JP2010142721A - Liquid droplet discharging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a droplet discharge device that can satisfactorily remove foreign substances in the device without reducing productivity.
A transport mechanism that transports a substrate P, a droplet discharge head that discharges a functional liquid onto the substrate P transported by a transport device, and a foreign matter removing unit that removes foreign matter attached to the substrate P and the droplet discharge head. 31 is a droplet discharge device. The foreign matter removing means 31 includes a static elimination unit 32 that floats the foreign matter from the surface by neutralizing the surface of the substrate P and the droplet discharge head, and a suction unit 33 that collects the foreign matter X suspended by the static elimination unit 32 and collects it. Have.
[Selection] Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a droplet discharge device.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a droplet discharge apparatus including a droplet discharge head (hereinafter referred to as a head) that discharges a predetermined functional liquid to various media has been used in a wide range of fields as a printer for forming an image and a film forming apparatus for device manufacture. ing.
For example, in a droplet discharge device that directly forms an image on a medium such as paper or cloth, a chip or lint that exists on the surface of the medium blocks the discharge port of the head, causing ink discharge failure. There is a fear. Then, the technique of collect | recovering by making such a foreign material adhere to an adhesion member is known (for example, refer patent document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-15818

  By the way, also in the droplet discharge apparatus for device manufacture, for example, foreign matters may be mixed during head replacement or maintenance work inside the apparatus, which may cause many defective products. However, conventionally, a foreign matter removing means such as the above-mentioned adhesive member has not been used in a droplet discharge apparatus for device manufacture. For this reason, in the liquid droplet ejection apparatus for device manufacture, when the adhesion of foreign matter is confirmed to the medium such as the substrate or the head, the substrate on which the foreign matter has adhered is removed from the apparatus by stopping the driving of the apparatus, or to the head. It is necessary to remove the adhered foreign matter, which may reduce productivity. In addition, when removing the substrate from the apparatus or removing foreign substances from the head, there is a possibility of causing secondary contamination such as attaching foreign substances such as dust again when a person enters the apparatus.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a droplet discharge device that can satisfactorily remove foreign matter in the device without reducing productivity. .

  In order to solve the above problems, a droplet discharge device according to the present invention includes a transfer mechanism that transfers a substrate, a droplet discharge head that discharges a functional liquid onto the substrate transferred by the transfer device, the substrate, and the substrate A foreign matter removing means for removing foreign matter adhering to the droplet discharge head, wherein the foreign matter removing means removes the surface of the substrate and the droplet discharge head, thereby floating the foreign matter from the surface. And a suction part that collects the foreign matter suspended by the static elimination part by suction.

  According to the liquid droplet ejection apparatus of the present invention, the surface of the substrate and the liquid droplet ejection head is neutralized by the static eliminator, so that the foreign matter adhering to the surface of the substrate and the liquid droplet ejection head can be easily separated by static electricity. Can do. Further, the foreign matter can be sucked in by the suction force by the suction portion, and the foreign matter attached to the surface of the substrate and the droplet discharge head can be surely removed. In addition, since it is not necessary to intervene when removing foreign substances, the occurrence of secondary contamination is prevented. Therefore, the foreign matter adhering to the substrate and the droplet discharge head in the apparatus can be satisfactorily removed without reducing the productivity.

In the droplet discharge device, it is preferable that the charge removal unit includes an ion generation unit that generates ions and a gas supply unit that generates ion wind by supplying a gas to the ions.
According to this configuration, it is possible to satisfactorily remove foreign matters adhering to the surfaces of the substrate and the droplet discharge head due to static electricity.

In the droplet discharge device, it is preferable that the blower is used as a drying unit that dries the functional liquid discharged onto the substrate.
According to this configuration, the air blowing unit constituting the static elimination unit also functions as a drying unit that dries the functional liquid, so that the droplet discharge device has high functionality and high added value.

