on which the film material is cured to form the insulating film 83 (Fig. 6C) is carried out to the outside of the casing 71 by the conveyor 72b at a ratio of one sheet every 30 seconds.

When focusing on one substrate 80, the time from the start of loading to the droplet discharge device 73 to the time of carrying out from the substrate discharge port 71b is longer than the required processing time (for example, 30 seconds). However, since a plurality of substrates 80 stand by on the conveyor 72b until they are solidified, as described above, one substrate 80 can be carried out for the target processing time per sheet.

In the second drawing, a substrate manufacturing apparatus 70 based on the first embodiment is shown. A schematic diagram of the droplet discharge device 73 included. On the flat plate 20, a stage (holding mechanism) 25 is held by the moving mechanism 21. The moving mechanism 21 includes an X-direction moving mechanism 22, a Y-direction moving mechanism 23, and a θ-direction rotating mechanism 24. Define the XYZ orthogonal coordinate system with the horizontal plane as the XY plane and the vertical direction as the Z direction. The X-direction moving mechanism 22 moves the Y-direction moving mechanism 23 in the X direction. The Y-direction moving mechanism 23 moves the θ-direction rotating mechanism 24 in the Y direction. The θ-direction rotation mechanism 24 changes the posture of the rotation direction of the stage 25 with the axis parallel to the Z-axis as the center of rotation. The stage 25 holds the substrate 80 as a film formation target. The stage 25 is used to adsorb the substrate 80 by, for example, a vacuum chuck.

Above the flat plate 20, a beam 31 is supported by a strut 30. A nozzle unit 40 and an imaging device 32 are attached to the beam 31. The nozzle unit 40 and the imaging device 32 are opposed to the substrate 80 held by the stage 25.

The nozzle unit 40 is supported by the beam 31 so as to be movable in the Z direction. The nozzle unit 40 is moved in the Z direction in accordance with the thickness of the substrate 80, whereby the interval between the nozzle unit 40 and the substrate 80 can be kept constant. Further, the support frame 30 supports the cross member 31 so as to be movable in the Z direction, whereby the interval between the nozzle unit 40 and the substrate 80 held by the stage 25 can be adjusted.

The imaging device 32 captures a transparent conductive film pattern, an alignment mark, and the like formed on the surface of the substrate 80. The shooting result is input to the control device 33. The nozzle unit 40 is directed from the plurality of nozzle holes toward the substrate 80, and spits An insulating material such as an ultraviolet curable resin is used as a droplet. The discharged droplets adhere to the surface of the substrate 80 (including the glass surface as the substrate material and the surface of the transparent conductive film).

The substrate 80 is moved in the X direction with respect to the nozzle unit 40, and droplets of the insulating material are discharged from the nozzle holes, whereby an insulating film having a desired planar shape can be formed. The operation of ejecting the droplets of the insulating material from the nozzle holes while moving the substrate 80 in the X direction is referred to as "scanning".

Conventionally, a rectangular insulating film 83 (FIG. 6C) is formed by patterning by a photolithography technique. However, if the substrate manufacturing apparatus according to the first embodiment is used, it is possible to insulate by being dropletized. The material adheres only to a desired region in the substrate 80 and is cured to form an insulating film 83 (Fig. 6C). Therefore, when the insulating film 83 is formed, the time required for formation can be shortened, and the amount of use of the insulating material can be reduced.

The control device 33 controls the X-direction moving mechanism 22, the Y-direction moving mechanism 23, the θ-direction rotating mechanism 24, the stage 25, the imaging device 32, and the nozzle unit 40. Further, the droplet discharge device 73 may be configured not to include the imaging device 32. At this time, the imaging of the transparent conductive film pattern, the alignment mark, and the like is performed outside the substrate manufacturing apparatus, and the imaging result is input to the control device 33.

In the memory device 34, a pattern to be formed, such as image data of a region where the insulating film 83 is formed, is memorized.

In the second drawing, the nozzle unit 40 is fixed to the flat plate 20, and the moving mechanism 21 is disposed such that the stage 25 moves. However, the nozzle unit 40 can be moved relative to the stage 25.

3 and 3B show a perspective view and a bottom view of the nozzle unit 40, respectively. The nozzle unit 40 includes nozzle heads 42A and 42B supported by the nozzle holder 41. A plurality of nozzle holes 42a and 42b are formed in the nozzle heads 42A and 42B, respectively. The nozzle jig 41, the nozzle heads 42A and 42B, and the nozzle holes 42a and 42b are configured as the nozzle jig 11, the nozzle heads 10A and 10B, and the nozzle holes 10a and 10b shown in Figs. 7 and 7B. the same. The nozzle unit 40 based on Embodiment 1 does not include the light source 13 (Fig. 7A, Fig. 7B).

As shown in Fig. 3C, the nozzle holes 42a, 42b of the nozzle heads 42A, 42B (Fig. 3B) are vertically projected onto the images 55a, 55b of the imaginary plane 56 perpendicular to the X-axis, in the Y direction, to 42.3. The pitch of μm is equally spaced. The nozzle unit 40 can form an insulating film at a resolution of 600 dpi in the Y direction in one scan.

Further, the nozzle heads 42A and 42B (Fig. 3B) include piezoelectric elements arranged corresponding to the nozzle holes 42a and 42b. A voltage with a time waveform is applied to the piezoelectric element by the control of the control device 33. Droplets are ejected from the nozzle holes 42a, 42b in response to the applied voltage waveform. The discharge interval depends on the frequency of the applied voltage waveform, and the discharge interval can be shortened by applying a voltage waveform of a higher frequency. Therefore, the resolution in the X direction can be improved by increasing the frequency of the applied voltage waveform.

Fig. 4A shows the relationship between the elapsed time from the time when the liquid droplets land on the substrate 80 (Fig. 2) and the thickness of the liquid film adhered to the substrate 80. The horizontal axis of Fig. 4A indicates the elapsed time from the landing time in units of "seconds", and the vertical axis indicates the liquid in units of "μm". The film thickness of the film. The curve a indicates the thickness of the film based on the droplets landing on the transparent conductive film (the surface of the conductive film) made of ITO, and the curve b indicates the thickness of the film based on the droplets landing on the glass surface of the substrate 80. The interval between the landing positions in the Y direction (Fig. 3B) was set to 50 μm.

When landing on the surface of the transparent conductive film or landing on the surface of the glass, the film thickness after 12 seconds passed was 12 μm. Thereafter, the droplets that land on the surface of the transparent conductive film diffuse more rapidly than the droplets that fall on the surface of the glass. The speed at which droplets diffuse on the surface of the transparent conductive film and the surface of the glass differs because the wettability of the surface of the transparent conductive film is different from the wettability of the glass surface.

On the surface of the transparent conductive film, the thickness of the film formed by the dropping of the droplets was 2.0 μm after 20 seconds passed after the start of the landing. On the surface of the glass, the thickness of the film became 2.0 μm after 30 seconds. Both the droplets falling on the surface of the transparent conductive film and the droplets falling on the surface of the glass continue to diffuse gradually, and as the time passes, the film thickness approaches 1.5 μm, but does not become less than 1.5 μm.

The progressive value (1.5 μm) of the film thickness is a value determined by the interval of the landing position of the liquid droplets discharged from the droplet discharge device 73. In another example, when the interval in the Y direction of the drop position of the liquid droplet is 40 μm, the progressive value of the film thickness is 3.0 μm.

