CN110783493A

CN110783493A - Mask structure, method of manufacturing the same, and workpiece processing system

Info

Publication number: CN110783493A
Application number: CN201910634823.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 林进志; 陈裕宏; 辛孟鸿
Original assignee: Perpetual Light Industrial Ltd By Share Ltd
Current assignee: Perpetual Light Industrial Ltd By Share Ltd
Priority date: 2018-07-26
Filing date: 2019-07-15
Publication date: 2020-02-11

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to masking structures, methods of making the same, and workpiece processing systems. A mask structure includes a substrate, a first patterned metal layer, and a second patterned metal layer. The substrate has a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface. The first patterned metal layer is disposed on the first surface of the substrate and has a plurality of first openings, and the first openings have first sidewalls. The second patterned metal layer is disposed on the second surface of the substrate and has a plurality of second openings, and the second openings have second sidewalls. The substrate is provided with a plurality of through holes, the through holes are provided with third side walls, the through holes are arranged corresponding to the first opening and the second opening, and the third side walls, the first side walls and the second side walls form continuous planes.

Description

Mask structure, method of manufacturing the same, and workpiece processing system

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a mask structure, a method of manufacturing the same, and a workpiece processing system, and more particularly, to a mask having a multi-layer structure, a method of manufacturing the same, and a workpiece processing system using the same.

Background

In manufacturing electronic products such as displays, masks (e.g., metal masks) are often used in part of the manufacturing process so that various devices on the electronic products can be placed at predetermined positions. However, in the metal mask, since the metal has a low stress tolerance, when the metal mask is affected by the stress, or the stress remains in the metal mask, or the holes of the metal mask are more and more, the metal mask may have defects such as wrinkles, bending, and warping, which may further affect the production yield of the electronic product, for example, the display may have severe color mixing. In order to reduce the effect of stress on the metal mask, the industry attempts to increase the hole pitch of the metal mask, thereby improving the structural stability of the metal mask, but the resolution of the display is also decreased.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a mask structure and a method for fabricating the same, which has a structure of a substrate and at least two metal layers, so that the resolution thereof is increased while the structural stability is increased. It is an object of the present invention to provide a workpiece processing system that utilizes a masking structure to improve the quality of the electronic products produced. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a masking structure includes a substrate, a first patterned metal layer, and a second patterned metal layer. The substrate has a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface. The first patterned metal layer is disposed on the first surface of the substrate and has a plurality of first openings with first sidewalls. The second patterned metal layer is disposed on the second surface of the substrate and has a plurality of second openings with second sidewalls. The substrate is provided with a plurality of through holes, the through holes are provided with third side walls, the through holes are arranged corresponding to the first opening and the second opening, and the third side walls, the first side walls and the second side walls form continuous planes.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first sidewall has a first slope, the second sidewall has a second slope, the third sidewall has a third slope, wherein the first slope is equal to the third slope, and the third slope is equal to the second slope.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the third sidewall of the through-hole is perpendicular to the first surface.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the third sidewall of the through-hole overlaps the first sidewall of the first opening and the second sidewall of the second opening along a direction perpendicular to the first surface.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the third sidewall has an included angle with the first surface that is greater than 90 degrees.

According to some embodiments of the disclosure, the first opening is larger than the through hole, and the through hole is larger than the second opening.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a work-piece processing system comprising the masking structure, the work-piece processing system for processing a work-piece, wherein the processing comprises generating particles of a material layer deposited on the work-piece through the masking structure to form a thin film of material to complete the processing, characterized in that the particles pass through the first opening, the through-hole and the second opening of the masking structure to be deposited on the work-piece.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a method of fabricating a mask structure, the method comprising: providing a substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface; forming a first metal layer on the first surface of the substrate and a second metal layer on the second surface of the substrate; and carrying out a through hole process on the substrate, the first metal layer and the second metal layer to enable the substrate to be provided with a plurality of through holes, the first metal layer to be provided with a plurality of first openings and the second metal layer to be provided with a plurality of second openings, wherein a first side wall of the first opening, a second side wall of the second opening and a third side wall of the through hole form a continuous plane.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method of forming the first metal layer and the second metal comprises a chemical deposition process, an electroplating process, or an attachment process.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the via process comprises a laser drilling process.