Further, in the liquid droplet ejection apparatus, the foreign material is detected based on the detection result of the surface of the substrate and the liquid droplet ejection head prior to driving the foreign material removal means, and the detection result of the detection means. It is preferable to include a removing unit and a control unit that controls driving of the droplet discharge head.
According to this configuration, for example, when the detection unit detects that no foreign matter is attached to the substrate and the surface of the droplet discharge head, the control unit drives the droplet discharge head without driving the foreign matter removal unit. As a result, the functional liquid can be discharged. Therefore, it is possible to prevent such a problem that productivity is lowered due to unnecessary driving of the foreign matter removing means.

  Hereinafter, although one embodiment of the present invention is described, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the following embodiment. In the following description, various structures are illustrated using the drawings. However, in order to make the characteristic portions of the structure easy to see, the dimensions and scale of the structure are illustrated as appropriately different from the actual structure.

  The droplet discharge device according to the present embodiment is installed in a drawing system incorporated in a production line of a liquid crystal display device, and introduces a functional liquid such as special ink or luminescent resin liquid into the functional droplet discharge head. Then, a film forming portion (for example, a color filter) is formed on the substrate by functional droplets. First, a drawing system provided with the present droplet discharge device will be briefly described. Note that values such as the size of the substrate described below are approximate numbers.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of the drawing system. As shown in FIG. 1, the drawing system S manufactures a color filter by forming a color layer of three colors of RGB on an introduced color filter forming substrate P (hereinafter referred to as a substrate P). The drawing system S is connected to the droplet discharge device 1 for forming the colored layer, the carry-in / out device 2 that is arranged in parallel to the droplet discharge device 1 and carries the substrate P in and out, and the drawing system S. And a control unit 3 for controlling the whole. The droplet discharge device 1 is accommodated in the chamber device 4. The chamber device 4 is a so-called thermal chamber, and accommodates the entire droplet discharge device 1 under temperature control so that droplet discharge onto the substrate P is performed under a constant temperature condition. The chamber device 4 includes a box-shaped chamber body 11 that directly accommodates the entire droplet discharge device 1, an air conditioner 12 that performs temperature management so that the temperature in the chamber body 11 is constant, and a control that controls this. Board (not shown). Further, although not shown, an opening / closing door serving as a work loading / unloading opening is formed in front of the right side surface of the chamber main body 11. When the substrate P is introduced into the droplet discharge device 1, the opening / closing door is opened. The droplet discharge device 1 accommodated in the chamber main body 11 can be accessed via this.

  The carry-in / out device 2 includes a robot arm 13 for transferring the substrate P. The substrate P before drawing is loaded into the drawing system S via the robot arm 13 and is transferred to the droplet discharge device 1. At the same time, the drawn substrate P is collected from the droplet discharge device 1 and carried out of the drawing system S.

  Next, the droplet discharge device installed in the drawing system S will be described. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the droplet discharge device. In the following description, the XYZ orthogonal coordinate system shown in FIG. 2 is set, and each member will be described with reference to this XYZ orthogonal coordinate system. The XYZ orthogonal coordinate system in FIG. 2 is set so that the X axis and the Y axis are parallel to the substrate stage 22, and the Z axis is set to a direction orthogonal to the substrate stage 22. In the XYZ coordinate system in FIG. 2, the XY plane is actually set to a plane parallel to the horizontal plane, and the Z axis is set to the vertically upward direction.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the droplet discharge device 1 includes an apparatus mount 21, a substrate stage 22, a stage moving device 23, a carriage 24, a droplet discharge head 25, a carriage moving device 26, a tube 27, a first tank 28, A second tank 29, a third tank 30, and a maintenance mechanism 34 are provided.

