JP4570403B2 - Evaporation apparatus, vapor deposition apparatus, and method for switching evaporation apparatus in vapor deposition apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vapor deposition apparatus that vapor-deposits a predetermined material on a substrate disposed in a vacuum vessel, an evaporation apparatus that evaporates a predetermined material, and a method of switching an evaporation apparatus used in the vapor deposition apparatus.

  In a vapor deposition apparatus that forms a thin film by depositing a predetermined material on the surface of a substrate placed under vacuum, the material is vaporized by heating the evaporation source of the material placed under vacuum. A thin film is formed by attaching the evaporation material to the surface of a substrate which is also placed under vacuum.

  By the way, in a vapor deposition apparatus in which a substrate and an evaporation source are arranged in a vacuum, that is, when an evaporation source is added or replaced, the inside of the vacuum vessel is returned to the atmosphere and then the vacuum vessel is evacuated again. Time loss.

There exists a thing shown in patent document 1 as what eliminates this time loss.
The vapor deposition apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a cell in which two material discharge ports for organic EL material each provided with a vacuum valve are arranged at the lower part of a vacuum chamber, and the material is heated at each of these discharge ports. Cell chambers (evaporation chambers) in which (evaporation sources) are respectively arranged are connected.

  With this configuration, for example, a thin film is formed (film formation) by evaporation from a cell in one cell chamber. For example, when replacing a material, a cell containing the material is placed in the other cell chamber. Then, the cell chamber is kept in a vacuum state, and at the time of replacement, after closing the vacuum valve on one cell chamber side, the vacuum valve on the other cell chamber side is opened, and the evaporation material (vapor ) Was introduced into the vacuum chamber, so that no loss of working time during material exchange occurred.

  By the way, according to the configuration of the vapor deposition apparatus according to Patent Document 1, there is no problem up to two evaporation sources (for two times). However, when vapor deposition is performed continuously, the following configuration is necessary. There is.

That is, two evaporation sources are provided, an introduction path for introducing the evaporation material evaporated in each of these evaporation sources to the vapor deposition chamber is provided, and an on-off valve is provided in the middle of each introduction path. While the evaporation material is being introduced from the source, it is necessary to close the open / close valve of the other introduction path and replace the other evaporation source in this state (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP 2003-297565 A Japanese Patent No. 2912756

  However, according to the configuration of Patent Document 2, two cell chambers (evaporation source containers) are connected to one vacuum chamber (vacuum tank), that is, release of evaporation material (vapor). Since two pipes are provided and the connection position in the vacuum chamber is different, for example, when the material (evaporation source) is replaced, the material runs out in the middle of the film formation, leading to the evaporation material from the other cell chamber and vapor deposition. In the case of restarting, there is a problem that the previous vapor deposition condition is different from the current vapor deposition condition, that is, the film formation state is different, and thus the quality of the thin film formed on the substrate surface varies.

  Further, in such a system that requires a high degree of vacuum, it is difficult to obtain a perfect seal, and it is impossible to maintain a predetermined degree of vacuum due to intrusion of outside air by a slight amount. For example, in the configuration shown in Patent Document 2, a part of the evaporation material is introduced into the evaporation chamber. There is a possibility that it will be discharged to the outside by a vacuum pump before being used, and there is a problem that the use efficiency of the material is lowered.

  Furthermore, although a trap that can be partially recovered is provided, it is not always the same quality as the material to be heated / evaporated for the first time when reusing the material once heated / cooled. There are cases where the material of the trap is limited, and additional facilities such as a trap needing a heating means are increased.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides an evaporation apparatus that can prevent a decrease in the efficiency of use of the material to be evaporated, and an evaporation apparatus that uses this evaporation apparatus and does not change the evaporation conditions when introducing the evaporation material from a plurality of locations to the evaporation chamber. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for switching an evaporation apparatus in a vapor deposition apparatus.

In order to solve the above problems, an evaporation apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention is an evaporation apparatus that evaporates a predetermined material under a predetermined vacuum degree,
An evaporation container connected to the exhaust means and provided with a material discharge hole capable of discharging the evaporated material evaporated at the top, and a material that is provided in the evaporation container so as to be movable up and down by the lifting means and that contains the material A mounting table on which a storage container can be mounted;
A cylindrical shape that suppresses the release of the evaporation material into the evaporation container by covering the outer periphery of the evaporation container around the material discharge hole when the material storage container is raised through the mounting table. A partition member is provided,
Setting a heating means for heating the material container in the mounting table and the partition member,
Further, the above-mentioned mounting table side is provided with a contact portion that can contact the lower end portion of the partition wall member and prevent the evaporation material in the partition wall member from being discharged when the mounting table is raised by the lifting means. is there.

Further, vapor deposition apparatus according to claim 2, at least two evaporators according to claim 1, one evaporation vessel for depositing the evaporated material on the deposited member disposed under a predetermined degree of vacuum And a vapor deposition apparatus provided with a material transfer conduit provided between the vapor deposition container and the material discharge hole of each of the evaporation apparatuses,
While connecting one end side of the material transfer pipeline to the vapor deposition container side, branch the other end side and connect to the material discharge hole of each evaporation device,
In addition, an on-off valve is arranged in the middle of the branched material transfer pipe.

Furthermore, the switching method of the evaporator in a vapor deposition apparatus according to claim 3, claim 2 to perform the deposition by supplying evaporation material in one deposition chamber using at least two evaporators It is a method of switching the evaporation device used in the vapor deposition device,
A preheating step of raising the material storage container of the other evaporation device into the partition member and heating it to a predetermined temperature lower than the evaporation temperature of the material by the heating means before the material becomes insufficient in one evaporation device;
Impurity discharging step of lowering the material storage container heated to a predetermined temperature from the partition member and discharging impurities vaporized in the material storage container to the outside by an exhaust means;
A main heating step of raising the material container again into the partition member and heating it to the evaporation temperature of the material after discharging the impurities;
A switching method comprising: closing an on-off valve provided in the material transfer line of the one evaporator and opening an on-off valve provided in the material transfer line of the other evaporator.

  According to the configuration of the first aspect, the material storage container is raised in the partition member communicated with the material discharge hole and heated by the heating means while the inside of the evaporation container is kept clean by the exhaust means. Therefore, most of the evaporating material can be guided to the material discharge hole, and therefore, the discharge of the evaporating material by the exhaust means can be minimized, so that the material can be used effectively. That is, it is possible to prevent the use efficiency of the material from being lowered.

Moreover, according to the structure of Claim 1 , since the clearance gap between a partition member and a mounting base can be eliminated, the evaporation material discharged | emitted by an exhaust means can be decreased as much as possible.
Further, according to the second aspect, when to perform deposition successively with alternating least two evaporators, the deposition of the material transfer line for guiding the evaporation material to the evaporation vessel from the evaporator Since the connection part on the chamber side is made one place, the vapor deposition conditions do not change, and therefore it is possible to prevent the quality of the thin film formed on the vapor deposition member from being varied.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the preheating stage, impurities contained in the material storage container and the material are vaporized, and the material storage container is once lowered from the partition member, and the impurities are exhausted by the exhaust means. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the quality of the thin film formed on the deposition target member from being deteriorated when switching between at least two evaporators used during continuous deposition.

[Embodiment]
Hereinafter, an evaporation apparatus according to the present invention, an evaporation apparatus using the evaporation apparatus, and a switching method of the evaporation apparatus in the evaporation apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the vapor deposition apparatus which is the whole structure is demonstrated.
As shown in FIG. 1, this vapor deposition apparatus is roughly divided into a glass substrate (an example of a member to be vapor-deposited) 1 that is inserted in a horizontal direction so that its vapor deposition surface is downward and is held by a holder 2. Vapor deposition container constructed as described above (the inside of the container is referred to as a vapor deposition chamber 3a, and although not shown, a glass substrate loading / unloading opening is provided on the side wall of the container, and other exhaust means such as a vacuum pump are provided. 3) and evaporation of a predetermined material (in the case of an organic EL screen, an organic material is used) disposed below the vapor deposition container 3 (hereinafter referred to as a predetermined material (raw material)) Two evaporation devices 4 (4A, 4B) in which evaporation material A and evaporation material B are called) are connected to each of the evaporation devices 4 and the above-mentioned evaporation container 3 to obtain the evaporation material. A material transfer pipe 5 for transferring to the vapor deposition chamber 3a; It is al configuration.

Each of the evaporators 4 is connected to an evaporation container 11 having an evaporation chamber 11a therein, and a wall portion of the evaporation container 11, and the inside of the evaporation chamber 11a has a predetermined degree of vacuum (for example, 1 × 10 ^−4). And a vacuum pump (an example of an evacuation unit) 12 for maintaining the degree of vacuum, and an elevating cylinder device (an example of an elevating unit) 13 in the evaporation chamber 11a. It is comprised from the disk-shaped mounting base 15 which can mount the cylindrical material storage container (it is also called a crucible) 14 with which the vapor deposition material was opened while being provided.

On the side surface of the evaporation container 11, a loading / unloading opening 11 b for loading / unloading the material storage container 14 and an opening / closing door 16 for opening / closing the loading / unloading opening 11 b are provided.
In addition, a material discharge hole 17 for discharging the evaporation material is formed in the upper wall portion 11c of each evaporation container 11, and the discharge hole is opened or closed in the middle of the material discharge hole 17. A needle valve (an example of an on-off valve) 18 capable of adjusting the opening area is provided.

  Further, the surrounding lower surface of the material discharge hole 17 in the upper wall portion 11 c of the evaporation container 11 is discharged from the material storage container 14 by covering the periphery of the material storage container 14 raised through the mounting table 15. A cylindrical partition wall member 19 is provided to hang down to minimize (suppress) the movement of the evaporation material to the evaporation chamber 11a side, and at least when the mounting table 15 is raised, at least the peripheral portion of the upper surface thereof Is formed into an annular contact portion (contact portion) 15a that does not contact the lower end portion (lower edge portion) of the partition wall member 19 to form a gap. In terms of dimensions, the gap between the partition wall member 19 and the material storage container 14 is made as small as possible.

  In order to heat the vapor deposition material A in the evaporation container 11 to a predetermined evaporation temperature, heating means 20 and 21 such as an electric heater are provided on the inside of the mounting table 15 and the outer peripheral surface of the partition member 19. Yes.

  The material transfer pipe 5 is for connecting two evaporation devices 4 to one vapor deposition vessel 3, and its upper end 5 a is connected to the bottom wall portion 3 b of the vapor deposition vessel 3 at one place ( Further, the lower end side is branched into two to form a Y-shaped pipe, and the lower ends 5b and 5c of the branches are connected to the material discharge holes 17 of the respective evaporation containers 11 (communication). Is done.

  In addition, although not shown in figure, about the path | route (it is also a pipe line) to which evaporation material moves, heating means, such as an electric heater, are provided and the evaporation temperature is maintained. The material transfer pipe 5 and the material discharge hole 17 provided on the evaporation container 11 side constitute a material transfer pipe line.

Next, the vapor deposition method using the above-described vapor deposition apparatus will be described, particularly focusing on the vaporization operation in the vaporization apparatus and switching the two vaporization apparatuses.
First, the case where evaporation material is vapor-deposited on the surface of the glass substrate 1 held in the vapor deposition container 3 by one (one) evaporation device 4A will be briefly described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, after placing the material storage container 14 in which the vapor deposition material A is stored on the mounting table 15 in the evaporation container 11, the vacuum pump 12 is operated to obtain a predetermined degree of vacuum. Maintain vacuum. In addition, while vapor deposition is being performed, for example, vacuum is used to exhaust air that enters from the connection portions of the components of the evaporation apparatus 4A, impurities (impure gas components) released from the components themselves, and the like. The pump 12 is continuously operated.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the material storage container 14 is heated to a predetermined evaporation temperature by the respective heating means 20 and 21 in a state where the material storage container 14 is raised (moved) into the partition member 19. Then, evaporation of the vapor deposition material A in the material storage container 14 is started. When the needle valve 18 is opened, the evaporated evaporation material B is guided from the material discharge hole 17 to the evaporation chamber 3a of the evaporation container 3 through the material transfer pipe 5, and adheres to the surface of the glass substrate 1 to form a thin film. It is formed. Of course, while the evaporating material is being discharged, care is taken to prevent the evaporating material from adhering to the surface by heating the material transfer conduit.

  When the vapor deposition material in the material container 14 in one evaporation device 4A decreases, preparations for switching to supply (introduction) of the evaporation material from the other vapor deposition device 4B are started.

  At the time of this switching, in the other evaporator 4B, preheating is performed and impurities such as moisture (as gas components) are discharged, and then main heating at the original evaporation temperature is performed. For example, when the evaporation temperature (the temperature at the main heating) is 200 ° C., the preheating temperature (the temperature at which the material does not evaporate) is set to a lower temperature, for example, 150 ° C. It can be arbitrarily set within a range of several degrees to several tens of degrees from heating. Moreover, the transition time to evaporation can be shortened when the preheating temperature is closer to the evaporation temperature of the material.

Hereinafter, the switching method of the evaporator 4 will be described in detail.
That is, as shown in FIG. 3, while the evaporation material B is being supplied by one evaporation device 4A, the material storage container 14 mounted on the mounting table 15 of the other evaporation device 4B is used for raising and lowering. While being raised into the partition member 19 by the cylinder device 13, it is heated to a predetermined temperature lower than the evaporation temperature of the vapor deposition material by the heating means 20 and 21 provided on the outer periphery of the mounting table 15 and the partition member 19. Naturally, even during the preliminary heating, the vacuum pump 12 exhausts air (preliminary heating step).

Then, when heated to a predetermined temperature, as shown in FIG. 4, the mounting table 15 is once lowered by the lifting cylinder device 13, and the material storage container 14 is extracted from the partition member 19.
Then, impurities such as moisture existing in the partition wall member 19 are discharged to the outside by the vacuum pump 12 through the evaporation chamber 11a (impurity discharging step).

  When the impurities are discharged, as shown in FIG. 5, the mounting table 15 is raised again to raise (move) the material storage container 14 to the heating position in the partition wall member 19. At this time, since the annular contact portion 15a provided on the mounting table 15 contacts the lower end portion of the partition wall member 19, the evaporated material B evaporated in the partition wall member 19 is drawn out and discharged to the outside. Absent. That is, since the vacuum pump 12 that is always operated to discharge impurities is prevented from being discharged to the outside, it is possible to prevent the use efficiency of the vapor deposition material from being lowered.

  Next, the material storage container 14 is heated to the evaporation temperature by the heating means 20 and 21 to perform evaporation (main heating step), and as shown in FIG. 6, the needle valve 18 provided in one of the evaporation devices 4A. When the other needle valve 18 provided in the other evaporation device 4B is opened, the evaporation material B evaporated in the other evaporation device 4B is introduced into the vapor deposition chamber 3a through the material transfer pipe 5. Then, the adhesion to the glass substrate 1 is continued. After that, the material storage container 14 of one evaporator 4A is lowered, the door 16 is opened and taken out, and replaced with a new one. Further, the main heating in the other evaporation device 4B is started at an appropriate time from the material usage status of the evaporation device 4A, so that this switching time can be reduced to a few minutes level.

Here, the switching method of the evaporator is shown in steps as follows.
In other words, this switching method is a method of switching an evaporation device to be used when vapor deposition is performed by supplying an evaporation material to one evaporation container using at least two evaporation devices. Before the material becomes insufficiency, the material storage container of the other evaporation device is raised into the partition member and heated to a predetermined temperature lower than the material evaporation temperature by the heating means, and heated to the predetermined temperature. The material storage container is lowered from the partition member, and an impurity discharging step for discharging the impurities vaporized in the material storage container to the outside by a vacuum pump, and after discharging the impurities, the material storage container is raised again in the partition member. The main heating step of heating to the evaporation temperature of the material, and closing the needle valve provided in the middle of the material discharge hole of the one evaporation device and releasing the material of the other evaporation device. And comprising a material transfer conduit switching step of opening the needle valve provided in the middle of the hole.

  As described above, the two evaporation devices 4 are connected to the vapor deposition container 3 via the material transfer pipe 5 and the evaporation device 4 used for vapor deposition is switched by opening and closing the needle valve 18. Since there is only one supply point (introduction point) to the vapor deposition chamber 3a, for example, two evaporators are connected to the vapor deposition container using separate material transfer pipes (supply points). The vapor deposition conditions do not change when the evaporation apparatus is switched as compared with the other, so that the quality of the thin film formed on the glass substrate 1 can be prevented from varying.

  Further, at the preheating stage, impurities adhering to the material container 14 and contained in the vapor deposition material are vaporized, and the material container 14 is once extracted from the partition member 19 to remove the impurities by a vacuum pump. Therefore, the quality of the thin film formed on the surface of the glass substrate 1 can be prevented from deteriorating when the two evaporators used for continuous vapor deposition are switched.

  Further, at the stage of the main heating, the material storage container 14 is raised into the partition wall member 19 and is almost sealed by the mounting table 15, so that air, impurities, etc. entering from the component system of the evaporator 4 Even when the vacuum pump 12 is driven to discharge the evaporation material, it is possible to prevent (suppress) the evaporation material discharged from the material storage container 14 from being discharged to the outside. It is possible to prevent the decrease.

  By the way, in the above embodiment, the annular contact portion 15a that also serves as the position restricting portion of the material storage container 14 is provided on the outer periphery of the mounting table 15. For example, as shown in FIG. An annular projecting portion (another example of the position restricting portion) 15b may be formed at a position inside the partition member 19 of the contact portion 15a so as to be accurately moved (guided) with respect to the partition member 19. . Also in this case, the gap between the partition wall member 19 and the material storage container 14 is made as small as possible.

Further, when the closing by the needle valve 18 is insufficient, an opening / closing valve may be further provided at the branch lower end portions 5b and 5c of the material transfer pipe 5.
Furthermore, in the said embodiment, although demonstrated as what comprised two evaporators, you may comprise three or more.

It is sectional drawing which shows schematic structure of the vapor deposition apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is principal part sectional drawing of the evaporation apparatus in the vapor deposition apparatus. It is sectional drawing explaining the vapor deposition operation | movement in the vapor deposition apparatus. It is sectional drawing explaining the vapor deposition operation | movement in the vapor deposition apparatus. It is sectional drawing explaining the vapor deposition operation | movement in the vapor deposition apparatus. It is sectional drawing explaining the vapor deposition operation | movement in the vapor deposition apparatus. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the modification of the evaporation apparatus in the vapor deposition apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Glass substrate 3 Vapor deposition container 3a Vapor deposition chamber 3b Bottom wall part 4 Evaporation apparatus 5 Material transfer pipe 11 Evaporation container 11a Evaporation chamber 12 Vacuum pump 13 Lifting cylinder apparatus 14 Material storage container 15 Mounting base 15a Contact part 17 Material discharge | release Hole 18 Needle valve 19 Partition member 20 Heating means 21 Heating means

Claims (3)

An evaporation device that evaporates a predetermined material under a predetermined vacuum degree,
An evaporation container connected to the exhaust means and provided with a material discharge hole capable of discharging the evaporated material evaporated at the top, and a material that is provided in the evaporation container so as to be movable up and down by the lifting means and that contains the material A mounting table on which a storage container can be mounted;
A cylindrical shape that suppresses the release of the evaporation material into the evaporation container by covering the outer periphery of the evaporation container around the material discharge hole when the material storage container is raised through the mounting table. A partition member is provided,
Setting a heating means for heating the material container in the mounting table and the partition member,
Furthermore, a contact portion is provided on the placement table side that can contact the lower end portion of the partition wall member and prevent the evaporation material in the partition wall member from being discharged when the placement table is raised by the lifting means. Evaporator characterized. 2. At least two evaporation apparatuses according to claim 1, one evaporation container for evaporating an evaporation material on a member to be evaporated disposed under a predetermined degree of vacuum, the evaporation container and each of the evaporation apparatuses A material transfer pipe provided between the material discharge hole and the material discharge hole,
While connecting one end side of the material transfer pipeline to the vapor deposition container side, branch the other end side and connect to the material discharge hole of each evaporation device,
A vapor deposition apparatus characterized in that an on-off valve is arranged in the middle of the branched material transfer pipe. The method for switching an evaporation apparatus used in the vapor deposition apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein vapor deposition is performed by supplying an evaporation material to one vapor deposition container using at least two evaporation apparatuses.
A preheating step of raising the material storage container of the other evaporation device into the partition member and heating it to a predetermined temperature lower than the evaporation temperature of the material by the heating means before the material becomes insufficient in one evaporation device;
Impurity discharging step of lowering the material storage container heated to a predetermined temperature from the partition member and discharging impurities vaporized in the material storage container to the outside by an exhaust means;
A main heating step of raising the material container again into the partition member and heating it to the evaporation temperature of the material after discharging the impurities;
A vapor deposition apparatus comprising: a step of closing an on-off valve provided in the material transfer line of the one evaporation apparatus and opening an on-off valve provided in the material transfer line of the other evaporation apparatus. Method for switching the evaporator in the process.

Images