CN113388819B

CN113388819B - Substrate carrier, film forming apparatus, and film forming method

Info

Publication number: CN113388819B
Application number: CN202110269095.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 铃木健太郎
Original assignee: Canon Tokki Corp
Current assignee: Canon Tokki Corp
Priority date: 2020-03-13
Filing date: 2021-03-12
Publication date: 2023-07-28
Anticipated expiration: 2041-03-12
Also published as: JP7159238B2; CN113388819A; KR102630778B1; KR20210116251A; JP2021145091A

Abstract

The invention provides a substrate carrier which can stably turn over and convey a substrate in a state of keeping the substrate without greatly increasing the weight of the whole substrate carrier. The substrate carrier is provided with: a plate-like member having a first surface for holding the substrate and a second surface opposite to the first surface; a plurality of adhesive members disposed on the first surface side and each having an adhesive surface for holding a substrate; and a first rib disposed on the second surface side, wherein the plurality of adhesive members include a first adhesive member group arranged in a row along the first surface, and a region obtained by vertically projecting the respective adhesive surfaces of the first adhesive member group onto the first surface overlaps with a region obtained by vertically projecting the first rib onto the first surface.

Description

Substrate carrier, film forming apparatus, and film forming method

Technical Field

The invention relates to a substrate carrier, a film forming apparatus and a film forming method.

Background

As a method for manufacturing an organic EL display, a mask film forming method is known in which a film having a predetermined pattern is formed by forming a film on a substrate through a mask having openings formed in a predetermined pattern. In the mask film forming method, after the mask and the substrate are aligned, the mask and the substrate are brought into close contact with each other to form a film.

Patent document 1 describes a case where a substrate is held by chucks (also referred to as "substrate carriers") and the substrate is transferred by each chuck. This enables conveyance of a large-area substrate having a large deflection. Patent document 1 describes the following: the substrate is held on the substrate carrier with its processing surface facing upward in the vertical direction, and then the substrate is turned over by rotating the substrate carrier by 180 ° while mechanically holding the side surface of the substrate carrier, so that the processing surface of the substrate is changed to face downward in the vertical direction.

[ Prior Art literature ]

[ patent literature ]

Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2013-55093 (patent document 1)

Disclosure of Invention

[ problem ] to be solved by the invention

In recent years, in order to increase the area of an organic EL display and to improve the production efficiency, film formation using a large-sized substrate has been demanded. In general, in the production of an organic EL display, a thin plate such as glass or resin is often used as a substrate, and if the size of the substrate increases, deflection in horizontally holding the substrate increases.

The substrate is held by the substrate carrier and transferred, whereby the deflection of the substrate can be reduced. However, there is also deflection of the substrate carrier holding the substrate. If the substrate carrier holding the substrate is inverted, the substrate holding surface of the substrate carrier is inverted with respect to the direction of gravity, and therefore the shape of the deflection of the substrate carrier becomes opposite before and after the inversion. In this way, when the posture of the substrate carrier is changed, the shape of the contact surface between the substrate and the substrate carrier is changed, and if the amount of the change is excessively large, the substrate is peeled off from the substrate carrier, and the substrate may fall.

On the other hand, if the rigidity of the substrate carrier is increased as much as possible to make the whole hard to flex, the weight of the substrate carrier increases significantly, and conveyance and inversion become difficult.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate carrier that can be stably turned over and conveyed while holding a substrate without greatly increasing the weight of the entire substrate carrier.

[ solution ] to solve the problem

In order to solve the above problems, the substrate carrier of the present invention is characterized in that,

the substrate carrier is provided with:

a plate-like member having a first surface for holding a substrate and a second surface that is a surface on the opposite side of the first surface;

a plurality of adhesive members disposed on the first surface side, each of the plurality of adhesive members having an adhesive surface for holding the substrate; a kind of electronic device with high-pressure air-conditioning system

A first rib disposed on the second surface side,

the plurality of adhesive members includes a first set of adhesive members arranged in a row along the first face,

the region obtained by perpendicularly projecting the respective adhesion surfaces of the first adhesion member group to the first surface overlaps with the region obtained by perpendicularly projecting the first rib to the first surface.

[ Effect of the invention ]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a substrate carrier that can be stably turned over while holding a substrate without greatly increasing the weight of the entire substrate carrier.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing the structure of a substrate carrier according to an embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view showing a lower surface of a substrate carrier according to an embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a series-type manufacturing system of an organic EL panel according to an embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a substrate carrier and an example of the arrangement of ribs according to the embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of an alignment mechanism of an embodiment.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of the carrier holding portion and the mask holding portion according to the embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of an alignment mechanism of an embodiment.

Fig. 8 is a schematic view of an alignment state in the substrate carrier of the comparative example.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of an alignment state of the carrier of the embodiment.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view showing an example of the rotary translation mechanism.

Fig. 11 is an enlarged plan view showing a state of holding a substrate and a mask, and a mark.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart showing each step of the processing in the embodiment.

Fig. 13 is an explanatory diagram of the organic EL display device.

[ reference numerals description ]

100: alignment chamber, 1: alignment device, 8: substrate carrier supporting portion, 9: substrate carrier, 60: position involution mechanism, 11: rotation translation mechanism, 10: z lifting slide, 13: z lifting base body, 18: z guide, 70: control unit, 5: substrate, 6: mask, 6a: mask frame, 31: seat block

Detailed Description

Embodiment 1

The following describes an embodiment for carrying out the present invention in detail by way of example with reference to the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the structural members described in the embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to these unless specifically described.

A substrate carrier, a film forming apparatus, a film forming method, and a method of manufacturing an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 1 to 12. In the following description, a mask mounting apparatus and the like provided in an apparatus for manufacturing an electronic device will be described as an example. A case where a vacuum vapor deposition method is used as a film forming method for manufacturing an electronic device will be described as an example. However, the present invention can also be applied to a case where a sputtering method is used as a film formation method. The mask mounting apparatus and the like of the present invention can be applied to various apparatuses that need to mount a mask on a substrate, in addition to an apparatus used in a film forming process, and in particular, can be preferably applied to an apparatus that is a processing target for a large-sized substrate. As a material to be applied to the substrate of the present invention, a semiconductor (for example, silicon), a film of a polymer material, a metal, or the like may be selected in addition to glass. As the substrate, for example, a silicon wafer or a substrate having a film such as polyimide laminated on a glass substrate may be used. In the case of forming a plurality of layers on a substrate, the layer formed up to the previous step is also referred to as a "substrate". In the case where the various devices described below have a plurality of identical or corresponding members in the same drawing, subscripts such as a and b may be given in the drawing, but in the case where distinction is not required in the specification, subscripts such as a and b may be omitted

(Carrier Structure)

The structure of the substrate carrier 9 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 1 and 2. Fig. 1 (a) shows the substrate carrier 9 when the substrate carrier 9 is viewed from obliquely above, and shows the entire self-weight deformed shape of the substrate carrier 9 in a supported state at the time of conveyance and alignment. Fig. 2 shows the substrate carrier 9 when the back surface of the substrate carrier 9 is viewed obliquely from below, and the conveyance roller 15 is omitted.

The substrate carrier 9 is a flat plate-like structure having a rectangular shape in plan view, and the vicinity of two opposing sides of four sides of the rectangular outer peripheral edge portion is supported by a plurality of conveying rollers 15 as conveying rotating bodies arranged in the conveying direction on both sides of the conveying path of the substrate carrier 9 in a posture in which the two opposing sides are along the conveying direction. By the above-described supporting structure, the movement of the substrate carrier 9 in the transport direction is guided by the rotation of the transport roller 15. Fig. 1 (a) and 2 show a state in which the substrate carrier 9 is supported by the transfer roller 15 in the vicinity of two opposing sides out of four sides of the rectangular outer peripheral edge portion, and show a case in which a central portion separated from the two support sides (a central portion in a direction along two opposing sides out of the four sides that are not the support sides) falls downward to deform due to deformation caused by self weight.

The substrate carrier 9 has a receiving panel 30 as a rectangular flat plate-like member and a plurality of clip members 32. The substrate carrier 9 holds the substrate 5 on a holding surface (first surface, lower surface in the state shown in fig. 1) of the receiving panel 30.

The chuck member 32 has a chuck surface that contacts the substrate 5 to chuck the substrate 5. The clip surface of the clip member 32 of the present embodiment is an adhesive surface formed of an adhesive member, and holds the substrate 5 by adhesive force. Thus, the clip member 32 of the present embodiment may also be referred to as an adhesive pad. In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, the plurality of clip members 32 are disposed in the plurality of holes provided in the receiving panel 30 so that clip surfaces (adhesive surfaces) provided in the clip members are aligned with (on the same plane as) the holding surfaces of the receiving panel 30. Thereby, the substrates 5 can be held along the holding surface of the receiving panel 30 by the plurality of chuck members 32, respectively, and the substrates 5 can be thereby held. The plurality of clip members 32 may be arranged such that the clip surfaces provided respectively are separated from the holding surface of the receiving panel 30 by a predetermined distance. The clip member 32 may be disposed at any position. For example, the clip members 32 are preferably arranged in accordance with the shape of the mask 6, and more preferably arranged in correspondence with the boundary (the portion of the crosspiece) of the mask 6 that partitions the film formation region of the substrate 5. This can suppress the influence on the temperature distribution of the film formation section of the substrate 5 caused by the contact of the chuck member 32 with the substrate 5.

A center reinforcing rib 80 (first rib) for suppressing the amount of self-weight deflection of the entire substrate carrier 9 is fixed to a surface (second surface, upper surface in the present embodiment) of the receiving panel 30 opposite to the holding surface. A peripheral reinforcing rib 81 (second rib) is fixed near the edge of the receiving panel 30 in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction. The central reinforcing rib 80 and the peripheral reinforcing rib 81 can be arranged at any position of the receiving panel 30 and can be added and reduced in number as needed.

In order to reduce the weight of the entire substrate carrier 9, the material of the receiving panel 30 is preferably aluminum or an aluminum alloy. The center rib 80 and the peripheral rib 81 may be made of aluminum, but stainless steel, high-rigidity steel, or ceramic may be used as a material for space saving and rigidity securing.