  The apparatus base 21 is a support base for the substrate stage 22 and the stage moving apparatus 23. The substrate stage 22 is installed on the apparatus base 21 so as to be movable in the X-axis direction by the stage moving device 23, and the substrate P transported from the upstream transport device (not shown) is transferred to the XY by the vacuum suction mechanism. Hold on a flat surface. The stage moving device 23 includes a bearing mechanism such as a ball screw or a linear guide, and moves the substrate stage 22 in the X-axis direction based on a stage position control signal indicating the X coordinate of the substrate stage 22 input from the control unit 3. Let

  The carriage 24 holds the droplet discharge head 25 and is provided so as to be movable in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction by the carriage moving device 26. The droplet discharge head 25 includes a plurality of nozzles as will be described later, and discharges droplets of a color filter material based on drawing data and drive control signals input from the control unit 3. The droplet discharge heads 25 are provided corresponding to the color filter materials R (red), G (green), and B (blue), and the respective droplet discharge heads 25 are connected to the tubes 27 via the carriage 24. It is connected with. The droplet discharge head 25 corresponding to R (red) is supplied with the color filter material for R (red) from the first tank 28 via the tube 27, and the droplet discharge head corresponding to G (green). 25, the G (green) color filter material is supplied from the second tank 29 via the tube 27, and the droplet discharge head 25 corresponding to B (blue) is supplied via the tube 27 to the third tank 30. Is supplied with a color filter material for B (blue).

  The carriage moving device 26 has, for example, a bridge structure straddling the device mount 21, includes a bearing mechanism such as a ball screw or a linear guide in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction, and is input from the control unit 3. The carriage 24 is moved in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction based on the carriage position control signal indicating the Y coordinate and the Z coordinate.

  The tube 27 is a tube for supplying a color filter material that connects the first tank 28, the second tank 29, the third tank 30, and the carriage 24 (droplet discharge head 25). The first tank 28 stores the color filter material for R (red) and supplies the color filter material to the droplet discharge head 25 corresponding to R (red) via the tube 27. The second tank 29 stores the color filter material for G (green) and supplies the color filter material to the droplet discharge head 25 corresponding to G (green) via the tube 27. The third tank 30 stores the color filter material for B (blue) and supplies the color filter material to the droplet discharge head 25 corresponding to B (blue) via the tube 27.

  The control unit 3 outputs a stage position control signal to the stage moving device 23, outputs a carriage position control signal to the carriage moving device 26, and draws data and drives to a drive circuit board (not shown) of the droplet discharge head 25. By outputting a control signal, synchronous control of the droplet discharge operation by the droplet discharge head 25, the positioning operation of the substrate P by the movement of the substrate stage 22, and the positioning operation of the droplet discharge head 25 by the movement of the carriage 24 is performed. Then, a droplet of the color filter material is discharged to a predetermined position on the substrate P.

  The maintenance mechanism 34 is for performing various maintenance on the droplet discharge head 25 held on the carriage 24. The maintenance mechanism 34 is disposed at the home position in the droplet discharge head 25. This home position is an area where the carriage 24 is disposed when the droplet discharge device 1 is in a discharge operation pause state, such as during non-discharge operation or storage. Here, the position of the carriage 24 when ejecting droplets from the droplet ejection head 25 onto the substrate P is referred to as an ejection position.

  Specifically, the maintenance mechanism 34 includes a capping unit that contacts the droplet discharge head 25, a flushing unit, and a wiping unit. The capping unit includes a suction pump as a suction unit, and performs a suction process for forcibly discharging the color filter material from the nozzle. The flushing section is for collecting the waste liquid discharged from the nozzles in order to adjust the meniscus. The wiping unit performs a wiping process for wiping off droplets attached to the nozzle plate after the suction process by the capping unit. The maintenance mechanism 34 is driven by a control signal from the control unit 3.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of the droplet discharge head 25. 3A is a plan view of the droplet discharge head 25 as viewed from the substrate stage 22 side, FIG. 3B is a partial perspective view of the droplet discharge head 25, and FIG. It is a fragmentary sectional view for 1 nozzle.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the droplet discharge head 25 includes a plurality of (for example, 180) nozzles N arranged in the Y-axis direction. A plurality of nozzles N form a nozzle row NA. Although FIG. 3A shows one row of nozzles, the number of nozzles and the number of nozzle rows provided in the droplet discharge head 25 can be arbitrarily changed, and the nozzles for one row arranged in the Y-axis direction are arranged on the X axis. A plurality of rows may be provided in the direction. Further, the number of droplet discharge heads 25 arranged in the carriage 24 can be arbitrarily changed. Further, a plurality of carriages 24 may be provided for each sub-carriage.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, the droplet discharge head 25 includes a vibration plate 40 provided with a material supply hole 40a connected to the tube 27, a nozzle plate 41 provided with a nozzle N, and the vibration plate 40. And a nozzle (41), a reservoir (liquid reservoir) 42, a plurality of partition walls 43, and a plurality of cavities (liquid chambers) 44 are provided. The nozzle plate 41 is made of, for example, SUS. On the vibration plate 40, piezoelectric elements (drive elements) PZ are arranged corresponding to the respective nozzles N. The piezoelectric element PZ is, for example, a piezo element.

