CN107365972B

CN107365972B - Substrate support assembly, film forming apparatus and method

Info

Publication number: CN107365972B
Application number: CN201710800465.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 孙朴; 吴文泽; 刘德健; 曹飞
Original assignee: BOE Technology Group Co Ltd; Ordos Yuansheng Optoelectronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: BOE Technology Group Co Ltd; Ordos Yuansheng Optoelectronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-09-07
Filing date: 2017-09-07
Publication date: 2022-06-28
Anticipated expiration: 2037-09-07
Also published as: CN107365972A; WO2019047856A1

Abstract

The invention provides a substrate support assembly, film forming equipment and a method, belongs to the technical field of film forming, and can at least partially solve the problems that the existing technology for sticking a copper adhesive tape on a cooling plate has long cutting time and high risk, is easy to cause sticking or breaking, and has inflexible thickness adjustment. The substrate support assembly comprises a support plate for supporting a substrate in a film forming process, wherein the support plate is provided with a working surface facing the substrate, the working surface of the support plate is provided with a plurality of openings arranged at intervals, each opening is internally provided with a movable block and a driver, and the driver is used for driving the movable block to lift relative to the working surface so as to enable the top surface of the movable block to move between a position flush with the working surface and a position protruding out of the working surface.

Description

Substrate support assembly, film forming apparatus and method

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of film forming, and particularly relates to a substrate support assembly, film forming equipment and a method.

Background

As shown in fig. 1, in the evaporation apparatus, the substrate 5 to be film-formed may be disposed outside the working surface of the cooling plate 9 (due to gravity, there is a substantial gap between the substrate 5 and the working surface). The other side of the substrate 5 is in contact with a Mask 6(Mask) having a hollow pattern (not shown), and vapor deposition gas generated by the evaporation source passes through the hollow pattern to form a film layer with a corresponding pattern on the substrate 5. Since the mask 6 itself has wavy wrinkles, the positions of the mask are not well adhered to the substrate 5 (gaps exist), and the vapor deposition gas passing through the hollow patterns from these positions diffuses to cause inaccurate pattern formation, resulting in stripe color mixing, edge color mixing, and the like. For this purpose, the conventional method is to attach a copper tape 99 to the cooling plate 9 to adjust the flatness of the cooling plate 9, and "jack up" the corresponding position of the substrate 5 so as to make it closely contact with the reticle 6. However, this method has at least the following problems:

Firstly, different mask plates 6 have different wrinkles, and corresponding copper adhesive tapes 99 are attached in different ways (positions and layers), so that vacuum is broken and evaporation equipment is used for attaching the copper adhesive tapes 99 again when the mask plates 6 are replaced each time, and the cutting time is greatly prolonged.

Secondly, the pasting needs to be manually carried out in a narrow semi-closed space in the equipment, and medicaments such as acetone, isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and the like need to be used, so that the working environment is severe and the danger is high; meanwhile, the precision and the efficiency of manual operation are difficult to ensure.

Thirdly, to ensure the copper adhesive tape 99 is tightly adhered, it needs to be pressed forcibly, which easily causes adhesive residue, which is sticky and may cause sticking or even chipping.

Fourth, the single-layer copper tape 99 has a certain thickness H, so the total thickness of the attached copper tape 99 can only be an integral multiple of H (i.e., multiple layers can be attached) and cannot be adjusted at will, and the requirements may not be met in many positions.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention at least partially solves the problems of long cutting time, high danger, easy sticking or breaking and inflexible thickness adjustment of the existing technology of sticking the copper adhesive tape on the cooling plate, and provides a substrate supporting assembly, a film forming device and a method which can avoid the defects.

The substrate support assembly includes a support plate for supporting a substrate in a film forming process, the support plate having a working surface for facing the substrate, and

the working face of the supporting plate is provided with a plurality of openings arranged at intervals, each opening is internally provided with a movable block and a driver, and the drivers are used for driving the movable blocks to lift relative to the working face, so that the top surfaces of the movable blocks can move between positions which are flush with the working face and protrude out of the working face.