The mask structure of the invention is composed of two metal layers and the substrate, so that the stability of the structure can be improved, the adverse conditions of wrinkling, bending, warping and the like are reduced, and the production yield of electronic products is improved. Moreover, due to the improvement of the structural stability, the distance and the number of the through holes of the substrate do not need to be reduced for improving the structural stability, so that compared with the traditional metal mask, the mask manufactured by utilizing the mask structure disclosed by the invention has higher density, thereby improving the quality of the produced electronic product.

Drawings

FIG. 1 illustrates a top view of a mask structure according to some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view of a mask structure according to some embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a top view of a mask structure according to some embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 4 depicts a schematic diagram of a workpiece processing system according to some embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 5A-5C illustrate schematic diagrams of methods of fabricating mask structures according to some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method of fabricating a mask structure according to some embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a top view of a mask structure according to some embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view of a mask structure according to some embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 9 depicts a schematic diagram of a workpiece processing system according to some embodiments of the invention.

Detailed Description

The following disclosure provides various embodiments or illustrations that can be used to implement various features of the disclosure. The embodiments of components and arrangements described below serve to simplify the present disclosure. It is to be understood that such descriptions are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. For example, in the description that follows, forming a first feature on or over a second feature may include certain embodiments in which the first and second features are in direct contact with each other; and may also include embodiments in which additional elements are formed between the first and second features described above, such that the first and second features may not be in direct contact. In addition, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or characters in the various embodiments. This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed.

Moreover, spatially relative terms, such as "under," "below," "over," "above," and the like, may be used herein to facilitate describing a relationship between one element or feature relative to another element or feature as illustrated in the figures. These spatially relative terms are intended to encompass a variety of different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. The device may be otherwise oriented (e.g., rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.

Although numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of the application are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as possible. Any numerical value, however, inherently contains certain standard deviations found in their respective testing measurements. As used herein, "about" generally refers to actual values within plus or minus 10%, 5%, 1%, or 0.5% of a particular value or range. Alternatively, the term "about" means that the actual value falls within the acceptable standard error of the mean, subject to consideration by those of ordinary skill in the art to which this application pertains. It is understood that all ranges, amounts, values and percentages used herein (e.g., to describe amounts of materials, length of time, temperature, operating conditions, quantitative ratios, and the like) are modified by the term "about" in addition to the experimental examples or unless otherwise expressly stated. Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the specification and attached claims are approximations that may vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained. At the very least, these numerical parameters are to be understood as meaning the number of significant digits recited and the number resulting from applying ordinary carry notation. Herein, numerical ranges are expressed from one end to the other or between the two ends; unless otherwise indicated, all numerical ranges set forth herein are inclusive of the endpoints.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, fig. 1 is a schematic top view illustrating a mask structure according to some embodiments of the present invention, fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a mask structure according to some embodiments of the present invention, and fig. 3 is a schematic top view illustrating a mask structure according to some embodiments of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the mask structure 100 includes a substrate 10, a first patterned metal layer 20, and a second patterned metal layer 30. The substrate 10 has a first surface 10a and a second surface 10b, wherein the second surface 10b is opposite to the first surface 10a, it should be noted that the top views shown in fig. 1 and fig. 3 only show the structures disposed on the first surface 10 a.

In the present embodiment, the substrate 10 may be a flexible substrate, but not limited thereto. The substrate 10 may include an insulating material. The material of the substrate 10 may include a polymer material (polymer material), such as Polyimide (PI) or polyethylene terephthalate (PET), but is not limited thereto. The thickness of the substrate 10 may be in the range of about 1 micron to about 50 microns, preferably in the range of about 1 micron to about 25 microns, but is not limited thereto.

The first patterned metal layer 20 is disposed on the first surface 10a of the substrate 10, and the second patterned metal layer 30 is disposed on the second surface 10b of the substrate 10, that is, the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 are disposed on two opposite sides of the substrate 10, respectively, it should be noted that although the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 are illustrated with the same shading in the drawings herein, the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 may be made of the same material or different materials.