  The reservoir 42 is filled with a liquid color filter material (liquid material) supplied through the material supply hole 40a. The cavities 44 are formed so as to be surrounded by the vibration plate 40, the nozzle plate 41, and the pair of partition walls 43, and are provided for each nozzle N in a one-to-one correspondence. In addition, the color filter material is introduced from the reservoir 42 into each cavity 44 through a supply port 44 a provided between the pair of partition walls 43.

  As shown in FIG. 3C, the piezoelectric element PZ includes a piezoelectric material 45 sandwiched between a pair of electrodes 46, and is configured such that the piezoelectric material 45 contracts when a drive signal is applied to the pair of electrodes 46. Is. The diaphragm 40 in which such a piezoelectric element PZ is disposed is bent integrally with the piezoelectric element PZ and simultaneously bends outward (opposite the cavity 44). The volume increases. Therefore, the color filter material corresponding to the increased volume in the cavity 44 flows from the liquid reservoir 42 through the supply port 44a. Further, when the application of the drive signal to the piezoelectric element PZ is stopped from such a state, the piezoelectric element PZ and the diaphragm 40 both return to the original shape, and the cavity 44 also returns to the original volume. The pressure of the color filter material rises and droplets L of the color filter material are discharged from the nozzle N toward the substrate P.

  By the way, in the droplet discharge apparatus 1 provided in the chamber apparatus 4 of such a drawing system S, the foreign material mixed at the time of head replacement or maintenance work inside the apparatus adheres to the droplet discharge head 25 and the substrate P. There is. In general, foreign matters are often static and stick to the surface of the droplet discharge head 25 and the substrate P.

  Here, the surface of the substrate P includes at least a surface on which the color filter material is discharged from the droplet discharge head 25. The surface of the droplet discharge head 25 includes at least the lower surface of the nozzle plate 41 on which the nozzles N that discharge the color filter material are formed.

  The droplet discharge device 1 according to the present embodiment includes a foreign matter removing unit 31 that removes foreign matters attached to the substrate P and the droplet discharge head 25. Prior to the color filter manufacturing process (functional liquid discharge operation), the foreign matter removing means 31 removes foreign matter adhering to the surface of the droplet discharge head 25 and the substrate P by being charged with static electricity as described above. is there.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a cross-sectional configuration of the main part of the foreign matter removing means 31. FIG. 4 shows a state where the foreign matter removing means 31 faces the substrate P.
The foreign matter removing means 31 includes a static elimination unit 32 that floats the foreign matter X adhering to the surface by removing the surface of the substrate P, and a suction unit 33 that collects the foreign matter X suspended by the static elimination unit 32 and collects it. The charge removal unit 32 and the suction unit 33 are provided in the main body 31a. The foreign matter removing means 31 moves (scans) on the surface of the substrate P in the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. At this time, the distance between the foreign matter removing means 31 and the surface of the substrate P is set to about 1.0 mm.

  FIG. 5 is a view showing a peripheral configuration of the foreign matter removing means 31. As shown in FIG. 5, the droplet discharge device 1 includes a detection unit 50 that detects the state of the surface of the substrate P or the droplet discharge head 25 prior to driving the foreign substance removal unit 31.