Fig. 1 (b) is a perspective view of the substrate carrier 9 of the present embodiment in a deflected state due to its own weight as seen from the side along the width direction orthogonal to the conveying direction, and the deformed cross section of the central portion in the width direction has a hyperbolic shape with the central reinforcing rib 80 as the apex. Since the center reinforcing rib 80 is thick and has high rigidity, the deflection amount of the widthwise center portion of the substrate carrier 9 decreases at the center portion in the conveyance direction. That is, the substrate carrier 9 is common in that the center portion in the width direction is deformed to drop most downward at any position in the conveying direction, but if the drop conditions are compared in the conveying direction, the drop at the center portion in the conveying direction is reduced in flexural deformation as compared with the drop at the end portions in the conveying direction. The deflection amount of the substrate carrier 9 in the widthwise center and the conveyance direction center portion reinforced by the center reinforcing rib 80 is dcc. Further, the deflection amount of the substrate carrier 9 along the widthwise central portion of the portion reinforced by the peripheral reinforcing ribs 81 in the vicinity of the side extending in the widthwise direction among the four sides of the outer periphery of the substrate carrier 9 is dce. The "deflection amount" referred to herein is a deflection amount when only a pair of peripheral regions of the peripheral portion of the substrate carrier 9, which correspond to a pair of opposite sides arranged in a predetermined direction among a plurality of sides of the peripheral portion of the substrate 5, are supported by a pair of support mechanisms such as the conveying roller 15 or the carrier support portion 8. The "deflection amount" is an amount by which the lower portion of the substrate carrier 9 deflects with respect to the height of the transfer roller 15, which is a supporting point of the substrate carrier 9, or the height from the carrier supporting portion 8 in the above-described supporting state. That is, in the conveyance direction center portion of the substrate carrier 9, the absolute value of the difference in height in the height direction between the upper end (upper surface) of the one end portion in the width direction, which is the highest in height, and the lower end (lower surface) of the center portion in the width direction, which is the lowest in height, is defined as the deflection amount dcc. Similarly, at one end portion in the conveying direction of the substrate carrier 9, an absolute value of a difference in height in the height direction between an upper end (upper surface) of one end portion in the width direction where the height is highest and a lower end (lower surface) of the central portion in the width direction where the height is lowest is defined as a deflection amount dce. The deflection amount may be defined by a difference in height between the upper ends of the one end portions in the width direction and the central portion in the width direction or a difference in height between the lower ends, not by a difference in height between the upper ends of the one end portions in the width direction and the central portion, as described above. When the conveyance direction is a first direction and the width direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction is a second direction, the height direction may be defined as a third direction orthogonal to the first direction and the second direction.

The substrate 5 is held by suction by the plurality of chuck members 32 arranged on the lower surface of the receiving panel 30 which mainly holds the substrate 5 itself in the substrate carrier 9. The attraction force of the clip member 32 has a limitation in the characteristics of the clip member 32, and is peeled off when a force equal to or greater than a threshold value is applied. The number and arrangement of the clip members 32 may be appropriately designed so that the substrate 5 can be held within the threshold value. The clip member 32 may be detachably attached so that the arrangement of the clip member 32 can be changed in accordance with the shape of the mask 6.

The central reinforcing rib 80, which is a characteristic structure of the present invention, is disposed along the arrangement of the clip members 32, and particularly, reinforces the portions of the clip members 32 where the arrangement of the clip members 32 intersects (specifically, the portions orthogonal to each other in the longitudinal and transverse directions) or the portions of the clip members 32 where the arrangement density in the substrate carrier 9 is high, thereby reducing the deflection dcc. As a result, the substrate carrier 9 as a whole can be given a hyperboloid-shaped deformed state.

A manufacturing system (film forming apparatus) according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a manufacturing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and illustrates a manufacturing system 300 in which organic EL panels (organic EL display devices) are manufactured in a serial arrangement. The organic EL panel is generally manufactured through an organic light emitting element forming process of forming an organic light emitting element on a substrate and a packaging process of forming a protective layer on the formed organic light emitting layer, but the manufacturing system 300 of the present embodiment mainly performs the organic light emitting element forming process.

As shown in fig. 3, the manufacturing system 300 includes an alignment chamber 100 (mask mounting chamber), a plurality of film forming chambers 110, a spin chamber 111, a transfer chamber 112, a mask separating chamber 113, a substrate separating chamber 114, a substrate loading chamber 117 (substrate mounting chamber), a transfer chamber 118, and a transfer chamber 115. The manufacturing system 300 further includes a transfer mechanism described later, and the substrate carrier is transferred by the transfer mechanism along a predetermined transfer path passing through each chamber provided in the manufacturing system 300. Specifically, in the configuration of fig. 3, the substrate carrier 9 is transferred through the chambers in this order of the alignment chamber 100 (mask mounting chamber), the plurality of film forming chambers 110a, the spin chamber 111a, the transfer chamber 112, the spin chamber 111b, the plurality of film forming chambers 110b, the mask separating chamber 113, the substrate separating chamber 114 (flipping chamber), the substrate loading chamber 117 (substrate mounting/flipping chamber), the transfer chamber 118, and the transfer chamber 115, and is returned to the alignment chamber 100. In this way, the substrate carrier 9 is circulated along a predetermined conveyance path (circulation conveyance path). The manufacturing system 300 of the present embodiment further includes a mask loading chamber 90 and a mask transfer chamber 116. The function of each chamber will be described below.

The substrate carrier 9 is circulated and conveyed through the circulation conveyance path, whereas the mask 6 is fed into the circulation conveyance path from the mask feeding chamber 90 and is sent out from the mask conveyance chamber 116. Then, the substrate 5 without film formation is put into the circulating conveyance path from the substrate putting-in chamber 117 as a substrate mounting chamber, and is formed in a state held by the substrate carrier 9, and then the substrate 5 after film formation is sent out from the substrate separating chamber 114. The substrate 5, which is fed into the substrate loading chamber 117 and is not formed with a film, is held on the substrate carrier 9 in the substrate feeding chamber 117, and is fed into the alignment chamber 110 through the transfer chamber 118 and the transfer chamber 115.

The substrate loading chamber 117 and the substrate separation chamber 114 are provided with a reversing mechanism (reversing mechanism 120. The reversing mechanism provided in the substrate separation chamber 114 is not shown) for reversing the orientation of the holding surface of the substrate carrier 9 from the upper side in the vertical direction to the lower side in the vertical direction or vice versa. As the turning mechanism 120 of the turning member, a conventionally known mechanism capable of changing the posture (orientation) by gripping the substrate carrier 9 or the like can be suitably used, and a specific configuration thereof will not be described. The substrate 5 is fed into the substrate loading chamber 117 in which the substrate carrier 9 is placed with its deposition surface facing upward in the vertical direction and with its holding surface facing upward in the vertical direction, and is placed on the holding surface of the substrate carrier 9 and held by the substrate carrier 9. Then, the substrate carrier 9 holding the substrate 5 is turned over by the turning mechanism 120, and the film formation surface of the substrate 5 is oriented vertically downward. On the other hand, when the substrate carrier 9 is fed from the mask separating chamber 113 to the substrate separating chamber 114, the substrate 5 is fed with the film formation surface facing downward in the vertical direction. After the transfer, the substrate carrier 9 holding the substrate 5 is turned over by a turning mechanism, not shown, and the film formation surface of the substrate 5 is oriented vertically upward. Then, the substrate 5 is sent out from the substrate separation chamber 114 with the film formation surface facing upward in the vertical direction.

When the substrate 9, which is turned upside down while holding the substrate 5 loaded in the substrate loading chamber 117, is loaded into the alignment chamber 100, the mask 6 is loaded from the mask loading chamber 90 into the alignment chamber 100 in response to this. The alignment device 1 is mounted in the alignment chamber 100 (mask mounting chamber), and the substrate 5 mounted on the substrate carrier 9 of the present embodiment and the mask 6 are aligned with each other with high accuracy so that the substrate carrier 9 (substrate 5) is mounted on the mask 6, and then transferred to the transfer roller 15 (transfer mechanism), and the transfer is started toward the next step. The substrate 5, the mask 6, and the substrate carrier 9 are conveyed on the conveyance path without changing the orientation of each. That is, even if the direction in which the conveyance path extends is changed, the respective directions are not changed but only the traveling direction is changed. The transfer rollers 15 as a transfer mechanism are disposed at both sides of the transfer path in the transfer direction and are rotated by driving forces of an AC servomotor (not shown), thereby transferring the substrate carrier 9 or the mask 6. The conveying path is provided with either one or both of a pair (15 Aa, 15 Ab) of conveying rollers 15A as first conveying rotating bodies for conveying in the first direction and a pair (15 Ba, 15 Bb) of conveying rollers 15B as second conveying rotating bodies for conveying in the second direction, depending on the conveying direction.

In fig. 3, in a film forming chamber 110a at the front stage of the transfer path, a substrate 5 sucked by a substrate carrier 9 fed in passes over a vapor deposition source 7, and thus a film is formed on a surface of the substrate 5 except for a portion shielded by a mask 6. The substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are put into the film forming chamber 110b at the rear stage of the transfer path through the transfer chamber 112 and the spin chamber 11b (the travel direction is rotated by 90 °) by changing the travel direction to a direction orthogonal to the travel direction in the spin chamber 111 a. Each of the spin chambers 111 is provided with a pair (15 Aa, 15 Ab) of transfer rollers 15A as first transfer rotating bodies for transferring the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 in the first direction and a pair (15 Ba, 15 Bb) of transfer rollers 15B as second transfer rotating bodies for transferring the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 in the second direction. By changing the heights of the first transfer rotator and the second transfer rotator, the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are exchanged, and the orientation of the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 is not changed, but only the traveling direction is changed. Specifically, in a state where the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are supported by the first transfer rotating body, the second transfer rotating body is raised from the bottom to the top and moved to a position higher than the first transfer rotating body, whereby the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are supported by the second transfer rotating body, and the replacement of the carrier is enabled. After the film formation is completed, the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 reach the mask separating chamber 113, and the substrate carrier 9 is transferred to the substrate separating chamber 114, and in the substrate separating chamber 114, the film-formed substrate 5 is separated from the substrate carrier 9 and recovered from the circulation transfer path. On the other hand, the mask 6 monomer separated from the substrate carrier 9 is still in straight line and transferred to the mask send-out chamber 116. The substrate carrier 9 is loaded with a new substrate 5 in the substrate loading chamber 117, adsorbed, turned over, and the substrate carrier 9 is conveyed in the circulation conveyance path as a single body of the substrate carrier 9 on which the substrate 5 is mounted, and again, in the alignment chamber 100, is aligned and placed on the mask 6 conveyed from the loading chamber 90. The pair of conveying rollers having different (orthogonal) conveying directions are provided in the conveying chamber 118 so as to be separated from each other in two stages. When transferring the mask 6 separated by the mask separating chamber 113 from the mask separating chamber 113 to the mask transferring chamber 116, a plurality of pairs of transferring rollers at a lower stage arranged in the first direction are used. When the substrate carrier 9 fed from the substrate loading chamber 117 is transferred to the transfer chamber 115, a plurality of upper transfer roller pairs aligned in the second direction are used.

As described above, in the substrate loading chamber 117 and the substrate separating chamber 114, the substrate carrier 9 is turned by the turning mechanism, but when the substrate carrier 9 is turned by the turning mechanism, the deflection amount dcc of the substrate carrier 9 shown in fig. 1 (b) is turned up and down. That is, the suction portions a in the center of the vertically and horizontally intersecting arrangement of the clip members 32 are subjected to a displacement (height direction) of 2×dcc at maximum. At this time, a load is applied to the suction portion by the inversion, but the deflection dcc is reduced by the rigidity of the center reinforcing rib 80, and the load change is converged within the threshold value of peeling, so that the substrate 5 is not peeled from the receiving panel 30 at the time of inversion.

