JP2022003159A - Vapor deposition apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a low cost vapor deposition apparatus capable of a vapor deposition with a high material utilization efficiency.SOLUTION: A vapor deposition apparatus deposits a film of a material for forming a thin film on a surface to be deposited by spraying. A high-vacuum film deposit room includes a shower head housing, inside of which is in a medium-vacuum and which is heated to a first predetermined temperature within a spray temperature range between a vaporization temperature and a thermal decomposition temperature by a shower head housing heating device. A surface facing the surface to be deposited is a shower head surface configured by one main surface of a flat plane having multiple gas discharge holes capable of spraying. The vapor deposition apparatus further includes: a plane shower head surface mask capable of closing a part of multiple gas discharge holes by mounting the shower head surface, the shower head surface mask mounted being heated to a second predetermined temperature within the spray temperature range by contact conductive heat transfer with the shower head surface; and a mask drive part capable of mounting the shower head surface mask in a high vacuum.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a vapor deposition apparatus. The present invention is suitable, for example, as a vapor deposition apparatus used for manufacturing an organic EL (Electroluminescence) apparatus.

In recent years, organic EL devices have attracted attention as lighting devices that replace fluorescent lamps and LEDs, and much research has been conducted. Further, in display members typified by televisions, the organic EL method has attracted attention and has been commercialized as a method that replaces the liquid crystal method and the plasma method.

Here, the organic EL device is a device in which an organic EL element is laminated on a base material such as a glass substrate or a transparent resin film.

Further, the organic EL element is a device in which two electrodes having translucency on one side or both of them are opposed to each other, and a light emitting layer made of an organic compound is laminated between the electrodes. The organic EL device emits light by the energy of recombination between electrically excited electrons and holes.

Since the organic EL device is a self-luminous device, a high-contrast image can be obtained when used as a display material. Further, by appropriately selecting the material of the light emitting layer, light of various wavelengths can be emitted. In addition, since the thickness is extremely thin compared to fluorescent lamps, there are few restrictions on the installation location, and since the light is emitted in a planar shape, shadows are less likely to be formed compared to LEDs having strong directivity.

A typical layer structure of an organic EL device is a structure called a bottom emission type, in which a transparent electrode layer, a functional layer, and a back surface electrode layer are laminated on a glass substrate, and these are sealed by a sealing portion. It was done.

The functional layer is a stack of thin films of a plurality of organic compounds. A typical functional layer 0 has a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, a light emitting layer, and an electron transport layer.

The organic EL device is manufactured by sequentially forming the above-mentioned layers on the film-forming surface X of the base material (glass substrate) 0.

Among the above-mentioned layers, the transparent electrode layer is a transparent conductive film such as indium tin oxide (ITO), and is mainly formed by a sputtering method or a CVD method, and the functional layer is a plurality of organic as described above. A thin film of a compound is laminated, and each thin film can be formed by a vacuum vapor deposition method. The back surface electrode layer is a metal thin film such as aluminum or silver, and can be formed by a vacuum vapor deposition method. ..

As described above, when manufacturing an organic EL device, a vacuum vapor deposition method is often used in the step of forming a thin film constituting each layer. Here, the vacuum vapor deposition method is a technique for forming a film using, for example, a vapor deposition apparatus as disclosed in Patent Document 1.

That is, the vapor deposition apparatus is generally composed of a film forming chamber held in a vacuum and an evaporation apparatus for evaporating a thin film forming material. In the film forming chamber, a base material such as a glass substrate can be installed.

A general evaporator is composed of a heating device using an electric resistance or an electron beam, and a crucible for putting a material for forming a thin film.

A vapor deposition method in which a vapor-containing gas is sprayed onto a substrate having a limited film-forming area using such a mask or the like causes a part of the material to adhere to the mask or the like and reduces the material utilization efficiency, so improvement is desired. Is done.

Further, as a vapor deposition apparatus for manufacturing a multilayer thin film product manufactured by continuously performing a plurality of types of film forming such as an organic EL panel, a large number of film forming chambers are arranged like a cluster method or an in-line method. However, there is a problem that it becomes an expensive device, and improvement is desired.

