JP2010218812A - Heating drying device, heating drying method, and manufacturing method of organic el element - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heating drying device for a substrate capable of saving a space by suppressing its installation area while reducing energy consumption as much as possible, so as to achieve homogeneous treatment of a film of an organic functional layer (such as a luminous layer, an interlayer layer, and an electron transport layer) by carrying out elimination of a residual solvent and a baking treatment needed each time the film is formed on a substrate by a printing method for homogeneous quality of the film as a whole. <P>SOLUTION: The heating drying device includes at least a first heating furnace to heat the substrate with an infrared heating furnace up to a given temperature, and a second heating furnace to keep the substrate heated up to the given temperature maintained at high temperature with a hot-air circulating multistage furnace. The heating drying device includes a cooling room in which the temperature of the substrate taken out from the second heating furnace is lowered to at least 50 °C or less, and all or any of the first heating furnace, the second heating furnace and the cooling room can have an enclosed structure which can air-tightly hold an inert gas atmosphere. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for forming an organic film on a substrate, and more particularly to a heat drying apparatus for drying an organic functional layer such as an organic electroluminescence element.

  An organic electroluminescent element (hereinafter referred to as “organic EL element”), which is a kind of electroluminescent element, is a self-luminous all-solid-state element, and thus has high visibility, and is also in comparison with a cathode ray tube, plasma display, or liquid crystal display Since the thickness of the element can be reduced and the power consumption is also small, early commercialization is expected. In order to produce an organic EL element, it is generally necessary to pattern an organic functional layer having a thickness of about several tens to several thousand nm on a substrate.

Organic functional materials include low-molecular materials and high-molecular materials. Generally, low-molecular materials are formed into thin films by resistance heating vapor deposition or the like, and then patterned using a fine pattern mask. There is a problem that patterning accuracy is less likely to increase as the size increases.
Further, in the vapor deposition method, since the vapor deposition source is usually a point shape like a pinhole or a crucible of a boat, it is difficult to form a layer with a uniform film thickness on a large-sized substrate. In addition, the vapor deposition method is often performed under high vacuum, which requires a large vacuum apparatus.

  On the other hand, a method of forming a thin film by a wet process using a coating liquid (ink) obtained by dissolving or dispersing a polymer organic functional material in a solvent has been attempted. Examples of wet coating methods for forming a thin film include spin coating, bar coating, and dip coating. In particular, for high-definition patterning, it is considered most effective to form a thin film by a printing method that specializes in painting and patterning.

  A method for producing an organic EL element by a printing method is very effective. In particular, when a polymer material is used, it is possible to easily form a flat and uniform organic functional layer on the substrate. However, since the organic functional layer printed on the substrate contains a solvent, a drying step for removing the solvent is required. As the technique, a reduced-pressure drying method (for example, see Patent Document 1), a heat drying method, or the like is required. (For example, refer patent document 2), pressure heating drying method (for example, refer patent document 3), etc. are disclosed.

  In addition to drying for the purpose of removing a high-boiling solvent remaining in the organic functional layer (hereinafter, referred to as residual solvent), the formation of an interlayer serving as a base for the organic functional layer is performed at a high temperature of about 200 ° C. More than a minute of baking is required. See Figure 5 for the interlayer layer.

  It is known that the baking condition of the interlayer layer affects the characteristics of the organic functional layer formed on the layer. In other words, if the in-plane temperature uniformity within the substrate varies during the baking process of the interlayer layer, the characteristics of the organic functional layer also vary within the substrate surface. Causes the occurrence.

  Here, as a general heating furnace used for heating and drying the substrate, (1) a hot air circulation method, (2) a hot plate method, (3) a far-infrared method, and the like can be given. The hot air circulation type heating furnace has the advantage of being easily multi-staged and excellent in space efficiency, but it has the disadvantage that it is difficult to control the heating temperature distribution, and it is necessary to raise the temperature while maintaining the temperature uniformity of the entire substrate. It is not suitable for heating and drying certain organic functional layers.

