TW202132008A - Coating machine and soaking method capable of slowing down backflow of solvent into coating head capable of slowing down backflow of solvent into a nozzle to reduce the waste of a large amount of material and time caused by squeezing out excessive solvent through coating material before nozzle coating - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a coating machine and a soaking method capable of slowing down backflow of solvent into a coating head, wherein a coating platform is arranged on a machine table of the coating machine, and a driving device and a cleaning unit are installed on the machine table to drive the coating head to displace, so that the driving device can be used to drive the coating head to move towards the direction of an article to be coated on the coating platform, and paint is sprayed from the lip of a nozzle to form a coating film on the surface of the article to be coated, when the driving device drives the coating head to move to a location on top of a soaking tank of the cleaning unit and corresponding to the elastic body, and presses down the lip of the nozzle against the elastic body so as to be soaked in the solvent altogether. The contact portion between the lip and the elastic body is below the liquid level of the solvent, such that not only the external air can be isolated, blockage caused by curing the coating material in the nozzle can be prevented, the backflow of the solvent into the nozzle along the lip can also be slowed down to reduce the waste of a large amount of material and time caused by squeezing out excessive solvent through the coating material before the nozzle coating.

Description

Coating machine and soaking method capable of slowing down the backflow of solvent into the coating head

The present invention provides a coating machine and a soaking method that can slow down the backflow of solvent into the coating head, especially the nozzle of the coating head can be pressed against the elastomer in the soaking tank and immersed in the solvent together. It can slow down the solvent backflow into the nozzle, so as to reduce the waste of material and time caused by the nozzle squeezing out the excess solvent through the paint.

According to, the common slot coating (Slot Die Coating or Slit Nozzle Coating) is a high-precision and relatively low-cost coating technology that can be used to control the uniformity of film thickness and coating width, and is not only widely used It can be applied to the coating of substrates such as electronic packaging (such as printed circuit boards, wafer packaging, etc.), optical films, solar cells or lithium battery plates, and can also be applied to substrates used in the semiconductor, flat-panel display industries, etc. The photoresist coating, in which flat-panel display product applications and electronic components require the highest coating precision, and also has high added value, which makes relevant coating equipment manufacturers more active in research and development, all because of its greater The advantages of high film uniformity, material utilization and large area coating.

At present, the slit coater (Slit Coater) is mainly used for photoresist coating, water glue coating, PCB material coating, LED polymer material coating, OLED material coating in semiconductor, flat panel display and other manufacturing processes. , Release material coating, etc., and Using the nozzle that forms a long slit in the width direction to move horizontally relative to the substrate, the paint in the feeding module can be ejected from the slit by a syringe pump to form a thin film on the surface of the substrate , But when the slit-type coating equipment continues to spray for a long time, sometimes the cured material of the coating or foreign matter mixed into the coating may adhere to the slit, the nozzle die lip at the slit opening and the outer surface, etc. , Causing the nozzle to produce coating defects or blockages, and even affect the quality of coating. Therefore, some manufacturers install a nozzle cleaning device on the machine, and before or routinely coat each piece of substrate When it is stopped, the movable nozzle immerses the die lip in the solvent in the cleaning container for cleaning, and the solvent can be circulated to the nozzle through the supply pipe to make the solidified substance attached to the nozzle die lip or slit Dissolve and float to enhance the cleaning effect.

However, when the die lip of the nozzle is immersed in the solvent in the cleaning container or soaking tank, it can use the solvent to clean the die lip, but because the density and specific gravity of the solvent are smaller than that of the paint, it will be narrow. The capillary phenomenon of siphon effect in the slit causes the solvent to flow back into the nozzle along the slit. Therefore, the two materials of the solvent and the paint will exchange each other, that is, the paint will fall off and the solvent will suck up for high-density and low-density replacement. If the immersion time is very long, a large amount of solvent will accumulate in the nozzle. As a result, the nozzle must be refilled with a large amount of paint before spraying to squeeze out all the excess solvent and cause a lot of waste of materials and time. It is the direction that awaits those engaged in this industry who urgently want to study and improve.

Therefore, in view of the above-mentioned deficiencies, the inventor collected relevant information, evaluated and considered by multiple parties, and continued to trial and modify with years of experience in this industry, and then designed a coating machine that can slow down the solvent backflow into the coating head. And the invention patent for the soaking method was born.

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide the coating machine on the machine The coating platform where the cloth is positioned, and the drive device, coating head and cleaning unit are installed on the machine. When the drive device drives the coating head to move to the top of the soaking tank of the cleaning unit, the lip of the nozzle is pressed down Press on the elastomer and soak in the solvent in the soaking tank together, and the contact part of the lip with the elastomer is below the liquid level of the solvent, which can not only isolate the external air, and prevent the curing of the coating in the nozzle. Clogging can also reduce the solvent backflow into the nozzle along the lip caused by the difference in the density of the solvent and the paint, thereby reducing the waste of a large amount of material and time caused by all the excess solvent being squeezed out through the paint before the nozzle is coated. Improve the efficiency of spraying.