Patent Document 1 has a plurality of dispersion containers having a material discharge unit having a discharge port as a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus capable of forming a plurality of materials as a film having a plurality of layers in one film forming chamber, and the dispersion containers are opened and closed respectively. It is connected to an evaporation cell that evaporates the material via means, and the evaporation cells of multiple materials that have a common temperature range between the evaporation temperature and the thermal decomposition temperature can be connected and discharged via the opening and closing means, respectively. A device provided with a heating device for heating to a predetermined temperature between the evaporation temperature and the thermal decomposition temperature of the material is disclosed, and the dispersion container corresponding to the heating device having a lower heating temperature is closer to the surface to be vapor-deposited. It is important to place it on the side, and the specification further states that the dispersion container closest to the vaporized surface is to be able to selectively open and close the discharge port of each dispersion container. It is described that a shutter plate that slides along the surface of the dispersion container and has an opening for opening / closing is provided between the surface and the surface to be vapor-deposited.

Patent Document 2 is an organic layer vapor deposition apparatus suitable for a mass production process of a large substrate and capable of high-definition patterning. According to the description of claim 4, a flat plate-shaped first vapor deposition source shutter and a second vapor deposition source shutter are provided. Disclosed an apparatus in which a part of the vapor deposition sources provided in the apparatus is opened or closed by the movement of these shutters, specifically, according to the description of [0074], these. The shutter is shaped like a flat plate and can move in the same direction as the substrate moves, so that only the vapor deposition material from the target vapor deposition source is detected during touring work to measure the film formation speed of each vapor deposition source. In addition, it plays a role in blocking vapor-film deposition substances emitted from other vapor-film deposition sources.

Japanese Patent No. 5036264 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-09954

The inventor of the present invention has described the concept of a film surface mask to be manufactured, which is generally adhered and fixed and arranged so as to cover the film surface X for pattern formation, by limiting the material spraying region, not the film forming region. It was thought that the above-mentioned problems could be solved by applying the above-mentioned problem, that is, the vapor deposition with high material utilization efficiency could be carried out by an inexpensive device, and the vapor deposition method was enthusiastically studied.

As a result of the above examination, the present inventor is complicated and expensive only by placing the shower head surface mask on the shower head surface according to the present invention because the film forming chamber is high vacuum in the thin film deposition according to the present invention. It has been found that the material spraying area can be sufficiently limited and thin film deposition with high material utilization efficiency is possible without adding or integrating the mechanism related to the close contact fixing such as the film surface mask to be formed. , The present invention has been made.

That is, the present invention is an evaporator that generates a steam-containing gas containing steam of a thin film-forming material, a high-vacuum film-forming chamber that coats the thin-film forming material on a film-forming surface via the steam-containing gas. A thin-film deposition device that has a shower head housing heating device and an exhaust system, and coats the thin film forming material on the film surface to be formed by spraying.
The membrane-forming chamber is inside it.
The inside is a medium vacuum shower head housing,
The shower head housing includes a shower head housing that is heated to a first predetermined temperature within a spray temperature range between the evaporation temperature and the thermal decomposition temperature of the thin film forming material by the shower head housing heating device.
The surface of the shower head housing facing the film-forming surface is
It is a shower head surface composed of one main surface of a flat plate having a plurality of sprayable gas discharge holes, and further.
A shower head surface mask capable of closing a part of the plurality of gas discharge holes by being placed on the shower head surface is included.
The placed shower head surface mask is heated to a second predetermined temperature within the spray temperature range by conduction heat transfer due to contact with the shower head surface, and is
The present invention relates to a vapor deposition apparatus including a mask driving unit on which the shower head surface mask can be placed in the high vacuum.

According to such a vapor deposition apparatus, in a vapor deposition apparatus capable of depositing thin film films of a plurality of types and patterns in one film forming chamber, gas is released corresponding to the film forming region of the film forming surface of the base material. Since the shower head surface mask can be placed under high vacuum so as not to block the holes and to close the other gas discharge holes, it is possible to concentrate the steam-containing gas only on the film-forming area. In addition, since the film formation of the material on the non-film-forming region can be suppressed, the material utilization efficiency is improved even with an inexpensive device, and the frequency of cleaning that needs to be performed by opening the film-forming chamber to the atmosphere is reduced. As will be described later, multiple shower head surface masks are prepared in the stacker or combined with each other so as to form a pattern corresponding to the arrangement of the film forming area on the film forming surface of the base material. Can be used. Further, since the vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention is excellent in principle in the variability of the number of gas discharge holes and the opening area, the possibility of optimizing the vapor deposition conditions for each film forming type is increased, and improvement of the film quality can be expected.