  Further, the hot plate method is heat transfer heating from the lower surface of the substrate, and when the substrate is small, it is excellent in soaking heat (overall surface uniform temperature heating) and temperature rising rate. However, in the case of large substrates, soaking is difficult, and the organic functional layer to be heat-treated is applied on the top surface of the substrate. However, in the case of continuous processing, there is a problem that the installation area becomes large.

  The far-infrared method is excellent in drying efficiency in solvent drying and the like, and the heating temperature of each part of the object to be dried can be controlled with relatively high accuracy by controlling the temperature of the heater. However, since the far-infrared method is radiant heating, the heating part (far-infrared radiation part) and the object to be dried are generally opposed to each other, and the objects to be dried are installed horizontally one by one by the transport mechanism. Many continuous furnaces (tunnel furnaces) are passed through. In this continuous furnace, when the number of treatments per unit time is increased or a large substrate is heated, the length of the heating furnace has to be increased, which increases the length of the heating furnace and reduces the installation area. The problem of becoming larger occurs.

  Thus, a far-infrared multi-stage furnace has been devised that shortens the overall length of the apparatus (see, for example, Patent Document 4). However, the number of necessary infrared heaters is almost the same as that of a continuous furnace. Has the problem that there is a difference in heating conditions for each stage. For example, at the uppermost and lowermost stages of a multi-stage furnace, even if the output of the infrared heater is set similarly to the other stages, the temperature rise of the substrate tends to be slightly slower than the other stages. Therefore, compared to a continuous furnace in which all the substrates are moved under a common heater, there is a difference in the temperature rise profile for each substrate in a multi-stage furnace, which in turn has a characteristic for each manufactured organic EL panel. There was a problem of making a difference.

JP-A-9-97679 Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-31567 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-26000 Japanese Patent No. 3833439

Since the heating and drying apparatus for organic EL elements needs to raise the temperature uniformly within the substrate surface, a continuous furnace that heats by an infrared heater while feeding and transferring the substrates one by one into the furnace is the most suitable method. . It is desirable that the drying process can be performed in as short a time as possible.
However, in general, a heat treatment time of 10 minutes or more per substrate is required, and in order to handle a larger substrate by increasing the number of processed wafers within a certain time by a continuous furnace method, more heaters are arranged in parallel. Since it is necessary to arrange and lengthen a heating furnace, there exists a problem that the installation area of an apparatus becomes large and electric power consumption becomes large.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and removal of a residual solvent required every time a film of an organic functional layer (light emitting layer, interlayer layer, electron transport layer, etc.) is formed on a substrate by a printing method and Providing a heating and drying device for manufacturing organic EL elements that can be baked uniformly over the entire film to achieve the same quality, while reducing energy consumption as much as possible and reducing the installation area of the equipment, enabling space saving. The task is to do.

  The invention according to claim 1 for solving the above-described problem is at least a first heating furnace for heating a substrate to a predetermined temperature by an infrared heater furnace, and a hot air circulation type multi-stage furnace for heating the substrate to the predetermined temperature. And a second heating furnace for maintaining at a high temperature.

  The invention according to claim 2 includes a cooling chamber for lowering the temperature of the substrate taken out from the second heating furnace to at least 50 ° C. or less. Is.

  The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that all or one of the first heating furnace, the second heating furnace, and the cooling chamber has a sealed structure capable of keeping an inert gas atmosphere airtight. The heat drying apparatus according to claim 2 is provided.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a load-drying chamber having a means for replacing the atmosphere and an inert gas atmosphere on the input side and the discharge side of the substrate. It is a device.