Fig. 4 shows a substrate carrier 9 of the present embodiment. Fig. 4 (a) is a plan view of the substrate carrier section 9 as viewed from above, showing the back surface (surface opposite to the substrate holding surface) of the receiving panel 30. The center reinforcing rib 80 is disposed at the center of the substrate carrier 9 in the conveyance direction so as to extend in the width direction from one end toward the other end in the width direction. This is an example of a structure in which the interface of the mask foil 6b of the mask 6 for dividing the film formation region corresponds to four medium-sized displays formed simultaneously in a cross-shaped and vertically and laterally symmetrical layout. In this case, the vertically and horizontally arranged clip members 32 intersect at the center, and the suction portion a at the center has a small change in deflection upon turning. Therefore, the rigidity is ensured by the center reinforcing rib 80, whereby the deflection change at the time of turning over at the intersection of the arrangement of the clip members 32 is reduced, and the peeling of the substrate 5 from the receiving panel 30 can be prevented.

In the present embodiment, the central reinforcing rib 80 can be arbitrarily changed in arrangement on the receiving panel 30. Fig. 4 (b) shows another embodiment to which the present invention is applied. The substrate carrier 9a according to another embodiment is a substrate carrier for a mask for forming two large-sized displays and four small-sized displays simultaneously. In this structure, the center reinforcing rib 80 is disposed at a portion where the mask portion of the large substrate in the center intersects with the mask of the small substrate. In this structure, the deflection change at the time of turning over of the intersection a at the center is small. In this way, the rigidity is ensured by the center reinforcing rib 80 according to the layout of the mask portion (the interface portion for dividing the film formation portion of the mask foil 6 b) of the mask 6, whereby the deflection change at the time of turning over the intersecting portion of the arrangement of the clip members 32 is reduced, and the peeling of the substrate can be prevented.

Each of the embodiments shown in fig. 4 includes a plurality of auxiliary reinforcing ribs 83 extending in a direction orthogonal (intersecting) to the central reinforcing rib 80 and the peripheral reinforcing ribs 81 and connecting them. The auxiliary rib 83 is a rib having a narrower width (smaller cross-sectional area) than the central rib 80 and the peripheral rib 81, and is appropriately arranged according to the layout of the mask portion of the mask 6. The characteristic deflection control of the mask 6 of the present embodiment is mainly controlled by the central reinforcing rib 80 and the peripheral reinforcing ribs 81, and therefore, a configuration may be adopted in which the auxiliary reinforcing ribs 83 are not provided according to the layout of the mask portion.

The clip member 32 is preferably disposed outside the effective display area of the display. This is because the stress generated by the suction of the chuck member 32 may skew the substrate 5 or cause a temperature distribution at the time of film formation, and therefore the suction holding area of the chuck member 32 to the substrate 5 is preferably as small as possible, and the holding number is preferably as small as possible. The arrangement of the clip members 32 is preferably arranged on the back surface of the mask portion for the above-described reasons, in order to form a film.

Fig. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the overall structure of an alignment mechanism unit of the tandem vapor deposition apparatus according to the present embodiment.

The vapor deposition apparatus generally includes a chamber 4, and an alignment device 1 for holding and aligning a substrate 5 and a mask 6 held by a substrate carrier 9. The chamber 4 can adjust the chamber pressure (pressure inside the chamber) by a chamber pressure control unit (not shown) including a vacuum pump and a chamber pressure gauge, and an evaporation source 7 (film forming source) containing a vapor deposition material 71 (film forming material) can be disposed inside the chamber 4, whereby a film forming space 2 is formed inside the chamber after the pressure is reduced. In the film forming space 2, the vapor deposition material splashes from the evaporation source 7 toward the substrate 5, and a film is formed on the substrate.

In the illustrated example, the structure in which the upward deposition of the film is performed in a state where the film formation surface (film formation target surface) of the substrate 5 is oriented downward in the gravity direction at the time of film formation is described. However, the deposition may be performed in a downward direction in which the film is formed with the film formation surface of the substrate 5 facing upward in the gravity direction. The substrate 5 may be vertically erected and a side deposition may be performed with the film formation surface substantially parallel to the gravity direction. That is, the present invention is required to be able to be used favorably when positioning the substrate 5 held by the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 relatively close to each other with high accuracy in a state where at least one of the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 is hanging or bending.

In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 11, the mask 6 has a structure in which a mask foil 6b having a thickness of about several μm to several tens μm is welded and fixed to a frame-like mask frame 6 a. The mask frame 6a supports the mask foil 6b in a state of being pulled in the surface direction (X direction and Y direction described later) so as to avoid the mask foil 6b from being deflected. The mask foil 6b includes a boundary portion of the substrate for dividing the film formation region. When the mask 6 is mounted on the substrate 5, the interface of the mask foil 6b is in close contact with the substrate 5, and the film-forming material is masked. The mask 6 may be an open mask having only a boundary portion of the mask foil 6b, or may be a fine mask in which fine openings corresponding to pixels or sub-pixels are formed at portions other than the boundary portion, that is, at portions corresponding to the film formation region of the substrate. In the case of using a glass substrate or a substrate having a film made of resin such as polyimide formed on the glass substrate as the substrate 5, an iron alloy, preferably an iron alloy containing nickel, can be used as the main material of the mask frame 6a and the mask foil 6 b. Specific examples of the nickel-containing ferroalloy include invar alloy materials containing 34 to 38 mass% of nickel, super invar alloy materials containing cobalt in addition to 30 to 34 mass% of nickel, and low-thermal expansion fe—ni-based plating alloys containing 38 to 54 mass% of nickel.

The chamber 4 has an upper partition wall 4a (ceiling), side walls 4b, and a bottom wall 4c. The inside of the chamber may be maintained in a vacuum atmosphere or an inert gas atmosphere such as nitrogen gas, in addition to the reduced pressure atmosphere described above. In the present specification, the term "vacuum" refers to a state in a space filled with a gas having a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure, and typically refers to a state in a space filled with a gas having a pressure lower than 1atm (1013 hPa).

The evaporation source 7 may be configured to include a material storage portion such as a crucible for storing the vapor deposition material, and a heating member such as a sheath heater for heating the vapor deposition material. The position of the injection port for injecting the vapor deposition material can be relatively displaced in the chamber 4 with respect to the substrate 5 by providing a mechanism for moving the material accommodating portion in a plane substantially parallel to the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 or a mechanism for moving the entire evaporation source 7, thereby achieving uniformity of film formation on the substrate 5.

The alignment device 1 includes a positioning mechanism 60 mounted substantially on the upper partition wall 4a of the chamber 4 and configured to drive the substrate carrier 9 so as to be positioned opposite to the mask 6. The alignment apparatus 1 has a carrier support 8 (substrate carrier support) that holds a substrate carrier 9, a mask receiving table 16 (mask support) that holds a mask 6, and a transfer roller 15 (transfer mechanism).

The alignment mechanism 60 is provided outside the chamber 4, and changes or stabilizes the relative positional relationship between the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 so that a desired accuracy can be achieved during vapor deposition. The alignment mechanism 60 generally includes a rotation translation mechanism 11 (in-plane movement mechanism), a Z-lift base 13, and a Z-lift slider 10.

The rotation/translation mechanism 11 is connected to the upper partition wall 4a of the chamber 4, and drives the Z-stage substrate 13 in the xyθ direction. The Z-lift base 13 is connected to the rotary translation mechanism 11, and serves as a base when the substrate carrier 9 moves in the Z-direction. The Z-lift slider 10 is a member movable in the Z direction along the Z guide 18. The Z-lift slider is connected to the substrate carrier support section 8 via a substrate holding shaft 12.

In the above configuration, when the rotation translation mechanism 11 drives the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 in the XY θ direction in a plane substantially parallel to each other, the Z lift base 13, the Z lift slider 10, and the substrate holding shaft 12 move integrally, and a driving force is transmitted to the carrier support portion 8. Then, the substrate 5 is moved in a plane substantially parallel to the substrate 5 and the mask 6. The mask 6 and the substrate 5 are deflected by gravity as described later, but the plane substantially parallel to the substrate 5 and the mask 6 herein refers to a plane substantially parallel to the substrate 5 and the mask 6 in an ideal state where no deflection occurs. For example, in a structure in which the substrate 5 and the mask 6 are horizontally arranged, such as upward deposition or downward deposition, the substrate 5 is moved in a horizontal plane by the rotation-translation mechanism 11. When the Z-lift slider 10 is driven in the Z direction relative to the Z-lift base 13 by the Z guide 18, a driving force is transmitted to the carrier support portion 8 via the substrate holding shaft 12 (in the present embodiment, four substrate holding shafts 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d are provided, and in fig. 7, the shaft 12d is shielded by the substrate 5 and the mask 6 and is not shown). Then, the distance of the substrate 5 with respect to the mask 6 is changed (away from or close to). That is, the Z-stage base 13, and the Z-guide 18 function as distance changing members of the positioning members.

As shown in the example, dust emission in the film forming space or the space in which alignment is performed can be suppressed by disposing the positioning mechanism 60 including a large number of movable parts outside the film forming space. This can prevent contamination of the mask or the substrate due to dust emission and decrease in film formation accuracy. In the present embodiment, the structure in which the alignment mechanism 60 moves the substrate 5 in the xyθ direction and the Z direction is described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the alignment mechanism 60 may move the mask 6, or may move both the substrate 5 and the mask 6. That is, the alignment mechanism 60 is a mechanism that moves at least one of the substrate 5 and the mask 6, and can thereby align the relative positions of the substrate 5 and the mask 6.

The substrate carrier 9 includes a receiving panel 30 (panel member), a seating block 31 (seating member), and a clip member 32.

The receiving panel 30 is a plate-like member made of metal or the like, and is a member constituting a holding surface for holding the substrate 5. The receiving panel 30 has a certain degree of rigidity (at least higher rigidity than the substrate 5), and the substrate 5 is held along the holding surface, whereby the substrate 5 can be prevented from being bent.

The seat block 31 is disposed in plural protruding from the holding surface of the receiving panel 30 outside the substrate holding section. The seat block 31 is provided so as to protrude toward the mask 6 side from the substrate 5 in a state where the substrate 5 is held on the substrate carrier 9. The substrate carrier 9 is seated on the outer peripheral frame of the mask frame 6a via the seating block 31 by the aligning operation.

The substrate carrier 9 further includes a magnetic attraction mechanism (not shown) for magnetically attracting the mask 6 through the substrate 5 held. As the magnetic attraction means, a magnet plate having a permanent magnet or an electromagnet, and a permanent magnet may be used. Further, the magnetic attraction mechanism may be provided so as to be relatively movable with respect to the receiving panel 30. More specifically, the magnetic attraction mechanism may be provided so as to be able to change the distance from the receiving panel 30.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of the mask and the carrier holding portion, and a detailed portion will be described with reference to fig. 6. The substrate carrier 9 can be positionally aligned with respect to the mask 6 via the carrier support 8. The carrier support portion 8 is composed of carrier receiving claws 42 and a carrier receiving surface 41, and by placing the vicinity of the side surfaces (peripheral edge portions formed on two sides facing each other in the width direction) of the substrate carrier 9 on the carrier receiving surface 41, the entire substrate carrier 9 is supported and aligned with respect to the mask 6.

