CN118007068A - Metal mask and method for manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a metal mask, which comprises a substrate. The substrate is provided with a pattern area and a dummy area, the pattern area comprises a plurality of through holes, the through holes extend from the vapor deposition surface of the substrate to the back surface opposite to the vapor deposition surface, and the dummy area is positioned on one side of the pattern area and comprises blind holes on the vapor deposition surface or the back surface. The blind hole has a bottom and an opening, the opening is located on the plating surface or the back surface, and the bottom has a convex portion protruding toward the opening. A method of manufacturing the metal mask is also provided.

Description

Metal mask and method for manufacturing the same

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a metal mask and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, to a metal mask used in manufacturing a display panel and a manufacturing method thereof.

Background

The OLED panel produced by the organic light-emitting diode (OLED-EmittingDiode, OLED) technology is a main element of the display panel of the mobile phone in the current market, and has the advantages of self-luminescence, wide viewing angle, power saving, high efficiency, reaction time, light weight and the like.

The OLED panel comprises a glass substrate and an organic luminescent material layer on the glass substrate. The organic light emitting material layer is mainly composed of a plurality of light emitting patterns. A common method for manufacturing the light-emitting pattern is to deposit an organic material on a glass substrate by vapor deposition together with a precision metal mask (FINE METAL MASK, FMM) having through holes, and arrange the organic material into the light-emitting pattern. Therefore, the shape and distribution of the through holes on the FMM not only affect the shape, size and distribution of the light-emitting patterns on the glass substrate, but also affect the fineness of the light-emitting patterns, and further affect the display quality of the OLED panel.

Because the FMM is fixed on the screen frame for use during actual processing, and the FMM is easy to generate wrinkles at the parts where the through holes are located in the fixing process to influence the distribution of the through holes, the FMM is flatly fixed on the screen frame without generating wrinkles, and the FMM has quite large development space.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a metal mask, which has higher manufacturing yield because overetching or perforation is not easy to generate in the manufactured half-opening when a buckling half-opening area is avoided in a through hole area of the metal mask.

The invention also provides a manufacturing method of the metal mask, which is used for manufacturing the metal mask and has the advantage of high manufacturing yield.

To achieve the above advantages, an embodiment of the present invention provides a metal mask, including: a substrate. The substrate is provided with a pattern area and a dummy area, the pattern area comprises a plurality of through holes, the through holes extend from the vapor deposition surface of the substrate to the back surface opposite to the vapor deposition surface, and the dummy area is positioned on one side of the pattern area and comprises blind holes on the vapor deposition surface or the back surface. The blind hole is provided with a bottom and an opening, the opening is positioned on the plating surface or the back surface, and the bottom is provided with a convex part protruding towards the opening.

In one embodiment, the depth of the blind hole is greater than the height of the top end of the boss from the bottom.

In one embodiment, the ratio of the depth of the blind via to the thickness of the substrate is less than 66%.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a metal mask, including the following steps:

Providing a metal plate body, wherein the metal plate body is provided with a plating surface and an opposite back surface;

a first shade and a second shade are respectively arranged on the evaporation surface and the back surface, a plurality of first shade openings are arranged on the first shade, a plurality of second shade openings are arranged at the positions of the second shade corresponding to the first shade openings, and a plurality of third shade openings are further arranged on the first shade or the second shade;

Forming a plurality of through holes and blind holes on the metal plate body provided with the first shade and the second shade, wherein the through holes correspond to the positions of the first shade opening and the second shade opening, and the blind holes correspond to the positions of at least two third shade openings; and

The first mask and the second mask are removed.

In one embodiment, in the step of forming the through hole and the blind hole in the metal plate body, the metal plate body and the first mask or the second mask together form a cavity, and the cavity is communicated with the partial third mask opening.

In an embodiment, in the step of forming the through hole and the blind hole in the metal plate body, a protruding portion protruding toward the direction in which the third mask openings are located is formed at the bottom of the blind hole, and the openings of the blind hole are communicated with at least two third mask openings.

In one embodiment, the third mask opening is a plurality of straight line openings parallel to each other.

In one embodiment, the third mask opening is a plurality of dot-shaped openings.

In one embodiment, the ratio of the depth of the blind hole to the thickness of the metal plate body is less than 66%.

Another method for manufacturing a metal mask according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:

Providing a metal plate body, wherein the metal plate body is provided with a plating surface and an opposite back surface;

A first shade and a second shade are respectively arranged on the evaporation surface and the back surface, a plurality of first shade openings are arranged on the first shade, the second shade openings corresponding to the positions of the first shade openings are arranged on the second shade, and a third shade opening in a continuous curve shape is further arranged on the first shade or the second shade;

Forming a plurality of through holes and blind holes on the metal plate body provided with the first shade and the second shade, wherein the through holes correspond to the positions of the first shade opening and the second shade opening, and the blind holes correspond to the positions of the third shade opening; and

The first mask and the second mask are removed.

