JPH03238065A - Coating container - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Al Industrial Application Field) This invention relates to a coating container for containing a coating liquid and applying coating to the surface of a substrate.

(b) Conventional technology The conventional method for forming a coating film on the surface of a substrate is to immerse the substrate in a coating liquid stored in a coating tank (coating container), pull it up, and dry it. Dip coating method was common. In the dip coating method, the entire substrate is immersed in the coating tank at once, so a large amount of coating liquid is used in the coating tank.
Multiple coating tanks can be used to simultaneously coat multiple substrates, making it suitable for mass production.

Recently, a method has also been developed in which a coating film is formed on the surface of a substrate by passing the substrate through the inner diameter side of a ring-shaped coating container containing a coating liquid.

This latter coating method is also used, for example, when forming a photoresist film on a cylindrical substrate of a photoreceptor, and the coating is performed as follows.

The inner rod side of the ring-shaped coating container is set horizontally.
Instead of the wall, a spacer, which will be described later, is in close contact with a ring-shaped blade 6J provided on the inner diameter side of the bottom surface of the coating container, and accommodates the photosensitive liquid. The spacers are set above and below the cylindrical substrate to be coated, and support the substrate. Further, the upper and lower spacers are pushed up along with the cylindrical base substantially perpendicularly to the axial direction using a push-up jig, and passed through the ring of the ring-shaped coating container from bottom to top. As a result, the upper spacer, which served as the inner wall of the ring-shaped coating container, moves upward, and the cylindrical base that is placed below it moves to the inner wall of the ring-shaped coating container. replaces. Therefore, the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical substrate is brought into direct contact with the photosensitive liquid, and in this state it is pushed upward, and the photosensitive liquid is applied to the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical substrate to form a photosensitive film. When the coating of the cylindrical substrate is completed, a spacer under the cylindrical substrate is fixed to the inner diameter side of the ring-shaped coating container, serves as a wall, and accommodates the photosensitive liquid.

For the next coating, only the push-up jig is lowered while the spacer is fixed in position in the ring-shaped coating container, a new cylindrical base is placed between that spacer and another spacer, and the above process is performed. repeat. As described above, in a coating device using a ring-shaped coating liquid container, the amount of coating liquid, especially the amount to be discarded, is small and the coating efficiency is relatively high, and the device is also small and costs can be reduced.

(C1 Problem to be Solved by the Invention However, the above two methods have a problem in terms of coating efficiency.

In the former dip coating method, a large amount of coating liquid is discarded due to deterioration over time, and the coating efficiency is extremely low. Furthermore, a large amount of the coating liquid is wasted due to evaporation on the surface of the coating liquid or due to adhesion of the coating liquid to the inner wall.

On the other hand, the latter method, which uses a ring-shaped coating container, has higher coating efficiency than the dip coating method, but it eliminates wasted amount of coating fluid that adheres to the inner wall, making coating even more efficient. Improvements are desired. That is, in the coating container, not only the substrate but also the surface (inner surface) that comes into contact with the coating liquid is coated, reducing coating efficiency. Furthermore, since the coating liquid adheres to the inner wall, it is necessary to clean the coating liquid container, and a cleaning process must be provided.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a coating container in which coating liquid does not adhere to the inner wall.

fd) Means for Solving the Problems In the present invention, a coating container containing a coating liquid and applying a coating to a substrate to be coated in the coating liquid contacts the coating liquid in the coating container. It is characterized in that the surface is made of a material that is liquid repellent to the coating liquid.

(e) Function In the coating container according to the present invention, since the contact surface of the coating liquid contained therein is made of a liquid-repellent material, the contact surface repels the coating liquid and prevents the coating liquid from adhering to the container.

Therefore, the coating liquid is not wasted, and the efficiency of using the coating liquid is improved.
Coating efficiency is improved. Further, since the coating liquid does not adhere to the contact surface, cleaning is not necessary.

(f+ Embodiment FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a photoreceptor coating apparatus to which a coating container according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

The coating container unit 10 is ring-shaped, and the cylindrical substrate 30 of the photoreceptor to be coated passes through the inner diameter side of the ring. A blade 3 is provided on the bottom of the coating liquid volume (coating container in this example) (i) in the part that comes into close contact with the cylindrical base,
The blade 3 is fixed by a blade holder 3a. A liquid-repellent layer (a layer made of a liquid-repellent material) 11 is formed on the surface that comes into contact with the coating liquid in an amount of 1, that is, the surface of the inner wall. Further, a lid 2 is provided above the amount of applied liquid L, and in the center of the lid 2 there is an opening 2a having an outer diameter slightly larger than the outside diameter of the cylindrical base, and for holding two stirrers 4. A stirring hole 2b is formed. The ring-shaped coating liquid amount 1 does not have a wall on the inner diameter side, and instead, the cylindrical base body 3o fits closely to the blade 3 and accommodates the photosensitive liquid 20. During the coating operation, the cylindrical base body 30 and the coating liquid amount 1, M2, and the blade 3 constitute a coating container unit 10. The cylindrical substrate to be coated does not constitute the coating container unit 10 before or after the coating operation, and either the upper or lower spacer 5a or 5b of the cylindrical substrate 30 is in close contact with the blade and forms the coating container unit. 1o. A slit 1a is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the wall on the outer diameter side of the coating liquid amount 1, and a coating liquid replenishment pipe (not shown) is connected to the slit 1a from the outside. A stirrer 4 is set in the two stirring holes 2b provided in M2.