  The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that either or both of the first heating furnace and the cooling chamber are accommodated in a load lock chamber having means for replacing the atmosphere and an inert gas atmosphere. The heat drying apparatus according to claim 4 is provided.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the substrate on which the coating film is formed is heated to a predetermined temperature in an infrared heater furnace, and the substrate is moved to a hot-air circulation type multi-stage furnace maintained at the predetermined temperature, followed by heat drying. And a heating drying method characterized by comprising the steps of:

  The invention according to claim 7 is an organic EL element manufactured using the heating and drying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

In the substrate heating / drying furnace according to the present invention, in the first step of heating the substrate to a desired drying temperature, the entire substrate is heated with high temperature accuracy by an infrared heater capable of temperature setting, and then the substrate temperature is maintained at a high temperature. In the process, instead of maintaining a high temperature with an infrared heater, a drying method was adopted in which a substrate was placed on a multi-stage shelf and heated in a hot air circulation superheated furnace.
As a result, the temperature unevenness in the substrate surface and between the substrates was remarkably suppressed, and the film quality of the dry film became uniform over the entire substrate surface. At the same time, the installation area of the drying device can be reduced, space saving and energy consumption can be kept low.

The schematic of the side surface sectional view of the heat drying apparatus which becomes this invention. The schematic of the side sectional view of another Example of the heat drying apparatus which becomes this invention. The schematic of the side sectional view of another Example of the heat drying apparatus which becomes this invention. The schematic of the side sectional view of another Example of the heat drying apparatus which becomes this invention. The figure of the cross-sectional view explaining the structure of an organic EL element.

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a side sectional view schematically showing an example of the configuration of a heating and drying apparatus according to the present invention.

  When heat-treating a substrate on which an organic functional layer is formed, there is a problem that when oxygen or water coexists during heating, they cause a chemical reaction with the organic functional layer and deteriorate device characteristics. In particular, oxygen easily reacts with the double bond sites of π-electron molecules that are often used as functional materials. Therefore, when these organic functional layers are heated at high temperatures, oxygen such as nitrogen and argon with low oxygen It is necessary to carry out under an active gas atmosphere.

  Therefore, first, the loading side load lock chamber 1 is provided on the substrate loading side of the heat drying apparatus. The substrate loading port 1a of the loading side load lock chamber 1 has a slit shape through which the substrate 6 can pass, and is shut off from the outside air by a shutter, and is connected to the loading side load lock chamber 1 and the first heating furnace 2. A certain substrate transfer port 2a is also blocked by a shutter. The input side load lock chamber 1 has a minimum volume capable of accommodating the substrate 6 and the transfer means, and is provided with a mechanism for replacing the atmosphere with an inert gas atmosphere.

  First, the shutter of the substrate loading port 1a is opened and the substrate 6 is loaded into the loading side load lock chamber 1. Next, the shutter of the substrate loading port 1a is closed, and the atmosphere in the loading side load lock chamber 1 is an inert gas atmosphere. And a step of opening the shutter of the substrate transfer port 2a which is a connection port with the first heating furnace 2 and transferring the substrate 6 into the first heating furnace 2 to heat and dry the substrate 6 according to the present invention. In.

  Conveying means for the substrate 6 may be a conveyor type, a conveying roll type, etc. In order to suppress the influence on the uniformity of the surface temperature of the substrate 6 (soaking accuracy) as much as possible, the end face of the substrate 6 or the substrate 6 is used. It is more desirable to use a pitch feed mechanism with a transfer arm that holds the back surface of the sheet by point contact or line contact.

Next, in the first heating furnace 2, the infrared heater 2 b is installed on the upper surface side of the substrate 6 so as to face the substrate 6 arranged in a box-shaped chamber.
The infrared heater 2b of the first heating furnace 2 has a heating element disposed inside a panel-shaped heat sink in which a far infrared radiation ceramic layer such as zirconia or alumina is coated on one or both sides with a thickness of 0.01 to 0.2 mm. The far-infrared rays are emitted from the far-infrared radiation ceramic layer by heating the heat sink by the internal heating element. The panel-type infrared heater 2b is arranged above the position where the substrate 6 is installed so that the far-infrared ceramic layer faces the substrate 6, and the upper surface of the substrate 6 is heated by radiation.