The material of the first patterned metal layer 20 may include a metal, such as iron, cobalt, nickel, etc., or an alloy containing the above metal materials, such as Invar (Invar alloy), but not limited thereto, and the first patterned metal layer 20 may include other suitable materials. The material of the second patterned metal layer 30 may be the same as the material of the first patterned metal layer 20, but is not limited thereto. The materials of the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 may be different from each other, and the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 may be a single metal film structure or a multi-layer metal film structure. In the present embodiment, the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 may have similar or identical characteristics, such as Young's modulus and Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE).

The thickness of the first patterned metal layer 20 and/or the thickness of the second patterned metal layer 30 may be in a range of about 0.1 microns to about 100 microns, preferably in a range of about 1 micron to about 25 microns, but is not limited thereto. The thickness of the first patterned metal layer 20 and the thickness of the second patterned metal layer 30 may each be adjusted for different considerations.

In detail, the thickness of the substrate 10, the thickness of the first patterned metal layer 20, and the thickness of the second patterned metal layer 30 may be configured to match their characteristics, such as young's modulus and coefficient of thermal expansion, to help mitigate wrinkling, bending, and warping and to increase structural robustness.

In some embodiments, the ratio of the thickness of the first patterned metal layer 20 to the thickness of the substrate 10 may be in the range of about 0.04 to about 25. A ratio of a thickness of the second patterned metal layer 30 to a thickness of the substrate 10 may be in a range of about 0.04 to about 25. The ratio of the thickness of the second patterned metal layer 30 to the thickness of the first patterned metal layer 20 may be in the range of about 0.04 to about 25. For example, the thickness of the substrate 10 may be in the range of about 1 micron to about 25 microns. The thickness of the first patterned metal layer 20 may be in the range of about 1 micron to about 25 microns. The thickness of the second patterned metal layer 30 may be in the range of about 1 micron to about 25 microns.

The first patterned metal layer 20 may have a plurality of first openings 20H, and the first openings 20H have first sidewalls 20W. The second patterned metal layer 30 may have a plurality of second openings 30H, and the second openings 30H have second sidewalls 30W. The first openings 20H and the second openings 30H are arranged in an array, that is, the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 are in a grid-like (grid-like) pattern, as shown in fig. 1, but not limited thereto, in an alternative embodiment, the openings of two adjacent rows of the same patterned metal layer may be staggered with each other.

The first opening 20H and the second opening 30H of the present embodiment are quadrilateral with round corners, but not limited thereto, and the shape and arrangement of the first opening 20H and the second opening 30H can be designed according to the requirement. It should be noted that the metal patterns of the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 of the present embodiment may be repetitive patterns, and the repetitive patterns may be arranged in an array manner or arranged in a staggered manner, and each pattern may be formed by a plurality of openings with different sizes, for example, but not limited thereto, in a variation, the metal patterns may also be non-repetitive patterns, or repetitive patterns at specific positions.

In the present embodiment, the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 may completely overlap in a direction perpendicular to the first surface 10a, that is, the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 have completely the same pattern, the first opening 20H and the second opening 30H overlap correspondingly, and the first sidewall 20W and the second sidewall 30W overlap correspondingly, but not limited thereto, in other embodiments, the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 may not completely overlap in the direction perpendicular to the first surface 10a, that is, the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 have not completely the same pattern, for example, the first opening 20H and the second opening 30H only partially overlap but do not correspond to each other, and for example, the first opening 20H and the second opening 30H are offset from each other.

As shown in fig. 2, the substrate 10 has a plurality of through holes 10H, and the through holes 10H may have third sidewalls 10W. The through hole 10H may be disposed corresponding to the first opening 20H and the second opening 30H, and the through hole 10H may constitute a through hole TH with the first opening 20H and the second opening 30H. The through hole TH is not filled with other films or materials, so as to be convenient for subsequent processing of the workpiece.

The through hole TH has sidewalls, which are composed of the third sidewall 10W of the substrate 10, the first sidewall 20W of the first patterned metal layer 20, and the second sidewall 30W of the second patterned metal layer 30. The third sidewall 10W and the first and

second sidewalls

20W and 30W may constitute a continuous surface of the sidewall of the perforation TH, and the third sidewall 10W and the first and

second sidewalls

20W and 30W may constitute a continuous plane.