The thickness of the film formed by the droplets falling on the surface of the transparent conductive film was gradually increased to 1.5 μm with the passage of time. The thickness of the film formed by the droplets falling on the surface of the glass also gradually increases to 1.5 μm with the passage of time, but the film thickness starts to increase at the time of more than 180 seconds after the start of the landing. plus. This is because, on the surface of the glass having high hydrophobicity, the diffused droplets are rounded up due to the surface tension.

The data showing the relationship between the elapsed time after the start of the landing and the thickness of the liquid film as shown in Fig. 4A was obtained by the inventors of the present invention alone. Further, the progressive value of the film thickness depends on the interval at which the droplets landed, and the film thickness can be controlled by changing the interval of the landing position. This insight is also a product of intensive research by the inventors of the present invention.

Fig. 4B is a schematic plan view showing a film based on droplets landing on a region across the surface of the glass and the surface of the transparent conductive film. In Fig. 4B, the planar shape of the droplets diffused on the surface of the glass and the surface of the transparent conductive film with the passage of time is expressed by α to δ in the order of time lapse.

The plane shape α is a shape after 15 seconds from the landing time. On the surface of the transparent conductive film, the droplets are spread at a faster rate than the surface of the glass, and the film thickness is relatively thin. On the glass surface, the droplets diffuse relatively slowly and the film thickness is relatively thick. On the surface of the transparent conductive film and the surface of the glass, the area of the droplet diffusion range and the film thickness are largely different.

The plane shape β is a shape 25 seconds after the landing time. When compared with the planar shape α, the ratio of the area of the droplet in the range in which the surface of the transparent conductive film and the surface of the glass diffuse is close to 1, and the difference in film thickness becomes small.

The plane shape γ is a shape after a time period of 30 seconds or more and 180 seconds or less from the landing time. After any time elapsed from 30 seconds to 180 seconds after the droplet falls, the area and thickness of the droplet in the range in which the surface of the transparent conductive film and the glass surface are diffused are substantially equal.

The plane shape δ is a shape that has passed 200 seconds after the landing time. On the surface of the glass, the diffused droplets bulge due to the surface tension, the film thickness becomes thick again, and the diffusion range of the droplets becomes narrow.

Referring to FIGS. 5A to 5C, a method of manufacturing a substrate according to Embodiment 1 will be described. The substrate manufacturing method according to the first embodiment is carried out under the control of the control device 33 by using the substrate manufacturing apparatus shown in Fig. 1 . In the substrate manufacturing method of the first embodiment, first, the film thickness of the insulating film 83 formed on the substrate 80 is determined. For example, the target film thickness of the insulating film 83 to be formed is set to 2 μm or less. Thus, the determination of the film thickness also includes the determination of the film thickness range. In addition, the target film thickness of the insulating film 83 can be set to, for example, 2 μm on the surface of the glass or 2 μm on the surface of the transparent conductive film.

Further, the glass surface formed on the substrate 80 can be determined so that the difference between the film thickness of the insulating film 83 formed on the glass surface and the film thickness of the insulating film 83 formed on the surface of the transparent conductive film becomes a predetermined value, for example, 0.5 μm or less. The film thickness of the insulating film in the region of both the surface of the transparent conductive film. In this case, the target value of the difference in film thickness is determined.

It is also possible to determine the interval of the landing position of the droplet of the predetermined value of the predetermined thickness before the determination of the target film thickness or the determination of the target film thickness or after the determination of the target film thickness. For example, when the interval between the landing positions in the Y direction is 50 μm, the progressive value of the film thickness is 1.5 μm.

The data indicating the relationship between the elapsed time after the liquid droplets land on the substrate 80 and the thickness of the film formed by the liquid droplets (the time-film thickness correspondence data) is prepared in advance as shown in Fig. 4A. Refer to the time-dependent film thickness corresponding data, corresponding to the determined target film thickness, and decide to drop the droplet on the substrate. The elapsed time until the droplets are cured. Further, it is conceivable that the timing at which the liquid droplets land on the substrate is the same as the timing at which the liquid droplets are discharged from the nozzle.

According to the graph shown in FIG. 4A, if the elapsed time from landing to curing is 30 seconds or more and 180 seconds or less, the film of the insulating film can be applied to both the glass surface and the surface of the transparent conductive film. The thickness is set to 2 μm or less. Further, if the liquid droplets are solidified at any time after 30 seconds or more and 180 seconds or less after the start of the landing, the planar shape γ as shown in Fig. 4B, the range in which the droplets spread on the surface of the transparent conductive film and the surface of the glass The area and film thickness are approximately equal (the film thickness difference becomes 0.5 μm or less). Therefore, the high quality insulating film 83 can be formed.

The elapsed time in the range of 30 seconds or more and 180 seconds or less is, for example, 100 seconds. The elapsed time that has been determined is stored in the memory device 34.

Then, droplets are discharged from the nozzle unit 40 (nozzle heads 42A and 42B) toward the substrate 80 so that the landing position of the liquid droplets on the surface of the substrate 80 is 50 μm in the Y direction.

In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5A, droplets are ejected toward the substrate 80 from the nozzle holes 42a and 42b arranged at intervals of 126.9 μm in the Y direction, and the droplets are landed on a predetermined region of the substrate 80. In Fig. 5A, blackening indicates nozzle holes 42a and 42b for discharging liquid droplets. When the nozzle heads 42A and 42B have two nozzle rows in each row, in the nozzle rows, two nozzle holes that do not discharge liquid droplets are disposed between the nozzle holes for discharging the droplets.

As shown in FIG. 5B, the control device 33 is secured by the moving mechanism 21. The substrate 80 held on the stage 25 is moved in the positive direction of the X-axis. The nozzle unit 40 is relatively moved in the negative direction of the X-axis with respect to the substrate 80. The nozzle unit 40 is controlled to discharge droplets, for example, such that the interval between the landing positions in the X direction is 50 μm. In Fig. 5B, the trajectory of the position at which the liquid droplets land in the scanning process is indicated by a broken line with an arrow.

Next, the control device 33 moves the substrate 80 in the negative direction of the Y-axis by 50 μm by the moving mechanism 21 in a state where the discharge of the liquid droplets is stopped. The nozzle unit 40 is relatively moved by 50 μm with respect to the substrate 80 in the positive direction of the Y-axis. Thereafter, the nozzle unit 40 is moved relative to the substrate 80 in the positive direction of the X-axis, and the nozzle unit 40 is controlled to eject the droplets, for example, so that the interval between the landing positions in the X direction is 50 μm. In Fig. 5B, the trajectory of the position at which the liquid droplets land in the scanning process is indicated by a solid line with an arrow. On the surface of the substrate 80, the interval in the Y direction of the landing position of the droplets (the interval between the two tracks) was 50 μm.

When the interval at which the droplets land in the Y direction is at two landing positions of 50 μm, the droplets are diffused in the in-plane direction and the two droplets are continuous with each other. Thereby, the insulating film 83 in an uncured state is formed in a region including between two landing positions having a space of 50 μm. The control device 33 controls the conveyance speed of the conveyor 72b so that the liquid film adhering to the substrate 80 is solidified 100 seconds after the droplets land at the time of landing of the substrate 80 (the timing at which the droplets are ejected from the nozzle unit 40).

The substrate 80 to which the insulating material is attached passes through the lower portion of the ultraviolet irradiation device 74 after 100 seconds from the start of the landing of the liquid droplets. Thereby, the liquid insulating material adhered to the substrate 80 is started at the time of landing. It is cured after 100 seconds.

