Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Yoshinori Nakajima

Tadashi Iwamatsu

Tetsuro Toyoshima

Nobuyuki Azuma

Yoshinori Mutou

Toshihiro Tamura

Tomoyuki Sagara

Hitoshi Isono

Hirotsugu Matoba

Kaoru Higuchi

Yasuhiro Sakamoto

Toshiyuki Tanaka

Shigeaki Kakiwaki

Hirotugu Matoba

Sigemi Asai

A substrate reworking system () improves rework tact time and eliminates unnecessary reworking to perform efficient reworking. The system () includes: a defect information acquisition unit () for acquiring defect information for an entire region on the target substrate (); a reworking unit () having at least one liquid drop discharge unit () for dispensing a liquid drop to a defective part on the target substrate () based on the defect information acquired by the defect information acquisition unit (); and a rework determining unit () for determining, for each target substrate () and based on the defect information acquired by the defect information acquisition unit (), whether the reworking unit () needs to perform reworking.

Substrate reworking by liquid drop ejection means

A defect repairing apparatus () capable of efficiently repairing defects includes: a substrate-mounting plate () for securing a substrate conveyed; a plurality of droplet discharge units () disposed along a direction different from the direction of conveyance of the substrate as seen from a direction perpendicular to the substrate secured by the substrate-mounting plate (), which discharge droplets onto defects scattered about on the substrate; a head gantry unit () on which the plurality of droplet discharge units () have been mounted; and a gantry sliding mechanism () for moving the head gantry unit () relatively at a constant velocity along the direction of conveyance of the substrate, the droplet discharge units () moving each independently along a direction different from the direction of conveyance in accordance with data indicative of the positions of the defects scattered about on the substrate, while the head gantry unit () is moving along the direction of conveyance of the substrate.

Defect repairing apparatus, defect repairing method, program, and computer-readable recording medium

A droplet applying apparatus includes a basehaving a mounting surfaceon which a substrateis to be mounted, an arm partwhich is fitted to the baseso as to be movable relative to the basein an arrow A direction, a plurality of droplet ejecting sectionswhich are fitted to the arm partso as to be movable relative to the basein an arrow B direction and which eject droplets to the substratemounted on the mounting surface, image pickup partsfor detecting alignment marksof the substratemounted on the mounting surface, and a attitude adjustment memberfor adjusting an attitude of the substratemounted on the mounting surfacebased on a detection result of the image pickup parts

Drop coating apparatus

A droplet applying apparatus includes a base having a mounting surface on which a substrate is to be mounted, an arm part which is fitted to the base so as to be movable relative to the base in an arrow A direction, and a plurality of droplet ejecting sections which are fitted to the arm part so as to be movable in an arrow B direction and which eject droplets to the substrate mounted on the mounting surface. The droplet ejecting sections are fitted on a fitting surface of a first beam member of the arm part as well as on a fitting surface of a second beam member of the arm part.

An ink-jet head () jets supplied liquid through plural nozzles (). The ink-jet head () includes a liquid introduction port (A), a liquid discharge port (B), a common liquid chamber, and plural individual liquid chambers. The liquid introduction port (A) introduces the liquid supplied from the outside. The liquid discharge port (B) discharges the liquid to the outside. The common liquid chamber is disposed so as to communicate with the liquid introduction port (A) and with the liquid discharge port (B). The plural individual liquid chambers communicate with the common liquid chamber and with respective of the plural nozzle openings ().

Droplet jet unit and droplet jet device

The inkjet head in accordance with the present invention includes a head unit formed by fixing a plurality of head elements to each other, and a nozzle plate fixed on the head unit. The head element has a pair of main surfaces and a front surface positioned between the pair of main surfaces, and the front surface has a plurality of openings respectively communicated with ink chambers. The head elements forming the head unit are fixed with their main surfaces brought into contact with each other. The nozzle plate is provided in contact with the front surface of the head unit across all the head elements forming the head unit.

Inkjet head unit including a plurality of head elements attached to one another and a common nozzle plate and ink distribution manifold

An ink jet head has a plurality of first ink chambers () front end portions of which open at an end surface (A) of the substrate and rear end portions of which are blocked, and a plurality of second ink chambers () front end portions of which open at an end surface (B) on the opposite side to the end surface (A) and rear end portions of which are blocked. Furthermore, this ink jet head has electrodes formed upon inner walls of the first ink chambers () and the second ink chambers (), a first common ink chamber () formed between the rear end portions of the second ink chambers () and the end surface (A) and communicated with the first ink chambers (), and a second common ink chamber () formed between the rear end portions of the first ink chambers () and the end surface (B) and communicated with the second ink chambers (). And this ink jet head has a nozzle plate covering the first ink chambers () and the second ink chambers (), and having nozzle holes formed to correspond to those ink chambers.