In one embodiment, in the step of forming the through hole and the blind hole in the metal plate body, a protruding portion protruding toward the direction in which the third mask opening is located is formed at the bottom of the blind hole, and the opening of the blind hole is communicated with the third mask opening.

In one embodiment, the ratio of the depth of the blind hole to the thickness of the metal plate body is less than 66%.

In one embodiment, the method for manufacturing a metal mask includes the following steps:

Providing a metal plate body, wherein the metal plate body is provided with a plating surface and an opposite back surface;

A first shade and a second shade are respectively arranged on the evaporation surface and the back surface, a plurality of first shade openings are arranged on the first shade, the second shade openings corresponding to the positions of the first shade openings are arranged on the second shade, and a third shade opening is further arranged on the first shade or the second shade;

forming a plurality of through holes and blind holes on the metal plate body provided with the first shade and the second shade, wherein the through holes correspond to the positions of the first shade opening and the second shade opening, the blind holes correspond to the positions of the third shade opening, the bottoms of the blind holes form protruding parts protruding towards the part of one side where the third shade opening is located, and the openings of the blind holes correspond to the positions of the third shade opening; and

The first mask and the second mask are removed.

In one embodiment, the third mask openings are a plurality of third mask openings.

In one embodiment, in the step of forming the through hole and the blind hole in the metal plate body, the metal plate body and the first mask or the second mask together form a cavity, and the cavity is communicated with the third mask opening.

In one embodiment, the third mask opening is a plurality of straight line openings parallel to each other.

In one embodiment, the third mask opening is a plurality of dot-shaped openings.

In one embodiment, the third mask opening is a continuous curved opening.

In one embodiment, the ratio of the depth of the blind hole to the thickness of the metal plate body is less than 66%.

Therefore, in the metal mask and the manufacturing method of the invention, the third mask opening used for manufacturing the blind hole (half opening) is designed to be a single opening or a combination of a plurality of openings in a continuous curve shape, and the openings with smaller size on the mask are combined into the half opening with larger size by matching with the lateral etching phenomenon in the manufacturing process, so that the manufactured half opening is not easy to generate overetching or perforation, and has the advantage of higher manufacturing yield.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a metal mask according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the embodiment of FIG. 1, with section lines A-A;

FIGS. 3A-3C are schematic diagrams illustrating the relative positions of the pattern region and the dummy region according to various embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method of fabricating the metal mask of FIG.1 for fabricating vias and blind vias in an embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a detailed flow chart of the blind hole manufacturing process in the manufacturing method of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6A is a schematic view of a third mask opening used in fabricating blind holes according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6B is a schematic view of a dummy area under a microscope fabricated using the third mask opening of FIG. 6A;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a third mask opening used in fabricating a blind via according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8A is a schematic view of a third mask opening used in fabricating a blind via according to a further embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8B is a schematic view of a dummy pattern under a microscope fabricated using the third mask opening shown in FIG. 8A;

FIG. 9A is a schematic view of a cross-section B-B of the blind hole shown in FIG. 8B;

FIG. 9B is a schematic view of a cross section C- -C of the blind hole shown in FIG. 8B;

FIG. 9C is a schematic D-D cross-sectional view of the blind hole shown in FIG. 8B.

Wherein, the reference numerals:

100 Metal mask

10 Substrate

10A Metal plate body

11 Pattern area

11A sub-region

12. 121, 122, 123 Dummy area

12A, 12b, 12c, 12d, 12e: subregions

121 Dummy pattern

13 Clamping area

10 Metal plate body

2 Through hole

21 Vapor deposition opening

22 Back side opening

23 Neck opening

3 Blind hole

30 Opening(s)

31 Bottom part

311 Raised portion

311:A boss

32 Wall surface

4 Photoresist material

4A first mask

4B second mask

41 First mask opening

42 Second mask opening

43 Third mask opening

43A third mask opening

43B third mask opening

43C third mask opening

5 Protective layer

51 Projecting portion

52 Projecting part

61 First transition opening

62 Second transition opening

63 Third transition opening

7 Small groove

71 Bottom part

72 Arc groove

73 Raised portion

81 First segment

82 Second section

9 Cavity

G1 group

G2 group

K, step

T is wall thickness

S1, vapor deposition surface

S2 back surface

D1 thickness of

D2 first distance

D3 second distance

D4 spacing

D5 spacing

D6 direction of

D7:direction

D8 depth W1 thickness direction

W2 transverse direction

W3 long axis direction

Section line A-A

Section line B-B

Section line C-C

D-D section line

Detailed Description

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the drawings and specific examples, which are not intended to limit the invention thereto.

