FILM COATING APPARATUS AND FILM COATING METHOD

Abstract

A film coating apparatus and a film coating method for improving the adhesion of a thin film and a substrate are provided. The substrate fixing device has an arched surface for fixing the substrate. The thin film bearing device has a bearing surface opposite to the arched surface and being detachably disposed to the bearing surface. The press roll is located at a side of the thin film away from the substrate fixing device, and may move towards the substrate and roll from one end of the thin film to the other end.

Claims

1. A film coating apparatus for coating a thin film on a substrate, wherein the film coating apparatus comprises: a substrate fixing device having an arched surface for fixing the substrate; a thin film bearing device having a bearing surface opposite to the arched surface, and detachably disposed to the bearing surface; a press roll located at a side of the thin film away from the substrate fixing device, and movable towards the substrate and configured to roll from one end of the thin film to the other end.

2. The thin film coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a convexity d of the arched surface ridge and a thickness a of the substrate satisfy: d≤2a.

3. The thin film coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thin film bearing device further comprises a screen plate disposed between the bearing surface and the thin film and opposite to the arched surface, wherein the press roll is located at a side of the screen plate away from the thin film.

4. The thin film coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thin film bearing device further comprises a first adsorption structure for adsorbing the thin film.

5. The thin film coating apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the thin film bearing device further comprises a screen plate having a plurality of meshes disposed between the bearing surface and the thin film, wherein the first adsorption structure comprises a first suction pipe correspondingly disposed to a side of each mesh away from the thin film, and the first suction pipe is in communication with a corresponding mesh.

6. The thin film coating apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the first adsorption structure comprises a plurality of first adsorption pads disposed on the bearing surface, and first suction pipes disposed to a side of the first adsorption pad away from the thin film, the first suction pipes being in communication with the corresponding first adsorption pads.

7. The thin film coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate fixing device further comprises a second adsorption structure for adsorbing the substrate, the second adsorption structure comprises a plurality of second adsorption pads disposed on the arched surface, and second suction pipes disposed at a side of the second adsorption pads away from the thin film, wherein the second suction pipes are in communication with the corresponding second adsorption pads.

8. The thin film coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thin film bearing device further comprises a first driving device connected to the press roll for driving the press roll to press the thin film against the arched surface and to roll at a side of the thin film away from the arched surface.

9. The thin film coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said substrate fixing device further comprises a rotating shaft disposed at a side of the arched surface away from the thin film bearing device, the rotating shaft has a first rotational position for making the arched surface facing towards the thin film bearing device, and a second rotational position for making the arched surface facing away from the thin film bearing device.

10. A film coating method applied to the thin film coating apparatus according to claim 1, comprising: fixing a substrate on an arched surface of a substrate fixing device; placing a thin film on a bearing surface of a thin film bearing device; controlling a press roll to press the thin film towards the arched surface and to roll from one end of the thin film to the other end, so that a portion of the thin film opposite to the press roll is coated to the substrate.

11. The film coating method according to claim 10, wherein a convexity d of the arched surface and a thickness a of the substrate satisfy: d≤2a.

12. The film coating method according to claim 10, further comprising: providing a screen plate between the bearing surface and the thin film and opposite to the arched surface, and providing the press roll at a side of the screen plate away from the thin film, controlling the press roll to press the screen plate and the thin film against the arched surface and to roll from one end of the screen plate to the other end, so that a portion of the thin film opposite to the press roll is coated on the substrate.

13. The film coating method according to claim 10, further comprising: providing a first adsorption structure for adsorbing the thin film on the thin film bearing device.

14. The film coating method according to claim 13, further comprising: providing a screen plate having a plurality of meshes between the bearing surface of the thin film bearing device and the thin film, wherein the first absorbing structure includes a first suction pipe correspondingly disposed to a side of each mesh away from the thin film, and the first suction pipe is in communication with a corresponding mesh.

15. The film coating method according to claim 13, wherein the first adsorption structure comprises a plurality of first adsorption pads disposed on the bearing surface, and corresponding to each of first adsorption pads, a first suction pipe disposed to a side of the first adsorption pad away from the thin film, wherein the first suction pipe is in communication with the corresponding first adsorption pad.

16. The film coating method according to claim 10, further comprising: providing a second adsorption structure for adsorbing the substrate on the substrate fixing device, the second adsorption structure including a plurality of second adsorption pads disposed on the arched surface, and a second suction pipe disposed at a side of the second adsorption pad away from the thin film, wherein the second suction pipe is in communication with the corresponding second adsorption pad.

17. The film coating method according to claim 10, further comprising: providing, on the thin film bearing device, a first driving device connected to the press roll for driving the press roll to press the thin film against the arched surface and to roll at a side of the thin film away from the arched surface.