At this time, in order to ensure the soaking accuracy of the substrate 6 to be heated, the infrared heaters 2b are arranged in a panel-like shape appropriately divided so that each panel has a uniform temperature distribution in the surface of the substrate 6. Alternatively, a mechanism capable of controlling the temperature may be used. For example, since heat easily escapes from the end surface of the substrate 6 as compared to the center of the substrate 6, a method of increasing the output of the infrared heaters at both ends of the substrate 6 than the infrared heater directly above the center of the substrate 6 can be considered. Further, a side heater for auxiliary heating made of an infrared heater may be disposed on both sides of the first heating furnace 2 so that the peripheral edge of the installed substrate 6 is auxiliary heated.
Here, an example using a panel-type far infrared heater has been introduced, but a plurality of rod-shaped far infrared heaters and near infrared lamp heaters may be used instead.

  The first heating furnace 2 is provided with a supply port and an exhaust port for an inert gas such as nitrogen gas or argon gas, and maintains an inert gas atmosphere in the first heating furnace 2 and volatilizes in the room. Keep the solvent concentration below a certain level. The temperature of the supplied inert gas may be room temperature or heated, but the inert gas injected into the room does not directly hit the substrate 6 so as not to reduce the soaking accuracy of the substrate 6. It is necessary to install a supply port at a position, and it is preferable to install a wind direction plate or the like.

Next, in the second heating furnace 3, multistage shelves 3b with a pitch of about 20 to 100 mm are installed in a box sealed in a box shape, and have been conveyed from the first heating furnace 2 to each stage of the shelves 3b. Means for inserting the substrate 6 are provided. For example, the entire shelf 3b is moved up and down, and the shelf 3b is moved up and down so that the height of the shelf into which the substrate 6 is inserted is the same height as the pass line of the first heating furnace 2, and supported by a holding arm or the like. A method of translating the substrate 6 from the first heating furnace 2 to a desired shelf 3b of the shelf of the second heating furnace 3 can be considered. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the shelf 3 b may be a fixed type, and a system using a transfer robot 3 c that can move up and down the arm that receives the substrate 6 may be used.

  The multi-stage shelf 3b in the second heating furnace 3 does not have side walls, a floor surface, or a top plate, and is configured with only a necessary minimum frame, and has a structure in which hot air circulating in the second heating furnace 3 easily passes, The holding of the substrate 6 on the shelf holds the end surface of the substrate 6 and the back surface of the substrate 6 by point contact or line contact.

  The inside of the second heating furnace 3 is a hot air circulation type oven using an inert gas, and has a mechanism that keeps the room temperature at a predetermined temperature. The substrates 6 heated uniformly from normal temperature to a predetermined temperature in the first heating furnace 2 are installed in multiple stages on the shelf 3b of the temperature-controlled room, so that the surface temperature of the substrate 6 is maintained at a predetermined temperature for a desired time. It becomes possible to do. As the number of the shelves 3b increases, the temperature holding time of the substrates 6 becomes longer and the number of substrates received per unit time can be increased, but the floor area of the apparatus increases like a continuous furnace. In addition, since the second heating furnace 3 is a hot-air circulating oven, it is easy to maintain the temperature without installing a heater for each stage of the shelf, and the energy consumption is much lower than that of a multi-stage furnace using an infrared heater. It can be suppressed.

  The first heating furnace 2 and the second heating furnace 3 are connected to each other through the substrate transfer port 3a. Since both are in an inert gas atmosphere, the substrate transfer port 3a may not be shut off. Since the airflow from the oven may affect the soaking accuracy of the substrate 6 in the first heating furnace 2, it is more desirable that the substrate transport port 3a is closed by a shutter or the like except when the substrate 6 is transported.

