Aspects of the invention can relate to an orientation film forming device, an orientation film forming method, a drawing device, and a drawing method. More particularly, aspects of the invention can relate to orientation film forming device, an orientation film forming method, a drawing device, and a drawing method which can improve uniformity in film thickness after drying.
Related art ink-jet drawing devices can be a device which has an ink jet head provided with a number of nozzles in a subscanning direction, and that moves this ink jet head in a main scanning direction with a carriage mechanism to thereby perform drawing. Furthermore, the related art drawing device can be widely applied to not only the printing of letters and pictures/photographs, but also to the manufacturing of a color filter for use in color liquid crystal device and color electroluminescence (EL) display device. See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H9-138410.
In the ink-jet drawing device, based on dot pattern data obtained by expanding drawing data inputted from a host computer, ink is discharged from the respective nozzles of the ink jet head at predetermined timing and these respective ink droplets are applied to a drawing medium such as a glass substrate to thereby perform drawing.
After the orientation film ink has been applied to the quadrilateral drawing region 2, the orientation film ink is dried via a first stage, a second stage and a third stage as shown in
Here, if a concentration is C, a diffusion coefficient is K, a time is t, a thickness of the orientation film ink is y, and a distance of wet spreading of the orientation film ink is x, a concentration change rate per unit time of the orientation film ink is represented by the formula (1).
∂C/∂t=K(∂2C/∂x2+∂2C/∂y2) (1)
Subsequently, in the third stage, since the rim part 2a and the central part 2b are dried and the concentration of the rim part 2a is higher, the rim part 2a is in a protruded state as compared with the central part 2b. For example, as shown in
In the related art drawing device, as shown in
An aspect of the present invention can provide orientation film forming device, an orientation film forming method, drawing device, and a drawing method which can improve the uniformity in film thickness after drying. The invention can include a first ink discharging device for discharging orientation film ink to a drawing region with a smaller area than a desired drawing region on a substrate, and second ink discharging device for discharging the orientation film ink to a periphery of the drawing region.
Furthermore, the invention can include a first ink discharging step of discharging orientation film ink to a drawing region with a smaller area than a desired drawing region on a substrate, and a second ink discharging step of discharging the orientation film ink to a periphery of the drawing region.
Furthermore, the invention can include a first ink discharging device that discharges ink to a drawing region with a smaller area than a desired drawing region, and second ink discharging device that discharges the ink to a periphery of the drawing region.
Furthermore, the invention comprises a first ink discharging step of discharging ink to a drawing region with a smaller area than a desired drawing region, and a second ink discharging step of discharging the ink to a periphery of the drawing region.
According to the invention, since the ink is discharged to the drawing region with a smaller area than the desired drawing region and the ink is discharged to the periphery of the drawing region, the protrusion in the rim part can be reduced and the uniformity in film thickness after drying can be improved as compared with the case where the ink is discharged to the desired drawing region at a time as in the conventional case.
The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals reference like elements, and wherein:
Hereinafter, an exemplary embodiment of orientation film forming device, an orientation film forming method, drawing device, and a drawing method according to the present invention is described in detail based on the drawings. However, it should be understood that this invention is not limited by this exemplary embodiment.
[Embodiment]
A carriage mechanism 12 has a function of moving the ink jet head 11 in a main scanning direction. A control unit 13 has a function of performing control for discharging the orientation film ink 20 from the respective nozzles of the ink jet head 11 and control over the carriage mechanism 12 on the basis of dot pattern data obtained by expanding drawing data D inputted from a host computer (omitted in the figure).
When the drawing data D as shown in
Then, when a predetermined amount of the orientation film ink 20 applied to the drawing region 21 is dried, the control unit 13, as a second stage, causes the orientation film ink 20 to be discharged from the ink jet head 11 to a substantially square-shaped peripheral drawing region 22 which is a periphery of the drawing region 21. Thereby, the orientation film ink 20 is applied to the peripheral drawing region 22. This peripheral drawing region 22 is 8 mm wide and 8 mm long.
Then, when a predetermined amount of the orientation film ink 20 applied to the peripheral drawing region 22 (drawing region 21) is dried, finally, the control unit 13, as a third stage, causes the orientation film ink 20 to be discharged from the ink jet head 11 to a substantially square-shaped peripheral drawing region 23 which is a periphery of the peripheral drawing region 22. Thereby, the orientation film ink 20 is applied to the peripheral drawing region 23. This peripheral drawing region 23 is 11 mm wide and 16.5 mm long.
Then, when a predetermined time passes, the orientation film ink 20 can be applied to the drawing region 21, the peripheral drawing region 22 and the peripheral drawing region 23 is dried. Although this situation is in a state in which the peripheral drawing region 23 which is equivalent to a rim part is protruded, the degree of the protrusion is smaller than that in the conventional drawing method (refer to
As described above, according to an exemplary embodiment, since the orientation film ink 20 is discharged to the drawing region 21 with a smaller area than a desired drawing region and the orientation film 20 is discharged to the periphery of the drawing region 21 (peripheral drawing region 22, drawing region 23), the protrusion of the rim part (drawing region 23) can be reduced and the uniformity in film thickness after drying can be improved as compared with the case where the ink is discharged to the desired drawing region at a time as in the related art case.
As above, the orientation film forming device, the orientation film forming method, the drawing device, and the drawing method according to the present invention are useful in the case where the uniformity in film thickness is required.
While this invention has been described in conjunction with the specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, preferred embodiments of the invention as set forth herein are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. There are changes that may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2004-170105 | Jun 2004 | JP | national |