Droplet discharge device and method for forming thin film

A droplet discharge device adapted to arrange droplets onto a substrate including a first discharge region having a plurality of first partition regions arranged at a first interval in a first direction and a second discharge region having a plurality of second partition regions arranged at a second interval in the first direction that is different from the first interval, the droplet discharge device comprising:

• a droplet discharge head having a plurality of nozzles for discharging droplets and a plurality of drive elements provided in correspondence with the nozzles, the droplet discharge head being configured and arranged to discharge droplets from the nozzles at a predetermined timing while the droplet discharge head is scanned with respect to the substrate in a main scanning direction corresponding to a second direction of the substrate that is orthogonal to the first direction and a sub-scanning direction corresponding to the first direction at predetermined movement intervals so that the droplets are selectively discharged onto the first and second partition regions disposed on the substrate, with the predetermined movement interval in the sub-scanning direction being equal to an integral multiple of the first interval;
• and
• a control unit configured to
• control the drive waveforms of a prescribed set of drive elements corresponding to a prescribed set of the nozzles selected to discharge droplets during a main scan when the droplets are arranged in the first partition regions, based on a pre-measured distribution of a droplet discharge amount of each of the prescribed set of the nozzles so that the droplet discharge amount of each of the prescribed set of the nozzles approximates a predetermined optimal amount when the droplets are arranged in the first partition regions, and
• control the drive waveforms of the drive elements corresponding to the nozzles included in a plurality of potential combinations of the nozzles selected to discharge droplets during a main scan when the droplets are arranged in the second partition regions, based on a pre-measured distribution of an average droplet discharge amount of each of the nozzles calculated from an amount of droplets discharged from the each of the nozzles in all the potential combinations so that the droplet discharge amount of each of the nozzles approximates the predetermined optimal amount when the droplets are arranged in the second partition regions.