This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0111462, filed on Aug. 24, 2021, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a nozzle inspection method, a nozzle inspection apparatus, and a substrate processing apparatus including the same.
A printing process (e.g., RGB patterning) is performed on a substrate to manufacture a display device such as an LCD panel, a PDP panel, or an LED panel. A printing process is performed using printing equipment having an inkjet head.
However, when the chemical solution is not properly discharged from the nozzle of the inkjet head, a defect may occur. Therefore, it is necessary to frequently inspect whether the nozzle of the inkjet head is abnormal. However, the conventional inkjet head inspection takes a lot of time, and the accuracy of defect detection is not high.
An object of the present invention is to provide a nozzle inspection method capable of accurately detecting a defect in an inkjet head nozzle within a short time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a nozzle inspection apparatus capable of accurately detecting a defect in an inkjet head nozzle within a short time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of accurately detecting a defect in an inkjet head nozzle within a short time.
The objects of the present invention are not limited to the objects mentioned above, and other objects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.
One aspect of the nozzle inspection method of the present invention for achieving the above technical object comprises discharging a plurality of droplets into a first region of interest of a substrate using a first nozzle to form an inspection pattern, and determining whether the first nozzle is defective based on the inspection pattern.
One aspect of the nozzle inspection apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above technical object comprises a stage, on which a substrate is movable; an inkjet head module disposed on the stage and including a first nozzle for forming an inspection pattern by discharging a plurality of droplets into a first region of interest of the substrate; a vision module disposed on the stage and for photographing the inspection pattern; and a control module for determining whether the first nozzle is defective based on the photographing result.
One aspect of the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above technical object comprises a first stage disposed in a first region; a second stage disposed in a second region; a gantry disposed to cross the first stage and the second stage; an inkjet head module installed on the gantry and capable of discharging a droplet in the first stage or the second stage; and a vision module disposed on the second stage, wherein the second stage can move an inspection substrate, wherein the inkjet head module discharges a plurality of droplets into a first region of interest of the inspection substrate to form an inspection pattern, wherein the vision module photographs the inspection pattern.
The details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and drawings.
These and/or other aspects will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Advantages and features of the present disclosure and methods of achieving them will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described below, but may be implemented in various different forms, and these embodiments are provided only for making the description of the present disclosure complete and fully informing those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains on the scope of the present disclosure, and the present disclosure is only defined by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.
Spatially relative terms “below,” “beneath,” “lower,” “above,” and “upper” can be used to easily describe a correlation between an element or components and other elements or components. The spatially relative terms should be understood as terms including different orientations of the device during use or operation in addition to the orientation shown in the drawings. For example, when an element shown in the figures is turned over, an element described as “below” or “beneath” another element may be placed “above” the other element. Accordingly, the exemplary term “below” may include both directions below and above. The device may also be oriented in other orientations, and thus spatially relative terms may be interpreted according to orientation.
Although first, second, etc. are used to describe various elements, components, and/or sections, it should be understood that these elements, components, and/or sections are not limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, or section from another element, component, or section. Accordingly, the first element, the first component, or the first section mentioned below may be the second element, the second component, or the second section within the technical spirit of the present disclosure.
First, referring to
The stage 120 is a region for supporting and moving the substrate G. A method of moving the substrate G in the stage 120 is not limited to a specific method. For example, the holder may hold and move the substrate G, or the substrate G may be moved by a plate that is moved in a roll-to-roll manner.
The stage 120 may extend in, for example, the second direction y and move the substrate G along the second direction y (see reference numeral 121). Here, the substrate G may be a substrate for inspection, and the substrate for inspection may be a film for inspection, or a transparent substrate (e.g., a glass substrate) used in a display device.
The first gantry 210 is disposed on the stage 120 to cross the stage 120. The first gantry 210 may extend long in the first direction x.
The inkjet head module 220 is installed on the first gantry 210 and can move along the first gantry 210 (see reference numeral 221). As illustrated, the inkjet head module 220 may move in the first direction x, but is not limited thereto. The inkjet head module 220 may include a plurality of heads for discharging ink, and each head may include a plurality of nozzles. The ink may be, for example, QD (Quantum Dot) ink, but is not limited thereto. Although the drawing shows that the width of the inkjet head module 220 and the width of the substrate G are almost similar, the present invention is not limited thereto.
The plurality of nozzles of the inkjet head module 220 discharge a plurality of droplets to a plurality of regions of interest (ROIs) of the substrate G.