Further, the vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention preferably further includes a plurality of the shower head surface masks, and the mask driving mechanism is a non-mounted shower not previously described for the shower head surface mask. It is preferable that the head surface mask and the mounted shower head surface mask described above can be replaced, and the film forming area can be changed without opening the film forming chamber to the atmosphere, so that the degree of freedom of the film forming pattern is high. Not only can the cleaning frequency be reduced, but the operating rate can be improved because the cleaning frequency can be reduced.

Further, in the vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention, the film can be formed in a state where two or more of the shower head surface masks are combined and placed in advance at the same time, and even a small number of types of shower head surface masks can be applied. By using these in combination, it is possible to correspond to various film forming regions.

Further, the vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention preferably further includes a film surface mask to be manufactured, and the film surface mask to be manufactured may be arranged so as to cover the film surface to be manufactured by the mask driving mechanism. More preferably, the shower head surface mask according to the present invention and the film surface mask to be manufactured have a common transport operation, and the mask is placed on the shower head surface or the film surface to be manufactured according to the present invention. Alternatively, since the operation of arrangement can be realized by the same drive mechanism, the installation area and cost of the device can be reduced.

Further, the vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention preferably further has a mask storage chamber (stacker) for storing one or more selected from the group consisting of the shower head surface mask and the film surface mask to be manufactured. By sharing the shower head surface mask and the film surface mask for the stacker, which is the storage room for the mask, which is normally maintained in a vacuum, the installation area and cost of the device can be reduced.

Further, the vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention preferably includes a gas supply system.
More preferably, the evaporator is supplied with carrier gas from the gas supply system, and
A gas carrier surface vapor deposition apparatus in which a vapor-containing gas containing the carrier gas is supplied from the evaporator side to the shower head housing.
Particularly preferred is a device having a specific structure including a gas ejection nozzle and a shower head housing, and the effect of the present invention can be more effectively achieved.

Since the vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention can concentrate the vapor-containing gas only on the film-forming region, it is possible to suppress the film formation of the material on the non-film-forming region, and basically, the film-forming region is coated. Since the raw material is consumed only in the membrane, even if it is an inexpensive device, the material utilization efficiency is improved and the operation rate is high.

It is an example of the cross-sectional conceptual diagram of the vapor deposition apparatus 100 of this invention. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the shower head surface Y of FIG. 1 as viewed from the film surface X side. It is an example of the cross-sectional conceptual diagram of the shower head housing 11 which concerns on this invention.

Hereinafter, examples of embodiments of the present invention will be described. The present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the common general knowledge of those skilled in the art. Further, in the following description, for the sake of explanation, FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 relating to the present invention are described with reference numerals, but the description of the reference numerals does not impose any restrictions on the present invention. No.

(Evaporation device 100)
FIG. 1 is an example of a conceptual cross-sectional view of the vapor deposition apparatus 100 of the present invention.

The vapor deposition apparatus 100 of the present invention is an apparatus for forming a thin film-forming material on the film-forming surface X via the vapor-containing gas by spraying the vapor-containing gas onto the film-forming surface X. A chamber 10, a shower head surface mask 111, a shower head housing heating device 20, an evaporative device 30, a mask drive mechanism 50, and an exhaust system 70 are included, preferably further, a film surface mask 555 to be formed, a mask storage chamber (stacker). One feature is that the film forming chamber 10 includes the shower head housing 11 on which the shower head surface mask 111 is placed, and the mask drive mechanism 50 is specified. The mechanism 50 of the above is also a feature, and may include one or a plurality of vaporizers 30. Although FIG. 1 shows an example including only one vaporizer 30, each of them The structure and the number of series of the evaporating device 30 are not limited.

The vapor deposition apparatus 100 of the present invention is preferably a gas carrier surface vapor deposition apparatus 100 in which a vapor-containing gas containing a carrier gas is supplied to the shower head housing 11 from the evaporator 30 side. (Base material 0)
The main surface of the base material 0 according to the present invention is the film-forming surface X according to the present invention, for example, a glass substrate. As the transparent electrode layer 120, a layer made of a transparent conductive material such as ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) is generally formed.

