CN108517489B

CN108517489B - Mask plate for evaporation of OLED display panel

Info

Publication number: CN108517489B
Application number: CN201810402092.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 高昊
Original assignee: BOE Technology Group Co Ltd
Current assignee: BOE Technology Group Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-04-28
Filing date: 2018-04-28
Publication date: 2023-05-12
Anticipated expiration: 2038-04-28
Also published as: CN108517489A

Abstract

The invention discloses a mask plate for evaporation of an OLED display panel, which comprises: the main board body is provided with a mounting hole; the baffle plate is at least partially arranged in the mounting hole, and the baffle plate and the main plate body jointly define an opening part positioned between the baffle plate and the main plate body; the support plate is respectively connected with the main plate body and the baffle plate to cover the opening part, the support plate is provided with a plurality of through holes through which evaporation materials can pass, and the evaporation projection area of the opening part is at least partially positioned outside the orthographic projection of the opening part. According to the mask plate for evaporation of the OLED display panel, the projection of the opening part of the mask plate is increased to achieve the full evaporation effect, meanwhile, the supporting plate arranged at the opening part can play a supporting role, the baffle plate can cover a specific area of the substrate, deposition of evaporation materials on the substrate is avoided, and the uniformity and the air tightness of the whole film of the OLED display panel of the special-shaped device are improved.

Description

Mask plate for evaporation of OLED display panel

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of evaporation, in particular to a mask plate for evaporation of an OLED display panel.

Background

In the related art, an OLED (organic light emitting diode) display device has many advantages of full solid state, active light emission, fast response speed, high contrast, no viewing angle limitation, and flexible display realization, and is a novel display technology developed in the middle of the twentieth century, and is widely applied to daily production and life of people. The OLED display device will become the most ideal flat panel display device of the next generation, and its superior performance and huge market potential, attracting numerous factories and scientific research institutions worldwide to put into the production and development of OLED display devices. The evaporation technology is a process means for preparing the organic film commonly used in the preparation of the existing OLED device, and has the advantages of high deposition speed, good film forming uniformity and the like.

However, for some special-shaped panels, when an open mask is used for vapor deposition, a specific area inside a vapor deposition area cannot be masked, and thus vapor deposition requirements of the special-shaped panels (such as a ring shape) cannot be met. The solutions currently in common use are two: 1) Performing 2 times of evaporation; 2) After the entire vapor deposition, the region is peeled off by means of a laser or the like.

The two solutions have the following defects respectively, and 2 the coverage can occur in an overlapping area of two vapor deposition after vapor deposition, so that the performance during the period is influenced; the manner of zone stripping after overall evaporation affects the packaging effect.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention aims to solve at least one of the technical problems existing in the prior art. Therefore, the invention provides the mask plate for evaporation of the OLED display panel, which improves the uniformity and the air tightness of the whole film of the OLED display panel of the special-shaped device.

The mask plate for evaporation of the OLED display panel according to the embodiment of the invention comprises the following components: the main board body is provided with a mounting hole; the baffle plate is at least partially arranged in the mounting hole, and the baffle plate and the main plate body jointly define an opening part positioned between the baffle plate and the main plate body; the support plate is respectively connected with the main plate body and the baffle plate to cover the opening part, the support plate is provided with a plurality of through holes through which evaporation materials can pass, and the evaporation projection area of the opening part is at least partially positioned outside the orthographic projection of the opening part.

According to the mask plate for evaporation of the OLED display panel, the projection of the opening part of the mask plate is increased to achieve the full evaporation effect, meanwhile, the supporting plate arranged at the opening part can play a supporting role, the baffle plate can cover a specific area of the substrate, deposition of evaporation materials on the substrate is avoided, and the uniformity and the air tightness of the whole film of the OLED display panel of the special-shaped device are improved.

According to some embodiments of the invention, at least one end of the opening is flared.