The mask frame 6a is supported by the mask support table 16 via a mask pad 33 constituting a mask support surface. The mask pad 33 preferably has a high friction coefficient to avoid misalignment of the mask due to vibration generated during alignment. For example, the surface may be embossed in consideration of the contact of metals with each other.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the rectangular substrate carrier 9 and the rectangular mask 6 are supported by the carrier support portion 8 and the mask support portion (mask receiving table 16) along the conveying direction of the conveying roller 15, respectively. That is, the substrate carrier 9 has one of two sets of sides facing each other arranged substantially parallel to the conveying direction of the conveying roller 15, and the carrier support portion 8 arranged to face the one set of sides supports the peripheral edge portion of the substrate carrier 9 corresponding to the one set of sides. Further, the mask 6 is arranged such that one of the two sets of sides facing each other is substantially parallel to the conveying direction of the conveying roller 15, and the mask support portion arranged to face the one set of sides supports the peripheral edge portion of the mask 6 corresponding to the one set of sides. The opposite sides supported by the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 may be long sides or short sides. In the case where the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are square, the peripheral edge portion of one of the two sets of sides may be supported.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the alignment mechanism. The mask support table 16 is guided up and down (lifted) along a lift table guide 34 placed on the mask table base 19. Then, a transfer roller 15 is placed on the lower side of the mask 6 in the transfer direction, and the mask 6 is transferred to the transfer roller 15 by lowering the mask receiving table 16.

The substrate holding shaft 12 is provided throughout the outside and inside of the chamber 4 through a through hole provided in the upper partition wall 4a of the chamber 4. In the film forming space, a carrier support portion 8 is provided below the substrate holding shaft 12, and the substrate 5 as a film formation object can be held via a substrate carrier 9.

The through hole is designed to be much larger than the outer diameter of the substrate holding shaft 12 to avoid interference of the substrate holding shaft 12 with the upper partition wall 4 a. The region from the through hole to the fixing portion fixed to the Z-stage slider 10 (the portion above the through hole) in the substrate holding shaft 12 is covered with the bellows 40 fixed to the Z-stage slider 10 and the upper partition wall 4 a. Thus, the substrate holding shaft 12 is covered with the sealed space communicating with the chamber 4, and thus the entire substrate holding shaft 12 can be held in the same state (for example, vacuum state) as the film forming space 2. The bellows 40 is preferably flexible in both the Z direction and the XY direction. Thus, by operating the alignment device 1, the resistance generated when the bellows 40 is displaced can be sufficiently reduced, and the load at the time of position adjustment can be reduced.

The mask receiving portion is provided on the surface of the upper partition wall 4a on the film forming space 2 side in the chamber 4, and can support the mask 6. A mask used for manufacturing, for example, an EL panel has a structure in which a mask foil 6b having openings corresponding to a film formation pattern is fixed in a state of being stretched over a mask frame 6a having high rigidity. With this structure, the mask receiving portion can be held in a state in which the deflection of the mask foil 6b is reduced.

The control unit 70 controls various operations of the alignment device 1 (alignment by a rotation/translation mechanism, lifting of the Z-lift slider 10 by a distance change mechanism, substrate holding by the carrier support unit 8, vapor deposition by the evaporation source 7, and the like). The control unit 70 may be constituted by a computer having a processor, a memory, a register, I/O, and the like, for example. In this case, the function of the control section 70 is realized by the processor executing a program stored in a memory or a register. As the computer, a general-purpose personal computer may be used, or an embedded computer or PLC (programmable logic controller ) may be used. Alternatively, part or all of the functions of the control unit 70 may be configured by a circuit such as an ASIC or FPGA. The control unit 70 may be provided for each vapor deposition device, or one control unit 70 may control a plurality of vapor deposition devices.

Next, with reference to fig. 7, details of the positioning mechanism 60 of the alignment device 1 will be described. Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the alignment mechanism. The guides for guiding the Z-stage slider 10 in the vertical Z direction include a plurality of (four in this case) Z-guides 18a to 18d, and are fixed to the side surfaces of the Z-stage base 13. A ball screw 27 for transmitting driving force is disposed in the center of the Z-stage slider, and power transmitted from a motor 26 fixed to the Z-stage base 13 is transmitted to the Z-stage slider 10 via the ball screw 27.

A rotary encoder, not shown, is incorporated in the motor 26, and the Z-direction position of the Z-elevating slider 10 can be indirectly measured by the rotational speed of the encoder. By controlling the driving of the motor 26 by the external controller, precise positioning in the Z direction of the Z-lift slider 10 can be performed. The lifting mechanism of the Z lifting slider 10 is not limited to the ball screw 27 and the rotary encoder, and any mechanism such as a combination of a linear motor and a linear encoder may be used.

In the structure of fig. 10, the rotary translation mechanism 11 has a plurality of drive units 21a, 21b, 21c, 21d at four corners of the base body. The driving units 21a to 21d are rotated so that the driving units disposed at the adjacent corners are each shifted by 90 degrees around the Z axis, and the directions of the driving forces are each shifted by 90 degrees at the four corners.

Each drive unit 21 includes a drive unit motor 25 that generates a drive force. Each drive unit 21 further includes a first guide 22 that slides in a first direction by being transmitted with the force of the drive unit motor 25 via the drive unit ball screw 46, and a second guide 23 that slides in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction in the XY plane. A swivel bearing 24 rotatable about the Z axis is also provided. For example, in the case of the drive unit 21d, there are a first guide 22 that slides in the X direction, a second guide 23 that slides in the Y direction orthogonal to the X direction, and a rotation bearing 24, and the force of the drive unit motor 25 is transmitted to the first guide 22 via the drive unit ball screw 46. The other driving units 21a, 21b, and 21c also have the same configuration as the driving unit 21d. Only the orientations of the arrangements are offset from each other by 90 degrees.

The drive unit motor 25 incorporates a rotary encoder, not shown, and is capable of measuring the displacement of the first guide 22. In each driving unit 21, the position in the xyθz direction of the Z-lift base 13 can be precisely controlled by controlling the driving of the driving unit motor 25 by the control unit 70.

For example, when moving the Z lifting base 13 in the +x direction, it is preferable that the drive unit motor 25 generates a force sliding in the +x direction in the drive unit 21a and the drive unit 21d, respectively, and transmits the force to the Z lifting base 13. In the case of moving in the +y direction, it is preferable that the drive unit motor 25 generates a force sliding in the +y direction in the drive unit 21b and the drive unit 21c, respectively, and transmits the force to the Z-lift base 13.

When the Z lift base 13 is rotated +θ (rotated θz clockwise) about the rotation axis parallel to the Z axis, it is preferable to generate a force required for rotating +θz about the Z axis by using the driving units 21a and 21d arranged diagonally, and transmit the force to the Z lift base 13. Alternatively, the force required for rotation may be transmitted to the Z-lift base 13 using the driving unit 21b and the driving unit 21 c.

Next, an imaging device for simultaneously measuring the positions of the respective alignment marks in order to detect the positions of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 will be described. As shown in fig. 5 and 7, imaging devices 14 (14 a, 14b, 14c, 14 d) as position acquisition means for acquiring positions of alignment marks (mask marks) on the mask 6 and alignment marks (substrate marks) on the substrate 5 are disposed on the outer surface of the upper partition wall 4 a. The upper partition wall 4a is provided with a through hole for imaging on the camera optical axis so that the position of the alignment mark disposed inside the chamber 4 can be measured by the imaging device 14. Glass panes 17 (17 a, 17b, 17c, 17 d) are provided in the imaging through holes so as to maintain the air pressure in the chamber. Further, by providing illumination, not shown, in or near the imaging device 14 and irradiating light near the alignment marks of the substrate and the mask, accurate measurement of the mark image can be performed. In fig. 5, the imaging device 14d and the window glass 17c and 17d are shielded by other members and are not shown.

A method of measuring the positions of the substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 38 using the imaging device 14 will be described with reference to fig. 11 (a) to 11 (c).

Fig. 11 (a) is a view of the substrate 5 on the receiving panel 30 in a state of being held by the carrier support portion 8, as viewed from above. For illustration, the receiving panel 30 is illustrated in a transparent manner by dotted lines. Substrate marks 37a, 37b, 37c, 37d that can be measured by the imaging device 14 on the substrate 5 are formed at four corners of the substrate 5. The substrate marks 37a to 37d are simultaneously measured by the four imaging devices 14a to 14d, and the translation amount and rotation amount of the substrate 5 are calculated from the positional relationship of four points at the center positions of the respective substrate marks 37a to 37d, whereby the positional information of the substrate 5 can be obtained. The receiving panel 30 is provided with a through hole, and the position of the substrate mark 37 can be measured by the imaging device 14 from above.

Fig. 11 (b) is a view of the mask frame 6a from the upper surface. Mask marks 38a, 38b, 38c, 38d that can be measured by the imaging device are formed at the four corners. The four imaging devices 14a, 14b, 14c, and 14d measure the mask marks 38a to 38d simultaneously, and calculate the translation amount, rotation amount, and the like of the mask 6 from the positional relationship of four points at the center positions of the mask marks 38a to 38d, thereby obtaining positional information of the mask 6.

Fig. 11 (c) is a diagram schematically showing the field of view 44 of the captured image when the imaging device 14 measures one of the four groups of the mask mark 38 and the substrate mark 37. In this example, the substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 38 are measured simultaneously in the field of view 44 of the imaging device 14, and therefore the positions of the mark centers relative to each other can be measured. The mark center coordinates can be obtained based on the image measured by the imaging device 14 using an image processing device not shown. Note that, although the mask mark 38 and the substrate mark 37 have a square or circular shape, the shape of the mark is not limited to this. For example, a shape having symmetry, such as an x mark or a cross shape, is preferably used, which allows easy calculation of the center position.

In the case where high-precision alignment is required, a high-magnification CCD camera having a high resolution of several μm is used as the imaging device 14. Since the diameter of the field of view of such a high-magnification CCD camera is as small as several mm, if the positional deviation is large when the substrate carrier 9 is placed on the carrier receiving claw 41, the substrate mark 37 deviates from the field of view and cannot be measured. Therefore, it is preferable to provide a low-magnification CCD camera having a wide field of view together with a high-magnification CCD camera as the imaging device 14. In this case, the mask mark 38 and the substrate mark 37 are roughly aligned (rough alignment) by using the low-magnification CCD camera so that the mask mark 38 and the substrate mark 37 are simultaneously accommodated in the field of view of the high-magnification CCD camera, and then the positions of the mask mark 38 and the substrate mark 37 are measured by using the high-magnification CCD camera, thereby performing high-precision alignment (fine alignment).