The liquid film was cured after 100 seconds from the start of landing, whereby as shown in Fig. 5C, the surface of the substrate 80 was in the region including the landing position distributed at intervals of 50 μm, whether on the glass surface or in the transparent On the surface of the conductive film, an insulating film 83 having a film thickness of approximately equal to 2 μm or less is formed.

According to the substrate manufacturing method of the first embodiment, the time until the liquid droplets land on the substrate 80 and after curing (irradiation of ultraviolet rays) is controlled, whereby the insulating film 83 can have a desired film thickness. According to the substrate manufacturing method and the substrate manufacturing apparatus of the first embodiment, the insulating film 83 can be formed with a high degree of film thickness control. It is also possible to easily realize the thinning of the insulating film 83. Further, even in the case where the liquid droplets are adhered to the region where the material having different wettability is exposed, in the first embodiment, the droplets are adhered to the surface of the glass surface and the surface of the transparent conductive film, and the film thickness can be made substantially equal. Insulating film.

For example, the substrate manufacturing method according to the first embodiment can be applied not only to the manufacture of a touch panel but also to a process of forming an insulating film (solder resist) on a printed substrate. When the touch panel is manufactured, when the insulating film 83 of FIG. 6C in the process shown in FIGS. 6B to 6D is formed, the substrate manufacturing method according to the first embodiment may be applied.

For example, first, as shown in FIG. 6B, a first transparent electrode (first electrode) 81 and a second transparent electrode (second electrode) 82 are formed on the surface of the glass substrate 80. The first transparent electrode 81 includes a plurality of rhombic regions arranged in a matrix on the surface of the substrate 80, and is electrically connected to the same row. A connection area of a plurality of diamond shaped areas. The second transparent electrode (second electrode) 82 includes a plurality of rhombic regions arranged in a matrix. The rhombic region of the second transparent electrode 82 is disposed between the rows and rows of the rhombic regions arranged in a matrix in the first transparent electrode 81, and between the columns and the columns. The rhombic region in the same row of the second transparent electrode 82 is divided by the connection region of the first transparent electrode 81.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6C, an insulating film 83 is formed at least in a partial region of the substrate 80 and the first transparent electrode 81. At this time, for example, a substrate manufacturing method based on Example 1 is used. After the insulating film 83 is formed, as shown in FIG. 6D, a transparent conductive film is formed on the insulating film 83, and the rhombic regions of the same row of the second transparent electrodes 82 are electrically connected to each other.

In this way, it is possible to manufacture a touch panel having a high degree of freedom in film thickness control and having a high quality insulating film.

Further, in Example 1, droplets were discharged onto the surface of the glass and the surface of the transparent conductive film. The method based on Embodiment 1 is not limited to the glass surface and the surface of the transparent conductive film, and can be applied to a case where a liquid droplet is discharged to expose a region of a dissimilar material which usually has different wettability and an insulating film is formed.

The relationship between the elapsed time after the liquid droplets land on the substrate as illustrated in FIG. 4A and the thickness of the liquid film differs depending on the viscosity of the liquid insulating material. When an insulating material having a different viscosity from the insulating material shown in FIG. 4A is used as an example, it is known that an insulating film having a film thickness of 3 μm or less is obtained on both the glass surface and the surface of the transparent conductive film. When the insulating material is dropped, the liquid film is cured by irradiating ultraviolet light after a time of 180 seconds or more and 360 seconds or less. Make the liquid film open from the moment of landing When the curing time is less than 180 seconds, the film thickness of the glass surface exceeds 3 μm, and the film thickness of the surface of the glass and the surface of the transparent conductive film cannot be said to be equal. When the ultraviolet light is irradiated after the lapse of more than 360 seconds from the landing time, the film is solidified in a state where the film on the surface of the glass is thickened due to the surface tension of the liquid droplets. Therefore, an insulating film having a film thickness of 3 μm or less cannot be obtained.

Further, in the first embodiment, the liquid material is applied to the region in which the two different materials are exposed to form the insulating film 83. However, the liquid material may be attached to the region where only the glass is exposed or only the transparent conductive film is exposed. To form an insulating film. As an example, when an insulating film having a thickness of 2.0 μm or less is formed on the surface of the transparent conductive film, the time until the liquid droplets are delayed until the curing is performed may be 20 seconds or longer.

[Example 2]

Referring to Fig. 9 to Fig. 12B, a method of manufacturing a substrate based on Example 2 will be described. Hereinafter, differences from the first embodiment will be described, and the description of the same configurations will be omitted. An insulating film was formed by different intervals at which the droplets ejected from the nozzle unit 40 (Fig. 3A) landed on the substrate 80, and an evaluation experiment for investigating the relationship between the interval between the landing positions and the thickness of the insulating film was performed.

In Fig. 9, the results of the evaluation experiment are shown. In the horizontal axis of Fig. 9, the interval between the landing positions is indicated by the unit "μm", and the vertical axis represents the progressive value of the film thickness of the insulating film formed on the substrate in units of "μm". Here, the "progressive value of the film thickness" means that it is shown in Fig. 4A. In the relationship between the elapsed time from the start of the falling time and the film thickness, the film thickness gradually increases with the passage of time.

In the evaluation experiment, as shown in FIG. 3B, the arrangement direction of the nozzle holes 42a and 42b is set to the Y direction, and the substrate is relatively moved in the X direction, and the liquid droplets are discharged from the nozzle holes 42a and 42b. The interval of the landing position indicated by the horizontal axis indicates the interval of the landing position in the Y direction. Further, the interval between the landing positions in the X direction is made equal to the interval between the landing positions in the Y direction. Therefore, the interval of the landing position of 10 μm means that the interval between the landing positions of the droplets is 10 μm in both the X direction and the Y direction. Even if the interval of the landing position is changed, the volume of the liquid discharged from the nozzle holes 42a and 42b, respectively, is constant.

Under the condition that the interval between the landing positions in the X direction and the interval between the landing positions in the Y direction are equal, the film thickness of the insulating film formed on the substrate can be predicted to be inversely proportional to the square of the interval between the landing positions. However, as shown in Fig. 9, the progressive value of the film thickness is not inversely proportional to the square of the interval of the landing position. When the interval between the landing positions is 10 μm, 20 μm, 40 μm, and 50 μm, the progressive values of the film thicknesses are 25 μm, 12 μm, 3 μm, and 1.5 μm, respectively.

The inventors of the present invention have understood that the correlation shown in Fig. 9 is obtained since a plurality of droplets attached to the surface of the substrate are continuous with each other and then solidified in a state exceeding a certain range without being diffused. For example, an example of forming a strip-shaped film including two landing positions in the width direction is studied. When the interval between the landing positions is changed from 10 μm to 20 μm, when the width of the formed strip-shaped film is doubled, the thickness of the film is 1/4 times. but Yes, as described below, the width of the strip film is not doubled.

It is assumed that the width of the film formed when the interval between the landing positions is 10 μm and 20 μm is (10 + a) μm and (20 + b) μm, respectively. Here, a and b refer to an increase in the width caused by the diffusion of the liquid film material in the width direction. When the amount b of increase in width is twice as large as a, when the interval between the landing positions is changed from 10 μm to 20 μm, the width of the formed strip-shaped film is doubled. However, in practice, the amount of increase b is less than twice the amount of increase a. Therefore, even if the interval of the landing position is doubled, the width of the film does not double.