In some embodiments, the opening includes a first flare and a second flare disposed opposite and connected in a plate thickness direction, the first flare and the second flare being disposed adjacent to a first side and a second side of the main plate body, respectively, and the support plate being connected at an interface of the first flare and the second flare.

Optionally, the outer wall of the first flare is formed as a first vapor deposition guiding surface that is gradually inclined in a plate thickness direction from the first side to the second side of the main plate body toward a direction approaching the baffle plate.

Further, the inner wall of the second flare is formed as a second vapor deposition guide surface that is gradually inclined in a plate thickness direction from the first side to the second side of the baffle plate toward a direction away from the mounting hole.

Further, a third vapor deposition guide surface is formed on the inner wall of the first flare, and the third vapor deposition guide surface is identical to the first vapor deposition guide surface in shape and symmetrical with respect to the plate thickness direction.

In a specific embodiment, a fourth evaporation guide surface is formed on the outer wall of the second flaring, and the fourth evaporation guide surface gradually inclines from the first side to the second side of the main plate body to the direction away from the baffle plate along the plate thickness direction.

Optionally, the evaporation direction is from a first flaring to a second flaring, and the thickness of the first flaring is more than or equal to 1/2 of the thickness of the main board body.

According to the mask plate for evaporation of the OLED display panel, which is disclosed by the embodiment of the invention, the mask plate is an etching piece, and the outer wall of the baffle plate and the mounting hole are obtained through etching.

According to the mask plate for evaporation of the OLED display panel, the number of the mounting holes, the number of the supporting plates and the number of the baffles are multiple and are arranged in a one-to-one correspondence mode, the mounting holes are distributed in multiple rows and multiple columns, the baffles are located at the center of the mounting holes, the opening part is in a circular ring shape, and the shape of the supporting plates is consistent with the shape of the opening part.

Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

Drawings

The foregoing and/or additional aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and may be better understood from the following description of embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

fig. 1 is a schematic view of a mask plate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a mask plate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the use of a mask plate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numerals:

the thickness of the mask plate 100, the substrate 200,

the main board body 10, the mounting hole 11,

the baffle plate 20 is provided with a plurality of air-tight grooves,

the support plate 30 is provided with a plurality of support plates,

an opening a, a first flaring b, a first vapor deposition guide surface b1, a third vapor deposition guide surface b2, a second flaring c, a second vapor deposition guide surface c1 and a fourth vapor deposition guide surface c2.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like or similar reference numerals refer to like or similar elements or elements having like or similar functions throughout. The embodiments described below by referring to the drawings are illustrative only and are not to be construed as limiting the invention.

A mask plate 100 for evaporation of an OLED display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to fig. 1 to 3.

As shown in fig. 1, a mask plate 100 for evaporation of an OLED display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a main plate body 10, a baffle 20 and a support plate 30.

The main plate body 10 has a mounting hole 11, and the baffle 20 is at least partially disposed in the mounting hole 11, and the baffle 20 and the main plate body 10 together define an opening a therebetween. That is, the mounting hole 11 is formed as an outer wall of the opening a, and the outer edge of the shutter 20 is formed as an inner wall of the opening a, which is located outside the shutter 20 and inside the main plate body 10.

The support plate 30 is connected to the main plate body 10 and the baffle 20 to cover the opening a, and the support plate 30 has a plurality of through holes (not shown) through which the vapor deposition material passes, and specifically, the support plate 30 may be mesh-shaped, the through holes are formed as a plurality of mesh holes, and the vapor deposition projection area of the opening a is at least partially located outside the orthographic projection of the opening a. That is, the vapor deposition projection area of the opening a may be at least partially opposed to the baffle 20 in the plate thickness direction, and/or the vapor deposition projection area of the opening a may be at least partially opposed to the main plate body 10 in the plate thickness direction.

For example, in the OLED display panel, in the organic light emitting layer deposition process, the deposition material and the substrate 200 are respectively located at both sides of the mask plate 100, and the heated deposition material is vaporized and passes through the through holes of the support plate 30 located at the opening a, and then deposited on the substrate 200.