In the following articles, for the terms used in the description of the embodiments according to the present invention, for example: the description of the orientation or positional relationship indicated by "upper", "lower", etc. is described in terms of the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings used, and the above terms are merely for convenience of description of the present invention, and are not meant to limit the present invention, i.e., elements not indicated or implied to be mentioned must have a particular orientation, be configured in a particular orientation. Furthermore, references to "first," "second," and the like in the description or in the claims are used for naming the elements or distinguishing between different embodiments or ranges, and are not intended to limit the upper or lower limit on the number of elements.

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a metal mask according to an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the section line A-A in the embodiment of FIG. 1. Wherein, fig. 1 and fig. 2 are only schematic and not drawn to actual scale. As shown in fig. 1, the metal mask 100 of the present invention includes, in one embodiment: a substrate 10. The substrate 10 has a pattern region 11 and a dummy region 12. As shown in fig. 2, the pattern region 11 includes a plurality of through holes 2, and the through holes 2 extend from the deposition surface S1 of the substrate 10 to the back surface S2 opposite to the deposition surface S1, and the dummy region 12 is located on the pattern region 11 side and includes, for example, blind holes 3 on the deposition surface S1. The blind hole 3 has a bottom 31 and an opening 30, the opening 30 is located on the plating surface S1, and the bottom 31 has a convex portion 311 protruding toward the opening 30.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 1, in the present embodiment, the metal mask 100 (the substrate 10) is rectangular, for example, and includes a pattern region 11 at the center, a clamping region 13 at both ends, and a dummy region 12 between the pattern region 11 and the clamping region 13, but not limited thereto. The pattern region 11 is a region for forming a light emitting pattern on a glass substrate (not shown) during vapor deposition, and the clamping region 13 is a region for clamping the substrate 10 before vapor deposition.

The dummy region 12 is provided with a dummy pattern 121 formed through the blind via 3, for example. The number and shape of the dummy patterns 121 in the individual dummy regions 12, or the number and shape of the blind holes 3 in the individual dummy patterns 121 are not limited, in other words, in some embodiments, each dummy region 12 may be constituted by one dummy pattern 121, and in other embodiments, each dummy region 12 may be constituted by a plurality of dummy patterns 121. The dummy pattern 121 is used for preventing the metal mask 100 from generating wrinkles in the pattern region 11 when being clamped and pulled. The metal mask 100 is made of nickel-iron alloy, for example, but not limited to, and the thickness D1 of the metal mask 100 is 10-150 μm, for example.

As shown in fig. 2, the vapor deposition surface S1 referred to in the preceding paragraph refers to a surface that is closer to a vapor deposition source (not shown) during the manufacturing process. The back surface S2 refers to a surface that is close to a side of a glass substrate (not shown) during manufacturing. The through hole 2 includes, for example, a vapor deposition opening 21 located on the deposition surface S1, a rear surface opening 22 located on the rear surface S2, and a neck opening 23 located between the vapor deposition opening 21 and the rear surface opening 22 in the thickness direction W1 of the substrate 10. The opening area of the neck opening 23 is smaller than the opening areas of the vapor deposition opening 21 and the back surface opening 22, for example. In the thickness direction W1 of the substrate 10, the first distance D2 between the neck opening 23 and the vapor deposition opening 21 is, for example, greater than the second distance D3 between the neck opening 23 and the back surface opening 22, but not limited thereto.

As shown in fig. 1, in the present embodiment, the dummy region 12 has a plurality of dummy patterns 121, and each dummy pattern 121 is formed by, for example, but not limited to, a blind via 3. The size of the opening 30 of the blind hole 3 is, for example, at least 50 μm in any direction of the evaporation surface S1 or the back surface S2, but not limited thereto. As shown in fig. 2, a distance D4 between the top end of the protruding portion 311 and the opening 30 of the blind hole 3 is larger than a distance D5 between the top end of the protruding portion 311 and the bottom 3. Specifically, in the thickness direction W1, the ratio of the depth D8 of the blind hole 3 to the thickness D1 of the substrate 10 is, for example, less than 66%. In terms of position, in the embodiment not shown in the drawings, the blind holes 3 (dummy patterns 121) may be provided on the deposition surface S1 instead, or may be provided on both the deposition surface S1 and the back surface S2.