  The detection means 50 is constituted by an imaging means such as a CCD camera. The detection means 50 is electrically connected to the control unit 3. Thereby, the control unit 3 controls the drive of the foreign matter removing unit 31 based on the detection result of the detecting unit 50.

  Specifically, the detection unit 50 detects whether or not a foreign substance has adhered to the surface of the substrate P or the droplet discharge head 25 by scanning the surface of the substrate P or the droplet discharge head 25. Then, the control unit 3 controls the driving of the foreign matter removing unit 31 and the droplet discharge head 25 based on the detection result of whether or not the detection unit 50 has foreign matter on the surface of the substrate P or the droplet discharge head 25. It is like that.

  For example, when the detection unit 50 detects that no foreign matter has adhered to the surface of the substrate P and the droplet discharge head 25, the control unit 3 drives the droplet discharge head 25 without driving the foreign matter removal unit 31. To discharge the functional fluid. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the productivity of the color filter from being lowered due to unnecessary driving of the foreign matter removing means 31.

As shown in FIG. 4, the static eliminator 32 ionizes the ions generated by the ion generator 32 a that generates ions and the ions generated by the ion generator 32 a by blowing air, such as air or N _2. And an air blowing unit 32b that generates wind. In the present embodiment, an ionizer is used as the ion generator 32a. Further, a fan is used as the blower 32b. With this configuration, the static elimination unit 32 generates a gas containing ionized active species and electrons, that is, an ion wind, and discharges it.

  When gas such as air is ionized in this way, for example, electrons are deprived from air molecules (oxygen molecules or nitrogen molecules) to become positive ions, and the deprived electrons are captured by other air molecules to become negative ions. Is generated. Therefore, electrostatic neutralization is possible by the ionic wind containing the active species and electrons ionized in this way, and the charge generated by charging can be removed.

  Further, the main body 31 a is formed with a recess 35, and the charge removal unit 32 is disposed on the bottom surface of the recess 35. Thereby, the static elimination part 32 can introduce | transduce the said ion wind in the recessed part 35. FIG.

  The suction part 33 includes a suction hole 36 formed on a surface of the recess 35 opposite to the scanning direction of the foreign substance removing means 31 (direction of arrow A in FIG. 4), a suction pump provided on the upstream side of the suction hole 36, and the like. A suction mechanism (not shown). Based on such a configuration, the suction part 33 can suck the atmosphere in the recess 35.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 4, a foreign matter removing method using the foreign matter removing means 31 will be described. In this description, it is assumed that the detection unit 50 detects that the foreign matter X is attached to the surfaces of the substrate P and the droplet discharge head 25.

  First, the foreign matter removing means 31 blows ion wind on the surface of the substrate P through the recess 35 while scanning the substrate P in the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. At this time, when the ion wind is blown onto the surface of the substrate P, the foreign matter X is wound up by the ion wind because the static electricity that has adhered the foreign matter X is removed. As a result, the foreign matter X is suspended in the recess 35. The foreign matter X floating in the recess 35 is collected by being sucked into the suction hole 36 provided in the recess 35.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, the ion wind is blown into the recess 35 with the foreign matter removing means 31 moved in the direction of arrow A in FIG. To do. Therefore, the foreign matter X floating in the recess 35 is smoothly sucked into the suction hole 36.

  The foreign matter removing means 31 scans the entire surface of the substrate P and removes the foreign matter X as described above. Note that the charge removal unit 32 and the suction unit 33 may be driven only in a region where the foreign matter X is attached based on the detection result of the detection unit 50.

  Subsequently, the foreign matter removing means 31 removes the foreign matter X adhering to the surface of the droplet discharge head 25. First, the foreign matter removing means 31 is turned upside down by a drive mechanism (not shown). As a result, the lower surface (the side where the concave portion 35 is formed) of the foreign matter removing means 31 is opposed to the nozzle plate 41 of the droplet discharge head 25.

