JP6290700B2 - Coating processing apparatus, cleaning processing method, program, and computer storage medium - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a coating processing apparatus, a nozzle cleaning processing method for discharging a coating liquid onto a substrate, a program for causing a coating processing apparatus to execute a cleaning processing method, and a computer storage medium storing the program.

  For example, in a manufacturing process of a flat panel display (FPD) such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a coating process is performed using a coating processing apparatus called a slit coater. The slit coater performs a coating process by discharging a coating liquid onto a substrate from a slit-shaped discharge port formed on the lower surface of the nozzle while horizontally moving the slit nozzle.

  When a coating process is continuously performed on a plurality of substrates using a slit coater, it is common to perform a priming process for the slit nozzle each time a coating process is performed on each substrate. The priming process is a process for removing foreign matters (removal target) adhering to the nozzle lower surface or an adjacent surface adjacent to the nozzle lower surface (hereinafter referred to as “lip surface”). By removing the foreign matters by this priming treatment, the coating liquid can be uniformly applied from the slit nozzle, and the thickness of the coating film formed on the substrate can be made uniform. The removal target is, for example, a coating liquid remaining on the nozzle lower surface or the lip surface in the substrate coating process performed immediately before.

  As a specific priming method, for example, as disclosed and proposed in Patent Document 1, for example, a pad made of silicon rubber or the like is attached to the lower surface of the nozzle and the lip surface (at the priming processing start position) at the longitudinal end of the nozzle (priming processing start position). Hereinafter, there is a method in which the pad is moved along the longitudinal direction of the nozzle in this state. According to this priming method, the contact portion of the pad with the nozzle tip (hereinafter referred to as “scraping portion”) scrapes off the removal target from the nozzle tip as the pad moves. As a result, the tip of the slit nozzle that performs the substrate coating process is cleaned and kept clean.

  In addition, as a process of cleaning the slit nozzle tip and keeping it clean, in addition to the priming process performed each time before the application process of each substrate, for example, a predetermined number (two or more) of substrate application processes There is also a cleaning process that cleans the nozzle tip each time. The cleaning process is a process of removing the object to be cleaned (dried and solidified coating liquid, etc.) adhering to the nozzle tip, and spraying the cleaning liquid (thinner, etc.) on the pad to bring the pad into contact with the nozzle tip. And moving in the nozzle longitudinal direction. Thereby, the cleaning object at the nozzle tip is scraped off. Such a cleaning process is performed every time a predetermined number of substrates are applied, and after the cleaning process is completed, a priming process is performed.

JP 2013-165137 A

  By the way, the priming process and the cleaning process described above (hereinafter, the priming process and the cleaning process or any one of them may be collectively referred to as “cleaning process”) are performed by bringing the pad and the nozzle tip into contact with each other with a predetermined pressure. It is done in the state. The pressure for contacting the pad and the nozzle tip is adjusted, for example, by supporting the surface of the pad opposite to the surface facing the nozzle with an elastic member such as a spring.

  However, when the cleaning process is repeated, the pad gradually wears and deforms due to friction between the pad and the nozzle tip. Further, the coating liquid or the cleaning liquid may infiltrate into the pad, and the pad may swell and deform. If it does so, the contact state of a pad and a nozzle front-end | tip part will change, and a change will arise in the extension of the spring which presses a pad to a nozzle direction. If it does so, a change will arise in the contact pressure of a pad and a nozzle front-end | tip part, and the cleaning process of a nozzle front-end | tip part cannot be performed with an appropriate pressure. As a result, the uniform contact between the pad and the nozzle tip is lost, and the object to be removed and the object to be cleaned (hereinafter referred to as the object to be removed and / or the object to be cleaned are collectively referred to as “cleaning object”) Scraping unevenness occurs.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to suppress the occurrence of uneven scraping of a cleaning target even if the pad is deformed in the nozzle cleaning process.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a nozzle that is formed on the lower surface of a discharge port for discharging a coating liquid to the substrate, extends in the width direction of the substrate, a lower surface of the nozzle, and an adjacent adjacent to the lower surface. A pad for cleaning the nozzle; a pad moving mechanism for relatively moving the pad and the nozzle along a longitudinal direction of the nozzle; and the nozzle and the pad. and a relative movement mechanism for relatively vertically moving the door, a coating treatment apparatus for applying a coating solution to a substrate, have a pressing mechanism for pressing the pad against the nozzle, the pressing mechanism Has a cylindrical cylinder part with an open top and a pressing member provided so as to close the opening of the cylinder part, and supports the lower surface of the pad with the pressing member, and the cylinder part and the pressing member Surrounded by The working fluid is characterized that you have been flowing at a predetermined pressure into the space.