1: Machine

2: Coating platform

3: drive device

4: Coating head

41: Nozzle

410: lip

411: Mould Lip

412: Internal runner

5: Cleaning unit

51: Soaking tank

52: Elastomer

521: Rubber Strip

6: Paint

7: Solvent

[Figure 1] is a perspective view of the coating machine of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 2] is another perspective view of the appearance of the coating machine according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 3] is a side cross-sectional view of the coating head of the present invention.

[Figure 4] is a perspective view of the cleaning unit of the present invention.

[Figure 5] is a flow chart of the steps of the present invention.

[Figure 6] is a schematic cross-sectional side view of the nozzle of the present invention before being immersed in the soaking tank.

[Figure 7] is a schematic cross-sectional side view of the nozzle of the present invention after being immersed in the soaking tank.

[Figure 8] is a partial enlarged view of Figure 7 of the present invention.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose and effect, the technical means and structure adopted by the present invention are illustrated in detail below to illustrate the structure and function of the preferred embodiment of the present invention for a complete understanding.

Please refer to Figures 1 to 4, which are respectively the preferred embodiments of the present invention. The three-dimensional appearance view of the machine, the three-dimensional appearance view from another angle, the side sectional view of the coating head and the three-dimensional appearance view of the cleaning unit, it can be clearly seen from the figures that the coating machine of the present invention includes an organic stage 1, Coating platform 2, driving device 3, coating head 4 and cleaning unit 5, including:

The machine 1 has a base, and a drive control system is arranged in the base or the lower frame, and a pair of horizontal slide rails are provided on the upper two sides of the base, and a column is respectively installed on the two slide rails. And a beam is installed between the two uprights to form a door-shaped frame.

The coating platform 2 is set above the base of the machine 1 and between the two sliding rails, and is used to carry the coated parts (such as glass substrate; plastic film or flexible substrate; adhesive tape; metal foil; optical film). Including polarizing film, diffusion film, brightness enhancement film; circuit board; battery plate and other substrates or materials), and can be matched with multiple adsorption holes on the surface of coating platform 2 (such as metal or granite platform) At least one to-be-coated part is positioned on the guide column, etc., and an alignment platform of the calibration module is arranged below the coating platform, and the alignment platform uses a motor to drive a screw to adjust the X, Y, and Z axis directions.

The driving device 3 is installed on the door frame of the machine 1 and includes a horizontal driving mechanism (such as the X-axis or XY-axis direction of the coating direction) and a lifting driving mechanism (such as the Z-axis direction). The horizontal driving mechanism is for To achieve precise displacement, two sets of motors can drive the screw, gear set, rack or belt with pulleys to drive the two columns to move along the horizontal direction of the slide rail, and the lifting drive mechanism can also be driven by two sets of motors. Screws, gear sets, or racks are used to drive the beam to move along the vertical direction of the two columns. It can also be further equipped with optical scales or position encoders for positioning, so that the door frame can be accurately moved in Gantry moving type. Linear displacement.

The coating head 4 is installed on the portal frame or beam of the machine 1 and includes a A slot die or a nozzle (Slit Nozzle) 41 is formed by combining the front and back slit molds of the die lips 411, and a predetermined thickness can be further sandwiched between the two die lips 411 A gasket, and there is an internal flow channel 412 between the two mold lips 411, and a lip 410 communicating with the internal flow channel 412 is formed in the tapered and protruding lip below the second mold lip 411, and the lip 410 passes through The thickness of the gasket forms a lip gap.

In this embodiment, the nozzle 41 of the coating head 4 is connected to a feeding module with a Syringe Pump, and the feeding module stores the paint 6 (as shown in Figures 3 and 8) The storage tank of) is connected to the downstream injection pump through the supply pipeline, and the injection pump supplies a quantitative amount of paint to its internal flow channel 412 through the nozzle 41 connected to the supply pipeline, and the paint 6 Can be selected according to actual needs, such as photoresist including positive photoresist and negative photoresist; functional resins include polyimide (PI), polyimide imide (PAI), etc.; organic conductive polymer materials include Poly3,4-Dioxyethylthiophene (PEDOT), Poly3,4-Dioxyethylthiophene: polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT: PSS), etc.; light-curable coatings include ultraviolet (UV) glue or resin Etc.; piezoelectric materials include polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF); and ceramic oxides include perovskite (Perovskite) or other fluids with specific properties and viscosity.

