Chemical liquid dispensing apparatus

A liquid dispensing apparatus, comprising:

• a discharge head mount configured to hold a liquid discharge head having a plurality of nozzles for discharging droplets of liquid;
• an inspection media placement region on which an inspection medium can be placed to receive the droplets from the liquid discharge head held by the discharge head mount;
• a drive circuit electrically connected to the liquid discharge head and configured to drive a plurality of actuators corresponding to the plurality of nozzles to discharge the droplets from the plurality of nozzles;
• and
• a controller connected to the drive circuit and configured to control the drive circuit to vary a volume of the droplets discharged from each nozzle in the plurality of nozzles for a nozzle inspection operation, the volume of the droplets being set according to a predetermined distance between adjacent nozzles of the liquid discharge head that simultaneously discharge the droplets and a predetermined contact angle of a droplet of the liquid on the inspection medium, wherein
• the nozzle inspection operation includes discharging the liquid simultaneously from a first group of nozzles in the plurality of nozzles at a first volume at a first location in the inspection media placement region and then discharging the liquid simultaneously from a second group of nozzles in the plurality of nozzles at a second volume at a second location in the inspection media placement region.

A nozzle inspection method for a liquid dispensing apparatus, the method comprising:

• positioning a liquid discharging head that can discharge liquid from a plurality of nozzles simultaneously above a first location in an inspection media placement region, the liquid discharging head being held by a mounting unit;
• acquiring a distance between a first group of adjacent nozzles of the liquid discharging head that simultaneously discharge liquid, the distance being acquired based on an identifier code on the liquid discharging head;
• acquiring a contact angle of a droplet on an inspection medium, the contact angle being acquired based on a type of liquid to be discharged from the liquid discharging head;
• setting a volume of droplets to be dispensed from the liquid discharging head by the first group of adjacent nozzles based on the acquired distance and the acquired contact angle, the volume being set such that droplets from the first group of adjacent nozzles will not overlap on the inspection medium after discharge from the liquid discharging heat;
• discharging droplets of the liquid at the first location simultaneously from the first group of nozzles at the set volume;
• positioning the liquid discharging head above a second location in the inspection media placement region;
• and
• discharging droplets of the liquid at the second location simultaneously from a second group of nozzles in the plurality of nozzles at the set volume.