Deposition of soluble materials
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorsChristopher Newsome, Takeo Kawase
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention provides a method and apparatus for depositing a soluble material, such as an organic polymer, onto a substrate using an inkjet print head. The substrate is provided with an array of alignment marks and the material in solution is deposited when substantially aligned with one of the alignment marks to provide an alignment dot of the material in solution. The alignment dot is viewed before the deposited material in solution has dried. Cross-shaped alignment marks are used to facilitate viewing of the positions of the alignment dot.
Claims27
A method of selectively depositing a material dissolved or dispersed in a solution on a first area of a first surface of a substrate using an inkjet print head, the method further comprising providing an array of alignment marks on the substrate, depositing the material onto the first surface of the substrate from the ink jet print head when substantially aligned with one of the alignment marks thereby to provide an alignment dot of the material, and detecting the alignment dot relative to the alignment mark.
A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the array of alignment marks is provided on a further area of the substrate external to the first area.
A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein a further array of alignment marks is provided within the first area of the substrate.
A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the alignment marks are provided as cross shape alignment marks.
A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the array of alignment marks is selected to comprise a linear array of alignment marks spaced along at least one edge of the substrate.
A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims comprising providing a patterned structure including an array of wells for receiving the material in the first area of the substrate.
A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein an alignment dot of the material is provided periodically by the ink jet print head during the deposition of the material onto the first area of the substrate.
A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the substrate is selected to comprise a rigid substrate of glass, silicon or plastics material.
A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims comprising selecting the material to comprise a conjugated polymer.
A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims comprising irradiating the surface of the substrate with light of a wavelength to which the substrate is substantially transparent when viewing an alignment dot of the material.
A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims comprising providing the alignment mark or marks and arranging the alignment mark or marks to have optical contrast but no wettability contrast relative to the substrate.
A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims comprising using an image recognition technique to detect the alignment dot relative to the alignment mark.
A method of making a display device including the fabrication of light emitting elements using the method of any preceding claim.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.