For example, the third sidewall 10W may be coplanar with the first sidewall 20W and the second sidewall 30W, so that the third sidewall 10W is collinear with the first sidewall 20W and the second sidewall 30W in the drawings herein, and the third sidewall 10W extends in the same direction as the first sidewall 20W and the second sidewall 30W, i.e., the third sidewall 10W is parallel to the first sidewall 20W, and the third sidewall 10W is parallel to the second sidewall 30W, but not limited thereto.

The through holes TH may have sidewalls perpendicular to the first surface 10a of the substrate 10 or sidewalls inclined with respect to the first surface 10 a. For example, the third sidewall 10W corresponding to the substrate 10, the first sidewall 20W corresponding to the first patterned metal layer 20, and the second sidewall 30W corresponding to the second patterned metal layer 30 may each be a straight sidewall, or a curved sidewall, such as a concave sidewall, respectively, but not limited thereto.

The first sidewall 20W constituting the sidewall of the penetration hole TH may have a first slope, the second sidewall 30W may have a second slope, and the third sidewall 10W may have a third slope. The third sidewall 10W, the first sidewall 20W, and the second sidewall 30W may have the same slope or different slopes, respectively. In the present embodiment, the third sidewall 10W and the first and

second sidewalls

20W and 30W have the same slope, in other words, the first slope is equal to the third slope, and the third slope is equal to the second slope, but not limited thereto.

In this embodiment, the third sidewall 10W and the first surface 10a may have an included angle equal to 90 degrees, and the third sidewall 10W of the through hole 10H may be perpendicular to the first surface 10 a. The third sidewall 10W of the via 10H may completely overlap the first sidewall 20W of the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second sidewall 30W of the second patterned metal layer 30 in a direction perpendicular to the first surface 10a, but is not limited thereto.

In addition, the through holes 10H can also be arranged in an array, for example, in the present embodiment, the through holes 10H in the substrate 10 are all arranged in an array. However, the arrangement of the through holes 10H is not limited to the above, and the through holes 10H in two adjacent rows may be staggered with each other. The pitch between the adjacent through holes 10H may be arbitrarily adjusted, and for example, the pitch may be about 0.5 to about 500 micrometers, but is not limited thereto. In addition, the shape of the through hole 10H can be circular, oval, quadrilateral, triangular or other suitable shapes, and the shape can be designed according to the requirement, for example, the through hole 10H in fig. 1 is a rectangle, and the through hole 10H in fig. 3 is a circle.

As shown in fig. 2, the substrate 10 of the mask structure 100 is interposed between the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30. The flexibility of the substrate 10 helps to alleviate stress and delamination problems. Thereby helping to reduce wrinkling, bowing, and warping. The sandwich structure in mask structure 100 helps to increase the structural robustness and stability of mask structure 100, and thus the lifetime of mask structure 100.

Referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a workpiece processing system according to some embodiments of the invention. Masking structure 100 may be configured as a mask for defining a pattern of material film 40 in a workpiece processing system. For example, the Mask structure 100 may be used as a Shadow Mask (Shadow Mask) for defining a thin film pattern in a semiconductor process. The semiconductor process may include Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), such as evaporation, sputtering, etc., but not limited thereto.

Taking the manufacturing of the display as an example, the mask structure 100 of the present embodiment can be used as a mask for manufacturing a display device (e.g., an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) or a color filter) of the display. For example, the mask structure 100 may be used to define a pattern of light emitting layers in an OLED display panel, but is not limited thereto.

As shown in fig. 4, the mask structure 100 may act as a shadow mask during evaporation of the material layer 42. The material layer 42 may evaporate and produce particles of the material layer 42, and the particles pass through the perforations TH of the mask structure 100 to deposit a predetermined pattern of the thin film of material 40 on the work-piece 44. In detail, the particles of the material layer 42 pass through the through holes TH of the mask structure 100, i.e., the second opening 30H, the through hole 10H, and the first opening 20H to be deposited on the work-piece 44. The workpiece 44 may be, for example, a display panel, but is not limited thereto.