When the width of the formed film is narrow, it is also possible to include only one landing position in the width direction. That is, the strip film is sometimes formed by landing the droplets at the landing position of one column. The thickness of the film depends on the interval of the landing position in the longitudinal direction. At this time, a graph equivalent to the ninth diagram showing the relationship between the interval between the landing positions in the longitudinal direction and the progressive value of the film thickness of the film can be obtained.

In Fig. 10, a schematic shape showing another example of a graph showing the relationship between the progressive value of the film thickness and the interval of the landing position is shown. The horizontal axis and the vertical axis of Fig. 10 are the same as the horizontal axis and the vertical axis of Fig. 9, and indicate the interval between the landing positions and the progressive value of the film thickness. The graph of Fig. 9 is obtained under the condition that the interval of the landing position in the X direction is equal to the interval of the landing position in the Y direction, but the result shown in Fig. 10 is the interval of the landing position in the X direction. The winner is set to a constant condition.

Under the condition that the interval between the landing positions in the X direction is made constant, the progressive value and the landing of the film thickness of the insulating film formed on the substrate can be predicted. The spacing of the positions is inversely proportional. However, as shown in Fig. 10, the relationship between the film thickness and the interval of the landing position does not become inversely proportional to the experimental results.

The inventors of the present invention conducted research by focusing on the relationship between the interval of the landing position and the film thickness, and produced information indicating the relationship between the two, for example, the materials illustrated in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10. Based on these materials, an invention of a film forming method having a high degree of freedom in film thickness control was carried out.

Referring to FIGS. 11A to 11D, a method of manufacturing a substrate based on Embodiment 2 will be described. The substrate manufacturing method according to the second embodiment is carried out under the control of the control device 33 by using the substrate manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. In the substrate manufacturing method of the second embodiment, first, the film thickness of the insulating film 83 formed on the substrate 80 is determined. For example, the target film thickness of the insulating film 83 is set to 25 μm. An insulating film 38 having a thickness of 25 μm can be formed by forming a film under the condition that the film thickness of the film thickness shown in FIG. 4A is 2.5 μm. At this time, the insulating film 83 having a film thickness of 25 μm or more can be formed by adjusting the time from the landing of the droplet to the curing. Thus, the determination of the target film thickness of the insulating film 83 is also a range in which the film thickness of the insulating film 83 to be formed is determined.

In the method of the second embodiment, the relationship between the interval between the droplet landing position and the progressive value of the thickness of the insulating film 83 as shown in FIG. 9 or FIG. 10 is prepared (hereinafter referred to as "film". Thick-fall position interval correspondence data.). The interval between the landing positions is obtained based on the film thickness-landing position interval correspondence data and the determined target film thickness. For example, the interval between the landing positions is determined such that the progressive value of the film thickness becomes the target film thickness. When the film thickness is 25 μm, the film thickness-landing position shown in Fig. 9 is obtained. The interval corresponding information was used to determine the interval between the landing positions (the arrangement direction of the nozzle holes 42a and 42b shown in Fig. 3B) was 10 μm. The interval of the found landing position is stored in the memory device 34. The time from landing to solidification can be determined by the film thickness-elapse time correspondence data shown in Fig. 4A.

It is also possible to prepare information indicating the relationship between the interval of the droplet landing position and the film thickness itself when the droplets adhering to the substrate 80 are cured at a predetermined timing. At this time, the specific film thickness of the formed insulating film 83 is determined instead of the progressive value of the film thickness. After determining the specific film thickness, the interval between the droplet landing positions is determined based on the information indicating the relationship between the landing position and the film thickness itself and the determined film thickness.

Next, droplets are ejected from the nozzle unit 40 (nozzle heads 42A and 42B) toward the substrate 80 so that the interval between the landing positions becomes a determined value, and is 10 μm in the second embodiment.

As shown in Fig. 11A, the control device 33 moves the substrate 80 held by the stage 25 in the positive direction of the X-axis by the moving mechanism 21 (Fig. 2). The nozzle unit 40 is relatively moved in the negative direction of the X-axis with respect to the substrate 80. In this manner, the nozzle unit 40 is controlled to move the nozzle unit 40 while moving relative to the substrate 80, and the droplets are discharged so that the interval between the landing positions in the X direction is 10 μm.

Next, in the state where the discharge of the liquid droplets is stopped, the control device 33 moves the substrate 80 in the negative direction of the Y-axis by 10 μm by the moving mechanism 21 (second drawing) as shown in FIG. 11B. The nozzle unit 40 is relatively moved by only 10 μm with respect to the substrate 80 in the positive direction of the Y-axis. After making the nozzle While the unit 40 is relatively moved in the positive direction of the X-axis with respect to the substrate 80, the nozzle unit 40 is controlled to discharge the droplets so that the interval between the landing positions in the X direction is 10 μm. In FIG. 11B, the trajectory of the landing position of the droplet at the scanning process (outward) shown in FIG. 11A is indicated by a broken line, and the scanning process (backhaul) shown in FIG. 11B is indicated by a solid line. The trajectory of the landing position of the droplet. In the Y direction, the interval of the trajectory of the droplet landing position becomes 10 μm.

Further, as shown in FIG. 11C, the substrate 80 can be scanned twice in the same direction (for example, the positive direction of the X-axis) so that the liquid droplets land on the substrate 80 without depending on the round-trip scanning.

The droplets are landed on the substrate 80 so as to be 10 μm in the Y direction at intervals of the droplet landing position, whereby as shown in FIG. 11D, the substrate 80 is formed with a planar shape including a region surrounded by the landing position. Insulating film 83. In the second embodiment, one rectangular insulating film 83 is formed by droplets discharged from the same nozzle holes of the nozzle unit 40.

In the second embodiment, a plurality of scans were performed when one pattern of the insulating film 83 was formed. As a modification of the second embodiment, the nozzle heads 42A and 42B can be assembled to the nozzle jig 41 (Fig. 3A) by shifting only 10 μm in the Y direction, and one insulating film 83 can be formed by one scanning.

The interval at which the droplet landing position can be continuously changed. Therefore, according to the substrate manufacturing method of the second embodiment, the amount of liquid discharged from each nozzle hole of the nozzle unit 40 is made constant, and the interval between the landing positions is controlled, whereby the film thickness of the insulating film 83 can be continuously generated. Variety. According to the substrate manufacturing method and the substrate manufacturing apparatus of the second embodiment, it is possible to improve The degree of freedom in film thickness control.

The substrate manufacturing method according to the second embodiment can be utilized in the formation of an insulating film (solder resist resist) on a printed substrate in addition to the manufacture of the touch panel.

[Example 3]

Referring to Figures 12 to 14 of the drawings, a substrate manufacturing apparatus according to Embodiment 3 will be described. Hereinafter, differences from the first embodiment will be described, and the description of the same configurations will be omitted.

Fig. 12A is a perspective view showing the nozzle unit 40 used in the third embodiment. The two nozzle heads 42A and 42B are mounted on the nozzle jig 41 in the X direction. The two nozzle heads 42A and 42B have the same structure. In the example shown in Fig. 12A, the nozzle head 42A is disposed on the negative side of the X-axis than the nozzle head 42B. A plurality of nozzle holes 42a and 42b are formed in the nozzle heads 42A and 42B in the Y direction. The intervals of the nozzle holes 42a adjacent to each other are equal, for example, 70.556 μm. This interval is equivalent to a resolution of 360 dpi.