Preferably, the cross section of the opening matches the cross section of the movable block in a plane parallel to the working plane.

Preferably, in any direction parallel to the working surface, the top surface of the movable block has a dimension which is one twentieth to one tenth of the dimension of the working surface in that direction.

Preferably, each of said openings is arranged in an array;

in any direction parallel to the working surface, the spacing distance between the adjacent movable blocks is one third to two thirds of the size of the top surface of the movable block in the direction.

Preferably, the substrate support assembly further comprises:

and a coolant line provided at a position where there is no opening in the supporting plate.

Preferably, the top surface of the movable block is an arc surface.

Preferably, the top surface of the movable block is made of an elastic material.

Preferably, the supporting plate and the movable block are both made of a conductive material.

Preferably, the substrate support assembly further comprises:

the device comprises a storage unit, a processing unit and a control unit, wherein the storage unit is used for storing one or more preset schemes, and each preset scheme comprises a preset position of each movable block;

and the control unit is used for controlling each driver according to the preset scheme so as to enable each movable block to reach a corresponding preset position.

Preferably, the substrate support assembly further comprises:

and the fixing clamp is used for clamping and fixing the edge of the substrate on the supporting plate.

The technical solution to solve the technical problem of the present invention is a film forming apparatus, comprising:

the above-described substrate support assembly;

the mask plate supporting component is used for supporting the mask plate at a position which is contacted with one side of the substrate far away from the working surface;

a film-forming assembly for forming a film on a substrate.

Preferably, the film forming apparatus is an evaporation apparatus.

The technical scheme adopted for solving the technical problem of the invention is a film forming method which is carried out by adopting the film forming equipment, and the film forming method comprises the following steps:

Supporting the substrate outside the working surface of a supporting plate of a substrate supporting assembly, and arranging a mask plate with hollow patterns on the mask plate supporting assembly to enable the mask plate to be in contact with one side of the substrate, which is far away from the working surface;

adjusting the position of each movable block according to the fluctuation of the mask plate to enable each position of the substrate to be in contact with the mask plate;

and forming a film at the position of the substrate corresponding to the hollow pattern by using the film forming assembly.

Preferably, after the film is formed on the position of the substrate corresponding to the hollow pattern by the film forming assembly, the method further comprises the following steps:

at least part of the movable block is moved convexly relative to the working surface to separate the substrate from the working surface.

In the support component, the working surface of the support plate is provided with an opening, the opening is internally provided with a liftable movable block, and the movable blocks move to different positions, so that the surface of the working surface has specific fluctuation to change the flatness of the working surface, the substrate can be jacked up at a required position, all the positions of the substrate are in close contact with and well attached to the mask, and the formed pattern is accurate. The movable blocks can move automatically under the drive of the driver, manual operation is not needed, vacuum does not need to be broken when the mask is replaced, and the position of each movable block is adjusted through the driver, so that the cutting speed is greatly increased, the working environment is good, no danger exists, and the problems of sticking, breaking and the like do not exist; in addition, as long as the precision of the driver is sufficient, the change of the position of the interaction block is arbitrary, and the flatness adjustment amount is not limited, so that various requirements can be satisfied.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional cooling plate with a copper tape attached thereto;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a support plate of a substrate support assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a support plate of a substrate support assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view showing a film forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention (coolant lines are not shown and movable blocks are all at a uniform position);

wherein the reference numerals are: 1. a support plate; 11. an opening; 12. a coolant line; 2. a movable block; 3. a driver; 5. a substrate; 59. a fixing clip; 6. a mask plate; 69. a reticle support assembly; 7. a film forming assembly; 9. a cooling plate; 99. copper tape.