The number and detailed shape of the protruding portions 311 are not limited, and the protruding portions 311 may be bumps, ridges (lines) or other patterns, and the shape and position of the protruding portions 311 are mainly affected by the manner of manufacturing (described in detail later).

Fig. 3A to 3C are schematic diagrams illustrating the relative positions of the pattern region and the dummy region according to different embodiments of the invention. In the embodiment of fig. 3A to 3C, the pattern region has, for example, two sub-regions 11a, and the two sub-regions 11a are arranged along the long axis direction W3 of the metal mask 100. In the embodiment of fig. 3A, the dummy area 121 is, for example, three sub-areas, wherein two sub-areas 12a are, for example, located between two sub-areas 11a of the pattern area and the clamping areas 13 at both ends, the sub-area 12b of the remaining one dummy area 121 is located between the two sub-areas 11a, and the shapes of the sub-areas 12a, 12b at different positions may be different. In the embodiment of fig. 3B and 3C, the sub-region 11a of each pattern region is surrounded by, for example, the sub-region 12C and the sub-region 12d of the dummy region (see fig. 3B), or the sub-region 12e (see fig. 3C), and the pattern of the dummy region composed of the different sub-regions 12a may be changed as shown in fig. 3B and 3C. From the above, it should be understood that the relationship between the number of dummy regions and pattern regions and the relative positions is not particularly limited, and may be set according to the actual product or the manufacturing method.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method of fabricating the metal mask of FIG. 1 for fabricating vias and blind vias in an embodiment. To illustrate how to manufacture the metal mask 100 and to illustrate the advantages associated with the metal mask, please refer to a flow chart of the method of manufacturing the metal mask in fig. 4.

As shown in fig. 4, in one embodiment, the method for manufacturing the metal mask 100 includes the following steps:

providing a metal plate body 10a, wherein the metal plate body 10a is provided with a plating surface S1 and an opposite back surface S2;

The evaporation surface S1 and the back surface S2 are respectively provided with a first mask 4A and a second mask 4B, the first mask 4A is provided with a plurality of first mask openings 41, the second mask 4B is provided with a plurality of second mask openings 42 corresponding to the first mask openings 41, and the second mask 4B is further provided with a plurality of third mask openings 43;

forming a plurality of through holes 2 and blind holes 3 on the metal plate body 10a provided with the first mask 4A and the second mask 4B, wherein the through holes 2 correspond to the positions of the first mask opening 41 and the second mask opening 42, and the blind holes 3 correspond to the positions of the third mask opening 43; and

The first mask 4A and the second mask 4B are removed.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 4, the manufacturing method described in the preceding paragraph is to manufacture the through-hole 2 and the blind hole 3 by processing the metal plate body 10a by wet etching, for example. The thickness and length of the metal plate 10a correspond to those of the substrate 10 in fig. 1 in the previous paragraph. Referring to the leftmost schematic diagram of the uppermost row in fig. 4, first, a metal plate body 10a is provided, and a photoresist material 4 is coated on a deposition surface S1 (a surface of the metal plate body 10a facing downward in fig. 4) and a back surface S2. The photoresist material 4 is, for example, a negative photoresist, but not limited thereto. Thereafter, the unexposed resist material 4 is removed by exposing and developing the resist material 4, whereby a first mask 4A is formed on the deposition surface S1 by the resist material 4 and a second mask 4B is formed on the back surface S2 by the resist material 4. The exposure method is not limited, and two masks (also a kind of mask) not shown are used to determine the exposure positions on the photoresist material 4 on different surfaces.

As shown in fig. 4, in the present embodiment, the first mask 4A has a first mask opening 41, the second mask 4B has a second mask opening 42 and a third mask opening 43, but in the present embodiment, the distance between the third mask openings 43 is smaller than the distance between the first mask openings 41 or the distance between the second mask openings 42, and the opening area of each third mask opening 43 is smaller than the opening area of each first mask opening 41 or the opening area of each second mask opening 42, for example, but not limited to, the opening area of each first mask opening 41. In the thickness direction W1, the positions of the first mask openings 41 correspond to the positions of the second mask openings 42, and the positions of both are located in the pattern region 11 on the substrate 10 after the completion of the reservation, and the positions of the third mask openings 43 are located in the dummy region 12 on the substrate 10 (see fig. 1) after the completion of the reservation.