A curing light source 43 is disposed between the nozzle heads 42A and 42B on the negative side closer to the X-axis than the nozzle head 42A and on the positive side closer to the X-axis than the nozzle head 42B. The light source 43 irradiates ultraviolet rays to the substrate 80. When the liquid film is cured by the ultraviolet irradiation device 74 shown in Fig. 1, the light source 43 assembled to the nozzle unit 40 is not used.

In Fig. 12B, a bottom view of the nozzle unit 40 is shown. The nozzle head 42B is only offset from the positive direction of the Y-axis of the nozzle head 42A by 84.667. It is fixed to the nozzle jig 41 by μm. 84.667 μm is equivalent to a resolution of 300 dpi.

As shown in Fig. 12C, the nozzle holes 42a and 42b of the nozzle heads 42A and 42B are vertically projected at intervals of the images 55a and 55b of the imaginary plane 56 perpendicular to the X-axis, and are p ₁ or p ₂ . In the mutually adjacent images 55a and 55b, the interval between the image 55a on the negative side of the Y-axis and the image 55b on the positive side of the Y-axis is p ₁ , and the interval between the image 55a on the positive side of the Y-axis and the image 55b on the negative side of the Y-axis is p ₂ . The interval p ₁ was 14.111 μm, and the interval p ₂ was 56.445 μm. Further, the distance between the image 55a of the nth nozzle hole 42a on the Y-axis negative side of the nozzle head 42A and the image 55b of the nth nozzle hole 42b from the Y-axis negative side of the nozzle head 42B is 84.667 μm. Thus, in the Y direction, one nozzle hole 42b is disposed at a position deviated from the midpoint of the line segment connecting the two nozzle holes 42a adjacent to each other.

Referring to Fig. 13, a description will be given of a substrate manufacturing method based on Embodiment 3. In the substrate manufacturing method of the third embodiment, the interval between the droplet landing positions is determined by conditions such as the size of the formation region of the insulating film 83 or the film thickness. As an example, the optimum value of the interval at the landing position in the Y direction is 84.667 μm.

In the third embodiment, the relative positions of the nozzle heads 42A and 42B are defined such that the intervals in the Y direction at which the droplets are to be landed are aligned with the nozzle holes in the Y direction. In other words, the nozzle heads 42A and 42B are attached to the nozzle jig 41 in accordance with the interval between the landing positions of the liquid droplets and are shifted from each other by only 84.667 μm in the Y direction.

In the substrate manufacturing method according to Embodiment 3, only the Y direction is biased Two nozzle holes 42a, 42b of 84.667 μm are used as a group (one unit). A rectangular insulating film 83 is formed by droplets ejected from the set of nozzle holes. In Fig. 13, black is applied to the nozzle holes 42a, 42b for discharging the liquid droplets. When k is set to an integer of 0 or more in both of the nozzle heads 42A and 42B, the droplets are ejected from the (4k+1)th nozzle holes 42a and 42b from the negative side of the Y-axis. The substrate 80 held by the stage 25 (Fig. 2) is moved in the X direction by the moving mechanism 21, and droplets are discharged from the selected nozzle holes 42a and 42b, whereby the insulating film 83 is formed. At this time, the interval at which the droplets landed in the Y direction was 84.667 μm.

In the third embodiment, the interval between the optimum landing position when the insulating film 83 is formed on the substrate 80 and the nozzle hole for discharging the droplets (the one selected from the plurality of nozzle holes provided on the nozzle heads 42A, 42B, respectively) The nozzle heads 42A, 42B are arranged such that the intervals of the nozzle holes are the same. Therefore, the insulating film 83 arranged in a matrix on the substrate 80 can be formed in one scan in the X direction. Thereby, the productivity of the process of forming the insulating film 83 can be improved. Further, since the interval between the optimum landing position and the interval of the nozzle holes for discharging the droplets are made uniform, the use of the excess droplet material can be suppressed, and the insulating film can be formed at low cost. Further, it is possible to prevent the insulating film 83 from being thickened, and it is possible to form a high-quality insulating film 83 having an appropriate thickness. It is also possible to make the insulating film 83 thin.

In the third embodiment, when the interval between the landing positions of the liquid droplets (the interval of the nozzle holes for discharging the liquid droplets) is 84.667 μm (corresponding to the nozzle interval of the resolution of 300 dpi), the width in the Y direction can be formed by one scanning. A rectangular insulating film 83 of about 100 μm to 180 μm. Rectangular insulating film When the width in the Y direction is greater than or equal to about 100 μm to 180 μm, the nozzle heads 42A and 42B may be assembled to the nozzle jig 41 (Fig. 3A) so that the Y direction is relatively shifted from the width. Further, three or more nozzle holes can be formed as one set, and one rectangular insulating film 83 can be formed by the liquid droplets discharged from the nozzle holes. When two nozzle holes 42a and 42b are provided as one set, the moving mechanism 21 (second drawing) can also change the relative position of the nozzle unit 40 and the substrate 80 in the Y direction and change the landing position, and form a rectangle by a plurality of scans. Insulating film 83.

Further, in the example shown in Fig. 12B, the nozzle heads 42A and 42B are fixed to the nozzle jig 41 so that the Y directions are different from each other by only 84.667 μm, but the amount of deviation in the Y direction may be 84.667 μm. The distance between the holes is, for example, 14.111 μm. However, when the nozzle heads 42A and 42B having a resolution of 360 dpi are used for drawing at a low resolution of, for example, 300 dpi, in order to effectively utilize the end nozzle holes 42a and 42b, the amount of deviation is made larger than the interval equivalent to 360 dpi ( 70.556 μm) is preferred.

Further, in the substrate manufacturing apparatus of the third embodiment, the nozzle heads 42A and 42B in which the nozzle holes are arranged at intervals of 360 dpi are used to achieve a resolution of 300 dpi. Therefore, when the insulating film is formed with a resolution of 300 dpi, the absolute position accuracy of the landing position can be set to an accuracy equivalent to 360 dpi by selecting the nozzle hole close to the target landing position. Therefore, a high quality insulating film can be formed.

In the third embodiment, the nozzle heads 42A and 42B (12A) having one nozzle row are used. However, it is also possible to use two or more nozzle rows. The nozzle head, for example, the nozzle heads 42A and 42B shown in Fig. 3B, realizes a substrate manufacturing apparatus capable of forming an insulating film with a resolution of 300 dpi.

In addition, the nozzle unit 40 (FIG. 12A) of the substrate manufacturing apparatus of the third embodiment is configured by assembling two nozzle heads 42A and 42B in the nozzle jig 41, but three or more nozzle heads may be assembled. . For example, in the positive direction of the Y-axis, only three nozzle heads having a resolution of 360 dpi are arranged in the X direction by only deviating from 84.667 μm. Further, droplets are ejected from the (4k+1)th nozzle holes from the negative side of the Y-axis among the three nozzle heads, whereby a rectangular insulating film having a width of about 2 times of the rectangular insulating film 83 shown in Fig. 13 can be formed. .

The substrate manufacturing apparatus according to Example 3 based on, as shown in C in FIG. 12, the nozzle holes 42a, 42b are arranged at spaced intervals alternating p ₁ and p ₂ of the non occurs. That is, the nozzle holes 42a and 42b are arranged at a plurality of intervals different from each other in the Y direction. Therefore, the degree of freedom in setting the degree of resolution (the degree of freedom in setting the interval of the landing position of the insulating liquid droplets ejected from the nozzle holes toward the substrate) is high. For example, the nozzle head 42B is separated from the nozzle head 42A by only half of the arrangement pitch (70.556 μm) of the nozzle holes 42b, and the nozzle holes 42a, 42b are arranged in the Y direction at equal intervals (35.278 μm), only 1 The sub-scan cannot realize the process of forming an insulating film with a resolution of 300 dpi. In the third embodiment, since the degree of freedom in setting the resolution is high, the degree of freedom in film thickness control is also high.