Here, referring to
The arrangement of the plurality of regions of interest (ROI) may correspond to the arrangement of the plurality of nozzles of the inkjet head module 220.
Specifically, among the plurality of nozzles of the inkjet head module 220, a first nozzle discharges a plurality of droplets to a corresponding region of interest (ROI) to form an inspection pattern (see
The second gantry 310 is disposed on the stage 120 to cross the stage 120. The second gantry 310 may extend long in the first direction x.
The vision module 320 is installed on the second gantry 310 and can move along the second gantry 310 (see reference numeral 321). As illustrated, the vision module 320 may move in the first direction x, but is not limited thereto. The vision module 320 photographs the formed inspection pattern.
The control module 500 controls the stage 120, the first gantry 210, the inkjet head module 220, the second gantry 310, the vision module 320, and the like. Also, the control module 500 may determine whether the first nozzle is defective based on the photographed inspection pattern. The determination method will be described later with reference to
Although not shown separately, the first gantry 210 and the second gantry 310 may move in the second direction y.
Hereinafter,
First, referring to
As shown in
Then, as shown in
In this way, the droplets are discharged a preset number of times. For example, if the preset number of times is 5 times, the droplets are continuously discharged 5 times.
Next, based on the formed inspection pattern, it is determined whether the first nozzle 229 is defective (S2).
Since a plurality of droplets are discharged into one region of interest to form an inspection pattern, the size of the inspection pattern is increased to increase inspection accuracy. In addition, it may take a lot of time to form and inspect many inspection patterns by individually discharging into many regions of interest with one nozzle. However, in the case of the nozzle inspection method according to some embodiments of the present invention, the inspection time can be shortened because a plurality of droplets are discharged into one region of interest.
Referring to
Then, referring to
Then, referring to
Next, referring to
Referring to
Next, the substrate G1 is moved from the second position P2 to the first position P1 (S22). While moving from the second position P2 to the first position P1, the droplet discharging operation is not performed.
Then, while moving the substrate G1 from the first position P1 to the second position P2, an additional droplet (second droplet) is discharged into the first region of interest using the first nozzle (S23). Due to the additional droplet discharge, the droplet size in the first region of interest increases.
Next, the substrate G1 is moved from the second position P2 to the first position P1 (S24). While moving from the second position P2 to the first position P1, the droplet discharging operation is not performed.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
The second region of interest (ROI2), the fourth region of interest (ROI4), and the third region of interest (ROI5) are cases, in which a plurality of droplets are discharged to unequal positions. That is, it corresponds to a case, in which a plurality of droplets are not discharged to the correct positions. This corresponds to “abnormal impact” or “satellite droplet formation.”
The third region of interest (ROI3) corresponds to a case, in which no droplet is discharged. This corresponds to “non-discharge.”
The sixth region of interest (ROI6) corresponds to a case, in which a plurality of droplets are discharged to the correct position, but are not discharged by a preset discharge amount. This corresponds to “defective discharge amount.”
Hereinafter, the defect determining step S2 of
Referring to
In step S7, if there is a droplet that satisfies the minimum criterion (Yes), the flow advances to the next step (S8). If there is no droplet that satisfies the minimum criterion (No), it is determined that the nozzle that discharged the droplet is an abnormal nozzle (or a defective nozzle).
Specifically, as illustrated in
Alternatively, as shown in
Next, if there is a droplet that satisfies the minimum criterion in step S7, it is determined whether there is only one droplet (S8). In step S8, if there is only one droplet (Yes), the flow advances to the next step (S9). If it is determined that there are two or more droplets (No), the nozzle that discharged the droplets is determined as an abnormal nozzle.
Specifically, since it is determined that there are two droplets A1 and A2 in
Next, it is determined whether the droplet satisfies a multi-drop criterion (S9). In step S9, if the droplet satisfies the multi-drop criterion (Yes), it is determined as a normal nozzle. If the droplet does not satisfy the multi-drop criterion (No), the nozzle that discharged the droplet is determined as an abnormal nozzle.
The multi-drip criterion may be determined based on the size (e.g., diameter, radius, circumference length) of the droplet. That is, it may be determined whether the size of the droplet is greater than or equal to the first reference value and less than or equal to the second reference value. That is, if the droplet is smaller than the first reference value, it is determined that the multi-drop criterion is not satisfied because the appropriate amount is not discharged (i.e., under drop). On the other hand, if the droplet is larger than the second reference value, it is determined that the multi-drop criterion is not satisfied because the appropriate amount is not discharged (i.e., excessive drop).
