JP6701543B2 - Vapor deposition mask and method for manufacturing vapor deposition mask - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vapor deposition mask having a plurality of through holes formed therein. The present invention also relates to a method for manufacturing a vapor deposition mask.

  In recent years, display devices used in portable devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs are required to have high definition, for example, a pixel density of 400 ppi or more. In addition, even in portable devices, there is an increasing demand for supporting ultra-full high-definition, and in this case, the pixel density of the display device is required to be 800 ppi or more, for example.

  Among display devices, organic EL display devices have been attracting attention because of their good responsiveness, low power consumption, and high contrast. As a method of forming pixels of an organic EL display device, a method of forming pixels in a desired pattern using a vapor deposition mask in which through holes arranged in a desired pattern are formed is known. Specifically, first, a vapor deposition mask is brought into close contact with a substrate for an organic EL display device, and then the vapor deposition mask and the substrate that have been brought into close contact are put into the vapor deposition device, and an organic material is vapor-deposited on the substrate. I do. In this case, in order to accurately manufacture the organic EL display device having a high pixel density, it is required to accurately reproduce the position and shape of the through hole of the vapor deposition mask according to the design.

  As a method of manufacturing a vapor deposition mask, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, a method of forming a through hole in a metal plate by etching using a photolithography technique is known. For example, first, a first resist pattern is formed on the first surface of the metal plate, and a second resist pattern is formed on the second surface of the metal plate. Next, a region of the first surface of the metal plate that is not covered with the first resist pattern is etched to form a first opening in the first surface of the metal plate. Then, a region of the second surface of the metal plate that is not covered with the second resist pattern is etched to form a second opening in the second surface of the metal plate. At this time, a through hole penetrating the metal plate can be formed by performing etching so that the first opening and the second opening communicate with each other.

  In addition, as a method of manufacturing a vapor deposition mask, a method of manufacturing a vapor deposition mask using a plating process is known as disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 2. For example, in the method described in Patent Document 2, first, a conductive base material is prepared. Next, a resist pattern is formed on the substrate with a predetermined gap. This resist pattern is provided at the position where the through hole of the vapor deposition mask is to be formed. Then, a plating solution is supplied to the gaps in the resist pattern to deposit a metal layer on the base material by electrolytic plating. After that, by separating the metal layer from the base material, a vapor deposition mask having a plurality of through holes can be obtained.

Japanese Patent No. 5382259 JP, 2001-234385, A

  In a manufacturing process of a display device such as an organic EL display device, a substrate such as a mother glass, which is a base constituting the display device, is being increased in size in order to reduce the manufacturing cost. In this case, when manufacturing a small organic EL display device for a smartphone or the like, a plurality of organic EL display devices are allocated on one substrate. In this case, as the vapor deposition mask, a mask provided with a plurality of effective regions in which through holes arranged in a desired pattern are formed is used. Note that one effective region of the vapor deposition mask corresponds to one organic EL display device allocated on the substrate. When the substrate becomes large, the vapor deposition mask also becomes large, and therefore, the manufacturing equipment for producing the vapor deposition mask also becomes large.

  However, in general, the larger the manufacturing facility, the more likely the position and shape of the through hole of the vapor deposition mask will be varied and deviated from the design. For example, when a vapor deposition mask is manufactured by using a plating process, the larger the manufacturing facility, the more difficult it becomes to make the thickness of the metal layer uniform over the entire area of the vapor deposition mask. For this reason, the shapes of the through holes in the plurality of effective regions may vary depending on the positions where the effective regions are allocated. As a result, it is conceivable that the individual difference in the characteristics of the organic EL display device manufactured by using the vapor deposition mask becomes large, and the manufacturing yield of the organic EL display device becomes low. In addition, a large investment is required to increase the size of the vapor deposition mask manufacturing facility.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a vapor deposition mask and a method for manufacturing the same that can effectively solve such problems.

  1st this invention is a vapor deposition mask, Comprising: A pair of ear|edge part which comprises a pair of edge part in the longitudinal direction of the said vapor deposition mask, and the intermediate part located between a pair of said ear|edge part, A plurality of through holes are formed in the intermediate portion, and at least one of the pair of ears is a vapor deposition mask joined to the intermediate portion via a joining portion.

  In the vapor deposition mask according to the first aspect of the present invention, the joint portion may include a fusion area in which a part of the ear portion and a part of the intermediate portion are fused.

  In the vapor deposition mask according to the first aspect of the present invention, a thickness of an effective region of the intermediate portion where the plurality of through holes are formed may be within a range of 3 to 20 μm.

