JP2548387B2 - Liquid crystal alignment film manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing a liquid crystal alignment film which is laminated by oblique vapor deposition on the surface of a transparent insulating substrate for a liquid crystal display element.

2. Description of the Related Art There are several liquid crystal alignment treatment methods, of which the oblique vapor deposition method is known as the tilt alignment treatment. This oblique deposition method is the only one that can set the tilt angle of liquid crystal molecules. In this oblique vapor deposition method, SiO is selected as the substance to be evaporated, and the vapor flow of the substance to be evaporated is introduced to the substrate surface from an oblique angle. In the oblique vapor deposition method, when the incident angle θ of the vapor flow on the substrate surface is increased (it is generally known that θ> 70 °), an inclined column is formed, and the long axis of the liquid crystal molecule is formed. Along the column direction, the liquid crystal molecules are tilted and aligned with a certain tilt angle. Then, as a method for obtaining a vapor flow of SiO, SiO is filled in an evaporation source such as a quartz crucible or a tantalum crucible, and the Si is heated by using an appropriate heating means.
I was getting a steam flow of O.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, when SiO is selected as the material to be evaporated and an attempt is made to obtain a vapor flow of SiO by using an appropriate heating means for the SiO, the following problems occur. SiO The material to be vaporized is in the form of powder or lumps, and since SiO exhibits sublimable properties, the material to be vaporized SiO scatters inside the vacuum device, a so-called bumping phenomenon occurs, and In some cases, the department hit the board directly. Further, the thin film laminated on the substrate is represented by SiOx (however, 1X2), but the number of oxygen was indefinite. Due to these problems, it was not possible to control the film thickness in the substrate and obtain a uniform and reproducible tilted alignment film.

Moreover, when the inclined alignment layer is processed on a plurality of substrates or a large-area substrate, the above-mentioned problems occur more remarkably, so that the conventional method is poor in productivity and practicality. . In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides a method for producing a liquid crystal alignment film in which the tilt angle of the liquid crystal molecules is uniform and reproducible in the tilt alignment treatment by the oblique vapor deposition method, and the productivity and the practicality thereof are improved. The purpose is to provide a manufacturing apparatus.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the apparatus for producing a liquid crystal alignment film of the present invention introduces a gas containing oxygen as a main component into a vacuum bell jar, and Ph ≧ Ps (where Ph is vaporized). Vacuum degree near the source, Ps
Is a vacuum bell jar equipped with an exhaust pump for high vacuum at the top and a gas containing oxygen as the main component, which is placed in the atmosphere. A cylinder, an outer pipe system connecting the vacuum bell jar and the cylinder in the atmosphere, and an extension pipe connected to the outer pipe system in the vacuum bell jar and extended near the evaporation source installed at the bottom of the vacuum bell jar, and the gas An inner pipe system provided with a jet port, a means for heating and evaporating the substance to be vaporized filled in the evaporation source, and a transparent insulating substrate on the upper part of the vacuum bell jar have a specific vapor flow of the substance different from 0 °. A means for continuously and intermittently moving while maintaining the incident angle within the range is provided. Here, it is preferable to heat and evaporate the evaporation target electron beam or laser filled in the evaporation source.

Operation When the liquid crystal alignment film manufacturing apparatus configured as described above is applied, the evaporation source is formed in the reaction atmosphere in which PhPs is established, and the reaction film formation of the evaporation object and oxygen by the evaporation flow is formed. The discharge of the heating means is suppressed and the evaporated material filled in the evaporation source is uniformly and continuously melted, and a desired slam inclination angle is obtained, and the heating energy applied to the evaporated material, Ph, By controlling the moving speed of Ps and the transparent insulating substrate, a uniform and reproducible graded orientation layer exhibiting a desired degree of oxidation, that is, a plurality of oxide thin films of the substance to be evaporated and a large-area transparent insulating substrate Can be obtained on the surface. Particularly, when the substance to be evaporated is heated and vaporized by using a laser or an electron beam, the heating energy can be continuously controlled, and the vapor flow of the substance to be evaporated can be continuously controlled. Also, by adjusting a valve in the middle of the outer pipe system that ejects a gas containing oxygen as a main component near the evaporation source in the vacuum bell jar, in cooperation with the high vacuum exhaust pump, Ph and Ps in the vacuum bell jar are continuously maintained. It can be controlled properly.