By using a high-magnification CCD camera as the imaging device 14, the relative position of the mask frame 6a and the substrate 5 can be adjusted with accuracy within a few μm of error. However, the imaging device 14 is not limited to a CCD camera, and may be a digital camera including a CMOS sensor as an imaging element, for example. Further, the high-magnification camera and the low-magnification camera may be provided without being separated, and the high-magnification and low-magnification measurements may be performed by a single camera by using a camera or a zoom lens capable of changing the high-magnification lens and the low-magnification lens.

Based on the positional information of the mask frame 6a and the positional information of the substrate 5 obtained by the imaging device 14, the relative positional information of the mask frame 6a and the substrate 5 can be obtained. The relative position information is fed back to the control unit 70 of the alignment device, and the driving amounts of the respective driving units such as the elevating slider 10, the rotary translation mechanism 11, and the carrier support unit 8 are controlled.

(deflection of Carrier at alignment)

The deflection shape and structure of the substrate carrier 9 according to the present embodiment and the substrate carrier in alignment, which is preferable for application of the present invention, will be described with reference to fig. 8 and 9. Fig. 8 is a schematic view showing a state in which the substrate carrier 9b using the ribs 82 of the reference example is held by an alignment mechanism at the time of alignment, as viewed from the front of the apparatus (viewed in the conveying direction). The substrate carrier 9b is aligned with respect to the mask 6 in a state of being supported on the carrier receiving surface 41. The deflection of the cross section of the side (end in the conveying direction) perpendicular to the conveying direction was dce ', which was smaller than the deflection dm of the mask (dce' < dm). As a result, even after the substrate carrier 9b is placed on the mask 6 after the alignment is completed, a gap (void) ds is generated between the substrate carrier 9b and the mask frame 6 a.

When the substrate carrier 9b is aligned with respect to the mask 6 and then placed on the mask 6, when the substrate carrier 9b is seated on the mask frame 6a, first, a region of the substrate carrier 9b extending along the portion supported by the carrier receiving claws 42 and a region of the mask 6 extending along the portion supported by the mask supporting portion are brought into contact with each other with sides. When the sides are in contact with each other, the whole sides are in contact with each other at the same time as long as the two sides are in the same shape and the two sides are in contact with each other while being kept close to each other in parallel. In this case, the contact start point is affected by various disturbances and is not fixed to one point every time it is changed, and the contact start point is randomly determined. Moreover, not only the contact start position in one side is randomly decided, but also which of the two opposite sides starts to contact first becomes indefinite due to the influence of various disturbances. As a result, reproducibility of seating the substrate carrier 9b and the mask 6 is reduced. When one of the two opposing sides first comes into contact, a biasing load acts on the one of the two opposing sides, and therefore, the reaction force at the time of seating of the substrate carrier 9b is transmitted to the position adjustment mechanism 60 side via the carrier receiving surface 41, and disturbance such as a change in posture of the mechanism or a positional deviation occurs.

In contrast, a more preferable example using the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 9. As shown in fig. 9 (a), peripheral reinforcing ribs 81 having a relatively smaller cross section in a direction orthogonal to the film formation direction than the central reinforcing ribs 80 are fixed to both front and rear ends in the conveyance direction of the back surface of the receiving panel 30 of the substrate carrier 9 of the present embodiment. If the deflection dce of the cross section to which the peripheral reinforcing rib 81 is fixed is equal to or greater than the mask frame 6a, the portion of the substrate carrier 9a that comes into contact when mounted on the mask 6 after alignment is the central portion, and the contact start portion becomes the same portion each time, so that stable seating can be performed. Further, the lateral deviation amount of the substrate carrier 9a at the time of seating is also reduced, so that the alignment accuracy is improved. Further, since the contact is symmetrically moved outward from the center of the substrate carrier 9a, and the load acts on the carrier receiving surface 41 uniformly in the left-right direction, the posture fluctuation and the positional deviation of the positioning mechanism 60 due to the offset load can be reduced.

In addition, if the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 can be brought into a deflected state as shown in fig. 9 (a), the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 come into close contact with each other from the central portion at the time of seating, so that the void ds as shown in fig. 8 hardly occurs. As shown in fig. 9 b, the substrate carrier 9 is finally transferred from the carrier receiving claw 42 (carrier supporting portion 8) to the mask 6, and is conveyed in a state supported by the conveying roller 15 through the mask 6, with substantially no gap from the mask 6, and is subjected to a film forming process. Thus, the penetration of the organic material during film formation can be prevented, and the yield of the organic EL panel production can be improved.

Here, the deflection of the substrate carrier 9 supported by the carrier support 8 and the mask 6 supported by the mask support is studied again. As described above, the substrate carrier 9 (holding substrate 5) supported by the carrier support portion 8 is curved in a parabolic shape protruding downward in the gravitational direction in a cross section perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveying roller 15. The mask 6 supported by the mask support portion also has a parabolic shape that is curved to protrude downward in the gravitational direction in a cross section perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the conveyance roller 15. In the present specification, as amounts for quantitatively processing the degree of deflection of the substrate carrier 9 and the degree of deflection of the mask 6, a carrier gravity deflection dc and a mask gravity deflection dm are defined as follows.

In the present specification, the carrier gravity deflection dc refers to a difference (absolute value) between a reference height and a height of a portion deflected by the gravity, based on a height along a certain plane (a virtual plane) when the substrate carrier 9 is to be supported along the plane (the virtual plane) by the carrier support portion 8. For example, when the substrate carrier 9 is to be horizontally supported by the carrier support portion 8, a difference (absolute value) between the reference height and the height of the lower surface of the substrate carrier 9 (typically, the height of the lower surface (lower end) of the substrate carrier 9 corresponding to the intermediate portion between the carrier support portions 8 arranged to face each other) of the portion of the substrate carrier 9 where the deflection is largest (the portion of the height from the virtual plane) is the carrier weight deflection dc, with reference to the height of the upper surface (upper end) of the end portion of the substrate carrier 9 supported by the carrier support surface 41. That is, as shown in fig. 9 (a), the height of the portion of the upper surface of the substrate carrier 9 supported by the carrier support portion 8 at the end portion where the change in height is smallest is defined as the height of the virtual plane, and the difference (absolute value) between the height of the virtual plane and the height of the lower surface (lower end) of the central portion where the change in height is largest is defined as the carrier weight deflection dc. In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 (b), the deflection amounts in the conveyance direction of the substrate carrier 9 are different, and in comparison in the conveyance direction, the carrier self-weight deflection amount at both end portions in the conveyance direction where the deflection amount is largest is dce, and the carrier self-weight deflection amount at the center portion in the conveyance direction where the deflection amount is smallest is dcc. The height of the virtual plane may be obtained based on the height of the carrier receiving surface 41 and the thickness (height) of the substrate carrier 9. That is, the height of the virtual plane may be a value obtained by adding the height of the carrier receiving surface 41 to the thickness of the substrate carrier 9, focusing on the portion of the substrate carrier 9 that is in contact with the carrier receiving surface 41.

In the present specification, the mask weight deflection dm refers to the difference (absolute value) between the reference height and the height of the portion deflected by the weight, based on the height along a certain plane (virtual plane) (height of the virtual plane) when the mask 6 is to be supported along the plane (virtual plane) by the mask support portion. For example, when the mask 6 is to be horizontally supported by the mask support portion, a difference (absolute value) between the reference height and the height of the upper surface of the mask 6 at the portion where the deflection is largest (the portion where the height from the virtual plane is most varied) in the mask 6 (typically, the height of the upper surface of the mask 6 corresponding to the intermediate portion between the oppositely arranged mask support portions) is the mask weight deflection amount dm based on the height of the upper surface of the portion of the mask 6 that is in contact with the mask receiving surface 33. That is, as shown in fig. 9 (a), the height of the portion of the upper surface of the mask 6 supported by the mask support portion at which the change in height is minimal is defined as the height of the virtual plane, and the difference (absolute value) between the height of the virtual plane and the height of the central portion where the change in height is greatest is defined as the mask weight deflection dm. In the present embodiment, the deflection amount of the mask 6 in the conveyance direction of the substrate carrier 9 is constant at dm. That is, although the carrier gravity deflection dc of the substrate carrier 9 is changed so as to form a hyperbolic shape as shown in fig. 1 (b) in the conveying direction as described above, the mask gravity deflection dm of the mask 6 is constant and does not change. The height of the virtual plane may be obtained based on the height of the mask receiving surface 33 and the thickness (height) of the mask 6. That is, the inclination of the end portion of the mask 6 at the time of deflection is negligible, and the height of the end portion of the mask 6 can be assumed to be substantially the same as the thickness of the mask 6. In addition, the mask weight deflection dm may be defined not with respect to the upper surface but with respect to the lower surface of the mask 6, and in this case, the height of the mask receiving surface 33 may be set to be the reference height.

Here, since the substrate carrier 9 is configured to suppress the deflection of the substrate 5 and facilitate the transfer, it is preferable to enhance the rigidity of the substrate carrier 9 as much as possible and avoid the deflection as much as possible from the purpose. On the other hand, since the mask 6 uses the mask frame 6b having high rigidity in order to avoid the mask foil 6a from being deflected as described above, it is difficult to deflect compared with the substrate 5 or the like. Since the length of one side of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 is 1.5m as the highest in the related art, the deflection of the mask 6 is negligible, but even when the substrate 5 and the mask 6 in which the length of one side of the eighth generation, the tenth generation, or the like is significantly longer than 2m are used, the deflection of the mask 6 cannot be ignored. Further, in the case where the rectangular mask 6 and the substrate carrier 9 are supported not on all four sides but only on a pair of opposite sides as in the present embodiment, the deflection of the mask 6 is increased. That is, if the substrate carrier 9 is designed according to the conventional idea, the mask 6 is more likely to flex than the substrate carrier 9.

As a result of intensive studies, the inventors of the present invention have found that in such a case, if the rigidity of the substrate carrier 9 is increased as much as possible in accordance with conventional ideas to avoid deflection, a few disadvantages occur. The following describes a problem that occurs when the rigidity of the substrate carrier 9 is increased as much as possible and the carrier weight deflection dc is reduced from the mask weight deflection dm (i.e., dc < dm).

In the case of dc < dm, first, when the substrate carrier 9 is brought into contact with the mask 6 and the mask 6 is mounted on the mask 6 to mount the mask 6 on the substrate 5, if the deflection of the mask 6 is excessively large compared with the deflection of the substrate carrier 9, a large gap is generated between the mask foil 6a and the substrate 5. Fig. 8 shows a state in which a large gap is generated between the mask 6 and the substrate 5. If a large gap is generated between the mask foil 6a and the substrate 5, the gap may remain even if the mask 6 is sucked from the back side through the substrate 5 and the substrate carrier 9 by a magnetic force sucking means such as a magnet to bring the mask foil 6a into close contact with the substrate 5. In this way, when the film is formed by being transferred in a state in which the gap ds is left between the substrate 5 held by the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6, the film forming material penetrates through the gap between the mask foil 6a and the substrate 5 during film formation, and a film blurring occurs. As a result, film formation unevenness occurs, and the quality of the display may be degraded due to the luminance unevenness.