  According to the present invention, since the actuator that operates by flowing fluid into the cylinder is used as the pressing mechanism, the load that presses the pad by the pressing mechanism depends on the pressure of the fluid that flows into the cylinder. Therefore, even when the pad gradually wears and deforms due to friction between the pad and the nozzle tip, or when it swells and deforms due to infiltration of the coating liquid or cleaning liquid into the pad, in other words, for example, Even if the relative positional relationship between the pad and the nozzle tip in the vertical direction is different from the positional relationship before the deformation, the pad and the nozzle tip can be arranged as long as the pressure of the fluid flowing into the cylinder is kept constant. The contact pressure can be kept constant. Therefore, even when the pad is deformed, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of uneven scraping of the cleaning object and perform the cleaning process appropriately.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a nozzle extending in the width direction of the substrate having a discharge port for discharging a coating liquid on the substrate is formed on the lower surface of the nozzle and an adjacent surface adjacent to the lower surface. A cylindrical processing cylinder in which an upper part is opened , wherein a contacting pad is moved relatively along the longitudinal direction of the nozzle to remove a cleaning object attached to the lower surface and the adjacent surface of the nozzle. The lower surface of the pad is supported by a pressing member provided so as to close the opening of the portion, and the working fluid flows at a predetermined pressure into a space surrounded by the cylinder portion and the pressing member .

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program that operates on a computer of a control unit of the coating processing apparatus so that the cleaning processing method is executed by the coating processing apparatus.

  Furthermore, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a readable computer storage medium storing the program.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, even if a deformation | transformation arises in a pad in the cleaning process of a nozzle, it can suppress that the scraping unevenness of a cleaning target arises.

It is a schematic plan view which shows the coating treatment apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic side view which shows the coating treatment apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the shape of a slit nozzle. It is a three-plane figure which shows the shape of a pad. It is a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the outline of a structure of a press mechanism. It is the schematic which shows the ejection state of the washing | cleaning liquid by a washing | cleaning-liquid ejector. It is explanatory drawing which shows operation | movement of the slit nozzle and a pad in a priming process. It is explanatory drawing which shows operation | movement of the slit nozzle and a pad in a priming process. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state of the pad deform | transformed by repetition of the cleaning process. It is a flowchart which shows the process of calculating | requiring the correction value of the load which presses a pad, and the repetition frequency of a cleaning process. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state of the pad swollen by repetition of the cleaning process. It is a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the outline of a structure of the press mechanism concerning other embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state of the pad swollen by repetition of the cleaning process.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described based on a coating processing apparatus 1 that performs a coating process on a glass substrate G. In the present specification and drawings, elements having substantially the same functional configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  For example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the coating processing apparatus 1 is provided with a stage 10 extending in the X direction along the transport line A, and a slit nozzle 11 provided above the stage 10. In the stage 10, a carry-in stage 10 a into which the glass substrate G is carried in by a transport mechanism provided outside the coating treatment apparatus 1, a coating stage 10 b that performs a coating process on the glass substrate G by the slit nozzle 11, and coating An unloading stage 10c for unloading the processed glass substrate G by a transfer mechanism (not shown) is provided in order from the upstream side (X direction negative direction side) to the downstream side (X direction positive direction side) of the transfer line A. It has been. The stage 10 is configured to be able to transport the glass substrate G in the horizontal direction along the transport line A.

  The slit nozzle 11 that discharges the coating liquid onto the glass substrate G is provided above the coating stage 10b. A coating liquid supply pipe 13 communicating with a coating liquid supply source 12 is connected to the upper part of the slit nozzle 11.

  The slit nozzle 11 is formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape that extends in the width direction (X direction) of the glass substrate G, in other words, the direction along the transport line A as shown in FIGS. The length of the slit nozzle 11 in the X direction is, for example, longer than the width W of the glass substrate G in the X direction. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, when the slit nozzle 11 is viewed in the longitudinal direction (X direction), the lower portion of the slit nozzle 11 is reduced in a tapered shape downward in the vertical direction. That is, the lower part of the slit nozzle 11 has a substantially V shape. Further, on the lower surface 11 a of the slit nozzle 11, a slit-like discharge port 11 b is formed along the longitudinal direction of the slit nozzle 11. In the following description, the tapered surface of the slit nozzle 11 having the V shape described above may be referred to as a lip surface 11c.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a pair of guide rails 20 extending in the Y direction are formed on both sides of the slit nozzle 11. The slit nozzle 11 is supported by a gate-shaped arm 21 that extends across both sides of the coating stage 10b in the X direction. The arm 21 is supported by a drive mechanism 22 attached to the guide rail 20 and is movable on the guide rail 20. Therefore, the slit nozzle 11 can move in the Y direction along the guide rail 20 together with the arm 21. The drive mechanism 22 also functions as a relative movement mechanism that moves the arm 21 up and down to move the slit nozzle 11 relatively up and down relative to a pad 50 described later. Therefore, the slit nozzle 11 can be moved up and down to a predetermined height by the arm 21. With this configuration, the slit nozzle 11 can move between a coating position at which the coating liquid is discharged onto the glass substrate G and a standby bus 30 and a nozzle cleaning device 40, which will be described later, on the negative side in the Y direction.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a standby bus 30 for the slit nozzle 11 is provided on the Y direction negative direction side of the application position of the slit nozzle 11. The standby bus 30 is provided with a function for preventing the slit nozzle 11 from drying, for example. Specifically, for example, the standby bus 30 communicates with a solvent supply source (not shown) that stores the solvent (gaseous state) of the coating solution therein. When the standby nozzle 30 waits for the slit nozzle 11, the inside of the standby bus 30 is maintained in a solvent atmosphere, and the discharge state of the coating liquid at the discharge port 11 b of the slit nozzle 11 can be maintained.