First Embodiment A first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 shows a vacuum bell jar 2 equipped with a high vacuum pump 1. The high vacuum exhaust pump 1 is connected to the vacuum bell jar 2 at the upper portion 2a. An evaporation source crucible 3 is provided in the lower portion 2b in the vacuum bell jar, and a pipe system 21 for ejecting a gas containing oxygen gas as a main component is arranged in the vicinity of the evaporation source crucible 3. .
The pipe system 21 includes an outer pipe system 21a connecting the vacuum bell jar 2 and a cylinder 21V arranged in the atmosphere filled with a gas containing oxygen as a main component, and the vacuum bell jar 2
It is composed of an inner pipe system 21C which is extended in the vicinity of the evaporation source connected to the pipe system 21a and has a port for ejecting the gas at the tip thereof as shown by an arrow 21b. Reference numeral 21d in the figure denotes a valve provided in the outer pipe system 21a.
The flow rate of the gas flowing in 21 is adjusted. That is, the Ph and Ps described before the valve are controlled.

The selection of the exhaust amount of the vacuum pump 1 and the adjustment of the valve 11 connected to the pump 1 are used to control the vacuum levels Ph and Ps. Using the above means, Ph ≧ Ps, which is an important research result leading to the present invention, can be obtained.

The evaporation source crucible 3 is filled with Si element 3a. The
Desirably, the vapor flow of the Si element 3a is obtained by a heating means including an electron beam or a laser capable of continuously controlling the heating energy applied to the Si element 3a. An arrow 3b indicates the trajectory of electrons in the deflection type electron beam evaporation source crucible 3. 3C disposed directly above the evaporation source crucible 3 is a shutter, which can interrupt the vapor flow of the Si element 3a emitted from the evaporation source crucible 3 at any time. The transparent insulating substrate 4 located above the vacuum bell jar 2 is the Si source coming from the evaporation source crucible 3.
It is arranged so as to be inclined at an incident angle θ different from 0 ° with respect to the vapor flow of the element 3a. And on the surface of this transparent insulating substrate 4, Si
An alignment treatment layer made of Ox (however, X2) is formed.
4a is an opening window formed in the partition wall 4e, and a SiOx thin film is formed on the surface of the transparent insulating substrate 4 by the vapor flow passing through the opening window 4a. The size of the opening window 4a is
It is involved in the spread of the incident angle of the vapor flow on the transparent insulating substrate 4. Although not shown in detail in the figure, the present invention comprises means for moving the transparent insulating substrate 4 continuously or intermittently in the direction indicated by the arrow 4b, for example.

