TWI745876B - Coating machine and soaking method capable of slowing down the solvent backflow into the coating head - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a coating machine and a soaking method that can slow down the backflow of solvent into the coating head, wherein the machine platform of the coating machine is provided with a coating platform, and is installed on the machine platform to drive the displacement of the coating head The driving device and cleaning unit can be driven by the driving device to move the coating head to the direction of the coated part on the coating platform, and the nozzle sprays the paint from the lip to form a coating on the surface of the coated part. For cloth film, when the driving device drives the coating head to move above the soaking tank of the cleaning unit and corresponds to the elastic body, the lip of the nozzle is pressed down on the elastic body and soaked in the solvent together, and the lip and The contact part of the elastomer is below the liquid level of the solvent, which can not only isolate the external air and prevent the blockage caused by the curing of the coating in the nozzle, but also slow down the backflow of the solvent into the nozzle along the lip, so as to reduce the number of nozzles before coating. Extruding all the excess solvent through the paint causes a lot of waste of materials and time.

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 an injection 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

11: Pedestal

12: Drive control system

13: Slide rail

14: Door frame

141: Column

142: Crossbeam

2: Coating platform

3: drive device

31: Horizontal drive mechanism

32: Lifting drive mechanism

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 purposes and effects, the technical means and structure adopted by the present invention are illustrated in detail below to illustrate the structure and functions of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, so as to fully understand.

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 cross-sectional view of the coating head, and the three-dimensional appearance view of the cleaning unit, as can be clearly seen from the figures, 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 11, and a drive control system 12 is arranged in the base 11 or the lower frame, and a pair of horizontal slide rails 13 are provided on the upper two sides of the base 11, and the two slide rails 13 A vertical column 141 is respectively installed on the upper part, and a cross beam 142 is installed between the two vertical columns 141 to form a door-shaped frame 14.

The coating platform 2 is set above the base 11 of the machine 1 and between the two slide rails 13, and is used to carry the coated parts (such as glass substrate; plastic film or flexible substrate; adhesive tape; metal foil; Optical films include polarizing films, diffusion films, brightness enhancement films; circuit boards; battery plates and other substrates or materials), and can be adsorbed by plural on the surface of the coating platform 2 (such as metal or granite platform) At least one part to be coated is positioned in the hole with the guide post, and the alignment platform of the correction module is arranged under the coating platform, and the alignment platform is used to adjust the XYZ axis direction by the motor-driven screw. .

The driving device 3 is installed on the door frame 14 of the machine 1 and includes a horizontal driving mechanism 31 (such as the X-axis or XY-axis direction of the coating direction) and a lifting driving mechanism 32 (such as the Z-axis direction). In order to achieve precise displacement, the driving mechanism 31 can drive the two uprights 141 to move horizontally along the slide rail 13 by means of two sets of motors driving screws, gear sets, racks or belts with pulleys, etc., and the lifting driving mechanism 32 It can also be driven by two sets of motors to drive screws, gears or racks to drive the beam to move along the vertical direction of the two uprights 141. It can also be further equipped with optical rulers or position encoders for positioning to make the door frame 14 move in a gantry. (Gantry moving type) is precise The linear displacement.

The coating head 4 is installed on the door frame 14 or the beam 142 of the machine 1 and includes a pair of die lips 411 front and rear facing slit die to form a slot die (Slot Die) or nozzle ( Slit Nozzle) 41, and a spacer with a predetermined thickness can be further sandwiched between the two die lips 411, and there is an internal flow channel 412 between the two die lips 411, and then taper and protrude below the second die lip 411 A lip 410 communicating with the internal flow channel 412 is formed in the lip of the lip, and the lip 410 is separated by the thickness of the gasket to form 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 It can be selected according to actual needs. For example, the photoresist includes positive photoresist and negative photoresist; functional resin includes polyimide (PI), polyimide imide (PAI), etc.; organic conductive polymer material includes Poly-3,4-Dioxyethylthiophene (PEDOT), Poly-3,4-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 11 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 soaking tank 51 stores a solvent for cleaning the nozzle 41 (Solvent) 7 (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 connected to the upstream storage tank where the solvent 7 is stored In this case, the input pipeline and the discharge pipeline can also be further connected to the circulation pipeline including pumps, filters and multi-directional valves to carry out the circulating filtration of the solvent 7, and the solvent 7 can be used according to actual needs. Use such as propylene glycol monomethyl ether ester (PGMEA), methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), dimethyl acetamide (DMAC), acetone (Acetone), ethanol (Ethanol, alcohol), water, polydimethylsiloxane ( 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 Choose 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 chart of the present invention, the side sectional view of the nozzle immersed in the soaking tank, the side sectional view of the nozzle immersed 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 position on the coating platform 2 The position of the coated piece moves in the direction, and the nozzle 41 of the coating head 4 sprays the coating 6 from the lip 410 to form a coating film on the surface of the coated piece.

(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 12 of the machine 1 is used to perform the coating platform 2, the driving device 3, the coating head 4, and cleaning Unit 5 related drive 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 31 and the lifting driving mechanism 32 of the driving device 3 drive the coating head 4 to move toward the coating platform 2 in a gantry manner, and at the same time, the nozzle 41 is approached to the surface of the coated part, and the material is supplied The injection pump of the module 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 the paint 6 will be sprayed on the part to be coated. Formed on the surface includes but not limited to dry film, functional film, conductive film, photocurable film, piezoelectric film or other coating film.

Before or after each piece of coated part 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.) state or the coating head 4 spraying and cleaning operations are completed, the coating head 4 can also be driven by the driving device 3 to move the nozzle 41 to correspond to the elasticity. Body 52, and the die lip 411 is pressed down against the pressing surface of the rubber strip 521, and the pressing surface is pressed by the die lip 411 or the lip 410 (as shown in Figure 8) It will be compressed and deformed, so that the part of the die lip 411 and the rubber strip 521 are soaked in the solvent 7 in the soaking tank 51, and the contact part of the lip 410 (the die lip gap) of the die lip 411 and the rubber strip 521 is located at Below the liquid level of the solvent 7, not only can the outside air be blocked, and the blocking caused by the curing of the coating 6 in the nozzle 41 can be prevented. At the same time, the lip 410 can be pressed against the rubber strip 521 to slow down the solvent 7 and the coating 6 The difference in density will cause the capillary phenomenon of the siphon effect in the die lip gap, which will cause the solvent 7 to flow back along the lip 410 into the nozzle 41, thereby reducing the amount of excess solvent that needs to be removed by the coating 6 before the nozzle 41 is coated. 7 The waste of material and time caused by all extrusion 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 coating machine and soaking method of the present invention that can slow down the solvent backflow into the coating head can indeed achieve its effects and purposes. 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, and 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 , Is characterized in that: 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 is immersed in the solvent together, and The contact part of the lip and 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). As described in claim 1, the coating machine can slow down the backflow of the solvent 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). 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 toward the coated part positioned on the coating platform, and the nozzle sprays the coating from the lip below the die lip on the coated A coating film is formed on the surface of the piece; (B) The driving device drives the coating head to move above the soaking tank and corresponds to the elastic body, and makes the lip of the nozzle press down on the elastic body Soak them together in the solvent in the soaking tank. 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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