1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for forming film, a process for manufacturing a device, an electro-optical device, and electronic equipment.
2. Description of Related Art
Manufacturing processes of electro-optical devices used in displays, display light sources, or the like, and electronic devices such as semiconductor devices, contain a step for placing material on a substrate to form a film on the substrate. Quality and functionality are intimately associated with the technique for placing material and the technique for forming a film. Therefore the techniques are important to improving the performance of each of the above-described devices.
A technique for placing material on a substrate is a method of discharging liquid material as droplets via a nozzle provided in a discharge head (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 11-274671). This droplet discharge method generates less waste in the consumption of liquid material, and more easily controls the amount and the location of liquid material placed on a substrate compared with techniques such as a spin coating method.
A technique for forming a film on a substrate using a droplet discharge method requires accuracy in placing liquid material on a substrate, and also requires an improvement in the accuracy and stability of the form of a film after the liquid film has dried.
Incidentally, regarding a technique for making liquid material into droplets to place it on a substrate, there is a technique whereby a bank is formed on a substrate, and droplets are placed in the region surrounded by the bank (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 11-271753, for example). In this technique, since the region where droplets are placed is defined by the bank, being a partition, the droplets (liquid material) are prevented from spreading while wet.
In recent years, progress has been made in regards to the high density of circuits comprising devices, so fine detail is required in the pattern. Furthermore, devices are required to be of low cost.
In a bank forming technique as mentioned above, a bank is formed by patterning using a printing method, or patterning by lithography. However, in the printing method, it is difficult to handle the fine detail of the pattern. Furthermore, in the lithography method, since part of the bank forming material is removed along with patterning, there is a lot of waste in the amount of material used.
A technique for forming a film on a substrate using a droplet discharge method requires accuracy of placing liquid material on a substrate, and also requires fine detail in a film and an improvement in film properties after the liquid film has dried.