  In the vapor deposition mask according to the first aspect of the present invention, the difference between the thickness of the ear portion and the thickness of the effective region of the intermediate portion where the plurality of through holes are formed may be 30 μm or less.

  In the vapor deposition mask according to the first aspect of the present invention, the length of the intermediate portion and the length of the ears in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask are in the ranges of 800 to 1100 mm and 50 to 250 mm, respectively. Good.

  In the vapor deposition mask according to the first aspect of the present invention, the difference between the width of the ear portion and the width of the intermediate portion may be 1 mm or less.

  A second aspect of the present invention is a vapor deposition mask, comprising a pair of ears forming a pair of ends in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask, and an intermediate part located between the pair of ears, The intermediate portion includes a plurality of effective regions provided along the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask, and a peripheral region surrounding the effective region, and a plurality of through holes are formed in the effective region. The intermediate portion is at least partitioned in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask into a first intermediate portion including at least one effective area and a second intermediate portion including at least one effective area, and the first intermediate portion. The part and the second intermediate part are vapor deposition masks that are bonded to each other in the peripheral region via a bonding part.

  In the vapor deposition mask according to the second aspect of the present invention, the bonding part may include a fusion region in which a part of the first intermediate part and a part of the second intermediate part are fused.

  In the bonded portion of the vapor deposition mask according to the second aspect of the present invention, the end surface of the end portion of the first intermediate portion and the end surface of the end portion of the second intermediate portion may be in contact with each other.

  3rd this invention is the manufacturing method of a vapor deposition mask, Comprising: The ear|edge part preparation process which prepares the ear|edge part which comprises the edge part in the longitudinal direction of the said vapor deposition mask, and the intermediate part in which several through-holes were formed. It is a manufacturing method of a vapor deposition mask provided with a middle part preparation process of preparing, and a joining process of joining the above-mentioned ear part to the above-mentioned middle part via a joined part.

  A fourth aspect of the present invention is a method for manufacturing a vapor deposition mask, comprising: a pair of ears that form a pair of end portions in a longitudinal direction; and an intermediate portion that is located between the pair of ears. An intermediate portion preparation step of preparing the intermediate portion including a plurality of effective regions provided along the longitudinal direction of the mask and a peripheral region surrounding the effective region is provided, and the effective region has a plurality of through holes. And a step of preparing a first intermediate portion including at least one of the effective areas, and a step of preparing a second intermediate portion including at least one of the effective areas in the intermediate portion preparing step. The manufacturing method may include a joining step of joining the first intermediate portion and the second intermediate portion such that the first intermediate portion and the second intermediate portion are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask. The method further comprises a method of manufacturing a vapor deposition mask.

  In the vapor deposition mask manufacturing method according to the third and fourth aspects of the present invention, the intermediate portion preparing step includes a resist forming step of forming a resist pattern on a predetermined base material with a predetermined gap, and the resist pattern forming step. You may have the plating process process which deposits a metal layer in a clearance gap, and the isolation|separation process which isolate|separates the said metal layer from the said base material.

  In the vapor deposition mask manufacturing method according to the third and fourth aspects of the present invention, the intermediate portion preparing step includes a step of preparing a metal plate and a resist forming step of forming a resist pattern on the metal plate with a predetermined gap. And a step of etching a region of the metal plate that is not covered by the resist pattern to form the through hole in the metal plate.

  In the ear part preparation step of the vapor deposition mask manufacturing method according to the third aspect of the present invention, the ear part may be manufactured by etching the ear part substrate and processing the ear part substrate.

In the first and third aspects of the present invention, first, an ear portion that constitutes an end portion in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask and an intermediate portion in which a plurality of through holes are formed are prepared. Next, the ear portion is joined to the intermediate portion via the joining portion. As described above, in the present invention, the vapor deposition mask is configured by joining the ear portion and the intermediate portion. Therefore, the length of the intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask is smaller than the length of the entire vapor deposition mask.
In the vapor deposition mask, a middle portion in which a plurality of through holes are formed requires high accuracy in shape and position. On the other hand, the ear portion is a portion that is attached to the frame during the vapor deposition process and does not require high accuracy in shape and position.
Here, in the present invention, the ear portion and the middle portion are respectively prepared as separate members. Therefore, the ear portion and the middle portion can be manufactured using different manufacturing equipments. Further, as described above, the length of the intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask is smaller than the length of the entire vapor deposition mask. Therefore, it is possible to manufacture the intermediate portion using a small-sized manufacturing facility as compared with the case of manufacturing the vapor deposition mask in which the ear portion and the intermediate portion are integrally formed. Therefore, it is possible to suppress variations and deviations from the design in the position and shape of the through hole in the intermediate portion. Therefore, it is possible to provide a vapor deposition mask which can be applied to a large-sized substrate and which can deposit the vapor deposition material on the substrate precisely. In addition, it is possible to reduce the capital investment required to cope with the increase in size of the vapor deposition mask.