18. The film coating method according to claim 10, further comprising: providing a rotating shaft at a side of the arched surface away from the thin film bearing device, the rotating shaft having a first rotational position for rotating the arched surface towards the thin film bearing device, and a second position for rotating the arched surface away from the thin film bearing device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a film coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0032] FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a film coating apparatus coating a thin film according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0033] FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a thin film and a substrate during the film coating according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0034] FIG. 4 is another schematic view of a film coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0035] FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a film coating apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0036] FIG. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a film coating method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the example embodiments can be embodied in a variety of forms, and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and the concepts of the example embodiments will be fully given to those skilled in the art. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or similar structures, and thus their detailed descriptions will be omitted.

[0038] Although the relative terms such as “on”, “below”, “upper” and “lower” are used in the specification to describe the relative relationship of one component to another component, these terms are used in this specification for convenience only, for example, a direction in the example according to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that if the device is turned upside down, the “upper” component described above will become a “lower” component. When a structure is “on” another structure, it is possible that the structure is integrally formed on another structure, or that the structure is “directly” disposed on another structure, or that the structure is “indirectly” disposed on the other structure through other structures.

[0039] The terms “a”, “an”, “the”, “said” are used to indicate the presence of one or more elements/components. The terms “comprise”, “include”, “have”, “contain” and their variants are used to be open-type and are meant to include additional elements/components, etc., in addition to the listed elements/components/etc.; the terms “first”, “second”, etc. are only used as marks, rather than limitation of the number of objects.

[0040] In order to improve the adhesion of the thin film and the substrate, and further improve the product quality of the flexible touch thin film, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a film coating apparatus and a film coating method.

[0041] As shown in FIG. 1, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a film coating apparatus including a substrate fixing device 1, a thin film bearing device 2 and a press roll 22, wherein:

[0042] the substrate fixing device 1 has an arched surface 11 for fixing a substrate 3;

[0043] the thin film bearing device 2 has a bearing surface 20 opposite to the arched surface 11 for bearing a thin film 4;

[0044] the press roll 22 is located at a side of the thin film 4 away from the substrate fixing device 1, and when the press roll 22 presses the thin film 4 against the arched surface 11 and rolls at a side of the thin film 4 away from the arched surface 11, a portion of the thin film 4 opposite to the press roll 22 is coated to the substrate 3.

[0045] In the film coating apparatus provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, before coating the thin film 4, the substrate fixing device 1 fixes the substrate 3 on the arched surface 11, and the substrate 3 is slightly drooped under the action of gravity. As seen from the broken line in FIG. 2, during the process of coating the thin film 4, the press roll 22 presses the thin film 4 against the arched surface 11 and rolls at a side of the thin film 4 away from the arched surface 11, so that a portion of the thin film 4 opposite to the press roll 22 is closely adhered to the substrate 3, and at which time the thin film 4 generates tensile stress, as shown in FIG. 3. After the thin film 4 is coated, the substrate 3 returns to an original state, at which time the thin film 4 generates a compressive stress which is offset by the tensile stress. Compared with the related art, the film coating apparatus improves the shrinkage of the thin film 4 and the adhesion of the thin film 4 to the substrate 3, thereby improving the product quality of the touch thin film.

[0046] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a convexity d of the arched surface 11 and a thickness a of the base substrate 3 satisfy: d≤2a. The convexity of the arched surface 11 takes a value within this range, and the warpage of the substrate 3 can be reduced, thereby improving the adhesion of the thin film 4 to the substrate 3.

[0047] As shown in FIG. 4, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the thin film bearing device 2 further includes a screen plate 21 disposed between the bearing surface 20 and the thin film 4, the press roll 22 is located at a side of the screen plate 21 away from the thin film 4. When the press roll 22 presses the thin film 4 against the arched surface 11 via the screen plate 21 and rolls on the surface of the screen plate 21, a portion of the thin film 4 opposite to the press roll 22 is coated to the substrate 3. The thin film bearing device 2 fixes the thin film 4 on the screen plate 21, which can reduce the wrinkling of the thin film 4, thereby improving the adhesion of the thin film 4 to the substrate 3.

[0048] Referring to FIG. 4, in the present embodiment, the thin film bearing device 2 further includes a first adsorption structure 23 located at a side of the screen plate 21 away from the thin film 4, and the first adsorption structure 23 is used to absorb and fix the thin film 4 on the screen plate 21 via the screen plate 21; corresponding to each mesh 26 of the screen plate 21, the first adsorption structure 23 includes a first suction pipe 25 disposed at a side of the mesh 26 away from the thin film 4, and the first suction pipe 25 is in communication with the corresponding mesh 26. The first adsorption structure 23 adsorbs the thin film 4 on the screen plate 21, which can further reduce the wrinkling of the thin film 4, and improve the adhesion of the thin film 4 to the substrate 3.