Next, there is a cooling chamber 4 connected to the second heating furnace 3 through a substrate transfer port 4a. The cooling chamber 4 is sealed in a box shape, and the substrate transport port 4a on the second heating furnace 3 side and the substrate transport port 5a on the next discharge side load lock chamber 5 side are shielded by a shutter except when the substrate 6 is transported. Yes. The high temperature substrate 6 conveyed from the second heating furnace 3 is held in the cooling chamber 4, and the substrate 6 is cooled by being cut off from the heated atmosphere of the second heating furnace 3. The cooling chamber 4 also has a mechanism for circulating a normal temperature inert gas so as to suppress deterioration of the organic mechanism layer formed on the substrate 6.
In order to promote cooling of the substrate 6, a mechanism for blowing an inert gas at normal temperature directly onto the substrate 6, a mechanism for directly cooling or radiative cooling from the back surface of the substrate 6 with a water cooling jacket, and a cooling wall for circulating cooling the wall surface of the cooling chamber 4. You may attach the mechanism etc. which continue cooling with water.

  Next, there is a discharge side load lock chamber 5 connected to the cooling chamber 4 and the substrate transfer port 5a. A step having a mechanism similar to that of the loading-side load lock chamber 1 and closing the shutter of the substrate discharge port 5a to replace the atmosphere in the discharge-side load lock chamber 5 with an inert gas atmosphere; The process of opening the 5a shutter of the transfer port and loading the substrate 6 into the discharge side load lock chamber 5, and closing the shutter of the substrate transfer port 5a from the cooling chamber 4, then opening the shutter of the substrate discharge port 5b and opening the substrate 6 It operates in the process of discharging out of the device.

  With this heating and drying apparatus, the substrate has a temperature variation within the range of 5 ° C. even when the temperature is raised to a desired temperature in the range of 100 to 250 ° C., and the desired temperature when holding the temperature at the desired temperature of 100 to 250 ° C. Bake treatment within ± 1.5 ° C could be performed.

  Moreover, the following mechanism etc. can also be considered as another Example of the heat drying apparatus by this invention.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the inside of the loading-side load lock chamber 11 is a first heating furnace, the shutter of the substrate loading port 1a is opened, and the substrate 6 is loaded into the loading-side load lock chamber 11, A step of closing the shutter of the substrate loading port 1a and replacing the atmosphere in the loading side load-lock chamber / first heating furnace 11 with an inert gas atmosphere, a step of radiating superheating the substrate 6 to a predetermined temperature with an infrared heater, and a second step In this method, the shutter at the connection port with the heating furnace 3 is opened and the substrate 6 is transported into the second heating furnace 3.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the discharge side load lock chamber 51 is a cooling chamber, and the shutter of the substrate discharge port 5b is closed to replace the atmosphere in the discharge side load lock chamber 5 with an inert gas atmosphere. Next, the shutter of the substrate transfer port 5a from the second heating furnace 3 is opened, the step of loading the substrate 6 into the discharge-side load lock chamber / cooling chamber 51, and the substrate transfer port 5a from the second heating furnace 3 This is a system that operates in a step of closing the shutter and cooling the substrate 6 to a desired temperature, and a step of opening the shutter of the substrate discharge port 5b and discharging the substrate 6 out of the apparatus.

  Hereinafter, an example in which the heat drying apparatus of the present invention is applied to drying of an organic EL element will be described. The configuration of the organic EL element in a sectional view is shown in FIG.

  First, a pixel electrode 22 patterned as an anode is provided on a substrate 21 made of glass. As the material of the pixel electrode 22, transparent electrode materials such as ITO (indium tin composite oxide), IZO (indium zinc composite oxide), tin oxide, zinc oxide, indium oxide, and aluminum oxide composite oxide can be used. ITO is preferred because of its low resistance, solvent resistance, transparency, and the like. ITO is formed on the substrate by a sputtering method and patterned by a photolithography method to form a line-shaped pixel electrode 22.