Further, the relative amount of deviation of the nozzle heads 42A and 42B (Fig. 12B) in the Y direction can be freely set at the timing of assembly to the nozzle jig 41. Therefore, the insulating film can be formed by continuously setting the resolution freely.

[Variation 1 of Embodiment 3]

Fig. 14 is a bottom view of the nozzle unit 40 of the substrate manufacturing apparatus according to the first modification of the third embodiment. In the third embodiment, the nozzle heads 42A and 42B are fixedly assembled to the nozzle jig 41 (Fig. 12B). However, in the first modification of the third embodiment, one of the nozzle heads 42A is fixedly assembled to the nozzle jig 41, and the other is The nozzle head 42B is assembled to the nozzle jig 41 so that the position in the Y direction can be adjusted. The other structure is the same as that of the substrate manufacturing apparatus based on Embodiment 3.

In the example shown in Fig. 14, the screw 45 is used as the position adjusting mechanism for adjusting the position of the nozzle head 42B in the Y direction. The position of the nozzle head 42B in the Y direction can be adjusted by moving the nozzle head 42B in the Y direction by the screw 45. Therefore, the amount of deviation of the nozzle heads 42A and 42B in the Y direction can be continuously and arbitrarily changed. For example, the same effect as in the third embodiment can be obtained by arranging the nozzle head 42B so as to be offset from the nozzle head 42A by only 84.667 μm in the positive direction of the Y-axis.

Further, in the first modification of the third embodiment, the amount of deviation of the two nozzle heads 42A and 42B in the Y direction can be continuously changed after the nozzle heads 42A and 42B are assembled to the nozzle jig 41. Therefore, it is possible to further increase the degree of freedom in setting the degree of resolution (the degree of freedom in setting the interval between the landing positions of the insulating liquid droplets discharged from the nozzle holes toward the substrate) or the degree of freedom in film thickness control.

In addition to the screw 45, a centimeter card, a spring, a gasket, or the like can be used as the position adjustment mechanism. Further, in the first modification of the third embodiment, one of the nozzle heads 42A is fixedly assembled to the nozzle jig 41, but may be A position adjustment mechanism is provided in the nozzle head 42A to adjust the position of the nozzle head 42A in the Y direction.

[Variation 2 of Embodiment 3]

Fig. 15 is a bottom view showing the nozzle unit 40 of the substrate manufacturing apparatus according to the second modification of the third embodiment. In the first modification of the third embodiment, the nozzle head 42B (fourteenth diagram) is assembled to the nozzle jig 41 so that the position in the Y direction can be adjusted. In the second modification of the third embodiment, the nozzle heads 42A and 42B are assembled so as to be able to adjust the position in the Y direction, and are assembled so as to pass through the center around the end of the Y-axis negative side of each of the nozzle heads 42A and 42B and will be associated with Z. The axis parallel to the axis serves as a center of rotation to adjust the posture in the direction of rotation.

The position adjustment mechanism for adjusting the position of the nozzle heads 42A and 42B in the Y direction and the posture of the rotation direction is used for the screw 45 in the example shown in Fig. 15 . In the example shown in Fig. 15, the arrangement direction of the nozzle holes 42a, 42b is counterclockwise at an angle θ with respect to the positive direction of the Y-axis. Further, the interval between the nozzle holes 42a and 42b perpendicularly projected on the virtual plane perpendicular to the X-axis is p ₃ . The interval p ₃ is 35.278 × (cos θ) μm.

The interval between the adjacent nozzle holes 42a in the nozzle head 42A is denoted by p (=70.556 μm), and the angle between the arrangement direction of the nozzle holes 42a of the nozzle head 42A and the Y direction (direction perpendicular to the scanning direction) is represented by θ. The interval between the images vertically projected on the adjacent nozzle holes 42a perpendicular to the X-axis is p × cos θ, so the resolution of the nozzle head 42A is improved to 1/(cos θ) times. The angle between the arrangement direction of the nozzle holes 42b and the Y direction is θ, and the position of the nozzle heads 42A and 42B in the Y direction is adjusted so that the nozzle holes 42a and the nozzle holes 42b are alternately arranged in the Y direction, thereby When the nozzle heads 42A are compared, the resolution of the entire two nozzle heads 42A and 42B can be increased to 2/(cos θ) times.

As an example, the nozzle heads 42A and 42B are adjusted in the Y direction so that the nozzle heads 42A and 42B are inclined at an angle θ of cos θ=2/3 from the Y direction and the nozzle holes 42a and the nozzle holes 42b are alternately arranged in the Y direction. The position can thereby set the resolution of the nozzle unit 40 to be three times the resolution of the nozzle head 42A. In the first modification of the third embodiment in which the position of the nozzle heads 42A and 42B in the Y direction is adjusted and the posture adjustment in the rotation direction is not performed, the arrangement direction of the nozzle holes 42a and 42b is parallel to the Y direction. Therefore, in the first modification of the third embodiment, when the positions of the nozzle heads 42A and 42B are adjusted so that the intervals of the nozzle holes 42a and 42b in the Y direction are equal, the resolution of one nozzle head 42A can be obtained. 2 times the resolution. On the other hand, in the second modification of the third embodiment, it is possible to achieve a higher resolution than the second embodiment.

In the substrate manufacturing apparatus according to the second modification of the third embodiment, the angle θ can be continuously and arbitrarily adjusted within a range of less than 90° in the clockwise direction and less than 90° in the counterclockwise direction. Therefore, the resolution can be continuously set to an arbitrary value. Since the landing density of the droplets can be continuously changed, the film thickness of the insulating film can also be continuously changed. The resolution is continuously changed in the low-resolution region, which exerts an effect when the insulating film is thinned.

In the second modification of the third embodiment, when the light source 13 (Fig. 7B) shown in Fig. 7B is disposed, the light source 13 can be fixedly disposed with respect to the nozzle holder 41 (Fig. 3A, Fig. 3B). It is also possible to adjust the posture in the Y direction and the rotation direction independently of the nozzle heads 42A and 42B or independently of the nozzle head 42A and the nozzle head 42B.

Referring to FIGS. 16A to 16C, a method of forming an insulating film when the nozzle heads 42A and 42B are disposed only at an inclination angle θ from the Y direction will be described.

An example of the pattern of the insulating film to be formed is shown in Fig. 16A. A droplet is ejected in a region indicated by black in Fig. 16 to form an insulating film. The control device 33 (Fig. 2) generates data from the pattern shown in Fig. 16A of the memory device 34 (Fig. 2), as shown in Fig. 16B, only the skew angle θ (skewed) Corrected) the pattern of the material. The discharge of the liquid droplets from the nozzle unit 40 (the nozzle holes 42a, 42b) is controlled based on the data of the skew corrected pattern. The skew correction of the data is made such that the arrangement direction of the nozzle holes 42a, 42b is not parallel to the Y direction. Further, controlling the droplet discharge based on the data of the skew correction pattern means that when the droplet is landed on a straight line parallel to the Y direction, the timing of discharging the droplet from the nozzle hole 42a of the nozzle head 42A is at all nozzles. The holes 42a do not coincide with each other and differ in each nozzle hole 42a. The same applies to the nozzle head 42B. By discharging the liquid droplets under such control, an insulating film corresponding to the pattern shown in Fig. 16A can be formed on the substrate as shown in Fig. 16C.