Ink jet head and method of manufacture thereof

An ink jet head is provided which includes: a piezoelectric board having a plurality of elongated channels arranged parallel to each other and isolated from each other by channel walls; and a nozzle plate having a plurality of nozzle holes provided in association with the respective channels, and bonded onto the piezoelectric board with the nozzle holes located at generally longitudinally middle positions of the respective channels; wherein the nozzle plate has trench-like recesses each having a predetermined width and a predetermined depth and extending perpendicularly to the channels as being spaced equidistantly from the nozzle holes longitudinally of the channels; gaps for communication between adjacent channels are defined by the recesses between a surface of the nozzle plate and upper face portions of the channel walls located equidistantly from the nozzle holes; and active areas contributable to ink ejection are defined in each of the channels on opposite sides of the corresponding nozzle hole along the channel. This arrangement prevents deterioration of ejection characteristics attributable to bonding offset of the nozzle plate, and suppresses residual vibration occurring due to pressure waves without complication of the construction of the ink jet head, thereby ensuring stable ejection characteristics even in high speed driving.

Ink jet head and production method therefor

An electrode connection structure between outer lead(s) of TCP(s), being first circuit board(s), and actuator member electrode(s) for connection to external circuitry, being second circuit board(s); actuator member(s) electrode(s) for connection to external circuitry being formed in or on floor(s) of recess(es) which is/are step(s) smaller in magnitude than thickness(es) of outer lead(s) protruding from polyimide substrate(s) of TCP(s); adhesive(s) having thickness(es) more or less equal to difference(s) between step(s) and thickness(es) of outer lead(s); and outer lead(s) being electrically and mechanically connected to electrode(s) for connection to external circuitry.

Circuit board electrode connection structure

In a droplet spray apparatus spraying out ink from an ink path by altering the volume of an ink channel formed in a trench that is covered with a cover plate and that has a conductive member provided at one end formed at a piezoelectric member, an ink supply opening to supply ink is provided at the end side where the conductive member is provided. Accordingly, an ink jet head that can be made compact, fabricated easily, and superior in productivity is obtained.

Ink jet head with partially exposed inside electrode and fabrication method thereof

When a halftone image region that is below a predetermined density is to be reproduced, a processing unit controlling an exposure unit selects an exposure pattern that can represent a record dot diameter within a range based on a predetermined rule from exposure patterns prepared in advance. Accordingly, graininess is suppressed. When there are a plurality of exposure patterns that can be applied, the exposure pattern with the lowest number of dots present per 1 inch is employed. Accordingly, a halftone image is formed with the image reproducibility improved.

Image formation apparatus and image formation method

An ink-jet head includes an electrode formed to continue from an inner surface in an ink chamber to a back end surface of a diaphragm through an inclined surface of the diaphragm. The inclined surface forms an angle greater than 90&deg; with the inner surface in the ink chamber and forms an angle greater than 90&deg; with the back end surface of the diaphragm. The electrode thus has a sufficient thickness on the corner portion formed by the inner surface in the ink chamber and the back end surface of the diaphragm. Accordingly, even if any component touches or hits the corner portion formed by the inner surface and the back end surface, in an assembly process of the ink-jet head, the electrode is prevented from being cut off and thus from being broken. In this way, the electrode can surely be connected electrically to a driving circuit.

Ink-jet head and manufacturing method thereof

An ink jet head which has been improved to enable reliable connection of an electrode to an external portion without increasing manufacturing cost is provided. The ink jet head includes a base member, a cover member, a nozzle plate, and a plurality of electrode connecting portions. The electrode connecting portions are electrically isolated by second grooves formed in the surface of the base member. The surface of the electrode connecting portions are substantially flush with the upper surfaces of the walls.

Ink jet head and manufacturing method thereof

An exposure apparatus for image formation uses power control means provided to a laser driver for controlling exposure energy and accordingly forming an image. Specifically, exposure energy is varied depending on an isolated-dot pattern and an isolated-line pattern by changing the pulse height (drive power) of a drive pulse for each dot. Both of the isolated-line and isolated-dot patterns of a high resolution can thus be reproduced with a high image quality without increase of cost due to requirements for accuracy in processing and positioning of a lens and without decrease of life of a photoreceptor due to a decreased thickness of its photosensitive layer.

Exposure apparatus for image formation and image formation method

A control unit of an image forming apparatus for controlling exposure energy includes a reference image storage unit storing a plurality of reference images, an image recognition unit comparing image information consisting of a plurality of pieces of pixel information with data stored in the reference image storage unit, an exposure energy density storage unit storing an exposure energy density for each reference image stored in the reference image storage unit, an exposure energy density determination unit based on data from the image recognition unit and data in the exposure energy density storage unit an exposure energy density to be applied to a dot position corresponding to each piece of the pixel information, and a laser drive driving a laser of an exposure unit based on data from the exposure energy density determination uni. Accordingly, the image forming apparatus can be provided which exhibits an excellent image reproducibility for images with various dot densities.

Growing community of inventors

Nara, Japan

Yoshinori Nakajima