That is, in the manufacturing process of the electronic product, the mask structure 100 of the embodiment may be disposed between the material supply end (material layer 42) of the machine and the carrier board (work piece 44) of the electronic product, so that the material provided by the material supply end can be disposed on the carrier board of the electronic product through the through holes TH of the mask structure 100, thereby manufacturing a partial structure of the electronic product.

The size and shape of the through holes TH in the mask structure 100 and the spacing between adjacent through holes TH may vary according to design requirements. In some embodiments, the size and shape of the perforations TH and the spacing between adjacent perforations TH may be modified based on the pixel pitch of the display panel, the size and shape of the pixels/sub-pixels of the display panel, or other considerations. In some embodiments, the pitch of the perforation TH may be about 0.5 to about 500 micrometers, but is not limited thereto. In addition, since the display device is manufactured using the through holes TH of the mask structure 100, a distance between the through holes TH means a distance between sub-pixels (sub-pixels) of the manufactured display.

In the present embodiment, since the mask structure 100 is composed of two patterned metal layers and a flexible substrate, the structural stability of the mask structure 100 as a mask can be improved, and compared with a conventional metal mask having only a single patterned metal, the present embodiment can reduce the defects of wrinkling, bending, warping, etc. of the mask, thereby improving the production yield of the electronic product manufactured through the mask. In addition, since the structural stability is improved, the distance and the number of the through holes TH of the mask structure 100 of the present embodiment do not need to satisfy the structural stability and are reduced, compared with the conventional metal mask, the structure manufactured by using the mask structure 100 of the present embodiment can have a higher density (e.g., the pixel density of the display), thereby improving the quality of the produced electronic product, for example, the resolution of the display screen of the display.

In addition, in order to make the structures manufactured by using the mask structure 100 of the present embodiment have a certain density without affecting each other, the distance D1 between two adjacent through holes 10H of the present embodiment may be about 0.5 micrometers to about 500 micrometers, and under this design, the pixel density of the manufactured display may be about 10ppi to about 1700 ppi. In the conventional metal mask, the conventional metal mask manufactured by etching has a via pitch of at least 50 μm, and the pixel density of the display device manufactured or manufactured by etching is limited to 500 ppi.

Referring to fig. 5A to 5C, fig. 5A to 5C are schematic diagrams illustrating a method for manufacturing a mask structure according to some embodiments of the present invention. As shown in fig. 5A, the method for manufacturing the mask structure 100 of the present embodiment first provides the substrate 10, and then forms the first metal layer 22 on the first surface 10a of the substrate 10 and forms the second metal layer 32 on the second surface 10B of the substrate 10 as shown in fig. 5B. In detail, the first metal layer 22 is formed globally on the first surface 10a of the substrate 10, and the second metal layer 32 is formed globally on the second surface 10b of the substrate 10.

In detail, in the present embodiment, the forming methods of the first metal layer 22 and the second metal layer 32 include a chemical deposition process, an electroplating process, a physical attachment process, or an attachment process. For example, the first metal layer 22 and the second metal layer 32 may be formed simultaneously by an electrochemical thin film deposition process (e.g., an electroplating process), thereby reducing the process time and cost and improving the process convenience, but the formation of the first metal layer 22 and the second metal layer 32 is not limited to the above process, and may be formed by other methods.

Finally, as shown in fig. 5C, a via process is performed on the substrate 10, the first metal layer 22 and the second metal layer 32 to form a plurality of vias 10H on the substrate 10, a plurality of first openings 20H are formed on the first metal layer 22, and a plurality of second openings 30H are formed on the second metal layer 32, wherein the first sidewall 20W of the first opening 20H, the second sidewall 30W of the second opening 30H and the third sidewall 10W of the via 10H form a continuous plane, so as to complete the manufacture of the mask structure 100. Alternatively, after the via process, the mask structure 100 may be cleaned physically or chemically, for example, by immersing the mask structure 100 in a liquid or placing the mask structure in a specific environment, so as to remove the residual contamination during the manufacturing process.