The coating container unit 1o as described above is fixed to the frame 8 below its outer periphery. The spacer chuck 7 functions to fix the upper and lower spacers 5a or 5b in a predetermined position. The lower part of the lower spacer 5b is the push-up device 6
A push-up jig 6b is provided. In the push-up device 6, a feed screw 6a is connected to the push-up jig 6b from below, and rotation of a motor 6c is transmitted through a gear portion 6e. motor 6c
A control circuit 6d is connected to. The push-up device 6 uses a push-up jig 6b to cause the lower spacer 5b and the cylindrical substrate 30 placed therein to pass through the photosensitive liquid (coating liquid) 20 contained in the coating container unit 10. As a result, the cylindrical substrate 30 comes into direct contact with the photosensitive liquid 20, and a photosensitive film 21 is formed.

A sensor S1 is attached to the upper part of the push-up jig 6b, and a sensor S2 is attached at a position below the coating container unit 10 corresponding to the sensor S1 at the position where the spacer is fixed. When the push-up device 6 pushes up the cylindrical substrate and the lower spacer 5b comes to a predetermined position in the coating container unit 10, the coating of the cylindrical substrate is completed. At this time, sensor S
1 and sensor s2 are lined up perfectly
detects sensor S1 and turns on. Conversely, when the push-up jig descends to center the next cylindrical substrate, sensor S2
does not detect sensor S1, so it is turned off. Based on the detection timing of such a sensor, stirring and replenishment of the photosensitive liquid 2o in the coating container unit are performed at times other than the coating operation. In addition, since the liquid repellent layer 11 is formed on the inner wall of this coating container Uniso 1-10 with a coating liquid amount of 1,
If the photosensitive liquid is 2°, it will not adhere to the inner wall. therefore,
The usage efficiency of the photosensitive liquid, that is, the coating efficiency is improved, and there is no need to wash the first amount of the coating liquid, and the process of cleaning the coating liquid plate can be omitted.

The coating liquid amount 1 (coating container) in this example was made of an aluminum alloy, and the T8 liquid layer was formed by adhering a polytetrafluoroethylene resin filalum (manufactured by Toshi, fluoride resin film) to the inner wall surface. . The coating liquid used was one in which 2 parts by weight of dibromanthuanthrone, 2 parts by weight of butyral resin (Sekisui Kagaku Co., Ltd., Esresoku-BM2), and 230 parts by weight of cyclohexane were prepared and dispersed in a ball container for 8 hours.

As a result of the coating, the coating could be applied to the cylindrical substrate without the coating liquid adhering to the inner wall of the coating liquid in an amount of 1, increasing the coating efficiency.

The surface tension of the liquid-repellent layer must be smaller than the surface tension of the coating liquid, and is preferably 75% or less. If the surface tension of the liquid-repellent layer is high, the coating liquid will adhere to the liquid-repellent layer, making it impossible to achieve the effects of the present invention.

The material of the liquid-repellent layer is not limited to that used in this example, and any material suitable for the coating liquid used may be used. In addition, although the film was bonded in this example, the liquid-repellent layer may be formed using other methods, such as etching the inner wall surface of the liquid to form an uneven surface and pressing the film onto the uneven surface. , a method using a heat-shrinkable cylindrical film, etc. may also be used.

In addition, although this example was applied to a coating device that uses a ring-shaped coating container unit, even if it is applied to a coating tank (coating container) using a dip coating method, the coating liquid will adhere to the inner wall of the coating tank. It is possible to achieve effects such as suppressing the generation of aggregates without causing any damage, and it is possible to increase coating efficiency.

+g+ Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, a layer made of a liquid-repellent material is provided on the inner wall surface of the coating container that stores the coating liquid and performs coating in the coating liquid. The inner wall repels the coating liquid and does not adhere to it. Therefore, the amount of coating liquid that adheres to the inner wall is used without wasting it, which improves coating efficiency, and eliminates the need to clean the inside of the coating container, eliminating wasted process and time. was completed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a photoreceptor coating apparatus to which a coating container according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. 1-Amount of coating liquid (coating container of this example), 10-Coating container unit, 11-Liquid repellent layer (layer made of material having 1Ω liquid property of this example), 20-Photosensitive liquid (Coating liquid of this example), 30-Cylindrical substrate (substrate of this example).

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a coating container that contains a coating liquid and applies a coating to a substrate to be coated in the coating liquid, a surface of the coating container that comes into contact with the coating liquid is repelled from the coating liquid. A coating device characterized in that it is made of a liquid material.