  After the line-shaped pixel electrode 22 is formed, an insulating partition wall 23 is formed by a photolithography method using a photosensitive material between adjacent pixel electrodes. The photosensitive material for forming the partition wall 23 may be either a positive resist or a negative resist, and may be a commercially available one, but it needs to have sufficient insulation. Note that if the partition does not have sufficient insulation, a current flows to the adjacent pixel electrode through the partition and a display defect occurs. Specific examples thereof include polyimide, acrylic resin, novolac resin, and fluorene, but are not limited thereto. Further, for the purpose of improving the display quality of the organic EL element, a light shielding material may be included in the photosensitive material.

  The photosensitive resin forming the partition wall 23 is applied using a coating method such as a spin coater, bar coater, roll coater, die coater, or gravure coater, and is patterned by a photolithography method. Alternatively, the insulating layer may be formed using a gravure offset printing method, a reverse printing method, a flexographic printing method, an inkjet printing method, or the like without using a photosensitive resin.

  After forming the partition wall 23 as described above, the hole transport layer 24 is formed.

  As the hole transport material forming the hole transport layer 24, a polyaniline derivative, a polythiophene derivative, a polyvinyl carbazole (PVK) derivative, poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), or the like may be used. These materials are dissolved or dispersed in a solvent to form a hole transport material ink, and formed by various coating methods such as letterpress printing, gravure printing, reverse offset printing, spin coater, bar coater, roll coater, die coater, and gravure coater. can do.

  Further, as the hole transport material for forming the hole transport layer 24, in addition to the organic compounds, inorganic oxides such as vanadium oxide (VOx), molybdenum oxide (MoOx), nickel oxide (NiOx), etc. Is mentioned. These materials can be formed by various deposition methods such as sputtering and resistance heating.

  The hole transport layer 24 is provided to lower the injection barrier so that holes are easily injected from the pixel electrode 22 into the interlayer 25a and the organic light emitting layer 25.

Next to the hole transport layer 24, an interlayer 25a is formed. Interlayer 25
a is a function as an electron blocking layer that blocks electrons moving from the organic light emitting layer 25 to the anode side and increases the charge coupling probability in the organic light emitting layer, and is due to contact between the excited organic light emitting material and the hole transport layer. It is installed for the purpose of preventing quenching and preventing a decrease in luminous efficiency due to a chemical reaction between an organic light emitting material and a hole transport material.

  As a material used for the interlayer 25a, a polymer material such as polyarylene, polyarylene vinylene, or polyfluorene, or a mixture of these polymers with a low molecule such as an aromatic amine can be used. In particular, poly (2,7- (9,9-di-n-octylfluorene) -alt- (1,4-phenylene-((4-sec-butylphenyl) amino) -1,4-phenylene) In general, the interlayer 25a is insolubilized by heat treatment at about 200 ° C. for 10 minutes or longer after the formation of the interlayer 25a and before the formation of the organic light emitting layer in order to avoid color mixing with the organic light emitting layer. .

  Next, the organic light emitting layer 25 is formed.

  As a method for forming the organic light emitting layer 25, when separate coating is required, a printing method such as relief printing, gravure printing, reverse offset printing, an ink jet method, or the like can be used. Examples of the organic light emitting material for forming the organic light emitting layer 5 include coumarin-based, perylene-based, pyran-based, anthrone-based, porphyrin-based, quinacridone-based, N, N′-dialkyl-substituted quinacridone-based, naphthalimide-based, N, N′-. Diaryl-substituted pyrrolopyrrole, iridium complex, and other luminescent dyes dispersed in polymers such as polystyrene, polymethylmethacrylate, polyvinylcarbazole, and polyarylene, polyarylene vinylene, and polyfluorene polymers Examples of the material include, but are not limited to, the present invention.

  These organic light emitting materials are dissolved or stably dispersed in a solvent to form an organic light emitting ink. Examples of the solvent for dissolving or dispersing the organic light emitting material include toluene, xylene, acetone, anisole, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, cyclohexanone, or a mixed solvent thereof. Among them, aromatic organic solvents such as toluene, xylene, and anisole are preferable from the viewpoint of the solubility of the organic light emitting material. Moreover, surfactant, antioxidant, a viscosity modifier, a ultraviolet absorber, etc. may be added to organic luminescent ink as needed.