In the case of dc < dm, second, when the substrate carrier 9 is brought into contact with the mask 6, contact is started from the portion supported by the support portions (carrier support portion, mask support portion), that is, the region extending along the long side. The long sides of the substrate carrier 9 are supported by the carrier receiving claws 42 so as to be all the same height, and the long sides of the mask 6 are supported by the mask supporting portions so as to be all the same height, so that the start of contact occurs at the sides each other (long sides each other or regions extending along the long sides each other). When the sides are in contact with each other, if the two sides are in an ideal state in which the two sides are in contact with each other in the same shape and the two sides are kept in parallel close contact, the sides are in contact with each other as a whole at the same time, but in reality, contact starts from a part of the sides due to the influence of various disturbances. In this case, the contact start point is affected by various disturbances and is not fixed to one point every time it is changed, and the contact start point is randomly determined. As a result, reproducibility of seating the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 is reduced. For example, the Z-lift slider 10 at the time of alignment is guided by the Z-guide 18 to descend, but the path and posture of the process of descending the substrate carrier 9 are different depending on the straightness of the Z-guide and the reproducibility of the posture, so it is difficult to make the contact start position constant. Therefore, when the contact start position changes, the reaction force received by the substrate carrier 9 from the mask frame 6a changes, and therefore, after the alignment of the substrate carrier 9 (or the substrate 5 held by the substrate carrier 9) and the mask 6 is completed, the deviation when the substrate carrier 9 is seated on the mask 6 may vary each time with a large phase difference. In the case of dc=dm, the performance at the time of seating is unstable similarly to the case of dc < dm, and thus, it is not preferable from the viewpoint of achieving stable seating.

Accordingly, the present inventors have made an attempt to avoid excessively high rigidity of the substrate carrier 9, and have achieved the above-described problems by adjusting the deflection amount of the substrate carrier 9 and the deflection amount of the mask 6. In the present embodiment, the rigidity of the center reinforcing rib 80 and the peripheral reinforcing rib 81 of the substrate carrier 9 is adjusted so that the relationship between the carrier gravity deflection dc and the mask gravity deflection dm becomes dc (dcc, dce) > dm. By making dc (dcc, dce) > dm, as shown in fig. 9 (a), the substrate carrier 9 is deflected more than the mask 6. Since the substrate 5 is held by the substrate carrier 9 along the holding surface of the substrate carrier 9, the deflection amount of the substrate 5 can be regarded as being equal to the carrier gravity deflection amount dc. In the present embodiment, the carrier gravity deflection dcc and the carrier gravity deflection dce are preferably both larger than the mask gravity deflection dm, but the carrier gravity deflection dce at both ends in the conveyance direction where contact with the mask is first started at least at the time of alignment may be larger than the mask gravity deflection dm.

When the substrate carrier 9 is placed on the mask 6 in this state, the substrate carrier 9 is placed in a shape that is contoured to the mask 6, and therefore, after placement, the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 can be made to flex in accordance as shown in fig. 9 (b). Therefore, the gap between the mask foil 6a and the substrate 5 can be sufficiently reduced, and film blurring at the time of film formation can be suppressed.

In addition, by making dc > dm, when the substrate 5 held by the substrate carrier 9 is brought into contact with the mask 6, contact is started from the most deflected portion on the short side of the substrate 5. In the present embodiment, a plurality of seating blocks 31 are arranged outside the section for holding the substrate 5 of the substrate carrier 9, and the seating blocks 31 are provided so as to protrude from the substrate 5. Further, a part of the plurality of seating blocks 31 is arranged in the center of the short side of the substrate carrier 9, that is, the most flexible part. Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the substrate carrier 9 is brought into contact with the mask 6, the contact can be started from the seating block 31 disposed in the center of the short side of the substrate carrier 9, and thus seating reproducibility can be improved. Further, the first contact seating block 31 can be used as a reference for positioning, and the reproducibility of the position based on seating can be improved.

(substrate mounting method)

A series of operations of the vapor deposition apparatus, which mounts the substrate 5 on the substrate carrier 9, aligns the substrate 5 on the substrate carrier 9 with the mask 6, and mounts the substrate carrier 9 (substrate 5) on the mask 6, will be described below.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart showing an operation sequence of the vapor deposition device according to the embodiment.

First, in step S101, the substrate carrier 9 mounted on a roller conveying mechanism, not shown, is fed into the chamber 4 through a gate valve, and is placed on the carrier receiving claws 42 on both sides of the carrier support portion 8. One of the carrier receiving claws 42a is disposed at a predetermined distance along one side of the substrate 5 (substrate carrier 9), and supports a peripheral edge portion of the substrate carrier 9 (in this embodiment, a rail 51 (fig. 6, etc.) near the one side of the substrate 5. The other carrier receiving claws 42b are arranged at predetermined intervals along a second side of the substrate 5 opposite to the first side, and support the peripheral edge of the substrate carrier 9 in the vicinity of the second side of the substrate 5.

Next, in step S103, the substrate carrier 9 is lowered and set at a height photographed by a low-magnification CCD camera. Next, in step S104, the substrate mark 37 provided on the substrate 5 is photographed with a low-magnification CCD camera. The control unit 70 obtains positional information of the substrate 5 based on the captured image, and stores the positional information in the memory.

Step S105 includes a case where step S104 is performed in succession and a case where step S109 or S113 is performed in succession when the determination in step S109 or S113 is no.

In step S105, which is performed in the subsequent step S104, the substrate carrier 9 is lowered and placed at the alignment operation height, and the position of the substrate 5 is adjusted based on the positional information acquired in step S104.

First, the height of the substrate carrier 9 is changed to a height lower than that in step S104 by changing the distance separating the carrier receiving surface 41 (upper surface of the carrier receiving claw 42) from the mask 6. However, at this time, the position of the carrier receiving surface 41 is set to a height at which the substrate 5 on the substrate carrier 9 deflected by its own weight does not contact the mask 6. The step S105 and the step S104 may be performed at the same height, depending on the situation.

In the alignment operation of step S105, which is performed in the subsequent step S104, the control unit 70 drives the alignment mechanism 60 provided in the alignment apparatus 1 based on the positional information of the substrate 5 acquired in step S104. That is, the control unit 70 adjusts the position of the substrate 5 so that the substrate mark 37 of the substrate 5 is within the field of view of the high-magnification CCD camera. The relative positions of the mask 6 and the high-magnification CCD camera are adjusted in advance so that the mask mark 38 is positioned within the field of view (preferably, the center of the field of view) of the high-magnification CCD camera with respect to the mask 6. Therefore, the alignment operation in step S105 performed in the subsequent step S104 is adjusted so that both the substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 38 are within the field of view of the high-magnification CCD camera. However, at this point, there is a possibility that the substrate mark 37 cannot be photographed by the high-magnification CCD camera due to the depth of field. In the alignment operation, the substrate 5 is moved in the xyθz direction, but since the substrate 5 deflected by its own weight moves at a height not contacting the mask 6 as described above, the surface of the substrate 5 or the film pattern already formed on the surface of the substrate 5 is not slid and damaged with the mask 6.

Next, in step S106, the substrate carrier 9 is lowered, and the substrate 5 is set at a height photographed by a high-magnification CCD camera.

Here, in order to image both the substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 36 with a high-magnification CCD camera having a shallow depth of field in focus, the substrate 5 and the mask 6 are brought close to each other until at least a part (a deflected part) of the substrate 5 can be brought into contact with the mask 6 to form a substrate mask contact portion.

Next, in step S108, the substrate mark 37 of the substrate 5 and the mask mark 38 of the mask 6 are simultaneously photographed by a high-magnification CCD camera. The control unit 70 obtains relative positional information between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 based on the captured image. The relative position information here is information about the distance between the center positions of the substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 38 and the direction of positional deviation. Step S108 is a measurement step (measurement process) of acquiring relative positional information (relative positional deviation) between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 and measuring the positional deviation between the substrate 5 and the mask 6.

Next, in step S109, the control unit 70 determines whether or not the amount of positional deviation between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 measured in step S108 is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value. The predetermined threshold value is a value set in advance so that the amount of positional deviation between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 falls within a range where no obstacle occurs even when film formation is performed. The threshold value is set so that the obtained positional alignment accuracy of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 can be achieved. The threshold is set to a level within a few μm of the error, for example.

If it is determined in step S109 that the amount of positional deviation between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 exceeds the predetermined threshold (no in step S109), the process returns to step S105 to perform the alignment operation, and the process proceeds again to step S106 and thereafter.

In step S105, which is executed when the determination in step S109 is no, the substrate carrier 9 is raised and placed at the alignment operation height, and the position of the substrate 5 is adjusted based on the relative position information acquired in step S108.

In the alignment operation performed when the determination in step S109 is no, the control unit 70 drives the alignment mechanism provided in the alignment apparatus 1 based on the relative position information of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 acquired in step S108. That is, the control unit 70 moves the substrate 5 in the xyθz direction so that the substrate mark 37 of the substrate 5 and the mask mark 38 of the mask 6 are in a closer positional relationship, and adjusts the position.

In the alignment operation, the substrate 5 is moved in the xyθz direction, but since the substrate 5 which is deflected by its own weight as described above is moved at a height where it does not contact the mask 6, the surface of the substrate 5 or the film pattern already formed on the surface of the substrate 5 is not damaged by sliding with the mask 6.

Step S105 is an alignment step (alignment process) of moving the substrate 5 so that the amount of positional deviation between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 is reduced, and fine alignment is performed when the determination in step S109 is no.

If the determination in step S109 is yes, the substrate carrier 9 is further lowered in step S110, and the substrate carrier 9 is placed on the mask frame 6a as a whole. That is, the support of the substrate carrier 9 by the carrier support portion 8 is released, and the substrate carrier 9 (substrate 5) and the mask frame 6a (mask 6) on which the substrate carrier 9 is mounted are supported together by the mask receiving table 16 (mask support portion). Then, in step S112, the substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 36 are photographed by a high-magnification CCD camera, and the relative position information of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 is acquired.

Next, in step S113, the control unit 70 determines whether or not the amount of positional deviation between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, based on the relative positional information between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 acquired in step S112. The predetermined threshold value is set in advance as a condition within a range where there is no obstacle even if film formation is performed if the threshold value is within.

In step S113, when it is determined that the amount of positional deviation between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 exceeds a predetermined threshold (step S113: NO), the carrier receiving claw 42 is raised to the height of the substrate 5 to support the substrate carrier 9. The "no" determination described above occurs, for example, when a positional deviation occurs due to an external vibration between step S109 to step S114.

Then, the process returns to step S105 to perform the alignment operation. Then, the processing proceeds to step S106 and beyond.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S113 that the amount of positional deviation between the substrate 5 and the mask 6a is equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold value (yes in step S113), the routine proceeds to step S114, where the mask lift table 16 is lowered, and the mask is delivered to the transfer roller 15. Whereby the alignment sequence is completed (end).