(Material for thin film formation)
As the thin film forming material according to the present invention, various materials can be used as long as they can be vaporized by heating and the vapor can be formed on the film surface X to be formed by cooling, but they are solid at room temperature and powder. It is preferable that the material can be introduced into the vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention from the viewpoint of fully exerting the effect of the present invention, and examples thereof include an organic EL material constituting an organic EL element.

Such a thin film forming material according to the present invention is, for example, introduced into the evaporator 30 from a material storage container, vaporized by the evaporator 30, and then used as a vapor-containing gas containing the vapor of the thin film forming material. It is supplied to the shower head housing 11 according to the present invention, and then a film is formed on the base material 0.

Here, the ratio of the material that contributes to the film deposition among the introduced thin film forming materials is generally called the material utilization efficiency, and it varies depending on how the calculation standard is taken, but it is the same. The amount of introduced material in a steady state when only the material is vapor-deposited for a long time and stabilized, and the amount of the introduced material that the base material 0 forms a film on the assumption that it has the same area as the stage of the base material holding portion 112 on which the material is placed. Can be defined as the absolute material utilization efficiency, and can be used as one of the performance evaluation scales for thin-film deposition equipment.

One of the features of the vapor deposition apparatus 100 of the present invention is that such material utilization efficiency is high.

(Membrane forming chamber 10)
The film-forming chamber 10 according to the present invention sprays a steam-containing gas on the base material holding portion 112 capable of holding the base material 0 and the film-forming surface X of the held base material 0. By having the flat plate 11Y having a plurality of gas discharge holes Y1 as the shower head surface Y which is a surface facing the film-forming surface X as one main surface thereof, the steam-containing gas can be sprayed on the film-forming surface X. The shower head housing 11 is included, has airtightness, and is directly or indirectly connected to the exhaust system 70 to reduce the pressure, so that at least the thin film forming material is applied to the film surface X to be formed. During film formation by vapor deposition, that is, during operation of the vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention, the chamber is maintained at a high vacuum, for example, a degree of vacuum of 500 Pa or less, and preferably, a base material is contained in the film forming chamber 10. It has a gate valve for loading and unloading 0.

In one embodiment, the base material 0 is introduced into the film forming chamber 10 via a gate valve and placed on the base material holding portion 112. Next, the vapor-containing gas is blown out toward the base material 0 through the shower head housing 11, so that film formation is performed.

(Base material holding portion 112)
The base material holding portion 112 has a function of holding the base material 0 in the film forming chamber 10 as described above, but more preferably, the base material temperature rises due to radiant heat of the heated shower head housing 11. It has a structure that can cool the base material in order to suppress the above.

(Shower head housing 11)
The shower head housing 11 according to the present invention is a housing that can be sprayed according to the present invention, and the inside thereof is maintained at a medium vacuum, for example, a vacuum degree of 100 Pa or more and 1000 Pa or less at the time of film formation according to the present invention. In addition, the shower head housing heating device 20 according to the present invention can heat the thin film forming material to a first predetermined temperature within the spray temperature range between the evaporation temperature and the thermal decomposition temperature. It is one of the features.

Further, the shower head housing 11 according to the present invention has a plurality of gas discharge holes Y1 in which the shower head surface Y, which is one main surface of the shower head housing 11 facing the film surface X to be formed, carries out the spraying according to the present invention. It is composed of one main surface of the flat plate 11Y to have.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the shower head surface Y of FIG. 1 as viewed from the film surface X side.

That is, the shower head surface Y is a gas discharge portion that blows out steam-containing gas preferably uniformly to the film surface X side of the base material 0 with an appropriate opening pattern as a blowing portion for spraying according to the present invention. It has a plurality of holes Y1 and is a surface on which the shower head surface mask 111 according to the present invention is placed. In FIG. 2, for such a gas discharge hole Y1, the unclosed gas discharge hole Y1 according to the present invention is represented by a solid black circle in the center, and the closed gas discharge hole Y1 according to the present invention is left and right. Many are described as broken black circles in both parts.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the shower head housing 11 according to the present invention preferably has a low vacuum inside, for example, a vacuum of 1000 Pa or more and 10,000 Pa or less at the time of film formation according to the present invention. Includes a plurality of gas ejection nozzles 11N, which are maintained every time.