The diameter of the droplet A4 in
Meanwhile, in addition to the method described with reference to
For example, a snowman-shaped droplet A5 as shown in
Alternatively, by comparing the circumference length of the droplet A5 with the circumference length of the reference circle SC, if the difference is small, it may be determined as a normal nozzle, and if the difference is large, it may be determined as an abnormal nozzle. For example, since the circumference length of the snowman-shaped droplet A5 is different from the circumference length of the droplet A5 by more than a reference value, it may be determined as an abnormal nozzle.
Alternatively, the reference circumference length of the normal droplet can be known in advance through an experiment or the like when discharge is performed n times. Therefore, it is also possible to measure the circumference length of the droplet to be evaluated and determine whether the nozzle is abnormal by comparing the circumference length with the reference circumference length.
Referring to
The first stage 110 is disposed in the first region, and the second stage 120 is disposed in a second region adjacent to the first region.
A rail 108 is disposed along the longitudinal direction of the first stage 110. The holder 107 is movable along the rail 108. A plurality of holes 112 are formed in the first stage 110, and gas may come out through the holes 112 to float the manufacturing substrate. In a state, in which the manufacturing substrate is floated, the holder 107 may hold and move the manufacturing substrate.
The first gantry 210 is disposed to cross the first stage 110 and the second stage 120. The inkjet head module 220 is installed on the first gantry 210, and may move along the first gantry 210 to discharge droplets in the first stage 110 or the second stage 120.
The inspection substrate G is located on the second stage 120, and the inkjet head module 220 discharges a plurality of droplets into the first region of interest of the inspection substrate G to form an inspection pattern.
For example, after moving the substrate G to the position P0 where the droplet is to be discharged, the substrate G is stopped. In a state, in which the substrate G is stopped, the inkjet head module 220 discharges a droplet into the region of interest (ROI) of the substrate multiple times.
Alternatively, while moving the substrate G from the first position P1 to the second position P2, the inkjet head module 220 discharges droplets in the first region of interest, and then while moving the substrate G from the second position P2 to the first position P1 again, the inkjet head module 220 discharges droplets into the second region of interest. Then, while moving the substrate G from the first position P1 to the second position P2, the inkjet head module 220 additionally discharges droplets into the first region of interest. While moving the substrate G from the second position P2 to the first position P1 again, the inkjet head module 220 additionally discharges droplets into the second region of interest.
Alternatively, while moving the substrate G from the first position P1 to the second position P2, the inkjet head module 220 discharges a droplet in the first region of interest, and then the substrate G is moved back to the first position P1 from the second position P2. Then, while moving the substrate G from the first position P1 to the second position P2, the inkjet head module 220 additionally discharges droplets into the first region of interest.
Alternatively, while moving the substrate G from the first position P1 to the third position P3, the inkjet head module 220 sequentially discharges droplets to each of the first region of interest, the second region of interest, and the third region of interest. Then, while moving the substrate G from the third position P3 to the first position P1, the inkjet head module 220 additionally discharges droplets in the order of the third region of interest, the second region of interest, and the first region of interest.
The vision module 320 photographs the formed inspection pattern.
The control module (see 500 of
Although embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the above and the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art, to which the present invention pertains, can understand that the present invention may be practiced in other specific forms without changing its technical spirit or essential features. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are illustrative in all respects and not limiting.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
10-2021-0111462 | Aug 2021 | KR | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
20060214976 | Iwao | Sep 2006 | A1 |
20080079763 | Abrott | Apr 2008 | A1 |
20080303870 | Verbeek et al. | Dec 2008 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
2009-520598 | May 2009 | JP |
2017-154302 | Sep 2017 | JP |
2019-155307 | Sep 2019 | JP |
2020-52043 | Apr 2020 | JP |
10-2010-0135392 | Dec 2010 | KR |
10-2011-0110275 | Oct 2011 | KR |
10-2012-0077347 | Jul 2012 | KR |
10-1328214 | Nov 2013 | KR |
10-2017-0138051 | Dec 2017 | KR |
10-2019-0100008 | Aug 2019 | KR |
2010090080 | Aug 2010 | WO |
Entry |
---|
Office Action dated Aug. 30, 2023 for Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0111462 and its English translation by Google Translate. |
Office Action dated Aug. 8, 2023 for Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-127625 and its English translation from Global Dossier. |
Notice of Allowance dated Jan. 22, 2024 for Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0111462 and its English translation from Global Dossier. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20230066695 A1 | Mar 2023 | US |