In the manufacturing process of the present embodiment, the first metal layer 22 and the second metal layer 32 are formed into the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30, respectively, after the via process. It should be noted that the via process directly penetrates the first metal layer 22 and the second metal layer 32 to form the through hole TH composed of the first opening 20H, the second opening 30H and the via 10H.

The via process may include a mechanical method, for example, the via process may include a laser drilling process, i.e., the through hole TH may be formed by a mechanical method such as laser drilling, but not limited thereto. The first opening 20H, the second opening 30H and the via 10H may have the same size or different sizes according to the limitation of the laser drilling process.

After the through hole process is completed, the outer edge of the through hole TH may overlap the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 in a direction perpendicular to the first surface 10 a. Therefore, the outer edge of the through hole TH may overlap the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 in the direction perpendicular to the first surface 10a, that is, the areas of the substrate 10, the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 are equal, and the through hole TH completely overlaps in the direction perpendicular to the first surface 10a, and reference may be made to the foregoing regarding the thickness and material of each film layer of the mask structure 100 and the interval between the through holes TH, which will not be repeated herein.

As can be seen from the above, fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for fabricating a mask structure according to some embodiments of the present invention, and the method for fabricating the mask structure 100 of the present embodiment includes the following steps.

Step ST 1: a substrate is provided, the substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface.

Step ST 2: a first metal layer is formed on the first surface of the substrate and a second metal layer is formed on the second surface of the substrate.

Step ST 3: and carrying out a through hole process on the substrate, the first metal layer and the second metal layer to ensure that the substrate is provided with a plurality of through holes, the first metal layer is provided with a plurality of first openings, the second metal layer is provided with a plurality of second openings, and a first side wall of the first opening, a second side wall of the second opening and a third side wall of the through holes form a continuous plane.

The mask structure and the manufacturing method thereof of the present invention are not limited to the above embodiments. Other embodiments or variations of the present invention will be disclosed, however, in order to simplify the description and to highlight the differences between the embodiments or variations, the same components are labeled with the same reference numerals, and repeated descriptions are omitted.

Referring to fig. 7 to 8, fig. 7 is a schematic top view of a mask structure according to some embodiments of the present invention, and fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the mask structure according to some embodiments of the present invention. As shown in fig. 7 and fig. 8, compared to the first embodiment, the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 of the mask structure 200 of the present embodiment do not completely overlap in the direction perpendicular to the first surface 10a, i.e. the patterns of the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 are not completely the same. In the present embodiment, the first patterned metal layer 20 overlaps a portion of the second patterned metal layer 30.

In addition, the third sidewall 10W has an angle greater than 90 degrees with the first surface 10 a. Since the third slope of the third sidewall 10W is equal to the first slope of the first sidewall 20W and the third slope of the third sidewall 10W is equal to the second slope of the second sidewall 30W, that is, the third sidewall 10W is parallel to the first sidewall 20W and the second sidewall 30W, the extending direction of the first sidewall 20W forms an angle smaller than 90 degrees with the first surface 10a, and the extending direction of the second sidewall 30W forms an angle larger than 90 degrees with the first surface 10 a.

In the present embodiment, the number of the first openings 20H is equal to the number of the second openings 30H, and the area of the first openings 20H is larger than the area of the second openings 30H, but not limited thereto, the configuration of the patterned metal layer, the number of the openings, the size of the openings, and the positions of the openings may be designed as required.

In addition, the shape of the through hole 10H can be circular, oval, quadrilateral, triangular or other suitable shapes, and the shape can be designed according to the requirement, for example, the through hole 10H in fig. 7 is circular, but is not limited thereto, and can also have a rectangular shape as in fig. 1.

As in the first embodiment, in the manufacturing process of the present embodiment, the first metal layer 22 and the second metal layer 32 are formed into the first patterned metal layer 20 and the second patterned metal layer 30 respectively after the via process. It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, after the via process is completed, the first opening 20H is larger than the via 10H, and the via 10H is larger than the second opening 30H. The opening sizes of the first opening 20H, the through hole 10H, and the second opening 30H exhibit a gradient change. Therefore, the size of the opening of the through hole TH decreases from the first surface 10a to the first surface 10 b.