FIG. 3 is an example of a conceptual cross-sectional view of the shower head housing 11 according to the present invention.

(Shower head surface mask 111)
The shower head surface mask 111 according to the present invention can close a part of the plurality of gas discharge holes Y1 described above by being placed on the shower head surface Y, and is in contact with the shower head surface Y. By conduction heat transfer, it is heated to a second predetermined temperature within the above-mentioned spray temperature range.

A plurality of such shower head surface masks 111 are preferably included in the vapor deposition apparatus 100 of the present invention, and more preferably, two or more such shower head surface masks 111 can be applied in combination and mounted at the same time. Further, the film-forming according to the present invention is carried out including two types of masks, a non-mounted shower head surface mask that is not mounted and a mounted shower head surface mask.

(Film surface mask 555)
The film-forming surface mask 555 according to the present invention is arranged so as to cover the film-forming surface X by the mask drive mechanism 50 according to the present invention, and instead of the film-forming surface X at the time of film formation according to the present invention. It is a mask generally called a shadow mask that limits the area where a film is formed on the film surface X to be formed by forming a film.

(Shower head housing heating device 20)
The shower head housing heating device 20 according to the present invention is a device having a function of heating the shower head housing 11 to the above-mentioned first predetermined temperature.

(Evaporator 30)
The evaporation device 30 according to the present invention generates a vapor-containing gas containing the vapor of the thin film-forming material by vaporizing the supplied thin-film-forming material, preferably as a powder, and the generated vapor-containing gas. Is a device for supplying the above-mentioned gas ejection nozzle 11N to the shower head housing 11 according to the present invention.

It is preferable that the evaporator 30 can introduce a carrier gas heated from the gas supply system 80, and more preferably, the thin film forming material supplied as a powder stays at the bottom of the evaporator 30 as a powder. In this state, the flash is evaporated by the above-mentioned heating carrier gas.

Here, the evaporator 30 is preferably composed of a spiral pipe from the viewpoint of efficiently exchanging heat between the heating carrier gas and the thin film forming material, and the spiral pipe is the inner circumference thereof. And it is more preferable that it is configured to be uniformly heated from the outer periphery.

Further, it is preferable that the evaporator 30 can be exhausted independently by an exhaust system 70 directly connected to the evaporator 30 via a pipe or a valve. By doing so, for example, the inside of the evaporator 30 is heated by a carrier gas. Since it can be individually cleaned, the amount of impurities in the formed film is maintained low, and the film quality is stably maintained at a high level, which is preferable.

Furthermore, the pressure in the evaporation device 30 is preferably controllable from the viewpoint of maintaining the material evaporation efficiency sufficiently, and in order to enable this control, it is arranged in the transfer path of the vapor-containing gas. It is preferable that the partition valve has an adjustable opening degree.

(Mask drive mechanism 50)
The mask drive mechanism 50 according to the present invention includes the shower head surface mask drive unit 511 on which the shower head surface mask 111 can be placed in the high vacuum according to the present invention, and further, the film surface mask 555 according to the present invention. It is preferable that the above-mentioned non-mounted shower head surface mask and the mounted shower head surface mask can be exchanged.

Such a mask drive mechanism 50 preferably relates to the present invention from a state in which the shower head surface mask 111 and the film surface mask 555 stored in the mask storage chamber (stacker) 60, which will be described later, are stored. It can be moved and adjusted in position when it is placed or placed.

(Mask storage room (stacker) 60)
In the storage chamber (stacker) 60 according to the present invention, at least one, preferably two or more, more preferably one or more selected from the group consisting of the shower head surface mask 111 and the film surface mask 555. It has a function to store one or more of each type.

(Exhaust system 70)
The exhaust system 70 according to the present invention is composed of a vacuum exhaust pump such as a dry pump, pipes and valves connecting the vacuum exhaust pump such as a dry pump, a film forming chamber 10, an evaporating device 30, a gas supply system 80, and the like, and is connected to the equipment. It is necessary to select an appropriate vacuum exhaust pump according to the intended use, and it is preferable that each facility is provided with a separate exhaust system 70.