  Subsequently, the foreign matter removing means 31 blows ion wind on the surface of the nozzle plate 41 through the recess 35 while scanning the nozzle plate 41 in the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. At this time, the distance between the foreign matter removing means 31 and the surface of the nozzle plate 41 is set to about 1.0 mm.

  When the ion wind is blown onto the surface of the nozzle plate 41 in this way, the foreign matter X wound up by the ion wind is floated in the recess 35 due to the static electricity that has adhered the foreign matter X removed. The foreign matter X floating in the recess 35 is collected by being sucked into the suction hole 36 provided in the recess 35. In this way, the foreign matter removing means 31 removes the foreign matter X by scanning the entire surface of the nozzle plate 41.

  According to the present embodiment, since the surface of the substrate P and the droplet discharge head 25 is neutralized by the charge removal unit 32, the foreign matter X adhering to the surface of the substrate P and the droplet discharge head 25 is easily separated by static electricity. Can be made. Therefore, the foreign matter X can be sucked in by the suction force of the suction portion 33, and the foreign matter X adhering to the surface of the substrate P and the droplet discharge head 25 can be reliably removed. Further, when removing the foreign matter X, it is not necessary to intervene in the chamber device 4, so that secondary contamination can be prevented. Therefore, it is possible to satisfactorily remove the foreign matter X in the droplet discharge device 1 without reducing productivity.

After the foreign matter removing process by the foreign matter removing means 31 is completed, the control unit 3 drives the droplet discharge head 25 to start discharging the color filter material onto the substrate P.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a method for forming a color filter on the substrate P using the droplet discharge head 25. FIG. 7A is a schematic plan view of a substrate P that is a liquid discharge target. FIG. 7B is a partially enlarged plan view of the substrate P.

  In FIG. 7A, a plurality of panel areas CA are set on the surface of a large-area substrate P formed of glass, plastic or the like. Each panel area CA is separated (cut) from each other and provided as an individual color filter substrate. Inside each panel area CA, as shown in FIG. 7B, a plurality of pixels PX (predetermined areas) arranged in a dot shape are provided. The pixels PX are arranged in a matrix in each panel area CA, and a color filter layer (colored layer) CF is formed for each pixel PX.

  In the present embodiment, the vertical direction (indicated by arrows A1 and A2) in FIG. 7B is the main scanning direction, and the direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction (horizontal direction in the drawing) is the sub-scanning direction. The ejection head 25 is disposed on the substrate P. Then, while moving (scanning) the substrate P relative to the droplet discharge head 25 in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, a liquid material (color) containing a coloring material from a plurality of nozzles N of the droplet discharge head 25. Filter material) is discharged, and a color filter layer CF is formed on each pixel PX on the substrate P.

The droplet discharge head 25 is scanned a plurality of times for one panel area CA. For example, after the droplet discharge head 25 is scanned in the main scanning direction, the droplet discharge head 25 is moved (scanned) in the sub-scanning direction, and scanning is performed again in the main scanning direction. When one panel area CA moves from the left end to the right end (sub-scanning), it returns to the left end of the panel area CA again, and scans in the main scanning direction at a position slightly different from the position where ejection has already been performed. Then, by performing such scanning a plurality of times, the color filter layer CF having a desired film thickness is formed on all the pixels PX in the panel area CA.
At this time, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the color filter layer CF is dried using the air blowing part 32b of the foreign matter removing means 31. At this time, only the air blowing is performed without driving the ion generator 32a. In this way, the droplet discharge device 1 can have high functionality and high added value by causing the air blowing unit 32b to function as a drying unit.

  In FIG. 7B, the droplet discharge head 25 is inclined with respect to the sub-scanning direction in order to match the pitch of the nozzles N of the droplet discharge head 25 with the pitch of the pixels PX. If the pitch of the nozzles N and the pitch of the pixels PX are set so as to satisfy a predetermined correspondence relationship, it is not necessary to tilt the droplet discharge head 25 obliquely.