Next, referring to fig. 4, a schematic diagram (hereinafter referred to as step K) located at the rightmost middle row is shown, and a first etching operation is performed on the metal plate 10 a. Since the metal plate body 10a is not covered by the photoresist material 4 at the first mask opening 41, the second mask opening 42, the third mask opening 43, and the like, the vapor deposition surface S1 and the back surface S2 of the metal plate body 10a are etched to form the first transition opening 61 on the vapor deposition surface S1, and simultaneously form the second transition opening 62 and the third transition opening 63 on the back surface S2. In the present embodiment, after etching, the bottom 71 of the third transition opening 63 is formed with a plurality of protrusions 73 and a plurality of arc grooves 72 protruding toward the portion of the back surface S2, for reasons that will be described in detail later.

Then, a protective material is applied to the rear surface S2 of the metal plate body 10a to form the protective layer 5, and a portion of the protective layer 5 forms the protruding portion 51 and the protruding portion 52 protruding toward the plating surface S1 in the second transition opening 62 and the third transition opening 63, respectively. The protective material, such as but not limited to photoresist or resin, may be selected as desired.

Then, a second etching operation is performed on the metal plate body 10 a. In this operation, the metal plate body 10a is subjected to the second etching since it is not protected at the first mask opening 41, so that the first transition opening 61 continues to expand toward the back surface S2 and contacts the protruding portion 51 in the second transition opening 62.

Then, referring to the bottom row of fig. 4, the first mask 4A, the second mask 4B and the protection layer 5 (including the protruding portion 51 and the protruding portion 52) are removed, so as to form the through hole 2 and the blind hole 3 on the metal plate body 10 a. As can be seen from fig. 4, the positions of the through holes 2 correspond to the positions of the first mask opening 41 and the second mask opening 42, and the blind holes 3 correspond to the positions of the third mask opening 43.

As described above, the forming position of the blind hole 3 in the manufacturing method of the present embodiment is mainly determined according to the positions of the group of the plurality of third mask openings 43. The manufacturer can change the position of the group formed by the third mask openings 43 according to the requirement, so that the blind holes 3 are formed on the evaporation surface S1, the back surface S2 or both of the metal plate body 10 a. In addition, the invention is not limited to the formation and completion timing of the blind via 3, and in the embodiment of fig. 4, the blind via 3 can be fabricated in the first etching step without any additional fabrication step by providing the protection layer 5. In other embodiments, not shown, the blind holes 3 may be modified to be formed in the second etching step together with the through holes 2 or separately in a separate step, depending on the process details. It should be understood that the above manufacturing method is also characterized by being able to manufacture blind holes having the same depth but different areas on the surface of the metal plate body 10a in the same processing procedure by designing the total number or the distribution area of the third mask openings 43 among the group of the third mask openings 43 constituting the same blind hole 3.

Fig. 5 is a detailed flow chart of the blind hole manufacturing in the manufacturing method of fig. 4. As shown in fig. 5, during the etching process, first, the metal plate body 10a forms small grooves 7 adjacent to each third mask opening 43 and separated from each other at positions corresponding to each third mask opening 43, the respective opening shapes (i.e., the third transition openings 63) of the small grooves 7 on the surface of the metal plate body 10a correspond to the shapes of the respective third mask openings 43, and the bottoms 71 of the small grooves 7 are curved.

As etching proceeds, the wall thicknesses (wall thicknesses T) of the small grooves 7 become thinner and thinner in addition to the increasing depth. Along with the disappearance of the etching on the walls between the small grooves 7, the small grooves 7 are combined with each other to form a cavity 9 (i.e. blind hole 3) formed under the second mask 4B in fig. 5 and simultaneously connected with the plurality of third mask openings 43, the bottoms 71 of the small grooves 7 together form the bottoms 31 of the blind holes 3, the above-mentioned protruding portions 73 are formed at the junctions of the small grooves 7, the protruding portions 73 become the protruding portions 311 of the substrate 10 in fig. 2 after the etching is completed, and the bottoms 71 become the bottoms 31 of the substrate 10 in fig. 2 after the etching is completed. It should be understood from fig. 5 that, based on the phenomenon of lateral etching (or overetching, overlap), the cross-sectional area of the opening 30 of the blind hole 3 manufactured by the above method will be larger than the sum of the cross-sectional areas of the third mask openings 43 in the group of the plurality of third mask openings 43 for manufacturing the blind hole 3. In fig. 5, since the etching depth of each small recess 7 is the same, the position of the protruding portion 311 in the lateral direction W2 is, for example, between two third mask openings 43, but not limited thereto.

For the detailed shape of the third mask opening in the different embodiments, please refer to the following description, fig. 6A is a schematic diagram of the third mask opening used in manufacturing the blind hole in an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 6B is a schematic view of a dummy area under a microscope fabricated using the third mask opening of fig. 6A. In the embodiment shown in fig. 6B, the dummy region 12 has a plurality of dummy patterns 121, and each dummy pattern 121 is formed using a group G1 of four third mask openings 43A shown in fig. 6A.

