JP2008122393A - Weight measuring method, electro-optical device manufacturing method, and semiconductor device manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a weight measuring device and method for accurately measuring a weight of an extremely micro amount of volatile liquid, and an applicator. <P>SOLUTION: The device has an electronic balance (weight measuring instrument) 2, and an absorption member (reception member) 5 delivered with the liquid L, and is provided with a sealing mechanism 10 for bringing the periphery of the absorption member 5 into a closes space, when measuring the weight of the liquid L. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a weight measuring device, a weight measuring method, and a coating device.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, coating apparatuses using an inkjet method (droplet discharge method) (hereinafter referred to as inkjet apparatuses) are not only ordinary printers, but also semiconductor devices, liquid crystal display devices, or organic electroluminescence (organic EL) devices. In many manufacturing processes of thin film devices employed in electro-optical devices such as the above. Among them, the accurate discharge amount of the liquid material discharged from the ink jet head, that is, the weight of the liquid material is not only inspecting whether the ink jet head is functioning normally, but also in the desired liquid material. It is also very important to determine an appropriate voltage to be applied to the ink jet head in order to obtain a discharge amount of 2.
As described above, as an apparatus for measuring the weight of a liquid having a very small amount, in particular, a liquid having high volatility, for example, a volatile solvent is used in a non-volatile solvent having a low specific gravity compared to the volatile solvent. A weight measuring device or the like that accurately measures the weight of the volatile solvent by preventing the volatilization of the volatile solvent by discharging and interposing it has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-317452

However, the above prior art has the following problems.
The liquid material employed in the ink jet apparatus is generally highly volatile, and starts to volatilize in a short time after ejection due to the extremely small amount of ejection at one time.
Therefore, when a certain amount of time is required from the time when the liquid material is discharged to the time when the weight is measured, there is a problem that the liquid material volatilizes and an accurate weight value cannot be obtained. Furthermore, when the weight measuring apparatus as described above is installed in the coating apparatus, there is a problem that safety and maintainability are lacking.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a weight measuring device, a weight measuring method, and a coating device that accurately measure the weight of a very small amount of a volatile liquid. To do.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the weight measuring device of the present invention, in the weight measuring device of the liquid material having volatility, the weight measuring device is mounted on the mounting portion of the member to be measured of the weight measuring device, And a receiving member that discharges the liquid material, and includes a sealing mechanism that surrounds the receiving member when the weight of the liquid material is measured.
According to the above-described weight measuring device, after the liquid material is ejected to the receiving member, the surrounding area of the adsorbing member is instantaneously closed space, so that the volatilized amount of the ejected liquid material can be minimized, Furthermore, it becomes possible to stabilize the numerical values measured by the weight measuring device.

In the weight measuring device of the present invention, the sealing mechanism surrounds the receiving member and has an opening that opens the surface of the receiving member that receives the liquid material, and the opening can be opened and closed. And a lid body.
According to this, it becomes possible to efficiently and quickly form a closed space around the adsorption member.

In the weight measuring device of the present invention, the receiving member is an absorbent material that absorbs the liquid material.
According to this, since the absorbent material is employed as the receiving member, the volatilization of the discharged liquid material can be suppressed and the liquid material can be secured efficiently.

In the weight measuring method of the present invention, in the weight measuring method of the volatile liquid material, after the liquid material is discharged to the receiving member attached to the mounting portion of the member to be measured of the weight measuring device, The periphery of the receiving member is a closed space.
According to the above-described weight measurement method, after the liquid material is ejected to the receiving member, the surrounding area of the adsorption member is instantly made a closed space, so that the volatilization amount of the ejected liquid material can be minimized, Furthermore, it becomes possible to stabilize the numerical values measured by the weight measuring device.

In the weight measuring method of the present invention, the discharged liquid is based on the difference between the weight of the receiving member before discharging the liquid and the weight of the receiving member after discharging the liquid. It is characterized by calculating the weight of the body.
According to this, it is possible to accurately measure the weight of the liquid material, and to continuously measure the liquid material without performing operations such as replacement of the receiving member and cleaning one by one.

In the coating apparatus of the present invention, in the coating apparatus having a head for discharging a volatile liquid material to the substrate and a drive mechanism for moving the substrate and the head relative to each other, a weight measuring device and the weight measurement And a receiving member that is mounted on a mounting portion of the member to be measured of the container and from which the liquid material is discharged, and includes a sealing mechanism that surrounds the receiving member when measuring the weight of the liquid material. A weight measuring device is installed in the moving range of the head.
According to the coating apparatus, it is possible to minimize the volatilization amount of the discharged liquid material, and it is possible to stabilize the numerical value measured by the weight measuring device. Accordingly, it is possible to accurately calculate an appropriate voltage to be applied to the head when the liquid material is discharged.

In the coating apparatus of the present invention, when the liquid material is discharged onto the receiving member, the distance between the surface of the receiving member and the discharge surface of the head is within 2 mm.
According to this, it becomes possible to make the discharged liquid material land on the receiving member efficiently without spraying.

In the coating apparatus of the present invention, the sealing mechanism surrounds the receiving member and has an isolation member having an opening that opens the surface of the receiving member that receives the liquid material, and the opening is openable and closable. And an opening / closing mechanism for operating the lid based on the operation of the head.
According to this, since the operation of the head and the operation of the lid body are linked, it is possible to efficiently form the closed space after the liquid material is discharged.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a weight measuring device, a weight measuring method, and a coating device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Each of these drawings is a schematic diagram, and each member has a different scale so that each member has a size that can be recognized on the drawing.

As a first embodiment, a weight measuring device and a weight measuring method of the present invention will be described.
In addition, the weight measuring apparatus in this embodiment is demonstrated as what measures the weight of the liquid material with the very minute quantity discharged by the inkjet application | coating mechanism and high volatility. The liquid that can be used in the weight measuring device is not particularly limited.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a weight measuring device of the present invention and a weight measuring method using the weight measuring device.
The weight measuring device 1 is mounted on a high-precision electronic balance (weight measuring device) 2 capable of measuring to a very small unit, and a mounting portion 3 of a member to be measured of the electronic balance 2 via a tray 4, and is liquid. And an absorbing member (receiving member) 5 from which the body L is discharged. Further, when the weight of the liquid L is measured, a sealing mechanism 10 is provided in which the periphery of the absorbing member 5 is a closed space. .

The absorbing member 5 is a member that quickly absorbs the liquid L, and is preferably a material that has little shape change such as expansion of the shape of the entire member when the liquid L is absorbed.
In particular, as the material of the absorbing member 5, for example, a polyolefin functional material is preferably used.

  The sealing mechanism 10 surrounds the electronic balance 2 including the absorbing member 5, and includes a cover (covering member) 12 having an opening 11 that opens a surface portion 5 a that receives the liquid L in the absorbing member 5, and the opening 11. It is comprised from the shield (lid body) 13 which can be opened and closed freely. As shown in FIG. 1, the shield 13 opens and closes the opening 11 in a sliding manner, and is opened and closed by a drive mechanism (not shown). As the drive mechanism, an air actuator, a linear motor, or the like can be employed, and is not particularly limited. In the present embodiment, the cover 12 is configured to surround the entire electronic balance 2 including the absorbing member 5. However, since the periphery of the absorbing member 5 may be a closed space, for example, as shown in FIG. In addition, a configuration (cover 15) that covers only the mounting portion 3 of the member to be measured of the electronic balance 2 including the absorbing member 5 may be employed.

Hereinafter, a weight measuring method using the weight measuring apparatus will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1A, first, the shield 13 of the sealing mechanism 10 is opened to open the opening 11, and the liquid L is discharged onto the surface portion 5 a of the absorbing member 5 that appears from the opening 11. An ejection unit 20 (for example, an ink jet head) is disposed. A storage tank 21 for temporarily storing the liquid L is connected to the discharge unit 20. And in order to extract | collect the liquid L efficiently, the discharge part 20 is moved so that the distance of the discharge surface of the discharge part 20 and the surface part 5a of the absorption member 5 may become the fixed space | interval d. Here, when the ejection unit 20 is an inkjet head, it is desirable that the dimension of the constant interval d is within 2 mm. As a result, the discharged liquid L can be landed on the absorbing member 5 without spraying.
After the adjustment of the constant interval d is completed, before the liquid L is discharged, the weight of the absorbing member 5 including the receiving tray 4 is measured in advance with the electronic balance 2 to obtain a measured value of the weight W1 (g).

Next, as shown in FIG. 1B, the liquid L is discharged to the absorbing member 5 while maintaining the predetermined interval d. After the desired liquid L is discharged, as shown in FIG. 1C, the discharge portion 20 is quickly raised and separated from the absorbing member 5, and the shield 13 is quickly slid to open the opening portion 11. Close. Thereby, the inside of the cover 12 becomes a closed space.
After the opening 11 is closed, the weight of the absorbing member 5 including the receiving tray 4 and further absorbing the liquid L is immediately measured with the electronic balance 2 to obtain a measured value of the weight W2 (g).

  Accordingly, by calculating the difference between the weight W1 and the weight W2, it is possible to accurately obtain the weight W3 (= W2−W1) (g) of the discharged liquid L.

As described above, according to the weight measuring device and the weight measuring method of the present invention, after the liquid L is ejected to the adsorbing member 5, the periphery of the adsorbing member 5 is instantaneously set as a closed space. The amount of volatilization of L can be minimized, and the numerical value measured by the electronic balance 2 can be stabilized.
Further, since the absorbing member 5 is employed as a receiving member that receives the liquid L, volatilization of the discharged liquid L can be suppressed and the liquid L can be efficiently secured. Furthermore, since the absorbing member 5 is made of a material that hardly changes the shape of the entire member when the liquid L is absorbed, a certain distance between the discharging surface of the discharging portion 20 and the surface portion 5a of the absorbing member 5 is adopted. Even when d is small, it is possible to avoid the absorbing member 5 from coming into contact with the discharge portion 20 by the absorbing member 5 absorbing the liquid L.
Furthermore, since the desired weight value W3 is calculated by comparing the weight value W1 immediately before the discharge of the liquid L and the weight value W2 immediately after the discharge, operations such as replacement and cleaning of the absorbing member 5 are performed one by one. Therefore, it is possible to continuously measure the liquid material L.

As a second embodiment, a coating apparatus of the present invention will be described.
Note that the coating apparatus in the present embodiment will be described as an inkjet apparatus. The ink jet device can be employed in, for example, a coating process when forming an organic EL device. In this case, the inkjet apparatus performs patterning on the transparent electrode by ejecting an ink composition (liquid material) in which a hole injection layer material made of an organic substance forming a pixel and a light emitting material are dissolved or dispersed in a solvent from an inkjet head. The device is applied to form a hole injection / transport layer and a light emitting layer. For example, when the hole injection layer is formed by the coating apparatus of the present embodiment, the material contained in the solvent as the ink composition includes, for example, a polythiophene derivative, a polypyrrole derivative, or a doped body thereof. Can be adopted. In particular, as a polythiophene derivative, PEDOT: PSS in which PSS is doped with PSS (polystyrene sulfonic acid) can be employed. As a more specific example, Vitron-P (Bytron-P: manufactured by Bayer), which is a kind thereof, can be preferably used.

FIG. 3 is a schematic external perspective view of the ink jet apparatus 30.
The ink jet device 30 includes a head unit 56 including an ink jet head 52, a head position control device 47 that controls the position of the ink jet head 52, a substrate position control device 48 that controls the position of the substrate P, and the ink jet head 52 as a substrate. A main scanning driving device 49 that moves the main scanning with respect to P and a sub-scanning driving device 51 that moves the inkjet head 52 with respect to the substrate P by sub-scanning.
The head position control device 47, the substrate position control device 48, the main scanning drive device 49, and the sub-scanning drive device 51 are installed on the base 39.

  The ink-jet head 52 performs main scanning on the substrate P by moving in parallel in the X direction. During this main scanning, the ink composition is selectively ejected from a plurality of nozzles provided in the ink-jet head 52, whereby the substrate is scanned. The ink composition is attached to a predetermined position in 2.

  The head position controller 47 mainly includes an α motor 74 that rotates the inkjet head 52 in a plane, a β motor 76 that swings and rotates the inkjet head 52 about an axis parallel to the sub-scanning direction Y, and the inkjet head 52. A γ motor 77 that swings and rotates about an axis parallel to the scanning direction X and a Z motor 78 that translates the inkjet head 52 in the vertical direction are included.

  Further, the substrate position control device 48 includes a table 79 on which the substrate P is placed, and a θ motor 81 that rotates the table 79 in-plane as indicated by an arrow θ. The main scanning driving device 49 includes a guide rail 82 extending in the main scanning direction X and a slider 83 incorporating a pulse-driven linear motor. The slider 83 translates in the main scanning direction along the guide rail 82 when the built-in linear motor operates. Further, the sub-scanning drive device 51 has a guide rail 84 extending in the sub-scanning direction Y and a slider 86 incorporating a pulse-driven linear motor. The slider 86 translates in the sub-scanning direction Y along the guide rail 84 when the built-in linear motor operates.

The linear motor that is pulse-driven in the slider 83 and the slider 86 can finely control the rotation angle of the output shaft by the pulse signal supplied to the motor. Therefore, the main motor of the inkjet head 52 supported by the slider 83 can be controlled. The position in the scanning direction X, the position in the sub-scanning direction Y of the table 79, etc. can be controlled with high definition.
The position control of the inkjet head 52 and the table 79 is not limited to the position control using the pulse motor, and can be realized by feedback control using a servo motor or any other control method.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a weight measuring device 100 is installed at one side position of the sub-scanning driving device 51 under the trajectory of the inkjet head 52 driven by the main scanning driving device 49 and moving in the main scanning. ing.
Although the basic structure of the weight measuring device 100 in this embodiment is the same as that of the weight measuring device 1 shown in the first embodiment, the operation of the shield 13 constituting the sealing mechanism 10 and the inkjet head 52 are the same. It is characterized by having an opening / closing mechanism (not shown) for interlocking with the operation.

Hereinafter, a weight measuring method in the weight measuring apparatus 100 will be described.
The weight measurement of the ink composition by the weight measuring apparatus 100 is mainly applied when the ink composition is discharged before the ink composition is applied to the normal discharge region on the substrate P from the inkjet head 52. This operation is performed to set the voltage to an appropriate value. The configuration of the weight measuring device 100 is the same as the configuration of the weight measuring device 1 shown in FIG.

  First, after the shield 13 of the sealing mechanism 10 is opened to open the opening 11, the head position control device 47 and the main scanning drive device 49 are operated so that the surface 11 a appears on the surface of the absorbing member 5. An ink jet head 52 for discharging the ink composition is disposed. In this case, the inkjet head 52 is moved so that the distance between the ejection surface of the inkjet head 52 and the surface portion 5a of the absorbing member 5 is within 2 mm. Thereafter, before discharging the ink composition, the weight of the absorbing member 5 including the tray 4 is measured in advance with the electronic balance 2 to obtain a measured value of the weight W1 (g).

  Next, the ink composition is ejected from the inkjet head 52 to the absorbing member 5. After discharging a desired ink composition, the inkjet head 52 is quickly raised and separated from the absorbing member 5 by the opening / closing mechanism, and the shield 13 is quickly slid to close the opening 11. Thereby, the inside of the cover 12 becomes a closed space. Thereafter, after the opening 11 is closed, the weight of the absorbing member 5 including the receiving tray 4 and further absorbing the ink composition is immediately measured with the electronic balance 2 to obtain a measured value of the weight W2 (g).

  As a result, the difference between the weight W1 and the weight W2 is calculated, and the weight W3 (= W2−W1) (g) of the discharged liquid L can be accurately obtained. Based on the value of the weight W3, the inkjet head 52 can be obtained. The appropriate voltage is set. Thereafter, the ink composition is applied to the ejection region on the substrate P based on the appropriate voltage.

  As described above, according to the above-described coating apparatus, as in the first embodiment, the volatilization amount of the ejected ink composition can be minimized, and further, the numerical value measured by the electronic balance 2 can be stabilized. It becomes possible. Accordingly, it is possible to accurately calculate the appropriate voltage applied to the inkjet head 52.

  The weight measuring device, the weight measuring method, and the coating device according to the embodiment of the present invention have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be freely changed within the scope of the present invention.

It is sectional drawing which shows the weight measuring apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is sectional drawing which shows the other weight measuring apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows the coating device which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Weight measuring apparatus, 2 ... Electronic balance (weight measuring device), 3 ... Mounting part, 5 ... Absorbing member (receiving member), 5a ... Surface part, 10 ... Sealing mechanism, 11 ... opening, 12 ... cover (covering member), 13 ... shield (cover), 20, 52 ... inkjet head (head), 47 ... head position control Device (drive mechanism), 48... Substrate position control device (drive mechanism), 49... Main scan drive device (drive mechanism), 51 .. sub-scan drive device (drive mechanism)

Claims (8)

In a weight measuring device for a volatile liquid,
A weight measuring device, and a receiving member attached to a mounting portion of a member to be measured of the weight measuring device, from which the liquid material is discharged,
When measuring the weight of the liquid material, the weight measuring device is provided with a sealing mechanism having a closed space around the receiving member.   The sealing mechanism includes a covering member that surrounds the receiving member and has an opening that opens a surface portion that receives the liquid material of the receiving member, and a lid that opens and closes the opening. The weight measuring device according to claim 1, wherein   The weight measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receiving member is an absorbent material that absorbs the liquid material. In the method for measuring the weight of a volatile liquid,
A weight measuring method, wherein the liquid material is ejected to a receiving member mounted on a mounting portion of a member to be measured of a weight measuring device, and then the surroundings of the receiving member are instantaneously set as a closed space.   The weight of the discharged liquid material is calculated based on the difference between the weight of the receiving member before the liquid material is discharged and the weight of the receiving member after the liquid material is discharged. The weight measuring method according to claim 4. In a coating apparatus having a head that discharges a volatile liquid to a substrate, and a drive mechanism that relatively moves the substrate and the head.
A weight measuring device, and a receiving member mounted on a mounting portion of the member to be measured of the weight measuring device, and for discharging the liquid material, and surrounding the receiving member when measuring the weight of the liquid material. A coating apparatus, wherein a weight measuring device including a sealing mechanism as a space is installed within a movement range of the head.   The coating apparatus according to claim 6, wherein when discharging the liquid material to the receiving member, a distance between the surface of the receiving member and the discharge surface of the head is set to 2 mm or less. The sealing mechanism includes a covering member that surrounds the receiving member and has an opening that opens a surface portion that receives the liquid material of the receiving member, and a lid that opens and closes the opening. ,
The coating apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising an opening / closing mechanism that operates the lid based on the operation of the head.