In detail, when a via process such as laser drilling is performed, a larger opening may be formed in a layer close to the laser source, and a smaller opening may be formed in a layer far from the laser source. That is, when the first metal layer 22 is disposed close to the laser source and the second metal layer 32 is disposed far from the laser source, the size of the first opening 20H may be limited by the laser drilling process to have a larger size, and the size of the second opening 30H may be further reduced. Therefore, the second openings 30H having smaller sizes may define finer patterns than the first openings 20H. Thus, mask structure 200 may define a finer pattern than mask structure 100. Reference is made to the foregoing for the thickness and material of each layer of the mask structure 200 and the interval between the through holes TH, and the detailed description is not repeated here.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a workpiece processing system according to some embodiments of the invention. Masking structure 200 may be configured as a mask for defining a pattern of material film 40 in a workpiece processing system. As shown in fig. 9, the mask structure 200 may act as a shadow mask during evaporation of the material layer 42. During operation of the work-piece processing system, the first openings 20H having the larger dimensions are facing the material layer 42 and the second openings 30H having the smaller dimensions are facing the work-piece 44, so that the size, shape, spacing and pattern of the thin film of material 40 is determined by the second openings 30H.

In detail, when particles of the material layer 42 pass through the through holes TH of the mask structure 200 to be deposited on the work-piece 44 to form the predetermined pattern of the material film 40, the particles of the material layer 42 pass through the first opening 20H having a larger size before passing through the second opening 30H having a smaller size. Therefore, the pattern size of the material film 40 can be further reduced by using the second opening 30H having a smaller size. Thereby, the material film 40 having a fine pattern can be defined by the mask structure 200.

In summary, since the mask structure of the present invention is composed of two sides and more than one metal layer and the flexible substrate, the stability of the mask structure can be improved, thereby reducing the occurrence of defects such as wrinkles, bending, warping, etc., and further improving the production yield of electronic products. In addition, because the metal layers on two sides of the mask structure can be formed simultaneously by an electroplating process, the process time and cost can be reduced, and the process convenience is improved.

The above-mentioned embodiments are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all equivalent changes and modifications made by the claims of the present invention should fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A masking structure, comprising:

a substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface;

a first patterned metal layer disposed on the first surface of the substrate, having a plurality of first openings with first sidewalls; and

a second patterned metal layer disposed on the second surface of the substrate and having a plurality of second openings with second sidewalls;

the substrate is provided with a plurality of through holes, the through holes are provided with third side walls, the through holes are arranged corresponding to the first opening and the second opening, and the third side walls, the first side walls and the second side walls form a continuous plane.

2. The mask structure of claim 1, wherein the first sidewall has a first slope, the second sidewall has a second slope, and the third sidewall has a third slope, wherein the first slope is equal to the third slope, and the third slope is equal to the second slope.

3. The mask structure of claim 2, wherein the third sidewall of the via is perpendicular to the first surface.

4. The mask structure of claim 3, wherein the third sidewall of the via overlaps the first sidewall of the first opening and the second sidewall of the second opening along a direction perpendicular to the first surface.

5. The mask structure of claim 2, wherein the third sidewall has an angle with the first surface that is greater than 90 degrees.

6. The mask structure of claim 5, wherein the first opening is larger than the via and the via is larger than the second opening.

7. A workpiece processing system comprising a masking structure according to claim 1, the workpiece processing system being configured to process a workpiece, wherein the processing comprises generating particles of a material layer, the particles being deposited on the workpiece through the masking structure to form a film of material to complete the processing, wherein the particles are deposited on the workpiece through the first opening, the through-holes and the second opening of the masking structure.

8. A method of fabricating a mask structure, the method comprising:

providing a substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface;

forming a first metal layer on the first surface of the substrate and a second metal layer on the second surface of the substrate; and

and carrying out a through hole process on the substrate, the first metal layer and the second metal layer to enable the substrate to be provided with a plurality of through holes, the first metal layer to be provided with a plurality of first openings and the second metal layer to be provided with a plurality of second openings, wherein a first side wall of the first opening, a second side wall of the second opening and a third side wall of the through hole form a continuous plane.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first metal layer and the second metal are formed by a method comprising a chemical deposition process, an electroplating process, or an attachment process.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the via process comprises a laser drilling process.