Detailed Description

In order to make the technical solutions of the present invention better understood, the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

Example 1:

as shown in fig. 2 to 4, the present embodiment provides a substrate support assembly including a support plate 1 for supporting a substrate 5 in a film forming process, the support plate 1 having a working face for facing the substrate 5, wherein,

the working surface of the supporting plate 1 is provided with a plurality of openings 11 arranged at intervals, each opening 11 is internally provided with a movable block 2 and a driver 3, and the driver 3 is used for driving the movable block 2 to lift relative to the working surface, so that the top surface of the movable block 2 can move at least between a position which is flush with the working surface and a position which is protruded out of the working surface.

The substrate support assembly has a support plate 1 for supporting a substrate 5 in a film forming process such as evaporation; the mask 6 is a mask 6 having a hollow pattern (not shown) for passing a film forming gas, such as a fine metal mask 6(FFM), and the fine metal mask 6 may be composed of a plurality of metal strips.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the support plate 1 has a working surface (lower surface in fig. 3) facing the substrate 5, the working surface is not a complete plane but is provided with a plurality of openings 11, the openings 11 are provided with the movable blocks 2, the movable blocks 2 can move under the driving of the driver 3, so that each movable block 2 can protrude from the working surface when moving to the highest position and can be at least flush with the working surface (of course, can also be recessed below the working surface) when moving to the lowest position.

Of course, since the substrate support assembly is disposed in the film forming apparatus as a whole, the above support plate 1, the opening 11, the movable block 2, the actuator 3, and the like should be disposed in the film forming apparatus without affecting the vacuum environment of the film forming apparatus.

In the supporting assembly of this embodiment, the working surface of the supporting plate 1 has an opening 11, the opening 11 is provided with the movable blocks 2 capable of ascending and descending, and by moving each movable block 2 to different positions, the surface of the working surface has specific fluctuation to change the flatness thereof, so as to "jack up" the substrate 5 at a required position, and make each position of the substrate 5 closely contact and well fit with the mask 6, thereby making the formed pattern accurate. The movable blocks 2 can move automatically under the drive of the driver 3, manual operation is not needed, vacuum and the like do not need to be broken when the mask 6 is replaced, and the positions of the movable blocks 2 can be adjusted by the driver 3, so that the cutting speed is greatly increased, the working environment is good, no danger exists, and the problems of sticking, breaking and the like do not exist; in addition, as long as the precision of the actuator 3 is sufficient, the change of the position of the interacting block is arbitrary, and the flatness adjustment amount is not limited, and thus various requirements can be satisfied.

Preferably, the driver 3 is a high precision motor.

Obviously, the higher the precision of the movement of the driver 3, the more accurate the corresponding adjustment, so it is preferable to use a high precision motor for the adjustment, and the precision of the movement can be about 10 μm.

Preferably, the cross section of the opening 11 matches the cross section of the movable block 2 in a plane parallel to the working plane.

That is, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the above movable block 2 should preferably "fill" the opening 11, i.e. there should be no gap between its edge and the sidewall of the opening 11, so as to improve the supporting effect.

Preferably, the top surface of the movable block 2 has a dimension, in any direction parallel to the working surface, which is one twentieth to one tenth of the dimension of the working surface in that direction.

Wherein, to ensure that each fine area can be adjusted, the size of the top surface of the movable block 2 should be related to the size of the relief in the reticle 6 (e.g., less than half the size of the relief), or at least less than the substrate to be formed (each base 5 can cut multiple substrates); however, from the viewpoint of cost, the size of the top surface of the movable block 2 is preferably 1/20 to 1/10 which is the size of the working surface, because the movable block 2 is not likely to be too small.

Preferably, the openings 11 are arranged in an array, and the distance between adjacent movable blocks 11 in any direction parallel to the working surface is one third to two thirds of the dimension of the top surface of the movable block 11 in the direction.