As shown in fig. 6A and 6B, the group of the third mask openings 43A used for forming the dummy pattern 121 may be, for example, 4 straight openings parallel to each other, or called slits (Slit), but is not limited thereto. The pattern of blind holes 3 under the microscope produced by the group G1 of fig. 6A is shown in fig. 6B, and as shown in fig. 6A and 6B, in fig. 6B, each quadrangle on the substrate 10 is one blind hole 3 (dummy pattern 121), and each quadrangle is produced by the group G1 of 4 third mask openings 43A parallel to each other and exhibiting the slit pattern.

Referring to fig. 2 and 6B, in fig. 6B, the dark frame portion of the blind hole 3 is the wall 32 of the blind hole 3, which is dark due to the wall angle relationship at the time of photographing. The lightest-colored portion of the blind hole 3 is the portion of the blind hole 3 where the bottom 31 is located. As described above, the bottom 31 is formed with the convex portions 311, and since the third mask opening 43A is 4 straight line openings parallel to each other in the present embodiment, such convex portions 311 appear as 3 ridges parallel to each other in fig. 6B (see a portion showing a slightly darker gray color in fig. 6B).

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a group G2 of third mask openings B used in fabricating blind holes according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 7, the present invention is not limited to the third mask opening, in an embodiment, the group G2 of the third mask openings 43B is, for example, a plurality of dot openings arranged in parallel along the horizontal and vertical directions, or may be called slots (slots), each blind hole 3 (see fig. 2) is, for example, formed by 4 dot openings adjacent to each other, but not limited thereto, and the opening shape of each dot opening is not limited thereto, and may be square in fig. 7, other shapes or combinations thereof, and the relative positions of each dot opening are not limited thereto, and may be designed at equal intervals or in a layered repeated arrangement. In an embodiment not shown in the drawings, by making the opening areas of different third mask openings different in the group of third mask openings for making the same blind hole different, the etching amount of the small grooves at different positions of the same blind hole can be changed, so that the heights of the protruding parts of different parts in the blind hole are different, and the depths of different parts in the blind hole can also be changed.

As shown in fig. 1,2, 6A and 7, since the length, width and extending direction of the openings 30 of the blind holes 3 on the surface of the substrate 10 (not limited to the deposition surface S1 or the back surface S2 or a combination thereof) are affected by the size of the group of the third mask openings for forming the same dummy pattern (blind holes), the length and number of the slits (linear openings) of the same group or the number or size of the grooves (dot openings) can be modified by the user according to the requirement so as to change the aspect ratio of the blind holes. And the positions and the extending directions of the blind holes are changed by changing the distribution positions and the extending directions of the groups.

Referring to fig. 4 and 8A, in addition to the above-mentioned method, the present invention also provides a method for manufacturing a metal mask 100, which comprises the following steps:

providing a metal plate body 10a, wherein the metal plate body 10a is provided with a plating surface S1 and an opposite back surface S2;

The evaporation surface S1 and the back surface S2 are respectively provided with a first mask 4A and a second mask 4B, the first mask 4A is provided with a plurality of first mask openings 41, the second mask 4B is provided with second mask openings 42 corresponding to the positions of the first mask openings 41, and the first mask 4A or the second mask 4B is further provided with a third mask opening 43C in a continuous curve shape (based on the relationship of the cross-section positions, such as the positions of C-C cross-section lines in fig. 8A, the single third mask opening 43C in fig. 8A can present a similar state to the plurality of third mask openings 43 in fig. 4 at the cross-section);

forming a plurality of through holes 2 and a blind hole 3 on the metal plate body 10a provided with the first mask 4A and the second mask 4B, wherein the through holes 2 correspond to the positions of the first mask openings 41 and the second mask openings 42, and the blind hole 3 corresponds to the position of the third mask opening 43C; and

The first mask 4A and the second mask 4B are removed.

The difference between the above-described manufacturing method and the manufacturing method shown in fig. 4 is that: each blind hole 3 (dummy pattern 121) may be formed by a third mask opening 43C having a continuous curve, specifically, in the embodiment of fig. 4, a plurality of third mask openings 43 are matched with a lateral etching phenomenon to form blind holes 3 having a cross-sectional area larger than the sum of the cross-sectional areas of the openings of the third mask openings 43, and in the manufacturing method described in this paragraph, a single third mask opening 43C is matched with a lateral etching phenomenon to form blind holes 3 having a cross-sectional area larger than the sum of the cross-sectional areas of the openings of the third mask openings 43C. For details, please refer to the following description.