Based on the method of Embodiment 3 and its modifications 1, 2, not only can For the manufacture of a touch panel, it is also possible to utilize the formation of an insulating film (solder mask) on a printed substrate.

[Example 4]

Referring to Figures 17A to 17C, a method of manufacturing a substrate according to Embodiment 4 will be described. In Example 4, an insulating film formed by the methods based on Examples 1 to 3 was compared with an insulating film formed by a conventional photolithography technique.

A plan view of the first transparent electrode 81, the second transparent electrode 82, and the insulating film 83 is shown in Fig. 17A. This structure is the same as that of the touch panel shown in FIG. 6D. In Fig. 17A, the first transparent electrode 81 extends in the lateral direction, and the rhombic region 82A of the second transparent electrode 82 is arranged at intervals in the longitudinal direction. The two diamond-shaped regions 82A adjacent in the longitudinal direction are electrically connected by the connection region 82B. The connection region 82B is disposed on the insulating film 83. The rhombic region 82A and the connection region 82B constitute the second transparent electrode 82.

Fig. 17B is a cross-sectional view showing the single-dot chain line 17B-17B along the line A of Fig. 17. A rhombic region 82A in which the second transparent electrode 82 is formed is spaced apart from each other on the glass substrate 80. The first transparent electrode 81 passes between the two rhombic regions 82A in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper. An insulating film 83 is formed between the two diamond-shaped regions 82A. The insulating film 83 covers the first transparent electrode 81 in the cross section shown in FIG. 17B, and both ends of the insulating film 83 overlap with a part of the second transparent electrode 82, respectively.

A connection region 82B made of ITO is formed on the insulating film 83. even The junction region 82B extends over the diamond-shaped region 82A at both ends thereof and is electrically connected to the diamond-shaped region 82A. The upper surface of the insulating film 83 formed by the methods based on the first to third embodiments is inclined in the vicinity of the outer peripheral portion.

Fig. 17C is a cross-sectional view showing the touch panel formed by patterning an insulating film using a conventional photolithography technique. The upper surface of the insulating film 83 formed by the photolithography technique is also inclined near the outer peripheral portion, but the inclination angle thereof is close to 90°. If the inclination angle causes a large step drop, the mechanical strength of the connection region 82B decreases at the position where the step falls. Thereby, the disconnection is easily caused by the application of external stress.

On the other hand, in the methods of the first to third embodiments, as shown in Fig. 17B, the upper surface of the insulating film 83 is gradually inclined in the vicinity of the outer peripheral portion thereof. Therefore, it is possible to suppress a decrease in the mechanical strength of the connection region 82B, and it is possible to realize a touch panel having high reliability against external stress.

[Example 5]

Referring to FIGS. 18A to 18D, a method of manufacturing a substrate based on Embodiment 5 will be described. Hereinafter, differences from Embodiments 1 to 3 will be described, and the description of the same configurations will be omitted.

Fig. 18A and Fig. 18B are cross-sectional views corresponding to the single-dot chain line 18A-18A along Fig. 17A. As shown in FIG. 18A, the first transparent electrode 81 is formed on the glass substrate 80. Thereafter, in a region where the insulating film 83 (Fig. 17A) is to be formed, a plurality of droplets 85 are placed in each pattern of the insulating film 83. In the example shown in Fig. 18A, in the width direction of the connection region 82B (the direction in which the diamond-shaped region 82A to be connected is arranged) In the direction orthogonal to each other, a plurality of, for example, two droplets are landed. After the droplets falling on the substrate spread in the in-plane direction and continue to each other, the liquid material of the insulating film is cured. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 18B, the insulating film 83 is formed. Since a plurality of droplets are landed in the width direction of the connection region 82B, a substantially flat region is formed on the upper surface of the insulating film 83 in the width direction of the connection region 82B. A connection region 82B is formed in the substantially flat region of the insulating film 83.

In Fig. 18C, an example in which one droplet 85 is landed in the width direction of the connection region 82B is shown. At this time, as shown in FIG. 18D, the upper surface of the insulating film 83 is difficult to form a flat region in the width direction. Even if a flat region is formed, the width thereof becomes narrower than the width of the substantially flat region shown in Fig. 18B.

When a substantially flat region is formed on the upper surface of the insulating film 83, the connection region 82B can be stably formed thereon. In order to form a substantially flat region in the width direction of the connection region 82B on the upper surface of the insulating film 83, it is preferable to drop two or more droplets in the width direction.

The present invention has been described based on the above embodiments, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, various changes, modifications, combinations, and the like can be made, which will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention pertains.

10A, 10B‧‧‧ nozzle head

10a, 10b‧‧‧ nozzle holes

11‧‧‧Nozzle fixture

13‧‧‧Light source

Image of nozzle holes 15a, 15b‧‧

16‧‧‧Virtual plane

18A, 18B‧‧‧A region opposite the nozzle head

20‧‧‧ tablet

21‧‧‧Mobile agencies

22‧‧‧X direction moving mechanism

23‧‧‧Y direction moving mechanism

24‧‧‧θ direction rotating mechanism

25‧‧‧stage

30‧‧‧ pillar

31‧‧‧ beams

32‧‧‧Photographing device

33‧‧‧Control device

34‧‧‧ memory device

40‧‧‧Nozzle unit

41‧‧‧Nozzle fixture

42A, 42B‧‧‧ nozzle head

42a, 42b‧‧‧ nozzle holes

43‧‧‧Light source

45‧‧‧ screws

55a, 55b‧‧ images

56‧‧‧Virtual plane

70‧‧‧Substrate manufacturing equipment

71‧‧‧Shell

71a‧‧‧Substrate entrance

71b‧‧‧Substrate removal

72a, 72b‧‧‧ conveyor

73‧‧‧Drop ejection device

74‧‧‧UV irradiation device

80‧‧‧ glass substrate

81‧‧‧1st transparent electrode

82‧‧‧2nd transparent electrode

82A‧‧‧Rhombus area

82B‧‧‧Connected area

83‧‧‧Insulation film

85‧‧‧ droplets

90‧‧‧Substrate

[Fig. 1] Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of a substrate manufacturing apparatus according to a first embodiment.

[Fig. 2] Fig. 2 is a schematic view of a droplet discharge device included in the substrate manufacturing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

[Fig. 3] Figs. 3A and 3B are a perspective view and a bottom view, respectively, of the nozzle unit, and Fig. 3C is a view showing an image in which the nozzle hole of the nozzle head is vertically projected on a virtual plane perpendicular to the X-axis. .

[Fig. 4] Fig. 4A is a graph showing the relationship between the thickness of the insulating film formed by the droplets discharged from the droplet discharge device and the droplets formed on the substrate, and the elapsed time from the landing, and Fig. 4B shows the landing. A top view of the diffusion pattern of droplets across the area of the glass and ITO film.

[Fig. 5] Figs. 5A to 5C are schematic views for explaining a substrate manufacturing method according to an embodiment.

[Fig. 6] Fig. 6A is a schematic plan view showing an electrode pattern of a capacitive input device (touch panel), and Fig. 6B to Fig. 6D are plan views for explaining a substrate of an electrode pattern forming method, Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the dashed line 6E-6E of Figure 6D.