The vapor deposition projection region refers to a vapor deposition coverage surface on the substrate 200 when the vapor deposition material is vapor deposited on the substrate 200 through the opening a of the vapor deposition plate.

According to the mask plate 100 for evaporation of the OLED display panel, the projection of the opening a of the mask plate 100 is increased to achieve the full evaporation effect, meanwhile, the supporting plate 30 arranged at the opening a can play a supporting role, the baffle 20 can cover a specific area of the substrate 200, deposition of evaporation materials on the substrate 200 is avoided, and the uniformity and the air tightness of the whole film of the OLED display panel of the special-shaped device are improved.

In addition, the shape of the inner wall of the opening a can be designed by a person skilled in the art according to the shape of the target coverage area to be vapor-deposited, so that the vapor-deposition projection area of the opening a can achieve the full vapor-deposition effect or the partial vapor-deposition effect. The position of the baffle 20 relative to the main board body 10 may be set as required, so as to achieve the effect that the special-shaped display panel is not vapor-deposited at any position (for example, a watch display device with a hole in the center is required, and the middle part area is not vapor-deposited).

According to some embodiments of the invention, at least one end of the opening a is flared. Specifically, both ends of the opening a are disposed opposite to each other in the plate thickness direction of the mask plate 100, that is, the first side and the second side of the mask plate 100 are formed as both side surfaces of the mask plate 100, respectively, the first end of the opening a extends to the first side of the mask plate 100, and the second end of the opening a extends to the second side of the mask plate 100. At least one end of the opening a is expanded: the first end of the opening a is gradually flared from the second side to the first side, or the second end of the opening a is gradually flared from the first side to the second side.

In this way, during vapor deposition, at least one end of the opening a in the expanded shape faces the substrate 200 to be vapor deposited, and after the vapor deposition material passes through the opening a and the through holes in the support plate 30, the vapor deposition projection area is enlarged (that is, the vapor deposition projection area includes a portion that is also expanded outward except for the area located directly below the opening a) by the guiding action of the end of the opening a in the expanded shape, so that secondary vapor deposition is not required, and uniformity and regularity of vapor deposition are improved.

In the specific embodiment shown in fig. 2, the opening portion a includes a first flare b and a second flare c that are disposed opposite and connected in the plate thickness direction, the first flare b and the second flare c being disposed adjacent to the first side and the second side of the main plate body 10, respectively. Further, the support plate 30 may be coupled at the interface of the first flare b and the second flare c. Therefore, the arrangement of the two flaring openings improves the entering speed of the evaporation material and further improves the uniformity of evaporation.

In other words, the first end of the opening a is flared and forms a first flare b, and the second end of the opening a is flared and forms a second flare c. When the opening a is annular as shown in fig. 2, the first flaring b and the second flaring c are annular holes, and the supporting plate 30 is annular, the inner wall of the supporting plate 30 may be connected to the connection between the inner wall of the first flaring b and the inner wall of the second flaring c, and the outer wall of the supporting plate 30 may be connected to the connection between the outer wall of the first flaring b and the outer wall of the second flaring c.

It will be appreciated that the shape of the first flares b, c may be referred to as flares as long as the cross-sectional area is gradually increased, and the shape of the inner walls and the shape of the outer walls of the first flares b, c may be selected in various ways.

For example, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the outer wall of the first flare b is formed as a first vapor deposition guide surface b1, and the first vapor deposition guide surface b1 gradually slopes in the plate thickness direction from the first side to the second side of the main plate body 10 toward the baffle 20. Wherein a portion of the inner wall of the mounting hole 11 of the main plate body 10 is formed as the outer wall of the first flare b. Therefore, the first evaporation guide surface b1 can provide guide for evaporation airflow or evaporation cloud, so that evaporation gas can regularly move, and evaporation uniformity and regularity are improved.