FIG. 8A is a schematic view of a third mask opening used in fabricating a blind via according to another embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 8B is a schematic view of a dummy pattern under a microscope fabricated using the third mask opening shown in fig. 8A. The aspect ratio of the third mask opening 43C in fig. 8A is only illustrative, and thus does not correspond to the aspect ratio of the dummy pattern 121 in fig. 8B. Also in fig. 8B, two dummy patterns 121 made of different third mask openings (not numbered) are shown at the same time.

As shown in fig. 8A, in the present embodiment, the third mask opening 43C that presents a continuous curve includes, for example: a first section 81 arranged parallel to each other along the direction D6 and a second section 82 arranged staggered to each other along the direction D7, each second section 82 being connected between two adjacent first sections 81. The dummy pattern fabricated through such a third mask opening 43C may refer to the pattern of the dummy pattern 121 in fig. 8B. In the present embodiment, the blind hole 3 (dummy pattern 121) is in a long strip shape, and the shape of the bottom 31 thereof is in a continuously curved shape as viewed along the direction of the opening 30 of the blind hole 3. The wall surface 32 of the blind hole 3 in fig. 8B has a dark color due to the relationship of the photographed reflection angle. While the bottom 31 will appear light. The boss 311 appears darker grey because of the angle and corresponds to the shape of the third mask opening 43C, being located between two parallel first segments 81 in the curve.

It should be understood from fig. 8A and 8B that, in the present embodiment, since the length, width and extending direction of the opening of the blind hole 3 on the surface of the substrate 10 are affected by the lengths and extending directions of the first segment 81 and the second segment 82, the user can modify the length of the first segment 81 and the total length of the second segment 82 according to the requirement so as to change the aspect ratio of the blind hole 3, or change the extending direction of the blind hole 3 on the surface of the substrate 10 by modifying the extending directions of the first segment 81 and the second segment 82, in the embodiment not shown, a dummy pattern (blind hole) can be formed together by a group (not shown) consisting of a plurality of third mask openings 43C which are continuously curved.

Referring to fig. 8A to 9C, since the shape of the protruding portion 311 in the blind hole 3 is affected by the shape of the third mask opening 43C, the blind hole 3 corresponding to the portion with different cross-section lines in fig. 8A will take different forms, wherein fig. 9A corresponds to the position of the B-B cross-section line in fig. 8A, fig. 9B corresponds to the position of the C-C cross-section line in fig. 8A, and fig. 9C corresponds to the position of the D-D cross-section line in fig. 8A.

As shown in fig. 8A and 9A, in fig. 8A, the positions of the second sections 82 on the B-B cross-section line correspond to the positions of the bottoms 31 of the blind holes 3 in fig. 9A, and the positions and the number of the lines L1 between the second sections 82 correspond to the positions of the protruding portions 311 of the blind holes 3 in fig. 9A. Since the number of the bottoms 31 and the number of the protrusions 311 of the blind holes 3 shown in fig. 9B and 9C also correspond to the number and the positions of the features such as the first section 81, the second section 82, and the line L1 at the cross section, and the size of the bottoms 31 also approximately corresponds to the length relationship of the features such as the first section 81 or the second section 82 at the cross section, the description thereof is omitted herein.

As can be seen from the above description of the two manufacturing methods, the cavity 9 (see fig. 5, surrounded by the blind hole 3 being etched and the second mask 4B in fig. 5) is generated during the processing, and the blind hole 3 generated after etching has the protruding portion 311, so the present invention actually provides a manufacturing method comprising the following steps (see fig. 4):

providing a metal plate body 10a, wherein the metal plate body 10a is provided with a plating surface S1 and an opposite back surface S2;

The evaporation surface S1 and the back surface S2 are respectively provided with a first mask 4A and a second mask 4B, the first mask 4A is provided with a plurality of first mask openings 41, the second mask 4B corresponds to the second mask openings 42 at the positions of the first mask openings 41, and the first mask 4A or the second mask 4B is further provided with a third mask opening 43;

Forming a plurality of through holes 2 and blind holes 3 on the metal plate body 10a provided with the first mask 4A and the second mask 4B, wherein the through holes 2 correspond to the positions of the first mask opening 41 and the second mask opening 42, the blind holes 3 correspond to the positions of the third mask opening 43, the bottom 71 of the blind holes 3 forms a protruding part 311 protruding towards the part of the side where the third mask opening 43 is located, and the opening 30 of the blind holes 3 corresponds to the position of the third mask opening 43; and

The first mask 4A and the second mask 4B are removed.