[0049] As shown in FIG. 5, in another embodiment of the present disclosure, the thin film bearing device 2 further includes a first adsorption structure 23 for adsorbing the thin film 4, and the first adsorption structure 23 includes a plurality of first adsorption pads 24 disposed on the bearing surface 20, and corresponding to each of first adsorption pads 24, a first suction pipe 25 disposed at a side of the first adsorption pad 24 away from the thin film 4, and the first suction pipe 25 is in communication with the corresponding first adsorption pad 24.

[0050] As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, in one embodiment, the substrate fixing device 2 further includes a second adsorption structure 13 for adsorbing the substrate 3, and the second adsorption structure 13 includes a plurality of second adsorption pads 14 disposed on the arched surface 11, and corresponding to each of second adsorption pads 14, a second suction pipe 15 disposed at a side of the second adsorption pad 14 away from the thin film bearing device 2, and the second suction pipe 15 is in communication with the corresponding second adsorption pad 14. The second adsorption structure 13 relatively closely adsorbs and fixes the substrate 3 on the arched surface 11, thereby reducing the wrinkling of the substrate 3, and improving the adhesion of the thin film 4 to the substrate 3.

[0051] In the present embodiment, the thin film bearing device 2 further includes a first driving device connected to the press roll 22 for driving the press roll 22 to press the thin film 4 against the arched surface 11 and to roll at a side of the thin film 4 away from the arched surface 11.

[0052] As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the substrate fixing device 1 further includes a rotating shaft 12 disposed at a side of the arched surface 11 away from the thin film bearing device 2. The rotating shaft 12 has a first rotational position for making the arched surface 11 facing towards the thin film bearing device 2, and a second rotational position for making the arched surface 11 facing away from the thin film bearing device 2. The rotating shaft 12 rotates the substrate fixing device 1 to the first rotational position during fixing of the substrate 3; and the rotating shaft 12 rotates the substrate fixing device 1 to the second rotational position after the substrate 3 is fixed, so as to facilitate fixing of the substrate on the arched surface.

[0053] In this embodiment, the film coating apparatus further includes a control device connected to the first driving device for controlling the first driving device to drive the press roll 22 to press the thin film 4 against the arched surface 11 and roll at a side of the thin film 4 away from the arched surface 11 after the thin filming apparatus is activated, so that a portion of the first adsorption structure 23 opposite to the press roll 22 is separated from the thin film 4, and so that a portion of the thin film 4 opposite to the press roll 22 is closely adhered to the substrate 3. With the design of this structure, the control device drives the press roll 22 by controlling the first driving device to automatically coat the thin film 4.

[0054] In an embodiment, the film coating apparatus further includes a second driving device for driving the rotating shaft 12, and the second driving device is connected to the control device. The control device controls the second driving device to drive the rotating shaft 12 so that the substrate fixing device 1 rotates to the first rotational position to face towards the thin film bearing device 2 during fixing of the substrate 3; the control device controls the second driving device to drive the rotating shaft 12 so that the substrate fixing device 1 rotates to the second rotational position facing away from the thin film bearing device 2 after the substrate 3 is fixed.

[0055] The control device is further connected to a first vacuuming device and a second vacuuming device, respectively, for controlling the first vacuuming device to vacuum the first adsorption structure 23 and controlling the second vacuuming device to vacuum the second adsorption structure 13 after the film coating device is activated.

[0056] As shown in FIG. 6, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a film coating method applied to the film coating apparatus of the foregoing embodiment, including:

[0057] step 101: fixing a substrate on an arched surface of a substrate fixing device;

[0058] step 102: placing a film on a bearing surface of a thin film bearing device;

[0059] step 103: controlling a press roll to press the thin film towards the arched surface and roll at a side of the thin film away from the arched surface, so that a portion of the thin film opposite to the press roll is coated to the substrate.

[0060] In the film coating method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, before coating the thin film 4, the substrate fixing device 1 absorbs and fixes the substrate 3 on the arched surface 11, and the substrate 3 is slightly arched downwards; during the process of coating the thin film 4, the press roll 22 presses the thin film 4 towards the arched surface 11, and rolls at a side of the thin film 4 away from the arched surface 11, so that a portion of the thin film 4 opposite to the press roll 22 is closely adhered to the substrate 3, and at which time the thin film 4 generates a tensile stress; after coating the thin film 4, the substrate 3 returns to an original state, and the thin film 4 produces a pressure stress which is offset by the tensile stress. Compared with the related art, the film coating method improves the shrinkage of the thin film 4 and the adhesion of the thin film 4 to the substrate 3, thereby improving the product quality of the touch thin film.

[0061] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes can be made in the present disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, the present invention is intended to cover the modifications and the modifications which belong to the scope of the claims and their equivalents.

[0062] The above description is only the specific embodiment of the present disclosure, but the scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and those skilled in the art can easily conceive of changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present disclosure. Those changes or substitutions should be covered within the scope of protection of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present disclosure should be determined by the scope of the claims.