Obviously, since only the openings 11 have an adjusting function, the above openings 11 (movable blocks 2) should be distributed as uniformly as possible and the intervals between them should not be too large, and since cooling pipelines and the like are further provided between the openings 11, the intervals between them should not be too small; therefore, the openings 11 are preferably arranged in an array with a pitch of 1/3-2/3 of the top dimension, more preferably 1/2 of the top dimension.

Preferably, the substrate support assembly further comprises: and a coolant line 12 provided at a position where the opening 11 is not formed in the support plate 1.

In many film forming processes (e.g., evaporation), the substrate 5 is heated and therefore needs to be cooled, i.e., the support plate 1 can be a cooling plate with a cooling function. In this embodiment, due to the plurality of openings 11 in the support plate 1, the coolant (e.g., cooling water) lines 12 are distributed only along the gaps between the openings 11.

Preferably, the top surface of the movable block 2 is an arc surface.

Preferably, the top surface of the movable block 2 is made of an elastic material.

Since the movable block 2 may contact the substrate 5, it is preferably a curved surface (e.g. a circular arc surface, a spherical surface, etc.) to increase the contact area between the movable block and the substrate 5, and it is preferably a deformable material (e.g. rubber) with certain elasticity to achieve surface contact as much as possible, so as to avoid breaking the substrate 5 due to point contact between the sharp corner of the hard movable block and the substrate 5.

Preferably, the supporting plate 1 and the movable block 2 are made of a conductive material.

Since a large amount of static electricity is generated in the film forming process and the atmosphere is mostly vacuum, the static electricity cannot be discharged and is easily accumulated in the substrate 5, which affects the progress of film formation. For this purpose, the movable block 2 and the supporting plate 1 are preferably both made of a conductive material so as to discharge static electricity in the base 5 (the supporting plate 1 may be grounded). Moreover, in the film forming process, the substrate 5 is usually arranged below the supporting surface, so that the substrate is actually deformed under the action of gravity, and most positions of the substrate do not contact with the working surface, so that static electricity is difficult to be smoothly led out only by the supporting plate 1; in the present embodiment, a plurality of positions of the substrate 5 may be in contact with the protruding movable block 2, so that the static electricity can be more easily discharged.

Specifically, the above movable block 2 may be made of a conductive rubber material, so that it is both conductive and elastic; the supporting plate 1 can be made of conventional metal material to reduce cost and improve strength.

Preferably, the substrate support assembly further comprises:

and a fixing clip 59 for clamping and fixing the edge of the substrate 5 to the supporting plate 1.

That is, a plurality of fixing clips 59 may be provided to clip the edge of the substrate 5 on the supporting plate 1, thereby achieving the purpose of supporting the substrate 5 without fixing the middle of the substrate 5.

Preferably, the above substrate support assembly further comprises:

the storage unit is used for storing one or more preset schemes, and each preset scheme comprises a preset position of each movable block 2;

a control unit for controlling each driver 3 according to a preset scheme so that each movable block 2 reaches a corresponding preset position.

That is to say, each driver 3 can be controlled by the control unit to drive the movable block 2 to work, and the positions of the movable blocks 2 corresponding to different masks are stored as different preset schemes (recipe), so that when a certain mask 6 is used, all the movable blocks 2 can be quickly moved to the required positions and adjusted by calling the corresponding preset schemes, and the cutting time is further shortened.

The present embodiment also provides a film forming apparatus including:

the above-described substrate support assembly;

a reticle holding member 69 for holding the reticle 6 in contact with the side of the substrate 5 remote from the work surface;

a film-forming assembly 7 for forming a film on the substrate 5.

The substrate supporting assembly can be used in a film forming device, the mask supporting assembly 69 is arranged in the film forming device to support the mask 6 with the hollow patterns, and the mask 6 is in contact with one side of the substrate 5 far away from the working surface, so that the film can be formed only at the position corresponding to the hollow patterns of the mask 6 on the substrate 5.

Preferably, the film forming apparatus is an evaporation apparatus.

