KR-20260065512-A - LIQUID DISCHARGE APPARATUS, AND ARTICLE MANUFACTURING METHOD

KR20260065512AKR 20260065512 AKR20260065512 AKR 20260065512AKR-20260065512-A

Abstract

A technology advantageous for determining the quality of a nozzle at high speed and with high precision is provided. A liquid dispensing device comprises a stage that moves while holding a substrate, a dispensing head that discharges liquid droplets from a plurality of nozzles toward the substrate held by the stage, an imaging unit that captures a plurality of liquid droplets discharged onto the substrate by the dispensing head, and a processing unit that processes image data obtained by the imaging unit. The processing unit includes a plurality of image processing units that perform a determination of the quality of the plurality of nozzles by parallel processing a plurality of partial regions of an image based on the image data. Each of the plurality of image processing units performs the parallel processing as a partial region an image of a second impact area having a predetermined size, within a first impact area on a substrate where liquid droplets from adjacent nozzles do not interfere with each other, and where positional misalignment of the liquid droplets is allowed.

Inventors

오카다 요시유키

Assignees

캐논 가부시끼가이샤

Dates

Publication Date: 20260508
Application Date: 20251014
Priority Date: 20241101

Claims (17)

A stage that holds and moves a substrate, and A discharge head that discharges liquid droplets from a plurality of nozzles toward the substrate maintained by the stage, and An imaging unit that captures a plurality of liquid droplets discharged onto the substrate by the discharge head, and It has a processing unit that processes image data obtained by imaging by the above-mentioned imaging unit, and The processing unit includes a plurality of image processing units that perform a determination of the quality of the plurality of nozzles by parallel processing a plurality of partial regions of an image based on the image data. A liquid discharge device characterized in that each of the above-mentioned plurality of image processing units performs parallel processing on an image of a second impact area having a predetermined size, in which positional misalignment of liquid droplets is allowed within a first impact area on a substrate in which liquid droplets from adjacent nozzles do not interfere with each other, as a partial area.
In Article 1, A liquid discharge device characterized in that each of the above plurality of image processing units, when the result of the judgment of the above pass/fail judgment regarding the target nozzle indicates an abnormality, expands the target range to the first impact area including the second impact area corresponding to the target nozzle and re-executes the pass/fail judgment.
In Paragraph 2, An image receiving unit that receives the image data from the above-mentioned imaging unit, and A first memory unit that stores the image data received from the image receiving unit, and A data extraction unit that extracts a portion of the image data from the first memory unit, and It is equipped with a plurality of second memory units installed corresponding to the plurality of image processing units and storing a portion of the image data extracted by the data extraction unit, and The data extraction unit sequentially extracts image data of the second impact area from the first memory unit for each liquid droplet and stores it in a memory unit corresponding to the liquid droplet among the plurality of second memory units. A liquid discharge device characterized in that each of the plurality of image processing units reads image data of the second impact area from a memory unit corresponding to each image processing unit among the plurality of second memory units and performs the good/bad determination.
In Paragraph 3, The data extraction unit extracts image data of the first impact area, including the second impact area corresponding to the target nozzle, from the first memory unit and stores it in a corresponding memory unit among the plurality of second memory units that corresponds to the target nozzle. A liquid discharge device characterized in that the image processing unit corresponding to the target nozzle among the plurality of image processing units reads image data of the first impact area from the corresponding memory unit and re-executes the good/bad judgment with the first impact area as the target range.
In Article 1, A liquid discharge device characterized in that each of the above-mentioned plurality of image processing units detects the size and impact location of a liquid droplet and performs a good/bad judgment based on the result of the detection.
In Paragraph 3, Each of the above plurality of image processing units is, A binary processing unit that binaryizes image data read from a memory unit corresponding to each image processing unit among the plurality of second memory units, and A parallel/serial converter that converts a parallel signal composed of binary output values of multiple pixels from the above binary processing unit into a serial signal, and A liquid dispensing device characterized by including a judgment unit that determines a liquid droplet based on the above serial signal.
In Paragraph 6, Each of the plurality of image processing units further includes a counting unit that counts a binary output value indicating the presence of a liquid drop in the serial signal to obtain the total number of pixels in which a liquid drop exists. A liquid dispensing device characterized by the above-mentioned judgment unit determining that the size of the liquid drop is normal when the total number is within a predetermined range, determining that the size of the liquid drop is abnormal when the total number is outside the predetermined range, and determining that the corresponding nozzle is non-dispensing abnormal when the total number is zero.
In Article 7, A liquid dispensing device characterized by the above-determined judgment unit determining that if the total number falls below the lower limit of the above-determined range, the shape of the liquid droplet is excessively small, and if the total number exceeds the upper limit of the above-determined range, the shape of the liquid droplet is excessively large.
In Paragraph 6, Each of the above-mentioned plurality of image processing units further includes a calculation unit that, based on the serial signal, detects a pixel group in which pixels indicating the presence of a liquid droplet in the second impact area are continuous in a first direction and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction for a predetermined number or more, and calculates the shape of the liquid droplet based on the result of the detection. A liquid dispensing device characterized in that the above-mentioned judgment unit determines the liquid drop based on the shape of the liquid drop calculated by the above-mentioned calculation unit.
In Paragraph 6, Each of the above plurality of image processing units is, A detection unit that, based on the above serial signal, detects a pixel group in which pixels indicating the presence of a liquid droplet in the second impact area are continuous for a predetermined number or more in a first direction and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, and A verification unit that, when two or more pixel groups are detected as a result of detection by the detection unit, checks whether the two or more pixel groups overlap in one of the first direction and the second direction, and When it is confirmed by the verification unit that the two or more pixel groups overlap in either the first direction or the second direction, the method further includes a calculation unit that calculates the shape of a liquid droplet with respect to the two or more pixel groups based on the result of detection by the detection unit. A liquid dispensing device characterized in that the above-mentioned judgment unit determines the liquid drop based on the shape of the liquid drop calculated by the above-mentioned calculation unit.
In Article 10, A liquid dispensing device characterized in that each of the plurality of image processing units performs an error output when the verification unit determines that the two or more pixel groups do not overlap in either the first direction or the second direction.
In Article 1, A liquid dispensing device characterized in that each of the above-mentioned plurality of image processing units is configured by hardware including at least one of an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) and an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).
In Article 1, The above processing unit comprises a hardware computation unit including at least one of an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) and an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) constituting the plurality of image processing units, and It includes a software processing unit using a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and A liquid dispensing device characterized by further having a control unit that controls whether the above-mentioned good/bad judgment is performed by the hardware processing unit or the software processing unit.
In Paragraph 13, A liquid dispensing device characterized by the above-described control unit, when performing the quality determination as a pretreatment for a printing process in which a liquid is discharged into a main discharge area of a substrate to form a pattern on the substrate, having the hardware computation unit perform the quality determination, and when performing the quality determination in a maintenance process, having the software computation unit perform the quality determination.
In Article 1, If N is the number of liquid droplets in the first direction in the above image and M is the number of liquid droplets in the second direction orthogonal to the first direction, A liquid dispensing device characterized in that the number of the above-mentioned plurality of image processing units is a number related to N or M.
In Paragraph 15, A liquid dispensing device characterized in that the number of the plurality of image processing units is a multiple of N or M or an integer fraction.
A process of forming a liquid film by discharging a liquid onto a substrate using a liquid discharging device described in any one of claims 1 to 16, and A process of drying the substrate having the liquid film formed thereon to obtain the substrate having a dried film formed thereon, and A method for manufacturing an article characterized by including a process of manufacturing an article from the substrate on which the above-mentioned drying film is formed.