  A nozzle cleaning device 40 that performs priming processing and cleaning processing of the slit nozzle 11 is provided further on the Y direction negative direction side of the standby bus 30. The nozzle cleaning device 40 has a container 41 whose upper surface is open. The container 41 is formed to extend longer than the slit nozzle 11 along the longitudinal direction (X direction) of the slit nozzle 11. Further, on the lower surface of the container 41, a discharge port (not shown) for discharging a coating liquid, a cleaning liquid, and the like removed when the slit nozzle 11 is cleaned (priming process and / or cleaning process). Is formed.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a pad 50 having a shape capable of coming into contact with the lower surface 11 a and the lip surface 11 c of the slit nozzle 11 is provided inside the container 41. The pad 50 is fixed to the upper surface of a pressing mechanism 51 that presses the pad 50 against the slit nozzle 11 with a predetermined load via a pad fixing member 50a. The pad fixing member 50a has a concave shape so as to support the side surface and the bottom surface of the pad 50, for example. The lower surface of the pressing mechanism 51 is supported by a support member 52, for example. The support member 52 is provided on a vertical member 53 extending vertically upward, and a side surface of the support member 52 is supported by, for example, a carriage 54 provided on the vertical member 53.

  A rail 55 extending in the X direction, in other words, extending along the longitudinal direction of the slit nozzle 11, is provided on the bottom surface of the container 41. The rail 55 is provided with a pad moving mechanism 56 that is movable along the rail 55. The vertical member 53 is supported by the pad moving mechanism 56 at the lower end, for example. Therefore, the pad 50 can move along the longitudinal direction of the slit nozzle 11.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the pad 50 has a shape having a substantially V-shaped recess 60 that engages with the lower surface 11 a and the lip surface 11 c of the slit nozzle 11 in the upper part of the rectangular parallelepiped. The slope 60a of the recess 60 extending obliquely upward has a size that covers the entire surface of the lip surface 11c, and the bottom surface of the recess 60 is used when performing a priming process or a cleaning process of the slit nozzle 11 described later. 60b contacts the lower surface 11a of the slit nozzle 11, and the inclined surface 60a of the recess 60 contacts the lip surface 11c. Hereinafter, the concave portion 60 of the pad 50 is referred to as a “scraping portion”. The material of the pad 50 is, for example, silicon rubber.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the pressing mechanism 51 includes a cylindrical cylinder portion 51 a having an upper opening, and a disk-shaped pressing member 51 b provided so as to close the opening of the cylinder portion 51 a. The lower surface of the pad 50 is supported by the upper surface of the pressing member 51b. An annular seal member 61 such as an O-ring is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the pressing member 51b. As a result, the pressing member 51b can move up and down in the cylinder portion 51a while maintaining an airtight relationship with the cylinder portion 51a. A fluid supply pipe 51c is connected to the bottom of the cylinder part 51a. The fluid supply pipe 51c is connected to, for example, a compressed air supply source (not shown), and supplies the compressed air as the working fluid into the space F surrounded by the cylinder portion 51a and the pressing member 51b. While moving up and down, it functions as an actuator that presses the pressing member 51b toward the pad 50 with a predetermined pressure. At this time, the load that presses the pressing member 51b in the direction of the pad 50 depends on the pressure of the compressed air flowing into the cylinder portion 51a. Therefore, the pressing mechanism 51 is kept constant regardless of the relative positional relationship in the vertical direction of the pressing member 51b with respect to the cylinder portion 51a, for example, in a state where the pressure of the compressed air supplied to the cylinder portion 51a is maintained. . The working fluid can be arbitrarily selected as long as it can press the pressing member 51b with a predetermined pressure such as nitrogen gas in addition to compressed air.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a cleaning liquid ejector 70 that ejects a cleaning liquid is provided at the end of the container 41 on the X direction negative direction side. The pad 50 can be moved to a space below the cleaning liquid ejector 70 by the pad moving mechanism 56. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the cleaning liquid ejector 70 is configured to eject the cleaning liquid CL from the tip inclined surface portion 70 b of the cleaning liquid ejection nozzle 70 a toward the scraping portion 60 of the pad 50. As the cleaning liquid, for example, a solvent such as thinner or vegmia is used.