Therefore, in the metal mask and the manufacturing method of the invention, the third mask opening used for manufacturing the blind hole (half opening) is designed to be a single opening or a combination of a plurality of openings in a continuous curve shape, and the openings with smaller size on the mask are combined into the half opening with larger size by matching with the lateral etching phenomenon in the manufacturing process, so that the manufactured half opening is not easy to generate overetching or perforation, and has the advantage of higher manufacturing yield.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the above embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto, but rather is capable of modification and variation without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims (19)

1. A metal mask, comprising:

The substrate is provided with a pattern area and a dummy area, the pattern area comprises a plurality of through holes, the through holes extend from a vapor deposition surface of the substrate to a back surface opposite to the vapor deposition surface, and the dummy area is positioned at one side of the pattern area and comprises at least one blind hole on the vapor deposition surface or the back surface;

the blind hole is provided with a bottom and an opening, the opening is positioned on the evaporation surface or the back surface, and the bottom is provided with a protruding part protruding towards the opening.

2. The metal mask of claim 1, wherein a depth of the blind hole is greater than a height of a top end of the boss from the bottom.

3. The metal mask of claim 1, wherein a ratio of a depth of the blind via to a thickness of the substrate is less than 66%.

4. A method of manufacturing a metal mask, comprising:

Providing a metal plate body, wherein the metal plate body is provided with a plating surface and an opposite back surface;

A first shade and a second shade are respectively arranged on the evaporation surface and the back surface, a plurality of first shade openings are arranged on the first shade, a plurality of second shade openings are arranged at the positions of the second shade corresponding to the first shade openings, and a plurality of third shade openings are further arranged on the first shade or the second shade;

forming a plurality of through holes and a blind hole on the metal plate body provided with the first shade and the second shade, wherein the through holes correspond to the positions of the first shade openings and the second shade openings, and the blind hole corresponds to the positions of at least two third shade openings;

the first mask and the second mask are removed.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein in the step of forming the through holes and the at least one blind hole in the metal plate, the metal plate and the first mask or the second mask together form a cavity, and the cavity communicates with the portions of the third mask openings.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein in the step of forming the through holes and the at least one blind hole in the metal plate, a bottom of the blind hole is formed with a protruding portion protruding toward a direction in which the third mask openings are located, and an opening of the blind hole is in communication with at least two of the third mask openings.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the third mask openings are a plurality of straight openings parallel to each other.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the third mask openings are dot-shaped openings.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein a ratio of a depth of the blind hole to a thickness of the metal plate is less than 66%.

10. A method of manufacturing a metal mask, comprising:

Providing a metal plate body, wherein the metal plate body is provided with a plating surface and an opposite back surface;

A first shade and a second shade are respectively arranged on the evaporation surface and the back surface, a plurality of first shade openings are arranged on the first shade, the second shade corresponds to the second shade openings of the first shade openings, and a third shade opening in a continuous curve shape is further arranged on the first shade or the second shade;

forming a plurality of through holes and a blind hole on the metal plate body provided with the first shade and the second shade, wherein the through holes correspond to the positions of the first shade openings and the second shade openings, and the blind hole corresponds to the position of the third shade opening;

the first mask and the second mask are removed.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein in the step of forming the through holes and the at least one blind hole in the metal plate, a bottom of the blind hole forms a protrusion protruding toward a direction in which the third mask opening is located, and an opening of the blind hole communicates with the third mask opening.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein a ratio of a depth of the blind hole to a thickness of the metal plate is less than 66%.

13. A method of manufacturing a metal mask, comprising:

Providing a metal plate body, wherein the metal plate body is provided with a plating surface and an opposite back surface;

a first shade and a second shade are respectively arranged on the evaporation surface and the back surface, a plurality of first shade openings are arranged on the first shade, the second shade corresponds to the second shade openings of the first shade openings, and at least one third shade opening is further arranged on the first shade or the second shade;

forming a plurality of through holes and a blind hole on the metal plate body provided with the first shade and the second shade, wherein the through holes correspond to the positions of the first shade openings and the second shade openings, the blind hole corresponds to the position of the at least one third shade opening, a protruding part protruding towards the part of one side where the third shade opening is located is formed at the bottom of the blind hole, and one opening of the blind hole corresponds to the position of the third shade opening;

the first mask and the second mask are removed.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one third mask opening is a plurality of third mask openings.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein in the step of forming the through holes and the blind hole in the metal plate, the metal plate and the first mask or the second mask together form a cavity, and the cavity is communicated with the third mask openings.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the third mask openings are a plurality of straight openings parallel to each other.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the third mask openings are dot-shaped openings.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one third mask opening is a continuously curved opening.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein a ratio of a depth of the blind hole to a thickness of the metal plate is less than 66%.