Further, the inner wall of the second flare c is formed as a second vapor deposition guide surface c1, and the second vapor deposition guide surface c1 is gradually inclined in the plate thickness direction from the first side to the second side of the baffle plate 20 toward the direction away from the mounting hole 11. Wherein, a part of the side wall of the baffle 20 is formed as a second vapor deposition guide surface c1.

Therefore, the first vapor deposition guiding surface b1 and the second vapor deposition guiding surface c1 cooperate together to guide the vapor deposition airflow before passing through the through holes of the support plate 30 and after passing through the through holes of the support plate 30, so as to guide the vapor deposition airflow from outside to inside, so that the area on the substrate 200 opposite to the baffle 20 can be at least partially vapor deposited, and the vapor deposition projection area can be diffused outside the orthographic projection of the opening a, thereby meeting the requirement of full vapor deposition.

Similarly, a third vapor deposition guide surface b2 is formed on the inner wall of the first flare b, and the third vapor deposition guide surface b2 is symmetrical with the first vapor deposition guide surface b1 in shape. Wherein another portion of the sidewall of the baffle 20 is formed as an inner wall of the first flare b. It is to be understood that the third vapor deposition guide surface b2 is symmetrical to the first vapor deposition guide surface b1 in shape with respect to the plate thickness direction means that the longitudinal sections of the first vapor deposition guide surface b1 and the second vapor deposition guide surface c1 are symmetrical with respect to the center line parallel to the plate thickness direction.

Further, a fourth vapor deposition guide surface c2 is formed on the outer wall of the second flare c, and the fourth vapor deposition guide surface c2 gradually inclines in the plate thickness direction from the first side to the second side of the main plate body 10 in a direction away from the baffle plate 20. Wherein another portion of the inner wall of the mounting hole 11 of the main plate body 10 is formed as the inner wall of the first flare b.

Thus, the third vapor deposition guiding surface b2 and the fourth vapor deposition guiding surface c2 cooperate together to guide the vapor deposition air flow before passing through the through holes of the support plate 30 and after passing through the through holes of the support plate 30, so as to guide the vapor deposition air flow from outside to inside, thereby enabling the region on the substrate 200 opposite to the main plate body 10 to be at least partially vapor deposited, enabling the vapor deposition projection region to be diffused outside the orthographic projection of the opening a, and compensating the situations of non-etching position shielding and incapability of vapor deposition.

In order to further improve the evaporation effect, the evaporation direction is from the first flaring b to the second flaring c, and the thickness of the first flaring b is more than or equal to 1/2 of the thickness of the main board body 10. That is, the thickness of the first flare b is at least half the length of the entire opening portion a.

According to the mask plate 100 for evaporation of the OLED display panel, the mask plate 100 is an etching piece, and the outer wall of the baffle 20 and the mounting hole 11 are obtained through etching. Specifically, the mask plate 100 is processed by an etching machine, and the shape of the opening a and the through hole in the support plate 30 are obtained by etching. Therefore, the special shape of the opening part a can be accurately machined, the machining precision is high, mass production is facilitated, and the production efficiency is high.

As shown in fig. 1, the number of the mounting holes 11, the number of the support plates 30 and the number of the baffles 20 are all plural and are arranged in a one-to-one correspondence manner, the plurality of mounting holes 11 are distributed in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, the baffles 20 are positioned at the center of the mounting holes 11, the opening a is in a circular ring shape, and the shape of the support plates 30 is consistent with the shape of the opening a.

In this way, the vapor deposition projection area of each of the plurality of openings a may completely cover the substrate 200 to realize the entire vapor deposition on the substrate 200, or the vapor deposition projection area of each of the plurality of openings a may not completely cover the substrate 200, and may be provided according to the arrangement of the vapor deposition area on the display panel. The shape and size of the plurality of openings a in one mask plate 100 may be the same or different.