  The coating processing apparatus 1 is provided with a control unit 200 as shown in FIG. The control unit 200 is a computer, for example, and has a program storage unit 200a. The program storage unit controls the operation of the driving system such as the conveyance mechanism and the movement mechanism of the glass substrate G, the discharge of the coating liquid, the ejection of the cleaning liquid, and the like to realize the priming process and the coating process in the coating processing apparatus 1. A program is also stored. The program is recorded on a computer-readable storage medium H such as a computer-readable hard disk (HD), a flexible disk (FD), a compact disk (CD), a magnetic optical desk (MO), or a memory card. May have been installed in the control unit 200 from the storage medium H.

  Next, a priming process and a cleaning process method for the slit nozzle 11 using the coating apparatus 1 having the above configuration will be described. 7 and 8 are diagrams illustrating a series of operations of the slit nozzle 11 and the pad 50 in the front view (X direction view) and the side view (Y direction view) according to the priming process of the present embodiment. The priming process is performed after the coating process of a certain glass substrate G and before the coating process of the next glass substrate G.

  First, before starting the priming process, as shown in FIG. 7A, a so-called pre-dispensing operation is performed in which a small amount of coating liquid L is discharged from the discharge port 11 b of the slit nozzle 11. At this time, the amount of the coating liquid L to be ejected is such that it does not fall due to its own weight, and the coating liquid L remains in the vicinity of the ejection port 11b while being exposed from the ejection port 11b of the slit nozzle 11 by surface tension. It becomes.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 7B, the pad 50 is moved to a predetermined position along the longitudinal direction of the slit nozzle 11. The “predetermined position” is a position where the scraping portion 60 of the pad 50 can be sufficiently wetted by the coating liquid L exposed from the discharge port 11b until the back scan of the pad 50 described later is completed. The specific position is appropriately changed depending on conditions such as the viscosity of the coating liquid L, the shape of the scraping portion 60 of the pad 50, and the back scan speed.

  After moving the pad 50 to a predetermined position, as shown in FIG. 7C, the slit nozzle 11 is lowered to bring the pad 50 and the slit nozzle 11 close to each other. By this operation, the bottom portion of the scraping portion 60 of the pad 50 (the bottom surface 120a of the scraping portion 60 and a part of the inclined surface 120b of the scraping portion 60) comes into contact with the coating liquid L exposed from the discharge port 11b. The gap between the scraping portion 60 and the slit nozzle 11 that are close to each other is appropriately changed depending on the viscosity of the coating liquid L and the like.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 7D, the priming process start position (longitudinal direction of the slit nozzle 11) is brought into contact with the bottom of the scraping portion 60 of the pad 50 and the coating liquid L exposed from the discharge port 11b. The pad 50 is moved to the end). In this specification, the operation at this time is referred to as “back scan”. During the back scan, the coating liquid L exposed from the discharge port 11b flows into the gap C between the scraping portion 60 and the nozzle tip portion one after another, but because the viscosity of the coating liquid L is large, The amount of the coating liquid L flowing into the gap C from the front side in the traveling direction of the pad 50 is larger than the amount of the coating liquid L discharged from the rear side in the traveling direction of the pad 50. As a result, as shown in the front view of FIG. 7D, the coating liquid L that has been in contact with the bottom of the scraping portion 60 flows so as to go up the slope 60 a of the scraping portion 60.

  7E, when the pad 50 is moved to the priming processing start position, the bottom surface 60b of the scraping unit 60 and the entire inclined surface 60a of the scraping unit 60 are in contact with the coating liquid L. It has become. That is, at the stage of starting the priming process, the entire scraping part of the pad 50 is wet.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 8A, the slit nozzle 11 is lowered, and the scraping portion 60 of the pad 50 is brought into contact with the tip portion (the nozzle lower surface 11a and the lip surface 11c) of the slit nozzle 11. At this time, compressed air is supplied in advance to the space F inside the pressing mechanism 51 at a predetermined pressure, and a pressing force toward the slit nozzle 11 acts on the pressing member 51 b of the pressing mechanism 51. . As a result, the pad 50 is pressed against the tip of the slit nozzle 11 with a predetermined load. At this time, since the load for pressing the pad by the pressing mechanism 51 depends on the pressure of the fluid flowing into the cylinder, the pad 50 is worn by friction between the pad 50 and the tip of the slit nozzle 11, for example. Even when the relative positional relationship in the vertical direction with the pressing mechanism 51 is changed, the load for pressing the pad 50 in the direction of the slit nozzle 11 is kept constant.