The substrate support assembly can be used in an evaporation device, wherein the corresponding film forming assembly 7 is an evaporation source for generating evaporation gas, and the evaporation gas forms a film layer with a corresponding pattern on the substrate 5 after passing through the hollow pattern.

Example 2:

as shown in fig. 2 to 4, the present embodiment provides a film formation method which is performed using the above-described film formation apparatus, the film formation method including:

a substrate 5 is supported outside the working surface of the supporting plate 1 of the substrate supporting assembly, and a mask 6 (such as a fine metal mask) with a hollow pattern (not shown) is arranged on the mask supporting assembly 69 to contact with one side of the substrate 5 away from the working surface;

adjusting the position of each movable block 2 according to the fluctuation of the mask 6 to ensure that each position of the substrate 5 is contacted with the mask 6;

and forming a film on the position of the substrate 5 corresponding to the hollow pattern by using the film forming assembly 7.

When the film forming equipment is used for film forming, the positions of the movable blocks 2 can be adjusted to enable the positions of the substrate 5 to be in close contact with the mask 6, so that the accuracy of formed patterns is guaranteed.

Preferably, after the film forming assembly 7 is used for forming the film on the position of the substrate 5 corresponding to the hollow pattern, the method further comprises the following steps:

At least part of the movable block 2 is moved convexly relative to the work surface to separate the substrate 5 from the work surface.

Since static electricity is easily accumulated on the substrate 5 during the film forming process, it may be adsorbed on the working surface of the supporting plate 1 due to the static electricity, so that the substrate 5 cannot be removed; in the embodiment, the movable block 2 is provided, so that when the substrate 5 is adsorbed to the working surface, the substrate 5 can be "pushed away" from the working surface by the movable block 2, so as to smoothly take down the substrate 5.

It will be understood that the above embodiments are merely exemplary embodiments taken to illustrate the principles of the present invention, which is not limited thereto. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and such modifications and improvements are also considered to be within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A film-forming apparatus, comprising:

the substrate supporting assembly comprises a supporting plate used for supporting a substrate in a film forming process, the supporting plate is provided with a working surface facing the substrate, the working surface of the supporting plate is provided with a plurality of openings arranged at intervals, each opening is internally provided with a movable block and a driver, and the driver is used for driving the movable block to lift relative to the working surface so as to enable the top surface of the movable block to move at least between a position flush with the working surface and a position protruding out of the working surface; the top surface of the movable block is an arc surface; the working surface is the lower surface of a support plate, and the support plate is used for supporting the substrate below the working surface;

The mask plate supporting component is used for supporting the mask plate at a position which is contacted with one side of the substrate far away from the working surface; the movable block is used for jacking the substrate so as to enable each position of the substrate to be in contact with the mask plate;

a film-forming assembly for forming a film on a substrate.

2. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1,

the cross section of the opening matches the cross section of the movable block in a plane parallel to the working plane.

3. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1,

in any direction parallel to the working face, the size of the top surface of the movable block is one twentieth to one tenth of the size of the working face in the direction.

4. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1,

each of said openings being arranged in an array;

5. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate support assembly further comprises:

6. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1,

The top surface of the movable block is made of elastic material.

7. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1,

the supporting plate and the movable block are both made of conductive materials.

8. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate support assembly further comprises:

9. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate support assembly further comprises:

10. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1,

the film forming equipment is evaporation equipment.

11. A film forming method characterized by being performed using the film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, the film forming method comprising:

supporting the substrate outside the working surface of a supporting plate of a substrate supporting assembly, and arranging a mask plate with a hollow pattern on the mask plate supporting assembly to enable the mask plate to be in contact with one side, away from the working surface, of the substrate;

Adjusting the position of each movable block according to the fluctuation of the mask plate, so that the movable blocks jack up the substrate to enable each position of the substrate to be in contact with the mask plate;

12. The film forming method according to claim 11, further comprising, after forming a film on the substrate at a position corresponding to the hollow pattern by the film forming module: