JP4551465B2 - Vapor deposition source, film forming apparatus, and film forming method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an evaporation source, a film forming apparatus, and a film forming method, and more particularly to filling of a material stored in a material container of the evaporation source.

  When manufacturing equipment using vapor deposition technology, keeping the material vaporization rate (evaporation rate) constant improves the film formation rate and efficiently forms a good film on the workpiece. It is important to increase performance. For this reason, conventionally, a heater is provided in the vapor deposition source, a film thickness sensor is provided in the vicinity of the substrate, and the heater temperature is adjusted based on the result detected by the film thickness sensor. A method has been proposed in which the vaporization rate is controlled to be constant (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In addition, the material stored in the material container is preheated before the process (preheating), and the organic material is melted to increase the packing density of the material, thereby uniformizing the material storage state and keeping the material vaporization rate constant. A method of trying to control is also proposed.

  For example, in the process at 250 ° C., the material container is left to be heated for about a predetermined time at about 200 ° C. before the process (aging). The material put in the material container is subjected to vapor deposition after removing moisture and impurities contained in the material by preheating. In particular, a sublimation type material requires aging for a sufficient time for stable vapor deposition.

JP 2005-325425 A

  However, in the above temperature control, in the material consumption process, the material consumption may be biased or the material may collapse, and the evaporation surface of the material may fluctuate, thereby changing the evaporation amount of the material. Further, even with the above aging, variation in filling density cannot be suppressed, and the amount of evaporation of the material may change. As a result, the film formation speed fluctuates and affects the film quality. On the other hand, it is possible to prepare a material in which the material is preliminarily solidified and store it in a material container. However, this increases the number of steps of solidifying the material in advance, which increases productivity. Becomes worse.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an evaporation source, a film forming apparatus, and a film forming method for increasing the filling density of the material in the material container by the pressing member.

  That is, in order to solve the above-described problem, according to an aspect of the present invention, a material container for storing a material, a heating member for heating the material stored in the material container, and a plurality of through holes are formed. A pressing member that has a flat plate, presses the material stored in the material container by the pressing surface of the flat plate, and passes the material molecules vaporized by the heating of the heating member through the plurality of through holes, and uses an elastic force And an elastic member that relaxes the pressing force applied to the material by the pressing member.

  According to this, the material in the material container is pressed by the flat plate of the pressing member after the container is replenished. At that time, the pressing force applied to the material is alleviated by the elastic force of the elastic member. Therefore, the material is naturally pelletized (solidified) in the container by moderate pressing. The pelletized material is vaporized by heating of the heating member, becomes material molecules, passes through a plurality of through holes formed in the flat plate of the pressing member, and flies to the film forming process side.

  Thereby, since the evaporation area of the material is a contact area between the flat plate of the pressing member and the material, the evaporation area can always be constant. Therefore, for example, it is possible to avoid fluctuations in the evaporation area of the material due to uneven consumption of the material or collapse of the material due to the material consumption process. Thus, since the evaporation area is constant, the evaporation rate of the material is also constant. As a result, it is possible to form a high-quality film while keeping the film formation rate constant.

  Here, the vaporization includes not only a phenomenon in which a liquid turns into a gas but also a phenomenon in which a solid directly turns into a gas without going through a liquid state (that is, sublimation).

  The outer periphery of the flat plate may be located on the inner periphery of the opening of the material container. The outer periphery of the flat plate is inserted into the material container in a nested manner, and the pressing member located at the inner peripheral edge of the opening of the material container is made of material by a flat plate provided at the tip of the inserted pressing member. You may press.

  According to this, since the flat pressing surface can be matched to the entire surface of the material, it is possible to apply a pressing force uniformly to the entire vapor deposition surface of the material. Thereby, even if the material is consumed, the evaporation area of the material is always constant, and the evaporation speed of the material can be always constant.

  The pressing member may be connected to a conveyance path that conveys material molecules that have passed through the plurality of through holes to a processing container in which a film forming process is performed.

  The inside of the processing container is in a desired reduced pressure state, and the pressing member is made of a material by a difference between a pressure outside the deposition source and a pressure inside the deposition source communicating with the processing container via the transport path. Can be pressed.

At that time, the pressure difference between the outside and the inside of the vapor deposition source may be 10 ³ (Pa) or more.

The outside of the evaporation source may be atmospheric pressure, and the inside of the evaporation source may be a vacuum pressure of 10 ² (Pa) or less.

  The pressing member may be provided with an inlet for an inert gas that carries the material molecules.

  The introduction port may be provided at a position separated from the pressing surface of the flat plate by a predetermined distance. When the distance from the pressing surface of the flat plate to the introduction port is appropriately designed, the material molecules can smoothly enter the carrier gas (inert gas). This makes it possible to efficiently use the material molecules for film formation and improve the film formation speed and suppress fluctuations thereof.

  The predetermined distance from the introduction port to the pressing surface of the flat plate may be determined according to the conductance of a conveyance path that conveys material molecules that have passed through the plurality of through holes to a processing container in which a film forming process is performed. Good. Whether or not material molecules can smoothly enter the carrier gas (inert gas) is influenced by the diffusion distance from the flat plate to the inlet in the material container, and is transported from the material container to the processing container. The amount of material molecules is affected by the conductance of the transport path.

  The heating member may directly heat a flat plate adjacent to the flat plate and having the plurality of through holes formed therein. In particular, when the flat plate is formed of a thick porous (porous body), the material can be efficiently vaporized by directly heating the flat plate.

  The flat plate may be formed by one of a punching member, an overlap of two or more punching members, or a porous member. The material stored in the material container may be an organic material.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, according to another aspect of the present invention, the vapor deposition source is connected to a transport path, material molecules that have passed through the flat plate are transported from the transport path to a processing container, and the processing is performed. There is provided a film forming apparatus for depositing the material molecules on a target object in a container.

  A plurality of the vapor deposition sources, each vapor deposition source is connected to the branch path of the transport path, and the material molecules that have passed through the flat plate are transported from the branch path of the transport path to the processing container. Material molecules may be deposited on an object to be processed.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, according to another aspect of the present invention, a material is stored in a material container, and the material stored in the material container is heated by a heating member to form a plurality of through holes. The material vaporized by heating of the heating member while pressing the material stored in the material container with a pressing member having a flat plate and relaxing the pressing force on the material by the pressing member using the elastic force of the elastic member A film forming method of passing molecules through a plurality of through holes formed in the flat plate, transporting the material molecules passing through the plurality of through holes to a processing apparatus, and forming a target object by the transported material molecules. Provided.

  At that time, a processing container for forming the film is maintained at a desired vacuum pressure, and a pressure outside the deposition source and a pressure inside the deposition source communicating with the processing container via a conveyance path are: Depending on the difference, the pressing member may be used to press the material.

  The remaining amount of the material can be estimated from the amount of contraction of the elastic member. Thereby, the timing which replenishes material can be determined.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the filling density of the material in the material container can be increased.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description and the accompanying drawings, components having the same configuration and function are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted. Further, in this specification, 1 sccm is (10 ⁻⁶ / 60) m ³ / sec.

  First, a six-layer continuous film forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an outline of a six-layer continuous film forming apparatus 10. The six-layer continuous film forming apparatus 10 is an example of a film forming apparatus that forms an organic film on a glass substrate (hereinafter referred to as a substrate G) carried into a processing container.

  The six-layer continuous film forming apparatus 10 includes six vapor deposition sources 100, a processing container 200, six transfer paths 300, and six valves 400. The vapor deposition sources 100 all have the same structure. The vapor deposition source 100 is made of a metal such as SUS. Since quartz or the like hardly reacts with an organic material, the vapor deposition source 100 may be formed of a metal coated with quartz or the like.

  In the vapor deposition source 100, different types of organic materials ma are accommodated therein, and a heater 105 is embedded therein. The heater 105 is connected to the temperature controller 500. The temperature controller 500 applies a voltage to the heater 105. Thereby, the vapor deposition source 100 in which the heater 105 is embedded is heated to a desired temperature, and the organic material is vaporized. The heater 105 is an example of a heating member that heats the material stored in the vapor deposition source 100.

  The six transport paths 300 are connected to the six vapor deposition sources 100 at one end, and are connected to the six blowing mechanisms 205 through the processing container 200 at the other end. Each transfer path 300 is provided with a valve 400, which opens when forming a film and transfers organic molecules vaporized in the vapor deposition source 100 to the processing container side, and closes when not forming a film to stop the transfer of vaporized organic molecules. Let

  The blowing mechanisms 205 have the same structure with a hollow rectangular shape, and are arranged in parallel at equal intervals. The organic molecules vaporized by the vapor deposition source 100 are blown out from an opening provided at the upper center of each blowing mechanism 205 through the transport path 300. The partition wall 210 is provided between the respective blowing mechanisms 205 and partitions the blowing mechanisms 205 to prevent the organic molecules blown from the upper openings of the adjacent blowing mechanisms 205 from being mixed.

  The sliding mechanism 215 includes a stage 215a, a support body 215b, and a sliding mechanism 215c. The stage 215a is supported by the support body 215b. The substrate G is carried in from a gate valve 220 provided in the processing container 200, and is electrostatically adsorbed by a high voltage applied by a high voltage power source (not shown). The slide mechanism 215c is mounted on the ceiling of the processing container 200 and is grounded. By sliding the substrate G adsorbed on the stage 215a in the longitudinal direction of the processing container 200, the slide mechanism 215c is slightly above each blowing mechanism 205. The substrate G is moved in parallel.

The processing container 200 is evacuated using an exhaust device (not shown) and is maintained at a vacuum pressure of 10 ⁻¹ (Pa) or less. An O-ring 225 is provided at a contact portion between the conveyance path 300 penetrating the processing container 200 and the processing container 200, and thereby the airtightness inside the processing container 200 is maintained. On the other hand, the six vapor deposition sources 100 are disposed in the atmosphere. With this configuration, the inside of the vapor deposition source 100 has a vacuum pressure of 10 ² (Pa) or less, and the outside of the vapor deposition source 100 has an atmospheric pressure of about 10 ⁵ (Pa), resulting in a pressure difference of 10 ³ (Pa) or more.

  The side wall of each vapor deposition source 100 is provided with a carrier gas inlet that penetrates the side wall. The introduction port of the carrier gas is connected to the mass flow controller 600, the valve 700, and the gas supply source 800 via the gas line Lg. The argon (Ar) gas supplied from the gas supply source 800 is supplied into each vapor deposition source 100 while the flow rate and supply timing are controlled by the mass flow controller 600 and the valve 700. The argon gas functions as a carrier gas for transporting the organic molecules vaporized inside each deposition source 100 to each blowing mechanism 205. The gas functioning as the carrier gas is not limited to argon gas, but may be any inert gas such as helium gas, krypton gas, or xenon gas.

  The controller 900 has a storage area (ROM, RAM, etc.), an input / output I / F (interface), and a CPU (not shown). The CPU obtains a voltage to be applied to each heater 105 using various data and programs stored in the storage area, and transmits the voltage to the temperature controller 500. The controller 900 also instructs the gas supply source 800 to supply argon gas, instructs the mass flow controller 600 to adjust the flow rate of the carrier gas, and instructs the valve 700 to supply timing.

  Referring to FIG. 2 showing a cross section 1-1 of FIG. 1, when forming each organic film, a maximum of three kinds of organic materials housed in three vapor deposition sources 100 are mixed. For example, when it is desired to form a film by mixing two kinds of organic materials, the valves 400 of the two vapor deposition sources 100 containing the materials used for the film formation may be opened and the valves 400 of the remaining vapor deposition sources may be closed. According to such a configuration, the organic molecules vaporized by the heating of the heater 105 are transported in the branch path of the transport path 300 by the argon gas, and after being merged, are transported in the blowing mechanism 205 and exit from the upper opening Op to form the substrate. Adhere to G. Thereby, an organic film having desired characteristics can be formed.

  In the six-layer continuous film forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, six film forming mechanisms shown in FIG. 2 are arranged in parallel as shown in FIG. According to this, the substrate G travels above the first to sixth blowing mechanisms 205 at a certain speed. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 3, the first hole injection layer, the second hole transport layer, the third blue light emitting layer, and the fourth green light emitting layer are sequentially formed on the ITO of the substrate G. Then, the fifth red light emitting layer and the sixth electron transport layer are formed. Among these, the blue light emitting layer, the green light emitting layer, and the red light emitting layer of the third to fifth layers are light emitting layers that emit light by recombination of holes and electrons. The metal layer on the organic layer is formed by sputtering.

  Thus, an organic EL element having a structure in which the organic layer is sandwiched between the anode (anode) and the cathode (cathode) is formed on the glass substrate. When a voltage is applied to the anode and cathode of the organic EL element, holes (holes) are injected into the organic layer from the anode, and electrons are injected into the organic layer from the cathode. The injected holes and electrons recombine in the organic layer, and light emission occurs at this time.

  During the above film formation, there is a case where the material consumption is biased in the material consumption process or the material collapses, the evaporation area of the material fluctuates, and the evaporation amount changes accordingly. As a result, the film formation speed fluctuates and affects the film quality. On the other hand, it is conceivable to prepare a pellet that has been hardened in advance and store it in a material container. However, this increases the number of steps and decreases the productivity.

  Therefore, in the six-layer continuous film forming apparatus 10 according to this embodiment, the filling density of the organic material in the material container is increased by utilizing the difference in pressure between the outside and the inside of the vapor deposition source. Hereinafter, the mechanism will be described in detail.

  4A to 4C show an enlarged state of one vapor deposition source 100 and the state of the mechanism and the packing density of the internal organic material. The vapor deposition source 100 includes a material container 110, a pressing member 115, a bellows 120, and a bolt 125. The material container 110 is formed in a concave shape, and a granular organic material ma is accommodated in the internal recess. The organic material ma is heated by the heater 105 and vaporizes.

  The pressing member 115 has a flat plate 115a at its tip. The pressing member 115 and the material container 110 are adapted to fit together. That is, the outer periphery of the flat plate 115 a is located at the inner peripheral edge of the opening of the material container 110 and is nested in the material container 110. The flat plate 115a is formed of metal porous as shown in an enlarged manner in FIG.

  The metal porous is a metal porous body, in which pores communicate with each other to form a plurality of through holes. If the pore diameter (nominal pore diameter) is, for example, 3 mm or less and the porosity is 50%, the organic material ma can be sufficiently pressed by the pressing surface 115a1 of the flat plate 115a, and the vaporized organic molecules are contained inside the metal porous. And can be carried from the transfer path 300 to the processing container side. In addition, as a porous member used for the flat plate 115a, quartz porous may be used instead of metal porous.

  According to this configuration, the pressing surface 115a1 of the flat plate 115a is aligned with the entire surface of the organic material ma, and a pressing force can be applied uniformly to the entire vapor deposition surface of the material. Thereby, the evaporation area of the material can always be made constant regardless of the consumption of the organic material. As a result, the evaporation rate of the material can always be kept constant.

  The flat plate 115a is fixed to the flange 115b. One end of the bellows 120 is fixed to the flange portion of the flange 115b. A bolt 125 is fixed to the other end of the bellows 120. The material container 110 is detachably attached to the pressing member 115 by a bolt 125. That is, when the material is replenished, it is detached from the pressing member 115, and after replenishing the material, it is attached to the pressing member 115 again by the bolt 125. The bellows 120 is an example of an elastic member that relieves the pressing force of the pressing member 115 on the organic material ma by using an elastic force, and another example may be a leaf spring or a spring.

(Organic material pelletization)
As described above, the vapor deposition source 100 is disposed in the atmosphere. Therefore, an atmospheric pressure of about 10 ⁵ (Pa) is applied from the outside of the vapor deposition source 100. On the other hand, the processing container 200 is maintained at a vacuum pressure of, for example, 10 ⁻¹ (Pa) or less by being exhausted using an exhaust device. The inside of the vapor deposition source 100 is a pressure of 10 ² (Pa) or less. As shown in FIG. 1, the conveyance path 300 communicates with the processing container 200. Therefore, the inside of the conveyance path 300 and the inside of the flange 115 b of the pressing member 115 are in the same reduced pressure state as the vacuum pressure inside the processing container 200.

Thus, when the pressure difference between the outside and inside of the vapor deposition source 100 becomes 10 ³ (Pa) or more, pressure is applied from the atmosphere side toward the vacuum side due to the pressure difference. In FIG. 4B, due to the pressure difference, pressure is applied from the bottom surface side (atmosphere side) of the material container 110 to the pressing member 115 side (vacuum side), and the organic material ma is pressed by the flat plate 115a of the pressing member 115. The At that time, the pressing force applied to the organic material ma is relaxed by the elastic force of the bellows 120. Therefore, the organic material ma is naturally pelletized (solidified) in the material container by appropriate pressing after being stored in the material container 110. The pelletized organic material ma is vaporized by the heating of the heater 105, becomes organic material molecules, passes through a plurality of through holes formed in the flat plate 115 a of the pressing member 115, and passes through the transport path 300 to form a film. Fly to the side.

  As described above, according to the vapor deposition source 100 according to the present embodiment, the organic material ma can be naturally pelletized only by storing the organic material ma in the material container 110, and vaporized organic molecules are formed on the flat plate 115a. It is possible to pass between the formed pores (through holes) and carry them to the processing container side.

  According to this, in the process of consuming the organic material ma, it is possible to avoid fluctuations in the evaporation area of the organic material due to uneven consumption of the material or collapse of the material. That is, since the evaporation surface of the organic material ma is the pressing surface 115a1 of the flat plate 115a, even when the organic material is stored immediately (FIG. 4 (b)), or when it is consumed and reduced ( FIG. 4 (c)) is always constant. As a result, the evaporation rate of the organic material ma is also constant, there is no fluctuation in the film formation rate, and a high-quality organic film can be formed efficiently.

  Further, the remaining amount of the material can be estimated from the amount of contraction of the bellows 120. Thereby, it is possible to know an appropriate replenishment timing of the material.

Note that as long as the pressure difference between the outside and the inside of the deposition source 100 is 10 ³ (Pa) or more, the outside of the deposition source 100 may not be atmospheric pressure. If there exists the said pressure difference, a powdery organic material can be pelletized in a material container.

(Distance from the evaporation surface of the material container to the carrier gas inlet)
As described above, the inlet port in for introducing argon gas for transporting organic molecules is provided on the side wall of the pressing member 115. If the influence of the distance h from the pressing surface 115a1 of the flat plate 115a to the carrier gas inlet port in on the film forming speed can be confirmed, the distance h is appropriately designed so that the organic molecules can be converted into the carrier gas (inert Gas). As a result, organic molecules can be efficiently used for film formation, the film formation speed can be improved, and a high-quality organic film can be formed efficiently.

(First experiment)
Therefore, the inventors obtained an appropriate value of the distance h by experiment. In the experiment, an orifice having a diameter r of φ10 mm was provided at the top of the material molecule transport path provided inside the experimental material container 110 shown in FIG. The material container 110 is provided with two carrier gas inlets in1 and in2 and two material charging positions pu and pl. A metal porous P is provided at an intermediate position of the material container 110, the first material charging position is a position Pu immediately above the metal porous P, and the second material charging position is the bottom of the container in which the metal porous P is removed. Pl. The same organic material was introduced at each position.

  The carrier gas inlet in1 was provided at a position 10 mm from the metal porous P (66 mm from the bottom in the container), and the carrier gas inlet in2 was provided at a position 19 mm from the bottom in the container. The organic molecules and carrier gas under the metal porous P can be transported upward through the metal porous P. In the experiment, argon gas was used as the carrier gas.

  Experimental conditions are shown in FIG. The organic material position Pu of condition A and the argon gas inlet in1 are both on the porous P, and the estimated distance from the evaporation surface of the organic material to the argon gas inlet in1 is 5 mm. Under conditions B to E, an organic material was introduced into the organic material position Pl, which is the bottom of the container. Further, the argon gas was introduced from the inlet port in 1 in the conditions C and D, and was introduced from the inlet port in 2 in the conditions B and E. In the case of conditions B to E, the estimated distance from the evaporation surface of the organic material to the argon gas inlet is 14 mm, 61 mm, 51 mm, and 4 mm.

  The result of the experiment is shown in FIG. According to this, under conditions A and E where the distance from the evaporation surface of the organic material to the argon gas inlet is short, the film formation rate with respect to the argon gas flow rate is high, and the film formation rate increases as the argon gas flow rate increases. The film speed was improved. On the other hand, under conditions B to D where the distance from the evaporation surface of the organic material to the argon gas introduction port is long, the film formation rate with respect to the argon gas flow rate is low, and the film formation rate decreases as the argon gas flow rate increases. did.

  From this result, it was found that when the diameter r of the orifice is φ10 mm, the film forming efficiency can be divided into a group in which the film forming efficiency is improved and a group in which the film forming efficiency is decreased with a threshold of about 10 mm. That is, it was found that when the distance from the evaporation surface of the material to the carrier gas introduction port was 10 mm or less, the film formation rate was high, and the film formation was possible efficiently as the gas flow rate increased.

(Second experiment)
Next, the inventors have shown that the effect of the distance h from the material evaporation surface to the carrier gas inlet in on the film formation rate when the diameter r of the orifice attached to the top of the container is φ10 mm and φ0.5 mm. I investigated. The experimental conditions at this time are shown in FIG. Under conditions A, D, and F, the orifice diameter r was φ10 mm, and under conditions B, C, and E, the orifice diameter r was φ0.5 mm. In all of the conditions A to F, the organic material position Pl and the argon gas introduction port in2 are both under the porous P, and the distance from the evaporation surface of the organic material to the argon gas introduction port in2 is 17 mm in the conditions A and B. Conditions C and D were 6 mm, and conditions E and F were 5 mm. Under conditions B to E, an organic material was introduced into the organic material position Pl, which is the bottom of the container. Argon gas was introduced from the inlet port in 1 under the conditions C and D, and introduced from the inlet port 2 under the conditions B and E. In the case of conditions B to E, the distance from the evaporation surface of the organic material to the argon gas inlet is 14 mm, 61 mm, 51 mm, and 4 mm. In the second experiment, an organic material different from that in the first experiment was used.

  The result of the experiment is shown in FIG. According to this, when the diameter r of the orifice is 0.5 mm and the conditions C and E are short (5 mm, 6 mm) from the evaporation surface of the organic material to the argon gas inlet, the film formation rate is high. However, the film formation rate decreased as the flow rate of argon gas increased. In the other conditions A, B, D, and F, the film formation rate was low, and the film formation rate decreased as the flow rate of argon gas increased.

  As described above, the following is considered from the two experiments. First, it can be seen from the first experiment that the film formation rate greatly depends on the distance h from the evaporation surface of the organic material to the carrier gas inlet. This is because if the diffusion distance h of the transport path from the evaporation surface of the organic material to the carrier gas inlet is long, the percentage of organic molecules that do not reach the carrier gas inlet is high when the vaporized organic molecules diffuse. Therefore, it is considered that the film formation rate is lowered because organic molecules cannot efficiently enter the carrier gas flow. In this situation, when the flow rate of the carrier gas is increased, the flow rate of the carrier gas is increased, but the amount of organic molecules entering the carrier gas is not changed, so that the film formation rate is decreased.

  Therefore, it is important to design the distance h appropriately. For example, when the diameter r of the orifice is 10 mm, the organic material molecules can smoothly enter the carrier gas by setting the distance h to 10 mm or less. be able to. As a result, organic molecules can be efficiently used for film formation, the film formation speed can be improved, and a high-quality organic film can be formed efficiently.

  Next, from the second experiment, it can be seen that the deposition rate depends not only on the orifice diameter r. This is presumably because the amount of material molecules transported from the material container to the processing container is also affected by the conductance of the transport path.

  That is, when the diameter r of the orifice is as small as φ0.5 mm as in the conditions C and E and the distance h between the material and the inlet is as short as 5 mm or 6 mm, the conductance becomes small and the carrier gas does not flow easily. In addition, when the vaporized organic molecules diffuse, the ratio of the organic molecules that reach the carrier gas inlet increases, so that the organic molecules easily enter the carrier gas that travels in the container, and the film formation rate is improved. As the carrier gas flow rate increases, the flow rate of the carrier gas increases, but the amount of organic molecules that enter the carrier gas does not change, so the deposition rate decreases.

  On the other hand, if the distance h between the material and the inlet is as long as 17 mm as in conditions A and B, organic molecules are less likely to enter the carrier gas flow for the same reason as in Experiment 1, regardless of the conductance. The membrane speed decreases. Furthermore, when the flow rate of argon gas increases, the amount of organic molecules relative to the amount of argon gas decreases as the gas flow rate increases, so that the film formation rate further decreases.

  Further, when the diameter r of the orifice is as large as φ10 mm and the distance h between the material and the inlet is as short as 5 mm or 6 mm as in the conditions D and F, the conductance increases and the carrier gas easily flows. However, in this case, when the vaporized organic molecules diffuse, the ratio of the organic molecules reaching the carrier gas inlet becomes high, so that the organic molecules are less likely to enter the carrier gas than the conditions C and E. It becomes easier to enter the carrier gas than B. Therefore, compared with the conditions A and B, the film formation rate is high, and the film formation rate is maintained at approximately 1.0 (au) even when the flow rate of the carrier gas is increased. Note that when the carrier gas flow rate is increased, the flow rate of the carrier gas is increased, but the amount of organic molecules entering the carrier gas is not changed.

  From this, the position of the carrier gas introduction port in provided in the vapor deposition source 100 is important how far away from the pressing surface 115a1 of the flat plate 115a. When the diameter r of the orifice is 10 mm, it is 10 mm or less. Preferably there is. Further, the predetermined distance from the inlet port in to the pressing surface 115a1 of the flat plate 115a is further determined to be an appropriate value according to the conductance (that is, the diameter r of the orifice) of the transport path for transporting the material molecules to the processing container 200. It is preferable.

  In the vapor deposition source 100 according to the present embodiment, the distance h from the material surface (material evaporation surface) to the carrier gas inlet is appropriately designed in consideration of the above experimental results. Thereby, the film-forming speed can be greatly improved. In the vapor deposition source 100 according to the present embodiment, the vapor deposition surface is always the pressing surface 115a1 of the flat plate 115a, and the distance to the carrier gas inlet port in does not vary depending on the amount of material consumption. Thereby, a vapor deposition rate can be made constant.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the filling density of the organic material in the material container is increased by utilizing the difference between the pressure inside and outside the vapor deposition source, and the vapor deposition rate and the film formation rate are made constant and improved. be able to.

  In the above embodiment, the operations of the respective units are related to each other, and can be replaced as a series of operations in consideration of the relationship between each other. And by replacing in this way, embodiment of a vapor deposition source can be made into embodiment of the film-forming apparatus and film-forming method using the vapor deposition source.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described referring an accompanying drawing, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to the example which concerns. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and these are naturally within the technical scope of the present invention. Understood.

  For example, the vapor deposition source 100 is not limited to the above configuration. For example, in the vapor deposition source 100 shown in FIG. 4, the bolt 125 and the bellows 120 are fixed to the pressing member 115 side. However, as shown in FIG. 9, the bolt 125 and the bellows 120 are fixed to the material container 110 side. May be.

  Further, the organic material may be heated not only indirectly by the heater 105 embedded in the material container 110 but also directly by the heater 130 disposed on the flat plate 115a. In particular, when the flat plate 115a is formed of a thick porous (porous body), the organic material can be efficiently vaporized by directly heating the flat plate 115a.

  Further, the flat plate 115a is not limited to the metal porous, and may be a single punching metal 115c1 having a desired aperture ratio as shown in FIG. 10A, for example, as shown in FIG. 10B. As described above, a structure in which two punching metals 115c1 are separated and overlapped may be used. In any case, the surface of the punching metal 115c1 provided at the tip of the pressing member 115 becomes the pressing surface 115a1. Further, the flat plate 115a may be formed by superposing two or more punching metals. The punching member is not limited to metal, and may be a dielectric such as quartz.

  The size of the glass substrate that can be formed by the six-layer continuous film forming apparatus 10 of the above embodiment can be 730 mm × 920 mm or more. For example, in the processing container 200, a G4.5 substrate size of 730 mm × 920 mm (dimension in the chamber: 1000 mm × 1190 mm) and a G5 substrate size of 1100 mm × 1300 mm (dimension in the chamber: 1470 mm × 1590 mm) are continuously formed. can do. In addition to the glass substrate having the above size, the target object processed by the six-layer continuous film forming apparatus 10 of the above embodiment includes a silicon wafer having a diameter of, for example, 200 mm or 300 mm.

  Furthermore, the material stored in the material container of the present invention is not limited to an organic material. The vapor deposition source according to the present invention can be used not only for forming an organic film but also as a vapor deposition source for producing a liquid crystal display.

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the 6-layer continuous film-forming apparatus concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is 1-1 sectional drawing of FIG. It is the figure which showed the organic EL element formed with the 6 layer continuous film-forming apparatus of the embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the process of compressing material with the vapor deposition source of the embodiment. It is the figure which showed the flat plate of the press member of the embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the experimental vapor deposition source of the embodiment. FIG. 7A is a table showing the experimental conditions of Experiment 1 of the same embodiment, and FIG. 7B is a graph showing the results of Experiment 1. FIG. FIG. 8A is a table showing the experimental conditions of Experiment 2 of the embodiment, and FIG. 8B is a graph showing the results of Experiment 2. FIG. It is the figure which showed the modification of the vapor deposition source of the embodiment. It is the figure which showed the modification of the flat plate of the press member of the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 6 layer continuous film-forming apparatus 100 Vapor source 105,130 Heater 110 Material container 115 Press member 115a Flat plate 115b Flange 120 Bellows 125 Bolt 200 Processing container 205 Blowing mechanism 300 Conveyance path 400 Valve ma Organic material

Claims (18)

A material container for storing the material;
A heating member for heating the material stored in the material container;
A flat plate having a plurality of through holes is formed, and material molecules vaporized by heating of the heating member are passed through the plurality of through holes while pressing the material stored in the material container by the pressing surface of the flat plate. A pressing member;
An evaporation source comprising: an elastic member that relaxes a pressing force applied to the material by the pressing member using an elastic force.   The deposition source according to claim 1, wherein an outer periphery of the flat plate is located on an inner peripheral edge of the opening of the material container.   The vapor deposition source according to claim 2, wherein the pressing member is nested in the material container and presses the material with a flat plate provided at a tip of the inserted pressing member.   The said press member is a vapor deposition source in any one of Claims 1-3 connected with the conveyance path which conveys the material molecule which passed through these through-holes to the processing container in which the film-forming process is performed.   The inside of the processing container is brought into a desired reduced pressure state, and the pressing member is made of a material due to a difference between a pressure outside the deposition source and a pressure inside the deposition source communicating with the processing container via the transport path. The vapor deposition source described in any one of Claims 1-4 pressed. The vapor deposition source according to claim 5, wherein a pressure difference between the outside and the inside of the vapor deposition source is 10 ³ Pa or more. The deposition source according to claim 6, wherein the outside of the deposition source is an atmospheric pressure, and the inside of the deposition source is a vacuum pressure of 10 ² Pa or less.   The vapor deposition source according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member is provided with an inlet for an inert gas that carries the material molecules.   The vapor deposition source according to claim 8, wherein the introduction port is provided at a position separated from the pressing surface of the flat plate by a predetermined distance.   The predetermined distance from the introduction port to the pressing surface of the flat plate is determined according to conductance of a transport path that transports material molecules that have passed through the plurality of through holes to a processing container in which a film forming process is performed. Item 10. The vapor deposition source according to Item 9.   The said heating member is a vapor deposition source described in any one of Claims 1-10 which directly heats the flat plate in which the said some through-hole was formed adjacent to the said flat plate.   The said flat plate is a vapor deposition source as described in any one of Claims 1-11 formed of either one punching member, the superposition of two or more punching members, or a porous member.   The vapor deposition source according to claim 1, wherein the material stored in the material container is an organic material.   The vapor deposition source according to any one of claims 1 to 13 is connected to a transport path, material molecules that have passed through the flat plate are transported from the transport path to a processing container, and the material molecules are covered in the processing container. A film forming apparatus for vapor deposition on a processing body.   A plurality of the vapor deposition sources, each vapor deposition source is connected to the branch path of the transport path, and the material molecules that have passed through the flat plate are transported from the branch path of the transport path to the processing container. The film forming apparatus according to claim 14, wherein material molecules are vapor-deposited on an object to be processed. Store the material in the material container,
Heating the material stored in the material container by a heating member;
Press the material stored in the material container by a pressing member having a flat plate in which a plurality of through holes are formed,
While relaxing the pressing force to the material by the pressing member using the elastic force of the elastic member, the material molecules vaporized by heating of the heating member are passed through the plurality of through holes formed in the flat plate,
Transporting the material molecules that have passed through the plurality of through holes to a processing apparatus;
A film forming method for forming an object to be processed by the transported material molecules.   The processing container for forming the film is maintained at a desired vacuum pressure, and the pressure outside the deposition source is different from the pressure inside the deposition source communicating with the processing container via a transport path. The film forming method according to claim 16, wherein the material is pressed using a pressing member.   The film forming method according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the replenishment timing of the material stored in the material container is determined in accordance with a contraction amount of the elastic member.

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