  Note that the load for pressing the pad 50 in the direction of the slit nozzle 11 is preferably about 3 to 8 N (Newton), and the pressing load in the present embodiment is, for example, 4 N (Newton), and the compression supplied to the space F The air pressure is adjusted to obtain this load. In this state, the priming process is performed by moving the pad 50 in the longitudinal direction of the slit nozzle 11 as shown in FIG. Thereby, the removal target object (residual coating liquid etc.) of the slit nozzle 11 front-end | tip part can be scraped off and removed. The removal target scraped off by the pad 50 falls into the container 41.

  After the completion of the priming process, the glass substrate G is applied. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the slit nozzle 11 that has finished the priming process is moved to the standby bus 30, and the slit nozzle 11 is moved until the glass substrate G is conveyed to the coating stage 10 b shown in FIG. 1. Wait. Thereafter, the glass substrate G is conveyed to the coating stage 10b, and the slit nozzle 11 is moved from the standby bus 30 to a predetermined coating position. And a coating liquid is discharged with respect to the glass substrate G, and a coating process is performed.

  In addition, the cleaning process of the slit nozzle 11 is performed after the coating process of a predetermined number, for example, two or more glass substrates G. In cleaning the slit nozzle 11, first, the pad 50 is moved below the cleaning liquid ejector 70, and the cleaning liquid CL is ejected toward the scraping portion 60 of the pad 50 as shown in FIG. 6. Thereafter, the pad 50 is moved to the longitudinal end of the slit nozzle 11. Subsequently, the slit nozzle 11 is lowered and the scraping portion 60 of the pad 50 is brought into contact with the nozzle tip portion. In this state, the pad 50 is moved along the nozzle longitudinal direction. Also in this cleaning process, similarly to the priming process described above, compressed air is supplied in advance to the space F inside the pressing mechanism 51 at a predetermined pressure, and the pad 50 is slit nozzles by the pressing member 51b of the pressing mechanism 51. It is pressed toward the direction of 11. As a result, the object to be cleaned (dried and solidified coating liquid or the like) at the nozzle tip is cleaned and removed. Then, after cleaning the slit nozzle 11, a pre-dispensing operation and the priming process are performed, and a series of coating processes are repeatedly performed on the subsequent glass substrate G.

  Then, when the priming process and the cleaning process associated with the coating process are repeatedly performed, the scraping part 60 of the pad 50 is scraped with time by the friction with the tip part of the slit nozzle 11 as shown in FIG. The inclined surface 60a and the bottom surface 60b of 60 are deformed. However, in the present embodiment, since the pressing member 51b is pressed by supplying compressed air to the space F inside the pressing mechanism 51, even if the scraping portion 60 is deformed, the pressing member 51b follows the direction of the slit nozzle 11, and can maintain the contact between the pad 50 and the slit nozzle 11 with a predetermined load.

  By the way, as the deformation of the scraping portion 60 increases, it may become difficult to properly maintain the contact between the pad 50 and the slit nozzle 11 with the initial pressing load 4N. In such a case, the control unit 200 may change the contact load between the pad 50 and the slit nozzle 11 by changing the pressure of the compressed air supplied to the space F inside the pressing mechanism 51 as necessary. Good. At this time, the pressure change of the compressed air by the control unit 200 is performed based on a correlation between the number of cleanings of the slit nozzle 11 by the pad 50 and the correction value of the load pressing the pad 50 by the pressing mechanism 51. This correlation is obtained, for example, by a test performed in advance.

  Specifically, as described above, when the priming process and the cleaning process are repeatedly performed, the scraping part 60 of the pad 50 is deformed by friction with the tip part of the slit nozzle 11. If it does so, the cleaning performance of the slit nozzle 11 by the pad 50 will fall gradually. Therefore, in the test, first, the cleaning process (priming process or cleaning process) of the slit nozzle 11 by the pad 50 is repeatedly performed (step S1 in FIG. 10), and the number of cleanings and the degree of deterioration of the cleaning performance are determined by the pressing mechanism 51. The load is kept constant (step S2 in FIG. 10). Next, when the cleaning performance falls below a predetermined performance by repeating the cleaning process, the pressing load by the pressing mechanism 51 is increased in order to recover the cleaning performance. That is, the pressure of the compressed air supplied to the space F of the pressing mechanism 51 is increased (step S3 in FIG. 10).

  If the cleaning performance is recovered by this, an increase in the pressing load at this time, that is, an increase in the pressure of the compressed air is calculated as a correction value (step S4 in FIG. 10), and the correction value and the repetition of the cleaning process are calculated. The correlation is stored in the program storage unit 200a of the control unit 200, for example. When the cleaning performance does not recover, the pressing load is further increased until the cleaning performance recovers, and a predetermined correction value is calculated. Then, this operation is repeated, and the relationship between the number of cleanings and the correction value of the pressing load is obtained up to the predetermined number of cleanings. The predetermined number of times of cleaning is, for example, the number of times that the pad 50 is deformed and the cleaning ability is not recovered by adjusting the pressing load, and can be arbitrarily set.