The cleaning unit 5 is installed on the base of the machine 1 and located on the moving path of the coating head 4, and includes a frame-shaped soaking tank 51 and a lengthwise elastic body 52 arranged in the soaking tank 51, wherein the The soaking tank 51 stores a solvent (Solvent) 7 for cleaning the nozzle 41 (as shown in Figures 6 to 8), and the soaking tank 51 is connected with an input pipeline and a discharge pipeline, and each input pipeline is Respectively connect to the upstream storage where solvent 7 is stored In the tank, the input pipeline and the discharge pipeline can also be further connected to the circulation pipeline including pumps, filters, and multi-directional valves to perform the circulating filtration of the solvent 7 and the solvent 7 can be used according to actual conditions. The demand for selection such as propylene glycol monomethyl ether ester (PGMEA), methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), dimethyl acetamide (DMAC), acetone (Acetone), ethanol (Ethanol, alcohol), water, polydimethylsiloxane Alkane (PDMS, silicone oil), dimethylformamide (DMF) or other solvents with a density less than paint 6 are used to clean or soak the lip 411 of the nozzle 41.

In addition, the above-mentioned elastic body 52 includes at least one rubber strip 521, and the cross section of the rubber strip 521 is a solid D-shaped rubber strip in this embodiment, but it is not limited to this, and the cross section can also be a Hollow D-shaped, E-shaped (mountain-shaped) or other shapes, and the top of the rubber strip 521 is formed with an arc-shaped convex pressure surface (as shown in Figure 8), and the rubber strip 521 can also be used according to actual needs Use synthetic rubber including rubber (Rubber), silicone (Silicon), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, Teflon), fluorine rubber (FKM/FPM, Viton), etc.; natural rubber contains latex or other good solvent resistance, It is composed of elastic materials that are resistant to oil and chemical media.

Please refer to Figures 5 to 8, which are the step flow diagram of the present invention, the side sectional view of the nozzle before immersing in the soaking tank, the side sectional view of the nozzle after immersing in the soaking tank, and the part of Figure 7 respectively. Enlarged view, it can be clearly seen from the figure that the above-mentioned soaking method of the present invention is suitable for a coating machine and includes the following implementation steps:

(S101) The driving device 3 drives the coating head 4 to move in the direction of the coated part positioned on the coating platform 2, and the nozzle 41 of the coating head 4 sprays the coating 6 from the lip 410 on the surface of the coated part A coating film is formed.

(S102) The driving device 3 drives the coating head 4 to move above the soaking tank 51 and corresponds to the elastic body 52, and the lip 410 of the nozzle 41 is pressed downward against the elastic body 52 and soaked in the solvent in the soaking tank 51. 7 in.

It can be clearly seen from the figure and the above implementation steps that when the coating machine of the present invention is in use, the driving control system of the machine 1 is used for the coating platform 2, the driving device 3, the coating head 4 and the cleaning unit 5 Relevant driving and control operations, real-time detection and status diagnosis, etc., where the coating platform 2 can be equipped with a transfer platform with a reclaiming mechanism or a robot to place the coated parts (such as substrates or blanks), And the horizontal driving mechanism and the lifting driving mechanism of the driving device 3 drive the coating head 4 to move toward the coating platform 2 in a gantry movement manner, and at the same time make the nozzle 41 approach the surface of the coated part, and the feeding module The injection pump supplies a certain amount of paint 6 to the internal flow channel 412 of the nozzle 41 through the supply line, and the paint 6 can be sprayed downward from the lip gap of the lip 410 and formed on the surface of the part to be coated It includes but is not limited to dry film, functional film, conductive film, photocurable film, piezoelectric film or other coating film.

Before or after each piece of coating is coated, the driving device 3 can drive the coating head 4 to move toward the soaking tank 51 of the cleaning unit 5, and move the die lip 411 of the nozzle 41 down to soak In the tank 51, the solvent 7 can be circulated to the nozzle 41 through the input pipeline, or sprayed toward the nozzle 41 to perform the cleaning action of the nozzle 41, so that it adheres to the die lip 411 and its outside. The solidified material or particles in the side surface or the gap between the die lip dissolve and float out, and can avoid coating defects, even problems such as interruption of the supply of the coating 6 caused by the clogging of the nozzle 41, while ensuring the quality of coating.