The color filter layer CF is formed by arranging R (red), G (green), and B (blue) colors in an appropriate arrangement form such as a so-called stripe arrangement, delta arrangement, mosaic arrangement, or the like. Accordingly, in the liquid discharge step shown in FIG. 7B, the droplet discharge heads 25 for discharging the R, G, and B color filter materials are prepared in advance for the three colors R, G, and B.
Then, an array of three color filter layers CF of R, G, and B is formed on one substrate P using these droplet discharge heads 25 sequentially.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the foreign matter adhering to the surface of the substrate P and the droplet discharge head 25 is removed by the foreign matter removing means 31 described above, a highly reliable color filter layer CF is formed. can do.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the meaning of this invention, it can change suitably.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the common foreign matter removing unit 31 is used for the substrate P and the droplet discharge head 25 has been described, but the foreign matter removing unit 31 may be composed of a plurality. In this case, the foreign matter removing unit 31 includes a first foreign matter removing unit corresponding to the substrate P and a second foreign matter removing unit corresponding to the droplet discharge head 25. The first foreign matter removing means and the second foreign matter removing means have the same configuration.

  By the way, since the clearance between the droplet discharge head 25 and the substrate P is very small, for example, while the foreign matter removal unit 31 is performing the foreign matter removal processing on the droplet discharge head 25, the substrate P and the foreign matter removal unit 31. It is necessary to adjust the positions so that they do not come into contact with each other, and the control becomes complicated. Therefore, if the above configuration is adopted, for example, the first foreign matter removing unit is arranged outside the moving region of the droplet discharge head 25 and the second foreign matter removing unit is arranged outside the moving region of the substrate P, thereby It is possible to easily and reliably prevent the removing unit 31 from coming into contact with the substrate P and the droplet discharge head 25. At this time, it is preferable that the second foreign matter removing unit is disposed on the maintenance area side of the droplet discharge head 25. Specifically, the second foreign matter removing means is arranged in the middle of the movement path where the carriage 24 heads to the home position (maintenance mechanism 34). In this way, the foreign matter adhering to the droplet discharge head 25 is removed while the droplet discharge head 25 that has undergone predetermined maintenance processing by the maintenance mechanism 34 at the home position is moved to the discharge position side. Therefore, the foreign substance removal process can be performed efficiently.

It is a plane schematic diagram of a drawing system. It is a schematic block diagram of a droplet discharge apparatus. It is a schematic block diagram of a droplet discharge head. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of a foreign material removal means. It is a figure which shows the periphery structure of a foreign material removal means. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of a foreign material removal means. It is explanatory drawing of the method of forming a color filter. It is a figure which shows the drying process process of a color filter layer using a foreign material removal means.

Explanation of symbols

P ... Substrate, 1 ... Droplet ejection device, 3 ... Control unit, 5 ... Droplet ejection head, 22 ... Substrate stage (conveyance device), 31 ... Foreign matter removal means, 32 ... Static elimination unit, 32a ... Ion generation unit, 32b ... Blower part, 33 ... Suction part, 50 ... Detecting means

Claims (4)

A transport mechanism for transporting the substrate;
A liquid droplet ejection head for ejecting a functional liquid onto the substrate conveyed by the conveyance device;
A foreign matter removing means for removing foreign matter adhering to the substrate and the droplet discharge head,
The foreign matter removing means is a static elimination unit that floats the foreign matter from the surface by neutralizing the surfaces of the substrate and the droplet discharge head,
And a suction unit that collects the foreign matter floating by the charge removal unit by suction.   2. The droplet discharge device according to claim 1, wherein the static elimination unit includes an ion generation unit that generates ions, and a blower unit that generates ion wind by blowing air to the ions.   The droplet discharge device according to claim 2, wherein the air blowing unit is used as a drying unit that dries the functional liquid discharged onto the substrate.   Prior to driving the foreign matter removing means, detection means for detecting the surface states of the substrate and the droplet discharge head, and driving the foreign matter removing means and the droplet discharge head based on the detection result of the detection means A droplet discharge device according to claim 1, further comprising:

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