Further, it is preferable to connect the independent exhaust system 70 to the film forming chamber 10 and the evaporation device 30 because the film forming chamber 10 and the evaporation device 30 can be exhausted individually. With such an apparatus configuration, for example, while the evaporation of the thin film forming material is unstable, it is sent to the exhaust system through the partition valve, and after the evaporation is stabilized, it is sent to the shower head housing 11 through the partition valve. Can be sent out.

Further, it is preferable that the exhaust valve connecting the film forming chamber 10 and the exhaust system 70 is a valve capable of controlling the opening degree because the film forming speed and the like can be controlled by adjusting the pressure inside the film forming chamber.

It is preferable that the membrane-forming chamber 10 can be highly evacuated in the membrane-forming chamber 10 by using a dry pump, TMP (turbo molecular pump) or CP (cryopump), and for example, residual water in the membrane-forming chamber can be removed. Therefore, it is preferable from the viewpoint of improving the quality of the thin film.

(Gas supply system 80)
The gas supply system 80 according to the present invention is a facility capable of supplying an inert gas such as argon or nitrogen, a cleaning gas, or a mixed gas obtained by mixing them in an arbitrary ratio to a plurality of devices, and is a partition. It can include valves, mass flow controllers, heat exchangers, for example, can supply heated carrier gas through heat exchangers, as well as cooling gas, degassing gas, extruding. Various gases can be supplied as the gas.

The gas supply system 80 according to the present invention preferably can supply the carrier gas to the evaporator 30, and more preferably can supply the heated carrier gas.

(Heating carrier gas)
The heated carrier gas according to the present invention is, in particular, the heated carrier gas that vaporizes the thin film forming material in the evaporator 30, and is specifically heated to, for example, about 100 ° C to 700 ° C. It is a nitrogen gas, an argon gas or the like, preferably an inert gas, more preferably a nitrogen gas, and preferably a heating carrier gas via a heat exchanger included in the gas supply system 80. It ’s better.

As the heat exchanger, a static mixer type gas pipe can also be used, and since the element inside the pipe and the carrier gas are in contact with each other for heating, the heat exchange efficiency can be improved.

In order to maintain the temperature of each device, pipe, valve, etc. that comes into contact with the heating carrier gas, it is important to heat them with a necessary ribbon heater, jacket heater, etc., and adjust the temperature by an appropriate control method. In particular, such temperature control is important in order to suppress the adhesion of the evaporated material and the deterioration of the material in the portion where the vapor-containing gas is sent or flows back.

(Film formation method)
Hereinafter, a specific example of the film forming method using the vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention will be described.

First, for example, a material storage container is filled with an appropriate amount of a thin film forming material and sealed. Subsequently, the material storage device is evacuated using the exhaust system 70, and the material is degassed.

For vacuum exhaust, it is preferable to carry out high vacuum exhaust using a dry pump, a turbo molecular pump, or a cryopump, and remove residual moisture and the like that lead to deterioration of the characteristics of the organic EL device and the like as much as possible.

Next, the temperature of each part is raised to a predetermined temperature by the heater installed in each part. The set temperature may be appropriately set according to the operation method and characteristics of the device, but if the temperature is set as low as possible within the range not below the boiling point of the thin film forming material, the evaporative material may adhere and the material may be prevented from deteriorating. Is preferable.

Separately, the base material 0 is charged into the film forming chamber 10 via the gate valve, and the base material 0 is held in the base material holding portion 112.

Separately, by driving the mask drive mechanism 50, the film to be formed has a predetermined opening from the stacker 60 so as to cover the film surface X to be formed and to have a predetermined film formation pattern. The surface mask 555 is placed via the gate valve.

Further, by driving the shower head surface mask drive unit 511, the shower head surface mask 111 is placed on the shower head surface Y from the stacker 60 so as to close the gas discharge hole Y1 in the region where film formation is unnecessary, and predetermined. The shower head surface is mounted via a gate valve so that the film-forming region of the above can be secured, and then the shower head housing 11 is heated to a first predetermined temperature by using the shower head housing heating device 20. The mask 111 is heated to a second predetermined temperature.

Next, the carrier gas is controlled to a predetermined flow rate and temperature via a mass flow controller or a heat exchanger and supplied to the evaporator 30 or the like.

Next, for example, the thin film forming material is supplied to the evaporation device 30 from the material supply device at a predetermined supply rate.