  When the slit nozzle 11 is repeatedly cleaned in the priming process and the cleaning process described above (step T1 in FIG. 10), the correlation between the number of times the cleaning process is performed and the correction value stored in the program storage unit 200a is obtained. Based on this, the pressing load by the pressing mechanism 51 is corrected as appropriate (step T2 in FIG. 10). Thereby, the contact state of the pad 50 and the slit nozzle 11 is always maintained in an appropriate state, and the cleaning object at the tip of the slit nozzle 11 can be sufficiently scraped regardless of the number of times the cleaning process is repeated. In FIG. 10, steps S1 to S4 surrounded by a broken line are test steps performed in advance, and steps T1 and T2 are steps in an actual cleaning process.

  According to the present inventors, deformation due to swelling of the pad 50 has been confirmed as a cause of deformation of the pad 50 in addition to friction between the pad 50 and the slit nozzle 11. That is, for example, when the coating liquid L is supplied to the pad 50 made of silicon rubber in the priming process or the cleaning liquid CL is supplied in the cleaning process described later, the coating liquid L and the cleaning liquid CL are contained in the silicon rubber. Infiltrate. Then, by repeatedly supplying the coating liquid L and the cleaning liquid CL, the pad 50 gradually swells and deforms in a direction in which the surface area of the scraping portion 60 decreases, for example, as shown in FIG. Also in this case, since the contact state between the pad 50 and the tip of the slit nozzle 11 changes, the cleaning performance deteriorates. However, such a decrease in cleaning performance is also reflected in the test results of the above-described steps S1 to S4. In the coating processing apparatus of the present embodiment, the pressing load is adjusted based on the correction value calculated from the test results of steps S1 to S4 by the control unit 200 according to the number of times the cleaning process is repeated.

  According to the above embodiment, since the actuator that operates by allowing fluid to flow into the cylinder portion 51a is used as the pressing mechanism 51, the load that presses the pad by the pressing mechanism 51 depends on the pressure of the fluid that flows into the cylinder portion 51a. Will be. For this reason, the pad 50 gradually wears and deforms due to friction between the pad 50 and the tip of the slit nozzle 11 or the pad 50 swells and deforms due to the infiltration of the coating liquid L or the cleaning liquid CL. In other words, for example, even if the relative positional relationship in the vertical direction between the pressing mechanism 51 that presses the pad 50 and the tip of the slit nozzle 11 is different from the positional relationship before the deformation, the inside of the cylinder portion 51a. If the pressure of the fluid flowing into the nozzle is kept constant, the contact pressure between the pad 50 and the tip of the slit nozzle 11 can be kept constant. Therefore, even when the pad 50 is deformed, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of unevenness of scraping of the cleaning object and perform the cleaning process appropriately.

  Moreover, according to the above embodiment, the pad 50 is determined based on the correlation between the number of cleanings of the slit nozzle 11 by the pad 50 and the correction value of the load for pressing the pad 50 by the pressing mechanism 51. Since the pressing load is corrected, when the pad 50 gradually wears and deforms due to friction between the pad 50 and the tip of the slit nozzle 11, or the pad 50 swells and deforms due to infiltration of the coating liquid L or the cleaning liquid CL. Even in this case, uniform contact between the pad 50 and the tip of the slit nozzle 11 can be maintained. Therefore, even when the pad 50 is deformed with time, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of unevenness in scraping of the cleaning target. As a result, a coating film having a uniform film thickness can be formed on the glass substrate G.

  In the above embodiment, since the priming process and the cleaning process can be started with the pad 50 pre-wet by the coating liquid L and the cleaning liquid CL, the scraping part 60 and the nozzle tip part of the pad 50 can be started. It is possible to reduce the friction of the contact portion with the. This prevents chatter vibration between the pad 50 and the tip of the slit nozzle 11 and the removal performance of the nozzle tip from being deteriorated, and the cleaning object at the tip of the nozzle is sufficiently removed from the beginning of the cleaning process. Since it can be scraped off, unevenness in scraping can be suppressed. In addition, by making the pad 50 in a wet state in advance and suppressing friction between the pad 50 and the tip of the slit nozzle 11, changes with time due to wear of the pad 50 itself can also be suppressed.

  In the present embodiment, since the coating liquid discharged from the slit nozzle 11 is used as the liquid for wetting the pad 50, there is no possibility that components other than the coating liquid component are mixed in the coating film formed on the glass substrate G. The quality of the film can be improved.

  In the embodiment described above, the vertical position of the pad 50 and the slit nozzle 11 is adjusted by moving the arm 21 up and down by the drive mechanism 22 as a relative movement mechanism. As an aspect, it is not limited to the content of this Embodiment. For example, an elevating mechanism that raises and lowers the carriage 54 may be provided as a relative movement mechanism, and thereby the relative position between the pad 50 and the slit nozzle 11 may be adjusted.