The substrate carrier 9 of the present embodiment has a structure in which a center reinforcing rib 80 as a bridging rib is fixed to the back surface (surface opposite to the holding surface) of the receiving panel 30 as a plate-like member having the holding surface for adsorbing the substrate 5. A plurality of clip members 32 as adhesion members are disposed on the substrate holding surface of the receiving panel 30 at positions corresponding to the interface portions of the mask foil 6b of the mask 6. The mask foil 6b has a boundary portion that divides a film formation region on the film formation surface of the substrate 5, and is appropriately placed in various configurations on the mask frame 6a according to the product to be formed. The plurality of clip members 32 are arranged along the extending direction of the boundary portion of the mask foil 6b so that the portion of the substrate 5 corresponding to the mask foil 6b is more reliably sucked and held by the holding surface of the receiving panel 30 in order to more reliably mask the mask foil 6 b. That is, the plurality of clip members 32 (adhesive members) include a first clip member group (first adhesive member group) in which the plurality of clip members 32 are arranged in parallel from one side to the other side of the opposite edge included in the peripheral edge of the surface (second surface) opposite to the holding surface. The first clip member group is disposed on the substrate carrier 9 so as to be positioned on the back surface of the portion where the interface of the mask foil 6b of the substrate 5 is in close contact when the mask 6 is mounted on the substrate 5. The center reinforcing rib 80 as the first rib is provided so as to extend along the arrangement direction of the clip members 32 in order to increase (strengthen) the rigidity of the receiving panel 30, particularly, the portion in which the clip members 32 are arranged. More specifically, one of the two pairs of opposite sides of the peripheral edge portion of the back surface of the receiving panel 30, which is parallel to the conveyance direction of the substrate carrier 9, is fixed to the back surface of the receiving panel 30 so as to reach the other side (which is bridged from one of the opposite sides to the other) via a position corresponding to the arrangement of the clip members 32. That is, the first rib (center reinforcing rib 80) is fixedly disposed on the back surface side of the portion of the substrate carrier 9 where the first clip member group is disposed. The region obtained by perpendicularly projecting the center reinforcing rib 80 as the first rib onto the holding surface (first surface) overlaps with the region obtained by perpendicularly projecting the respective clip surfaces (adhesive surfaces) of the plurality of clip members 32 (adhesive members) constituting the first clip member group onto the holding surface (first surface), respectively.

The arrangement of the chuck members 32 includes an arrangement (first arrangement) in which a plurality of chuck members are juxtaposed in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the substrate carrier 9 and an arrangement (second arrangement) in which a plurality of chuck members are juxtaposed in a direction parallel to the conveyance direction. The center reinforcing rib 80 is preferably fixed at least by a position corresponding to the clip member 32 arranged at the connecting position of the first arrangement and the second arrangement. In the structure in which the substrate carrier 9 is supported at the opposite side portions of the receiving panel 30, the center reinforcing rib 80 is preferably fixed to extend in the opposite direction (the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction) of the opposite side portions at positions separated from the opposite side portions in the conveying direction of the substrate carrier 9.

In this way, the rigidity (deflection difficulty) of the portion of the receiving panel 30 where the clip members 32 are disposed is locally increased by the center reinforcing rib 80, and thus the amount of deformation (deflection amount) of the portion of the substrate carrier 9 where the clip members 32 are disposed when the receiving panel 30 is deflected only when the opposite side portions of the receiving panel 30 are supported can be locally suppressed. This can prevent the substrate 5 from peeling off the holding surface of the receiving panel 30, and particularly prevent the substrate 5 from falling off the substrate carrier 9 when the posture of the substrate carrier 9b is inverted from the first posture in which the substrate holding surface faces upward to the second posture in which the substrate carrier faces downward.

In the present embodiment, in addition to the center reinforcing rib 80, a peripheral rib 81 as a peripheral rib is provided along the peripheral edge portion (edge portion corresponding to four sides of the rectangle) of the back surface of the receiving panel 30. Four peripheral ribs 81 are provided corresponding to two pairs of opposing side portions. In the substrate holding surface of the receiving panel 30, the close contact between the mask foil 6b around the center (the center in the transport direction and the center in the width direction orthogonal to the transport direction) and the substrate 5 is important in order to more reliably divide the film formation area of the substrate 5. On the other hand, providing a plurality of ribs causes an increase in weight of the substrate carrier 9. Therefore, the rigidity of the center reinforcing rib 80 is preferably made higher than the rigidity of the peripheral rib 81, that is, the center reinforcing rib 80 is less likely to flex than the peripheral rib 81. By relatively suppressing the deflection of the central portion as compared with the deflection of the peripheral portion, the weight increase of the substrate carrier 9 due to the provision of the ribs can be suppressed, and the deflection suppressing effect of the receiving panel 30, particularly the central portion periphery, due to the central reinforcing ribs 80 can be locally improved, and the peeling of the mask foil 6b and the substrate 5, which has a large influence on film formation, can be effectively suppressed.

For example, the cross-sectional area of the cross-section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the center reinforcing rib 80 may be made larger than the cross-sectional area of the cross-section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the peripheral rib 81, or the young's modulus of the material constituting the center reinforcing rib 80 may be made larger than the young's modulus of the material constituting the peripheral rib 81. The method for providing the difference in flexibility between the center reinforcing rib 80 and the peripheral rib 81 is not limited to a specific method, and conventionally known methods may be appropriately used.

The center reinforcing rib 80 is preferably configured to be easily attached to and detached from the receiving panel 30. As a structure that is easy to be attached and detached, for example, a structure in which the center reinforcing rib 80 is fixed by fastening a connecting tool such as a bolt can be cited. That is, for example, a structure may be considered in which bolt holes are uniformly arranged in the receiving panel 30 like an optical bread board, and the center reinforcing rib 80 can be fixed by selecting an arbitrary arrangement. With the above configuration, the arrangement of the center reinforcing ribs 80 can be easily changed and fixed according to the layout of the mask. For example, the center reinforcing rib 80 may be fixed by a magnet. That is, for example, a structure may be considered in which the center reinforcing rib 80 is made of a magnetic material, and a magnet for attracting the center reinforcing rib 80 is embedded in the receiving panel 30. With the above configuration, the center reinforcing rib 80 can be adsorbed and fixed in an arbitrary arrangement. The central reinforcing rib 80 is configured to be detachable from the receiving panel 30 so as to be freely changeable according to the arrangement of the mask foils 6b, and thus the same substrate carrier 9 can be recovered and used when the masks 6 having different arrangements of the mask foils 6b are replaced.

In addition, the central reinforcing rib 80 is less likely to flex than the peripheral rib 81, in other words, the peripheral rib 81 is more likely to flex than the central reinforcing rib 80, and thus the protruding deformation state of the downward bulge becomes larger at both ends in the conveying direction of the substrate carrier 9 in the case where only the opposite side portions are supported. That is, the contour line forming the lower end portion in the cross section of the receiving panel 30 in the conveying direction is in a bent state of a hyperbolic shape. By the above-described flexural deformation, the substrate carrier 9 is placed in contact with the mask 6 from both ends in the conveyance direction during alignment.

That is, in the present embodiment, as the supporting step, the opposite peripheral edge portions of the substrate carrier 9 corresponding to a pair of opposite sides out of the four sides serving as the peripheral edge portions of the substrate 5 are supported by the substrate carrier supporting portion 8 as a pair of peripheral edge regions (opposite side portions) out of the peripheral edge portions of the substrate carrier 9 so that the opposite peripheral edge portions are along a predetermined direction. The mask 6 (mask frame 6 a) is supported by a mask support portion (mask receiving table 16) such that the opposite peripheral edge portions of the mask 6 are along a predetermined direction, with the opposite peripheral edge portions of the mask 6 corresponding to a pair of the four sides of the peripheral edge portions being a pair of the peripheral edge portions of the mask 6. In the present embodiment, the predetermined direction (first direction) is the Y-axis direction, the second direction is the X-axis direction, and the third direction is the Z-axis direction, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In the present embodiment, the rectangular substrate 5 and the rectangular mask 6 are illustrated, but the shape of the substrate and the mask is not limited to rectangular, and a pair of peripheral regions corresponding to a pair of opposite sides arranged in a predetermined direction among a plurality of sides serving as peripheral portions of the substrate and the mask may be supported. Therefore, the intersection of the first direction and the second direction is not limited to be orthogonal depending on the shape of the substrate or the mask.

In addition, as the mounting step, the substrate carrier support portion 8 is lowered in order to move the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 from a remote position, which is a position where the substrate carrier 9 is separated upward from the mask 6, to a mounting position, which is a position where the substrate carrier 9 is placed on the mask 6 (transition from the remote state to the mounting state). In the present embodiment, the direction is downward along the Z-axis direction as the third direction, but may be a direction having a slight angle with respect to the Z-axis direction within a range in which the desired mounting operation of the present invention can be achieved. The substrate carrier support 8 may be moved without moving the mask support, or both may be moved.

At this time, the liquid crystal display device, substrate carrier 9 supported only by substrate carrier support 8 and mask support mask 6 is described above to satisfy dc > dm (& gtis) equation (1)) are supported by the respective relationships. Therefore, when the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are moved from the separated position to the attached position, the portion of the substrate carrier 9 having the greatest deflection in the third direction comes into contact with the portion of the mask 6 having the greatest deflection in the third direction.

When the substrate carrier 9 contacts the mask 6 during the movement from the separation position to the attachment position, the substrate carrier is preferably supported by the substrate carrier support 8 so that the ease of sliding with respect to the substrate carrier support 8 (carrier receiving surface 41) is greater than the ease of sliding with respect to the mask 6 in a direction orthogonal to the third direction. That is, the substrate carrier 9 is deformed such that the positions of both end portions in the second direction are displaced in the second direction in response to the resolution of the deflected state, but the displacement of both end portions can be absorbed and resolved not by sliding with the mask 6 but by sliding with the substrate carrier support portion 8 (carrier receiving surface 41). This effectively suppresses positional deviation in the plane direction when the substrate carrier 9 is placed on the mask 6.

Various techniques can be used to control the sliding easiness. For example, the seating member 31 of the substrate carrier 9 is made of a metal member such as iron, like the mask 6 (mask frame 6 a), and at least the contact portion between the seating member and the mask frame is made of a polished surface or a ground surface, and the contact area of the contact portion is appropriately set. On the other hand, various coating films may be applied to the carrier receiving surface 41 so that friction force to an extent that the substrate carrier 9 does not slip is ensured when supported alone and that the substrate carrier 9 slides more easily than between the seating member 31 and the mask 6 with respect to the substrate carrier 9. For example, a coating layer (inorganic material, fluorine-based coating layer, ceramic-based coating layer, DLC coating layer) of an inorganic material, fluorine, DLC or inorganic ceramic as a base material may be applied to a contact portion of the carrier receiving surface 41 with the substrate carrier 9. The techniques other than those described in this embodiment can be used as appropriate.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when a substrate carrier and a mask are formed in a row in a vapor deposition apparatus, after the substrate is fixed to the carrier by suction, the substrate can be prevented from falling off and being damaged by peeling off the substrate when the film formation is performed in a state in which the carrier is turned over and deposited downward. Further, according to the present embodiment, when the substrate carrier and the mask are aligned in the vapor deposition apparatus, the substrate and the mask can be accurately aligned, and the gap between the substrate and the mask can be sufficiently reduced, so that the mask can be mounted on the substrate. Therefore, film formation unevenness can be reduced, and film formation accuracy can be improved.