In this case, for example, by setting various conditions such as the flow rate and temperature of the carrier gas capable of evaporating the entire amount of the thin film forming material supplied to the evaporation device 30, the thin film forming material can be manufactured at the supply speed. The membrane velocity can be controlled.

Further, the internal pressure of the evaporation device 30 or the like can be efficiently evaporated by adjusting the opening degree of the partition valve or the like to about 10,000 Pa.

In this way, the vapor-containing gas containing the vapor of the thin film forming material generated in the evaporator 30 is discharged from the shower head housing 11 together with the carrier gas, cooled on the base material 0, and deposited to form a film. do.

In this case, the material utilization efficiency and the film formation distribution on the base material 0 change depending on the flow rate and temperature of the carrier gas discharged from the shower head housing 11.

In order to precisely control the amount of film formed on the base material 0, first, the vapor-containing gas of the thin film forming material is directly sent to the exhaust system 70, and after the evaporation rate of the thin film forming material is stabilized, a shower is taken. A method of flowing to the head housing 11 is preferable.

After the film formation is completed, for example, the material supply device may be stopped and the valve may be closed as appropriate.

In this way, using the vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention, the material adheres to the non-film-forming region on the film-forming surface X corresponding to the above-mentioned predetermined film-forming region in the above-mentioned predetermined film-forming pattern. The film is suppressed, that is, gas is not released in the gas discharge hole Y1 corresponding to the non-film-forming region, and such gas returns to the inside of the housing, so that the raw material is only applied to the film formation in the film-forming region. It is consumed and can be formed with high material utilization efficiency.

0. Base material (glass substrate)
100. Thin-film deposition equipment (gas carrier surface vapor deposition equipment)
10. Membrane-forming room 11. Shower head housing 11Y. Flat plate 11N. Gas ejection nozzle 111. Shower head surface mass 112. Base material holding part 20. Shower head housing heating device 30. Evaporator 50. Mask drive mechanism 511. Shower head surface mask drive unit 555. Film surface mask 60. Mask storage room (stacker)
70. Exhaust system 80. Gas supply system X. Film surface Y. Shower head surface Y1. Outgassing hole

Claims (7)

Evaporator that generates steam-containing gas containing steam of thin-film forming material, high-vacuum film-forming chamber that deposits the thin-film forming material on the film-forming surface via the steam-containing gas, shower head housing heating A thin-film deposition apparatus having an apparatus and an exhaust system, in which the thin film forming material is applied onto the film surface to be formed by spraying.
The membrane-forming chamber is inside it.
The inside is a medium vacuum shower head housing,
The shower head housing includes a shower head housing that is heated to a first predetermined temperature within a spray temperature range between the evaporation temperature and the thermal decomposition temperature of the thin film forming material by the shower head housing heating device.
The surface of the shower head housing facing the film-forming surface is
It is a shower head surface composed of one main surface of a flat plate having a plurality of sprayable gas discharge holes, and further.
A shower head surface mask capable of closing a part of the plurality of gas discharge holes by being placed on the shower head surface is included.
The placed shower head surface mask is heated to a second predetermined temperature within the spray temperature range by conduction heat transfer due to contact with the shower head surface, and is
A thin-film deposition apparatus comprising the mask drive unit on which the shower head surface mask can be placed in the high vacuum. Including multiple shower head surface masks
The mask drive mechanism is used for the shower head surface mask.
The vapor deposition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the non-placed shower head surface mask not previously placed and the mounted shower head surface mask previously placed can be replaced. The vapor deposition apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the shower head surface mask can be applied to the film in a state where two or more of them are combined and placed in advance. Further, it includes a film surface mask to be manufactured, and
The vapor deposition apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the film-forming surface mask is arranged so as to cover the film-forming surface by the mask driving mechanism. Further, it includes a film surface mask to be manufactured, and
The vapor deposition apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a mask storage chamber (stacker) for storing one or more selected from the group consisting of the shower head surface mask and the film surface mask to be formed. Further, the vapor deposition apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, which includes a gas gas supply system.
Carrier gas is supplied to the evaporator from the gas supply system, and
A gas carrier surface vapor deposition apparatus in which a vapor-containing gas containing the carrier gas is supplied from the evaporator side to the shower head housing. The vapor deposition apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the shower head housing includes a plurality of gas ejection nozzles having a low vacuum inside thereof.

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