Then, the transparent insulating substrate 4 located at the substrate supply place 4C has a SiOx orientation treatment layer formed on its surface when passing through the opening window 4b, and after this formation, moves to the substrate placing place 4d. 2C in the figure is a holding plate used to hold and move the evaporation source crucible 3, the shutter 3C, the transparent insulating substrate 4 and the like arranged inside the vacuum bell jar 2. 2b, 2e
The vacuum gauges indicated by are respectively the upper part of the vacuum bell jar 2.
It measures the degree of vacuum in 2a and lower part 2b,
Further, approximately, it indicates the above-mentioned vacuum degrees Ps and Ph. Note that PS and Ph, which are important experimental results leading to the present invention, will be described in detail. Ps is Ps10 ^-4 (Torr), Ph is Ph10 ^-3
(Torr) is preferred. When Ps is lower than 10 ⁻⁴ (Torr), the desired slam inclination angle cannot be obtained. Also, when Ph is lower than 10 ^-3 (Torr), when a deflection type electron beam evaporation source is used, discharge is generated in the high pressure part used to generate the beam, and Si is continuously generated. Unable to produce a vapor stream of In order to effectively and sustainably realize the above-mentioned PhPs, which shows another embodiment in FIG. 2, regarding the vacuum bell jar 2 and its inside, in the present invention, the inside of the vacuum bell jar 2 is divided into a plurality of chambers (the upper part in the figure). A shield plate 2f for completely arranging the chamber 20a and the lower chamber 20b) and pump systems 101a and 1 for individually evacuating each chamber 20a, 20b.
01b is provided, the upper chamber 20a is provided with a transparent insulating substrate 4 and a means for moving it, and the lower chamber 20b is provided with an evaporation layer crucible 3 and a gas containing oxygen gas as a main component. A pipe system 21 for ejecting is provided. Incidentally, 2g in the figure is an opening window provided in the shield plate 2f,
The vapor stream of Si passes through the opening window 2g and is directed toward the transparent insulating substrate. The above vacuum pump 101a, 1
Exhaust capacity of 01b and valve 111a directly connected to these,
The PhPs can be easily, effectively and continuously maintained depending on the opening / closing degree of 111b and the adjusting degree of the gas adjusting valve 21d for controlling the flow rate of the gas flowing through the pipe system 21. Then, the manufacturing method and the manufacturing apparatus thereof of the present invention described above, Zr, Al, Ti, Be, Y is selected and filled as an element of Si or less in the evaporation source, and these oxide films are inclined on the transparent insulating substrate. It is obvious that the compound can be processed as the alignment layer, and that the oxide film of the compound composed of two or more elements selected from the above elements can be processed as the tilted alignment layer. In the above-described embodiment, it is obvious that the transparent insulating substrate as the substrate to be subjected to the tilt alignment treatment is not only a hard transparent insulating substrate but also a flexible transparent insulating substrate such as a plastic film, so that the gist of the present invention can be utilized.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION Since the present invention has the above-mentioned configurations and operations, it has the following effects. That is, the evaporation target filled in the evaporation source is uniformly dissolved, and the heating energy is controlled in addition to the Si evaporation target and the Ph and Ps are controlled to predetermined values, and the transparent insulating substrate is moved. By controlling the speed, a uniform and reproducible graded orientation layer exhibiting a desired degree of oxidation, that is, a plurality of reaction-produced thin films of a substance to be evaporated and oxygen and the surface of a large-area transparent insulating substrate Therefore, the present invention is an apparatus for producing a liquid crystal alignment layer which is productive and practical.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an apparatus for producing a liquid crystal alignment film in a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration showing an apparatus for producing a liquid crystal alignment film in a second embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure. 1, 101a, 101b ... High vacuum pump, 2 ... Vacuum bell jar, 3 ... Evaporation source crucible, 4 ... Transparent insulating substrate, 3a
…… Si element, 3b …… Electron trajectory, 11,111a, 111b, 21d…
… Valve, 21 …… Pipe system, 21a …… Outer pipe system, 21b…
… Inner pipe system.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Teruhisa Ishihara, 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-63-313123 (JP, A) JP-A-63- 260138 (JP, A)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vacuum bell jar equipped with an exhaust pump for high vacuum at the top, a cylinder filled with a gas containing oxygen as a main component, which is arranged in the atmosphere, and the vacuum bell jar and the cylinder connected in the atmosphere. And an outer pipe system connected to the outer pipe system in the vacuum bell jar, extended to the vicinity of an evaporation source installed in the lower part of the vacuum bell jar, and provided with a gas ejection port at its tip. A means for heating and evaporating an object to be evaporated filled in the evaporation source, and a transparent insulating substrate on an upper part of the vacuum bell jar, and an incident angle within a specific range different from 0 ° with respect to a vapor flow of the object to be evaporated. An apparatus for producing an alignment film of liquid crystal, comprising means for continuously and intermittently moving while holding the liquid crystal. 2. A threshold plate for dividing the inside of the vacuum bell jar into an upper chamber and a lower chamber, a pump system for individually evacuating the upper chamber and the lower chamber, and oxygen-based components provided in the atmosphere. A gas-filled cylinder, a pipe A system in which the lower chamber of the vacuum bell jar and the cylinder are connected to each other in the atmosphere, and a pipe A system in the lower chamber of the vacuum bell jar connected to the evaporation source to be described later. , A pipe B system having the gas ejection port at its tip, an evaporation source arranged in the lower chamber of the vacuum bell jar, and Si, Zr, Al, Ti, B filled in the evaporation source.
A compound M containing an element selected from e and Y or two or more kinds of elements selected from them, a means for heating and evaporating the compound M, and a compound M provided in the upper chamber of the vacuum bell jar. A transparent insulating substrate inclined at an incident angle different from 0 ° with respect to the vapor flow; and means for continuously and intermittently moving the transparent insulating substrate while keeping the incident angle within a specific range. Liquid crystal alignment film manufacturing equipment.