[Fig. 7] Fig. 7A is a perspective view of a conventional nozzle unit, Fig. 7B is a bottom view of a conventional nozzle unit, and Fig. 7C shows a vertical projection of a nozzle hole of a nozzle head perpendicular to the X axis. A map of the image of the virtual plane.

[Fig. 8] Fig. 8 is a schematic view showing the nozzle unit and the substrate in a line of sight parallel to the Y-axis.

[Fig. 9] Fig. 9 is a graph showing the relationship between the film thickness of the insulating film and the interval at which the droplets land.

[Fig. 10] Fig. 10 shows the film thickness of the insulating film and the droplet landing A graph of the relationship between the intervals of positions.

[Fig. 11] Fig. 11 to Fig. 11C are plan views showing the positional relationship between the substrate and the nozzle unit when the insulating film is formed by the substrate manufacturing method of the second embodiment, and Fig. 11D is an insulating film formed. Top view.

12 is a perspective view of a nozzle unit of a substrate manufacturing apparatus according to a third embodiment, wherein FIG. 12B is a bottom view of the nozzle unit, and FIG. 12C shows a positional relationship between the nozzle hole and the nozzle hole image. Line diagram.

[Fig. 13] Fig. 13 is a diagram showing the relationship between the nozzle holes for discharging the liquid droplets based on the substrate manufacturing method of the third embodiment and the formed insulating film.

[Fig. 14] Fig. 14 is a bottom view of a nozzle unit of a substrate manufacturing apparatus according to a first modification of the third embodiment.

[Fig. 15] Fig. 15 is a bottom view of a nozzle unit of a substrate manufacturing apparatus according to a second modification of the third embodiment.

[Fig. 16] Fig. 16A is a view showing an example of a film pattern to be formed by the method according to the third embodiment, and Fig. 16B is a view showing pattern data for performing skew correction, and Fig. 16 is formed of Fig. A top view of the insulating film.

17 is a plan view of a touch panel manufactured by the method of Embodiment 4, and FIG. 17B is a cross-sectional view of a single-dot chain line 17B-17B along FIG. 17A, FIG. C is a cross-sectional view of a touch panel formed by a method based on a comparative example.

[Fig. 18] Fig. 18A to Fig. 18D are cross-sectional views of the single-dot chain line 18A-18A along the line A of Fig. 17, and Fig. 18A shows the period of discharge of the liquid droplets according to the method of the fifth embodiment. FIG. 18B is a cross-sectional view of a touch panel manufactured by the method of the fifth embodiment, and FIG. 18C is a cross-sectional view of a liquid droplet discharging period according to the method of the reference example, FIG. 18D A cross-sectional view of a touch panel manufactured by the method of the reference example.

25‧‧‧stage

40‧‧‧Nozzle unit

41‧‧‧Nozzle fixture

42A, 42B‧‧‧ nozzle head

42a, 42b‧‧‧ nozzle holes

80‧‧‧ glass substrate

83‧‧‧Insulation film

Claims (9)

A method of manufacturing a touch panel, comprising: (a) a process of forming a plurality of first electrodes extending in a first direction on a substrate and arranging in a second direction intersecting the first direction and being a first electrode a plurality of second electrodes that are divided; (b) a process of forming an insulating film on the first electrode at an intersection of the row of the second electrodes arranged in the second direction and the first electrode; and (c) a process of forming a connection region between the second electrodes that are separated by the first electrode on the insulating film, and the process (b) includes: (b1) a process of causing droplets ejected from the nozzle holes to land on a plurality of landing positions in a region of the insulating film to be formed; and (b2) a process of curing the liquid film in a state in which droplets landing on the landing position are continuous with each other to form a liquid film, and the landing The position is arranged to be determined according to the thickness of the insulating film to be formed. The method of manufacturing a touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the (b1) process includes a process of determining an interval of the landing position in accordance with a thickness of the insulating film to be formed. The method of manufacturing a touch panel according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first relationship between the thickness of the insulating film and the interval between the landing positions is pre- First, the interval between the landing positions is determined according to the thickness of the insulating film to be formed and the first relationship. The method of manufacturing a touch panel according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, between the (b1) process and the (b2) process, the substrate is executed from the foregoing (b1) The process is transported to a process for performing the above-mentioned (b2) process, and during execution of the above (b2) process for a certain substrate, the other at least one substrate is in transit after the end of the (b1) process. The method for manufacturing a touch panel according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the (b1) process includes: (b11) a process of causing the droplet to be in a position relative to the drop position of the droplet One row of the second electrode is drawn so as to be parallel to the second direction; and (b12) is a process in which the droplet is formed in the (b11) process after the (b11) process. The trajectory is such that the trajectory of the landing position of the liquid droplet is formed at a position where the first direction is apart from the interval of the landing position, and the (b2) process is executed after the (b12) process. The method for manufacturing a touch panel according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the (b1) process includes: an adjustment process, the phase of the first nozzle head and the second nozzle head The position is adjusted such that the interval between the one nozzle hole of the first nozzle head in which the plurality of nozzle holes are formed and the one nozzle hole of the second nozzle head in which the plurality of nozzle holes are formed is in the first direction The thickness of the insulating film to be formed is determined to be equal to each other; and the landing process is such that the first nozzle head and the second nozzle head relatively move in the second direction with respect to the substrate, and the nozzle from the first nozzle head The hole and the nozzle hole of the second nozzle head discharge the droplet, thereby causing the droplet to land at the landing position. A substrate manufacturing apparatus comprising: a carrier that holds a substrate on a holding surface; a nozzle unit that discharges droplets of an insulating film material toward a substrate held by the stage; and a moving mechanism that causes the stage to face the aforementioned The nozzle unit relatively moves in a scanning direction parallel to the holding surface, the nozzle unit includes: a nozzle holder; the first nozzle head and the second nozzle head are attached to the nozzle holder and respectively have a plurality of nozzle holes; and a position adjusting mechanism Changing a relative position of the first nozzle head and the second nozzle head such that one nozzle hole of the first nozzle head and one nozzle hole of the second nozzle head are orthogonal to the scanning direction The interval changes. A substrate manufacturing apparatus having: a carrier that holds a substrate on a holding surface; a nozzle unit that discharges droplets of the insulating film material toward the substrate held by the stage; and a moving mechanism that relatively moves the stage relative to the nozzle unit in a scanning direction parallel to the holding surface, wherein the nozzle unit includes a first nozzle head having a plurality of nozzle holes arranged at a first interval in a first direction crossing the scanning direction; and a second nozzle head having the first interval arranged in the first direction In the plurality of nozzle holes, in the first direction, one nozzle hole of the second nozzle head is disposed at a position deviated from a midpoint of a line segment connecting two adjacent nozzle holes of the first nozzle head. A substrate manufacturing apparatus comprising: a carrier that holds a substrate on a holding surface; a nozzle unit that discharges droplets of an insulating film material toward a substrate held by the stage; and a moving mechanism that causes the stage to face the aforementioned The nozzle unit relatively moves in a scanning direction parallel to the holding surface, and the nozzle unit includes: a first nozzle head having a plurality of nozzle holes arranged at a first interval in a first direction intersecting the scanning direction; a nozzle head having a plurality of nozzle holes arranged at the first interval in the first direction; and a position adjusting mechanism for the first nozzle head and the second nozzle The head changes the posture in which the axis orthogonal to the aforementioned holding surface is the rotation direction of the center of rotation.