  In the above embodiment, for example, an actuator using air pressure is used as the pressing mechanism 51. However, as shown in FIG. 10, when correcting the pressing load, the pressing mechanism 51 includes a load that presses the pad 50. Is not limited to the contents of the present embodiment. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, an elastic member 80 such as a spring is provided on the lower surface of the pressing member 51b, and this elastic member 80 is provided. The pressing mechanism 90 may be used as a structure that adjusts the pressing load applied by the pressing member 51b via the. In such a case, for example, the stroke of the elastic member 80, that is, the pressing load by the elastic member 80, is adjusted by appropriately adjusting the height direction position of the slit nozzle 11 with respect to the pressing mechanism 90 by the drive mechanism 22. Regarding the position adjustment in the height direction in this case as well, it is preferable to perform a test relating to steps S1 to S4 shown in FIG. 10 in advance and appropriately correct the pressure load to be optimal. When the pressing load by the pressing mechanism 51 is increased in step S3, the relative vertical distance between the slit nozzle 11 and the pad 50 is reduced instead of increasing the pressure of the compressed air, in other words, the elastic member 80. The drive mechanism 22 is controlled and controlled so that the pressing load due to. Further, the fluid supplied to the space F of the pressing mechanism 51 is not limited to a gas that is a compressed fluid, and for example, a liquid that is an incompressible fluid may be used.

  In the above embodiment, the correction of the pressing load is performed based on the correlation between the number of cleanings of the slit nozzle 11 by the pad 50 and the correction value of the load pressing the pad 50 by the pressing mechanism 51. The correction method is not limited to the contents of the present embodiment. For example, when the pad 50 is deformed due to wear or swelling, the frictional force between the pad 50 and the tip of the slit nozzle 11 changes even when the pressing load of the pad 50 by the pressing mechanism 51 is kept constant, for example. Then, when the pad 50 is scanned by the pad moving mechanism 56 while pressing the pad 50 against the slit nozzle 11, for example, the driving torque of the motor that drives the pad moving mechanism 56 also changes. Specifically, when the pad 50 swells, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, the pad 50 is deformed so as to sandwich the slit nozzle 11, so that the frictional force between the slit nozzle 11 and the pad 50 increases. Then, since the driving torque of the motor that drives the pad moving mechanism 56 increases, this torque increase is detected, and the contact state (frictional force) between the slit nozzle 11 and the pad 50 is pressed to be equal to that before swelling deformation. You may reduce the pressing load by the mechanism 51. FIG. On the other hand, when the pad 50 is deformed due to wear, for example, contact with the pad 50 is gradually lost, and the frictional force with the slit nozzle 11 gradually decreases. Then, since the driving torque of the motor that drives the pad moving mechanism 56 is reduced, this torque reduction is detected, and the contact state (friction force) between the slit nozzle 11 and the pad 50 is pressed so as to be equal to that before wear deformation. The pressing load by the mechanism 51 may be increased.

  In the above embodiment, the pad 50 is supported by the pad fixing member 50a. However, as shown in FIG. 13, for example, the pad fixing member 50a supports a position below the bottom surface 60b of the pad 50. You may comprise. For example, when substantially the entire side surface of the pad 50 is supported by the pad fixing member 50a, the pad 50 is prevented from escaping to the outside, that is, the pad fixing member 50a side when the pad 50 and the slit nozzle 11 are brought into contact with each other. It functions to prevent loss of contact between 50 and the slit nozzle 11. On the other hand, when the pad is deformed by swelling, the surface area of the scraping portion 60 is deformed in a direction of decreasing as shown in FIG. As a result, the frictional force between the pad 50 and the slit nozzle 11 is excessively increased, and the cleaning performance is deteriorated, and the wear of the pad 50 is accelerated. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 13, the pad fixing member 50 a is configured to support a position below the bottom surface 60 b of the pad 50, so that deformation due to swelling is caused by the pad 50 as shown by a broken line in FIG. 13. Can escape to the outside. As a result, an excessive increase in the frictional force between the pad 50 and the slit nozzle 11 can be suppressed, the cleaning performance can be maintained, and early wear of the pad 50 can be suppressed.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to this example. It is obvious for those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications can be conceived within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims. It is understood that it belongs to.

  For example, in the above embodiment, when performing the back scan of the pad 50, the pad 50 and the slit nozzle 11 are brought close to each other after performing the pre-dispensing operation of the slit nozzle 11, but before performing the pre-dispensing operation, the pad 50 50 and the slit nozzle 11 may be brought close to each other. In this case, when the pad 50 and the slit nozzle 11 are brought close to each other, the scraping portion 60 of the pad 50 can come into contact with the coating liquid L (exposed coating liquid) to be ejected in a small amount from the nozzle ejection port 11b. Up close.

