Coating apparatus and method for filling coating liquid

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9238245-B2
Application number	US-201313921286-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 19, 2013
Priority date	Jun 27, 2012
Publication date	Jan 19, 2016
Grant date	Jan 19, 2016

Abstract

A coating apparatus includes a nozzle, a moving mechanism, a pressure adjusting unit and a pressure control unit. The nozzle is provided with a storage chamber and a slit-like flow path, and configured to discharge the coating liquid from a discharge port formed at a front end of the flow path. The moving mechanism moves the nozzle and a substrate relatively to each other along the surface of the substrate. The pressure adjusting unit adjusts the pressure inside the storage chamber. The pressure control unit controls the pressure adjusting unit so as to adjust pressure inside the storage chamber. The pressure control unit controls the pressure adjusting unit such that the inside of the storage chamber becomes a negative pressure, and fills the coating liquid inside the storage chamber while slowly decreasing the negative pressure inside the storage chamber.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A coating apparatus comprising:
a nozzle provided with a storage chamber that stores a coating liquid and a slit-like flow path that is in communication with the storage chamber, and configured to discharge the coating liquid from a discharge port formed at a front end of the flow path;
a moving mechanism configured to move the nozzle and a substrate relatively to each other along a surface of the substrate;
a pressure adjusting unit configured to adjust pressure inside the storage chamber; and
a pressure control unit configured to control the pressure adjusting unit so as to adjust pressure inside the storage chamber, such that:
the storage chamber attains a first negative pressure,
then while the coating liquid fills the storage chamber, the pressure inside the storage chamber is gradually lowered from the first negative pressure to a second negative pressure that has an absolute value greater than the absolute value of the first negative pressure,
then while the nozzle moves from one end of the substrate to another end of the substrate while discharging the coating liquid on the substrate, the pressure inside the storage chamber is gradually raised from the second negative pressure to a third negative pressure that has an absolute value less than the absolute value of the second negative pressure but greater than the absolute value of the first negative pressure,
and then while the nozzle is descending toward the substrate while continuing to discharge the coating liquid on the substrate, the negative pressure inside the storage chamber is gradually raised from the third negative pressure to the first negative pressure.

2. The coating apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a contact member extending in the longitudinal direction of the discharge port,
wherein the pressure control unit fills the coating liquid in a state where the discharge port of the nozzle is brought into contact with the contact member.

3. The coating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the nozzle is in communication with the inside of the storage chamber and the outside of the storage chamber, and is provided with a liquid supply port that supplies the coating liquid supplied from the outside to the inside of the storage chamber, and
the liquid supply port has a slit shape extending in the longitudinal direction of the flow path.

4. The coating apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the liquid supply port is disposed in the vicinity of the boundary portion between the storage chamber and the flow path.

5. The coating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pressure control unit maintains the pressure inside the storage chamber at the time when the filling of the coating liquid in the inside of the storage chamber is completed, until the coating of the coating liquid is started.

6. The coating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pressure control unit controls the pressure adjusting unit such that the discharge rate becomes constant during the coating of the coating liquid on the substrate to adjust the pressure inside the storage chamber.

7. The coating apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a liquid surface detecting unit configured to detect the liquid surface of the coating liquid stored in the storage chamber.

8. The coating apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising:
a coating processing control unit configured to determine whether or not the liquid surface is flat, based on the result detected by the liquid surface detecting unit, and when it is determined that the liquid surface is flat, start the coating processing with the nozzle.

9. The coating apparatus of claim 7 , wherein a part of the storage chamber is formed by a transparent member, and
the liquid surface detecting unit detects the liquid surface through the transparent member from the outside of the nozzle.

10. The coating apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising a prism that reflects or refracts light,
wherein the liquid surface detecting unit is disposed to be inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the liquid surface, and picks up an image of the liquid surface viewed from the direction parallel to the liquid surface.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Ishii Takayuki
• Motoda Kimio
• Terada Takashi
• Yamashita Atsushi
• Tsuruta Shigeto

Classifications

• H10P72/0448

  Apparatus for applying a liquid, a resin, an ink or the like · CPC title

• Y10T137/0318

  Processes · CPC title

• B05C5/0258 Primary

  flow controlled, e.g. by a valve (B05C5/0262, B05C5/0266 take precedence) · CPC title

• B05C5/0254

  Coating heads with slot-shaped outlet (B05C5/0283 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01L21/6715

  Electricity · mapped topic