Embodiment 2

< method for manufacturing electronic device >

A method of manufacturing an electronic device using the above substrate processing apparatus is described. Here, as an example of the electronic device, a case of an organic EL element used for a display device such as an organic EL display device will be described. The electronic device of the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a thin film solar cell or an organic CMOS image sensor. In this embodiment, the process of forming an organic film on the substrate 5 using the film forming method described above is included. Further, the method includes a step of forming a metal film or a metal oxide film after forming an organic film on the substrate 5. The structure of the organic EL display device 600 obtained through such a process will be described below.

Fig. 13 (a) shows an overall view of the organic EL display device 600, and fig. 13 (b) shows a cross-sectional structure of one pixel. As shown in fig. 13 (a), in a display region 61 of the organic EL display device 600, a plurality of pixels 62 each including a plurality of light emitting elements are arranged in a matrix. The light emitting elements each have a structure including an organic layer sandwiched between a pair of electrodes. Here, the pixel means a minimum unit in which a desired color display can be performed in the display area 61. In the case of the organic EL display device of the present figure, the pixel 62 is configured by a combination of the first light-emitting element 62R, the second light-emitting element 62G, and the third light-emitting element 62B which exhibit mutually different light emission. The pixel 62 is often composed of a combination of a red light emitting element, a green light emitting element, and a blue light emitting element, but may be a combination of a yellow light emitting element, a cyan light emitting element, and a white light emitting element, and is not particularly limited as long as it is at least one color. Each light-emitting element may be formed by stacking a plurality of light-emitting layers.

The pixel 62 may be constituted by a plurality of light emitting elements that emit light in the same manner, and a color filter in which a plurality of different color conversion elements are arranged in a pattern so as to correspond to the respective light emitting elements may be used, so that a desired color can be displayed in the display region 61 for one pixel. For example, the pixel 62 may be configured by at least three white light emitting elements, and a color filter in which each of the red, green, and blue color conversion elements is arranged so as to correspond to each of the light emitting elements may be used. Alternatively, the pixel 62 is configured by at least three blue light emitting elements, and a color filter in which red, green, and colorless color conversion elements are arranged so as to correspond to the respective light emitting elements is used. In the latter case, a Quantum Dot (QD-CF) filter using a QD material as a material constituting the color filter is used, whereby the display color gamut can be widened as compared with a normal organic EL display device not using the Quantum Dot filter.

Fig. 13 (B) is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of line a-B of fig. 13 (a). The pixel 62 includes an organic EL element including a first electrode (anode) 64, a hole transport layer 65, any one of light emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B, an electron transport layer 67, and a second electrode (cathode) 68 on the substrate 5. Among them, the hole transport layer 65, the light emitting layers 66R, 66G, 66B, and the electron transport layer 67 correspond to organic layers. In this embodiment, the light-emitting layer 66R is an organic EL layer that emits red, the light-emitting layer 66G is an organic EL layer that emits green, and the light-emitting layer 66B is an organic EL layer that emits blue. In the case of using a color filter or a quantum dot color filter as described above, the color filter or the quantum dot color filter is disposed on the light emission side of each light emitting layer, that is, on the upper or lower portion of fig. 13 (b), but the illustration is omitted.

The light-emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B are formed in patterns corresponding to light-emitting elements (sometimes referred to as organic EL elements) that emit red, green, and blue, respectively. The first electrode 64 is formed separately for each light emitting element. The hole transport layer 65, the electron transport layer 67, and the second electrode 68 may be formed in common with the plurality of light emitting elements 62R, 62G, and 62B, or may be formed for each light emitting element. An insulating layer 69 is provided between the first electrodes 64 in order to prevent the first electrodes 64 and the second electrodes 68 from being short-circuited by impurities. Further, the organic EL layer is degraded by moisture or oxygen, and thus a protective layer P for protecting the organic EL element from moisture or oxygen is provided.

Next, an example of a method of manufacturing an organic EL display device as an electronic device will be specifically described. First, a substrate 5 on which a circuit (not shown) for driving the organic EL display device and a first electrode 64 are formed is prepared.

Next, a resin layer of acrylic resin, polyimide, or the like is formed on the substrate 5 on which the first electrode 64 is formed by spin coating, and the resin layer is patterned by photolithography so that an opening is formed at a portion where the first electrode 64 is formed, thereby forming the insulating layer 69. The opening corresponds to a light emitting region where the light emitting element actually emits light.

Next, the substrate 5 patterned with the insulating layer 69 is fed to the first film formation apparatus, and the substrate is held by the substrate holding means, so that the hole transport layer 65 is formed as a common layer on the first electrode 64 in the display region. The hole transport layer 65 is formed by vacuum evaporation. In practice, the hole transport layer 65 is formed to be larger in size than the display region 61, and therefore a high-definition mask is not required. Here, the film forming apparatus used for forming the film of the present step or the film of each layer below is the film forming apparatus described in any one of the above embodiments.

Next, the substrate 5 formed with the hole transport layer 65 is fed to the second film formation apparatus and held by the substrate holding unit. Alignment of the substrate and the mask is performed, and the substrate is placed on the mask, and a red-emitting light-emitting layer 66R is formed on a portion of the substrate 5 where the red-emitting element is disposed. According to this example, the mask and the substrate can be favorably superimposed, and film formation with high accuracy can be performed.

In the same manner as the formation of the light-emitting layer 66R, a light-emitting layer 66G which emits green is formed by the third film formation device, and a light-emitting layer 66B which emits blue is formed by the fourth film formation device. After the formation of the light-emitting layers 66R, 66G, 66B is completed, the electron transport layer 67 is formed on the entire display region 61 by the fifth film forming apparatus. The light-emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B may be single layers or layers formed by stacking a plurality of different layers. The electron transport layer 65 is formed as a common layer on the three-color light emitting layers 66R, 66G, 66B. In this embodiment, the electron transport layer 67 and the light emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B are formed by vacuum deposition.

Next, the second electrode 68 is formed on the electron transport layer 67. The second electrode may be formed by vacuum evaporation or sputtering. Then, the substrate on which the second electrode 68 is formed is moved to a packaging apparatus, and the protective layer P is formed by plasma CVD (packaging step), and the organic EL display apparatus 600 is completed. The protective layer P is formed by CVD, but is not limited thereto, and may be formed by ALD or inkjet.

The substrate 5 patterned with the insulating layer 69 is fed to the film forming apparatus until the formation of the protective layer P is completed, and if exposed to an atmosphere containing moisture or oxygen, the light-emitting layer made of the organic EL material may be degraded by the moisture or oxygen. Therefore, in this example, the transfer of the substrate between the film forming apparatuses is performed in a vacuum atmosphere or an inert gas atmosphere.

Claims

1. A substrate carrier, characterized in that,

the substrate carrier is provided with:

A first rib disposed on the second surface side,

2. The substrate carrier of claim 1, wherein,

the second surface further includes a second rib disposed along a peripheral edge portion of the plate-like member.

3. The substrate carrier of claim 2, wherein,

the plurality of adhesion members includes a second adhesion member group arranged along a peripheral edge portion of the plate-like member,

the region obtained by perpendicularly projecting the respective adhesion surfaces of the second adhesion member group to the first surface overlaps with the region obtained by perpendicularly projecting the second rib to the first surface.

4. The substrate carrier of claim 2, wherein,

the first rib has a higher rigidity than the second rib.

5. The substrate carrier of claim 2, wherein,

the cross-sectional area of the cross-section of the first rib perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is larger than the cross-sectional area of the cross-section of the second rib perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.

6. The substrate carrier of claim 2, wherein,

the Young's modulus of the material constituting the first rib is greater than the Young's modulus of the material constituting the second rib.

7. The substrate carrier of claim 1, wherein,

the plurality of adhesion members includes a second adhesion member group arranged along a peripheral edge portion of the plate-like member.

8. The substrate carrier of claim 7, wherein,

two of the second adhesive member groups are arranged on both sides of the first adhesive member group in the arrangement direction of the first adhesive member group,

the region obtained by perpendicularly projecting the adhesive surfaces of the two groups of the second adhesive member group to the first surface overlaps with the region obtained by perpendicularly projecting the first rib to the first surface.

9. The substrate carrier of claim 1, wherein,

the first rib is disposed at the center of the plate-like member in a direction intersecting with an arrangement direction of the first adhesive member group.

10. The substrate carrier of claim 1, wherein,

the first rib is detachably disposed on the plate-like member.

11. The substrate carrier of claim 1, wherein,

the plurality of adhesive members are detachably disposed on the plate-like member.

12. The substrate carrier of claim 1, wherein,

the first rib is detachably disposed on the plate-like member,

13. The substrate carrier of claim 1, wherein,

the substrate carrier is used for holding and conveying the substrate in a film forming device for forming a film on the substrate by using a mask provided with a boundary part for dividing a film forming region of the substrate,

the plurality of adhesive members are disposed corresponding to the interface of the mask.

14. The substrate carrier of claim 1, wherein,

the first rib extends in a direction intersecting a conveyance direction of the substrate carrier.

15. A film forming apparatus, characterized in that,

the film forming apparatus includes:

the substrate carrier of any one of claims 1-14;

a film forming mechanism for forming a film on a film formation surface of the substrate held by the substrate carrier via a mask; a kind of electronic device with high-pressure air-conditioning system

And a transfer mechanism for transferring the substrate carrier.

16. The film forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein,

the film forming apparatus further includes a reversing mechanism that reverses the substrate carrier from a state in which the substrate is held above the plate-like member to a state in which the substrate is held below the plate-like member.

17. A film forming method for forming a film on a film formation surface of the substrate held by the substrate carrier according to any one of claims 1 to 14 through a mask having a boundary portion for dividing a film formation region of the substrate,

the film forming method comprises the following steps:

a holding step of holding the substrate by the substrate carrier;

a mounting step of mounting the substrate carrier on the mask so that the first adhesive member group overlaps the interface of the mask; a kind of electronic device with high-pressure air-conditioning system

And a film forming step of forming a film on the film formation surface via the mask after the mounting step.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein,

the film forming method further includes a reversing step of reversing the substrate carrier from a state in which the substrate is held above the plate-like member to a state in which the substrate is held below the plate-like member, after the holding step and before the mounting step.

19. A film forming apparatus includes:

A transfer mechanism that transfers the substrate carrier,

the film forming apparatus is characterized in that,

the substrate carrier is provided with:

A first rib disposed on the second surface side,

the conveying mechanism conveys the substrate carrier in a direction intersecting with a length direction of the first rib,

the position of the first rib on the second surface side is adjusted according to the layout of the mask portion of the mask.

20. The film forming apparatus according to claim 19, wherein,