Computer Simulation of Coating Behavior Including Air for Various Coater Geometries and Operational Conditions

Slot coating has been wide spread in photo-resist coating on the glass for liquid crystal display. Die in slot coater consists of manifold and land. Material comes in inlet of the die and flow into the manifold and then flow out through the land. The coating thickness variations along the die length depend upon inside of die design such as manifold and die land. However the coating thickness variations along the moving direction(coating direction) of the coater depend upon the operational conditions of coater as well as die lip design. The coating behaviors including atmospheric air have been investigated in this study. Die geometries considered in this study were nozzle gap and length of the die lip. Coating gap and coating speed were the variables fur coating operational conditions. When the nozzle gap and length of die lip increased climbing effect of PR on the downstream die lip was reduced. Subsequently uniformity of coating thickness improved. Uniformity of coating thickness also enhanced as coating gap and coater speed increased. The uniformity of coating gap was related to the velocity vector distributions on the coating surface.