  In the above-described embodiment, the coating treatment of the coating solution for the antireflection film has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, an SOG (Spin On Glass) film, an SOD (Spin) The present invention can also be applied to a coating solution coating process for forming an on-dielectric film, a resist solution coating process, and the like. The present invention can also be applied to a substrate other than the LCD substrate, such as a mask reticle for a photomask.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the example at the time of using the slit nozzle 11 which has the slit-shaped discharge port 11b as a nozzle which discharges a coating liquid, the kind of nozzle is not limited to this, For example, Alternatively, a nozzle in which hole-like discharge ports are scattered along the nozzle longitudinal direction on the lower surface of the nozzle may be used.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the scraping part 60 of the pad 50 had a shape which surface-contacts with respect to a nozzle front-end | tip part, the shape of the scraping part 60 is not limited to this. For example, the scraper 60 may have a shape that makes line contact with the nozzle tip. Further, during the priming process, the shape of the scraping portion 60 and the method of attaching the pad 50 may be determined so that the scraping portion 60 that makes line contact is inclined forward along the traveling direction of the pad 50. That is, the shape of the scraping unit 60 and the manner of contact between the scraping unit 60 and the nozzle tip are appropriately changed according to the viscosity of the coating liquid, the moving speed of the pad 50, and the like. By obtaining the above-described correlation according to the shape of the pad 50 and the scraping portion 60, the cleaning target at the nozzle tip can be sufficiently scraped off as described above.

The present invention is useful for a slit coater cleaning process.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Coating processing apparatus 10 Stage 11 Slit nozzle 20 Guide rail 21 Arm 22 Drive mechanism 30 Standby bus 40 Nozzle cleaning apparatus 50 Pad 51 Press member 52 Support member 53 Vertical member 54 Carriage 56 Pad moving mechanism 60 Scraping part (recessed part)
70 Cleaning liquid ejector 200 Control section C Gap between scraping section and nozzle tip G Glass substrate L Coating liquid CL Cleaning liquid

Claims (10)

A discharge port that discharges the coating liquid to the substrate is formed on the lower surface, the nozzle extends in the width direction of the substrate, and has a shape that can contact the lower surface of the nozzle and an adjacent surface adjacent to the lower surface, A pad for cleaning the nozzle, a pad moving mechanism for relatively moving the pad and the nozzle along the longitudinal direction of the nozzle, and a relative moving mechanism for relatively moving the nozzle and the pad in the vertical direction A coating processing apparatus for coating a substrate with a coating liquid,
A pressing mechanism for pressing the pad against the nozzle;
The pressing mechanism is
It has a cylindrical cylinder part with an open upper part and a pressing member provided so as to close the opening of the cylinder part, the lower surface of the pad is supported by the pressing member, and is surrounded by the cylinder part and the pressing member A coating processing apparatus, wherein a working fluid is introduced into the space at a predetermined pressure. A pad fixing member for supporting the pad;
The coating processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pad fixing member supports a position below an outer surface of the pad that is in contact with a lower surface of the nozzle. And a controller that corrects the predetermined pressure based on a correlation between a predetermined number of cleanings of the nozzle by the pad and a correction value of a load that presses the pad by the pressing mechanism. The coating treatment apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The coating processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit that corrects the predetermined pressure based on a driving torque value of a motor that drives the pad moving mechanism. The pre-wet mechanism for supplying a liquid to a surface of the pad that comes into contact with the nozzle before the pad comes into contact with the nozzle, according to any one of claims 1 to 4. Coating treatment equipment. For a nozzle extending in the width direction of the substrate, on which a discharge port for discharging the coating liquid is formed on the lower surface, a pad contacting the lower surface of the nozzle and an adjacent surface adjacent to the lower surface is arranged in the longitudinal direction of the nozzle. A cleaning process method for removing the object to be cleaned attached to the lower surface of the nozzle and the adjacent surface,
Supporting the lower surface of the pad with a pressing member provided so as to close the opening of the cylindrical cylinder part whose upper part is open,
A cleaning process method, wherein a working fluid flows into a space surrounded by the cylinder part and the pressing member at a predetermined pressure. Previously obtained, and cleaning times of the nozzle by the pad, based on the correlation between the corrected value of the load for pressing the pad, and corrects the predetermined pressure, according to claim 6 Cleaning process method. Claim 6, characterized in that correcting the predetermined pressure based on the torque value of the motor for driving the pad moving mechanism for relatively moving along the said and the pad nozzles in the longitudinal direction of the nozzle Cleaning process method. As it is performed by applying processing apparatus cleaning method according to any one of claims 6-8, program running on the control unit of the computer of the coating treatment apparatus. A readable computer storage medium storing the program according to claim 9 .

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