In addition, when the coating machine is in standby, shutdown (such as maintenance or update, etc.) or the coating head 4 spraying and cleaning operations are completed, the driving device 3 can also drive the coating head 4 to The nozzle 41 moves to the position corresponding to the elastic body 52, and makes the die lip 411 press down on the pressing surface of the rubber strip 521, and its pressing surface is under the pressing action of the die lip 411 or the lip 410 (such as (Shown in Fig. 8) will be compressed and deformed, so that the die lip 411 part and the rubber strip 521 are immersed in the solvent 7 in the soaking tank 51, and the lip 410 (die lip gap) of the die lip 411 and the glue The contact part of the strip 521 is located below the liquid level of the solvent 7, which can not only isolate the external air, and prevent the blockage caused by the curing of the coating 6 in the nozzle 41. At the same time, the lip 410 is pressed against the rubber strip 521 to facilitate It can reduce the density difference between the solvent 7 and the paint 6, which will cause the capillary phenomenon of the siphon effect in the die lip gap, which causes the solvent 7 to flow back into the nozzle 41 along the lip 410, thereby reducing the need for the nozzle 41 before coating The waste of a large amount of material and time caused by all the excess solvent 7 being squeezed out through the coating 6 can also improve the efficiency of spraying.

The above detailed description is only for a preferred and feasible embodiment of the present invention, but the embodiment is not intended to limit the scope of the patent application of the present invention. All other equal changes and modifications made without departing from the spirit of the technique disclosed in the present invention All changes shall be included in the scope of patent covered by the present invention.

In summary, the above-mentioned coating machine and immersion method of the present invention that can slow down the backflow of the solvent into the coating head can indeed achieve its effect and purpose. Therefore, the present invention is truly an invention with excellent practicability, and it actually complies with the invention patent. For the application requirements, Yan filed an application in accordance with the law. I hope that the review committee will grant this case as soon as possible to protect the inventor’s hard-working invention. If there are any doubts, please feel free to write instructions.

4: Coating head

41: Nozzle

410: lip

411: Mould Lip

412: Internal runner

5: Cleaning unit

51: Soaking tank

52: Elastomer

521: Rubber Strip

6: Paint

7: Solvent

Claims (8)

A coating machine that can slow down the backflow of solvent into the coating head. The machine platform of the coating machine is provided with a coating platform for positioning the coated part, and is installed on the machine platform to drive a coating The head is displaced to eject paint from the nozzle to form a coating film on the surface of the coated part, and the soaking tank of the cleaning unit, and the soaking tank stores the solvent for immersion of the nozzle's die lip for cleaning , Which is characterized by: The soaking tank is provided with an elastic body for the driving device to drive the coating head so that the lip below the die lip presses down on the elastic body and soaks in the solvent together, and the lip and the The contact part of the elastomer is below the liquid level of the solvent. According to claim 1, the coating machine that can slow down the solvent backflow into the coating head, wherein the elastomer of the cleaning unit includes at least one rubber strip, and the rubber strip is a rubber, silicone, polytetrafluoroethylene (iron fluorine Dragon), fluorine rubber or latex. The coating machine that can slow down the solvent backflow into the coating head as described in claim 1, wherein the coating is photoresist, polyimide (PI), polyimide imine (PAI), poly 3, 4 -Dioxyethylthiophene (PEDOT), ultraviolet light (UV) glue, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) or perovskite (Perovskite). The coating machine that can slow down the solvent backflow into the coating head as described in claim 1, wherein the solvent is propylene glycol monomethyl ether ester (PGMEA), methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), dimethyl acetamide (DMAC), Acetone (Acetone), ethanol (alcohol), water, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or dimethylformamide (DMF). A soaking method that can slow the backflow of solvent into the coating head is suitable for a coating machine. The machine platform of the coating machine is provided with a coating platform for positioning the coated part, The machine is equipped with a driving device to drive a displacement of the coating head, and a soaking tank of the cleaning unit, and the soaking tank stores a solvent and an elastomer arranged in the soaking tank. The soaking method includes the following implementation steps : (A) The driving device drives the nozzle of the coating head to move in the direction of the coated part positioned on the coating platform, and the nozzle sprays the coating onto the coated part from the lip below the die lip A coating film is formed on the surface; (B) The driving device drives the coating head to move above the soaking tank and corresponds to the elastomer, and causes the lip of the nozzle to press down on the elastomer and soak in the solvent in the soaking tank. middle. According to claim 5, the soaking method that can slow down the backflow of solvent into the coating head, wherein the elastomer of the cleaning unit includes at least one rubber strip, and the rubber strip is a rubber, silicone, polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) ), Viton or latex. According to claim 5, the soaking method that can slow down the solvent backflow into the coating head, wherein the coating is photoresist, polyimide (PI), polyimide imine (PAI), poly 3,4- Dioxyethylthiophene (PEDOT), ultraviolet light (UV) glue, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) or perovskite (Perovskite). As described in claim 5, the soaking method of slowing the solvent backflow into the coating head, wherein the solvent is propylene glycol monomethyl ether ester (PGMEA), methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), dimethyl acetamide (DMAC), acetone (Acetone), ethanol (alcohol), water, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or dimethylformamide (DMF).

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