  In addition to the hole transport layer, the interlayer layer, and the organic light emitting layer, a layered structure in which layers such as a hole block layer, an electron transport layer, and an electron injection layer are selected as necessary can be employed. Moreover, when these layers are formed by a coating method, the forming method of the present invention can be used. That is, the layer formed using the coating method needs to be dried to remove the solvent, and for this purpose, the heat drying apparatus of the present invention can be used. After each layer is formed, the substrate is placed in the heating and drying apparatus, and is heated and dried in the heating and drying process described above. The heat drying may be performed by installing in the apparatus for each layer formed by coating, or may be performed after forming a plurality of layers depending on circumstances.

  If the said heating-drying method is used, after heating with an infrared heater, temperature control in a fixed temperature atmosphere can be made easy by heating-drying with a hot-air circulation furnace. For this reason, the damage at the time of a heating is suppressed, and furthermore, according to the heating and drying apparatus of the present invention, heating and drying can be performed with saving space and energy.

Next, after forming the light emitting medium layer including the organic light emitting layer 25 as described above, the cathode layer 6 is formed in a line pattern orthogonal to the line pattern of the pixel electrode. As the material of the cathode layer 26, a material according to the light emitting characteristics of the organic light emitting layer can be used. For example, a simple metal such as lithium, magnesium, calcium, ytterbium, and aluminum or a stable metal such as gold or silver can be used. And alloys thereof. Alternatively, a conductive oxide such as indium, zinc, or tin can be used. Examples of the method for forming the cathode layer include a method using a vacuum vapor deposition method using a mask.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing an organic film coated on a substrate. Moreover, it is related with the manufacturing apparatus of organic EL including a drying process.
The heat drying apparatus and the heat drying method according to the present invention are applied when an electronic circuit is formed by a coating method using a coating liquid containing an organic thin film transistor, an electronic device such as an organic solar cell, or a conductive material. can do.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Input side load lock chamber 1a ... Substrate input port 2 ... First heating furnace 2a ... Substrate conveyance port 2b ... Infrared heater 3 ... Second heating furnace 3a ... Substrate Transfer port 3b ... Shelves 3c ... Substrate transfer robot 4 ... Cooling chamber 4a ... Substrate transfer port 5 ... Discharge load lock chamber 5a ... Substrate transfer port 5b ... Substrate discharge port 6... Substrate 7... Substrate transfer arm 11... Loading side load lock chamber / first heating furnace 51... Discharge side load lock chamber / cooling chamber 21. ... Insulating partition wall 24 ... Hole transport layer 25a ... Interlayer 25 ... Organic light emitting layer 26 ... Cathode layer 27 ... Glass cap 28 ... Adhesive

Claims (7)

At least a first heating furnace for heating the substrate to a predetermined temperature by an infrared heater furnace, a second heating furnace for maintaining the substrate heated to the predetermined temperature at a high temperature in a hot-air circulating multistage furnace,
A heating and drying apparatus comprising:   The heating and drying apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a cooling chamber for lowering the temperature of the substrate taken out of the second heating furnace to at least 50 ° C. or less.   3. The heating and drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein all or one of the first heating furnace, the second heating furnace, and the cooling chamber has a sealed structure capable of keeping an inert gas atmosphere airtight. .   The heating and drying apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a load lock chamber having means for replacing the atmosphere and an inert gas atmosphere on the substrate input side and the discharge side.   5. The heat drying according to claim 4, wherein either or both of the first heating furnace and the cooling chamber are accommodated in a load lock chamber having means for replacing the atmosphere with an inert gas atmosphere. apparatus. Heating the substrate on which the coating film is formed to a predetermined temperature in an infrared heater furnace;
Moving the substrate to a hot-air circulating multi-stage furnace maintained at the predetermined temperature, and drying by heating;
A heat drying method characterized by comprising:   An organic EL device manufactured using the heating and drying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

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