Of course, the present invention is not limited to this, and the shape of the opening a is not limited to a closed circular ring shape, and may be a non-closed shape, and the mounting position of the support plate 30 in the opening a is not limited to the junction of the first flare b and the second flare c.

In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential", etc. indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings are merely for convenience in describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the structures or units referred to must have a specific orientation, be configured and operated in a specific orientation, and thus should not be construed as limiting the present invention. Furthermore, features defining "first", "second" may include one or more such features, either explicitly or implicitly. In the description of the present invention, unless otherwise indicated, the meaning of "a plurality" is two or more.

In the description of the present specification, reference to the terms "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "illustrative embodiments," "examples," "specific examples," or "some examples," etc., means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, schematic representations of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiments or examples. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.

While embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: many changes, modifications, substitutions and variations may be made to the embodiments without departing from the spirit and principles of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A mask for evaporation of an OLED display panel, comprising:

the main board body is provided with a mounting hole;

the baffle plate is at least partially arranged in the mounting hole, the baffle plate and the main board body jointly define an opening part between the baffle plate and the main board body, the inner wall of the mounting hole is formed into the outer wall of the opening part, and the outer edge of the baffle plate is formed into the inner wall of the opening part; and

the support plate, the backup pad respectively with the mainboard body and the baffle is connected in order to cover the opening, the outer wall of backup pad with the inner wall of mounting hole links to each other, the inner wall of backup pad with the outward flange of baffle links to each other, the backup pad has a plurality of through holes that can supply the coating by vaporization material to pass, the coating by vaporization projection district of opening is at least partially located outside the orthographic projection of opening.

2. The mask plate for vapor deposition of an OLED display panel according to claim 1, wherein at least one end of the opening portion is in an expanded shape.

3. The mask plate for vapor deposition of an OLED display panel according to claim 2, wherein the opening portion includes a first flare and a second flare which are disposed opposite to and connected to each other in a plate thickness direction, the first flare and the second flare being disposed adjacent to a first side and a second side of the main plate body, respectively, and the support plate being connected at a junction of the first flare and the second flare.

4. The mask plate for vapor deposition of an OLED display panel according to claim 3, wherein the outer wall of the first flare is formed as a first vapor deposition guiding surface that is gradually inclined in a plate thickness direction from the first side toward the second side of the main plate body toward a direction approaching the baffle plate.

5. The mask plate for vapor deposition of an OLED display panel according to claim 4, wherein an inner wall of the second flare is formed as a second vapor deposition guide surface that is gradually inclined in a plate thickness direction from the first side to the second side of the baffle plate toward a direction away from the mounting hole.

6. The mask plate for vapor deposition of an OLED display panel according to claim 4, wherein a third vapor deposition guide surface is formed on an inner wall of the first flare, and the third vapor deposition guide surface is identical to the first vapor deposition guide surface in shape and symmetrical with respect to a plate thickness direction.

7. The mask plate for vapor deposition of an OLED display panel according to claim 6, wherein the outer wall of the second flare is formed with a fourth vapor deposition guiding surface that is gradually inclined in a plate thickness direction from the first side toward the second side of the main plate body toward a direction away from the baffle plate.

8. The mask plate for evaporation of an OLED display panel according to claim 3, wherein the evaporation direction is from a first flaring to a second flaring, and the thickness of the first flaring is greater than or equal to 1/2 of the thickness of the main plate body.

9. The mask plate for evaporation of an OLED display panel as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the mask plate is an etching member, and the outer wall of the baffle plate and the mounting hole are both obtained by etching.

10. The mask plate for evaporation of an OLED display panel according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the number of the mounting holes, the number of the support plates and the number of the baffles are plural and are arranged in a one-to-one correspondence manner, the plurality of the mounting holes are distributed in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, the baffles are located at the center of the mounting holes, the opening is in a circular shape, and the shape of the support plates is identical to the shape of the opening.