Description

Liquid Discharge Apparatus, and Article Manufacturing Method The present disclosure relates to a liquid dispensing device and a method for manufacturing an article. The manufacturing process of an organic EL display panel includes a process of forming an organic light-emitting layer on a substrate by using a liquid dispensing device to dispense liquid ink droplets containing organic light-emitting materials. In order to manufacture a high-definition panel, it is required that the film thickness and film quality be uniform for each pixel to be generated, and high-precision control is required for the nozzle that dispenses the liquid ink droplets. Therefore, generally, the condition of the nozzle is checked using a nozzle inspection device mounted on the liquid dispensing device, and the nozzle is controlled with high precision to ensure that each pixel of the organic light-emitting layer has a uniform film thickness and film quality. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses that after the maintenance process of a nozzle is completed, a liquid drop is ejected onto an inspection substrate to image the impacted liquid drop, and the misalignment of the impact position or the impact area of the liquid drop is measured. In Patent Document 1, the condition of the nozzle is classified from the measurement results, and a nozzle in which the misalignment of the impact position or the impact area of the liquid drop exceeds a predetermined value is determined as a defective nozzle. Patent Document 2 discloses a method of making a liquid drop from a nozzle land on an inspection unit, and using a plurality of inspection cameras to image the landed liquid drop and make a determination of discharge defects. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the schematic configuration of a liquid discharge device. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a liquid discharge device. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the processing unit. Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a liquid droplet judgment unit. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image processing unit. FIG. 6 is a drawing showing the main discharge area and inspection area on the substrate. Figure 7 is a flowchart of the liquid discharge process. FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing the relationship between the head, the impact liquid droplet, and the imaging unit. Fig. 9 is a flowchart of the liquid droplet determination process. FIG. 10a is a drawing showing an example of multiple impact liquid droplets within the imaging range. FIG. 10b is a drawing showing an example of a plurality of impact liquid droplets in the memory section of an image input section. FIG. 10c is a drawing showing another example of a plurality of impact liquid droplets in the memory section of an image input section. FIG. 11a is a diagram illustrating parallel processing by a memory unit and an image processing unit. FIG. 11b is a diagram illustrating the effect of reducing processing time through parallel processing. FIG. 12 is a drawing for explaining the impact liquid droplet and the impact area. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the liquid droplet judgment unit and the image processing unit in the second embodiment. FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the liquid droplet determination process in the second embodiment. FIG. 15 is a drawing illustrating a drop of liquid impact. FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the liquid droplet judgment unit and the image processing unit in the third embodiment. FIG. 17 is a flowchart of the liquid droplet determination process in the third embodiment. FIG. 18 is a drawing showing an example of a case where there are two impact liquid droplets. FIG. 19 is a drawing showing an example of a case where there are two impact liquid droplets. FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a liquid discharge device in a fourth embodiment. Hereinafter, embodiments are described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. At this time, the following embodiments do not limit the invention with respect to the claims. Although multiple features are described in the embodiments, not all of these multiple features are essential to the invention, and multiple features may be combined arbitrarily. Furthermore, in the attached drawings, the same reference number is assigned to identical or similar components, and redundant descriptions are omitted. <First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the schematic configuration of a liquid dispensing device in a first embodiment. In this specification and drawings, directions are indicated in an XYZ coordinate system in which the horizontal plane is the XY plane. Here, the substrate (40), which is the liquid dispensing site, is placed on a stage (30) such that its surface is parallel to the horizontal plane (XY plane). Accordingly, hereinafter, directions that are orthogonal to each other within the plane followin