  In addition, in the second and fourth aspects of the present invention, a first intermediate portion and a second intermediate portion are prepared. Next, the first intermediate portion and the second intermediate portion are joined via the joining portion. Therefore, the length of the first intermediate portion and the second intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask is smaller than the length of the entire vapor deposition mask and the length of the entire intermediate portion. Therefore, the intermediate portion can be manufactured using a small-sized manufacturing facility as compared with the case of manufacturing the vapor deposition mask in which the first intermediate portion and the second intermediate portion are integrally formed. Therefore, it is possible to suppress variations and deviations from the design in the position and shape of the through hole in the intermediate portion. Therefore, it is possible to provide a vapor deposition mask which can be applied to a large-sized substrate and which can deposit the vapor deposition material on the substrate precisely. In addition, it is possible to reduce the capital investment required to cope with the increase in the size of the vapor deposition mask.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, and is a schematic plan view showing an example of a vapor deposition mask device including a vapor deposition mask. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a vapor deposition method using the vapor deposition mask device shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view showing a joint portion where the ear portion and the intermediate portion are joined. FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a joint portion where the ear portion and the intermediate portion are joined. FIG. 5: is a top view which expands and shows the intermediate part of a vapor deposition mask. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a cross-sectional shape of the intermediate portion of the vapor deposition mask. FIG. 7A is a diagram showing a patterned substrate used for manufacturing a vapor deposition mask by a plating process. FIG. 7B is a diagram showing a step of forming a plurality of intermediate portions on the patterned substrate. FIG. 7C is a diagram showing a step of joining the pair of ears to the intermediate portion. FIG. 8A is a diagram showing a step of an example of a method of manufacturing a patterned substrate used for manufacturing a vapor deposition mask by a plating process. FIG. 8B is a diagram showing a step of an example of a method of manufacturing a patterned substrate used for manufacturing a vapor deposition mask by a plating process. FIG. 8C is a diagram showing a step of an example of a method of manufacturing a patterned substrate used for manufacturing a vapor deposition mask by a plating process. FIG. 8D is a diagram showing a step of an example of a method of manufacturing a patterned substrate used for manufacturing a vapor deposition mask by a plating process. FIG. 9A is a diagram showing a step of an example of a method of manufacturing the intermediate portion of the vapor deposition mask shown in FIG. 6 by a plating process. FIG. 9B is a diagram showing a step of an example of a method of manufacturing the intermediate portion of the vapor deposition mask shown in FIG. 6 by a plating process. FIG. 9C is a diagram showing a step of an example of a method of manufacturing the intermediate portion of the vapor deposition mask shown in FIG. 6 by a plating process. FIG. 10A is a diagram showing a step of another example of the method of manufacturing the intermediate portion of the vapor deposition mask by the plating process. FIG. 10B is a diagram showing a step of another example of the method of manufacturing the intermediate portion of the vapor deposition mask by the plating process. FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing an intermediate portion of a vapor deposition mask obtained by the method shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B. FIG. 12A is a view showing a metal plate used for manufacturing a vapor deposition mask by an etching process. FIG. 12B is a diagram showing a state in which the exposure mask is arranged so as to overlap with the metal plate. FIG. 12C is a diagram showing a step of etching a metal plate to produce an intermediate portion including an effective region in which a plurality of through holes are formed. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a cross-sectional shape of a vapor deposition mask. FIG. 14A is a diagram showing a step of an example of a method for manufacturing the vapor deposition mask shown in FIG. 13 by etching. FIG. 14B is a diagram showing a step of an example of a method for manufacturing the vapor deposition mask shown in FIG. 13 by etching. FIG. 14C is a diagram showing a step of an example of a method of manufacturing the vapor deposition mask shown in FIG. 13 by etching. FIG. 14D is a diagram showing a step of an example of a method for manufacturing the vapor deposition mask shown in FIG. 13 by etching. FIG. 15: is a figure which shows the modification of the vapor deposition mask apparatus containing a vapor deposition mask. FIG. 16 is a plan view showing a modified example of the joint portion that joins the ear portion and the intermediate portion. FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view showing a modified example of the joint portion that joins the ear portion and the intermediate portion. FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view showing a modified example of the joint portion that joins the ear portion and the intermediate portion. FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view showing a modified example of the joint portion that joins the ear portion and the intermediate portion. FIG. 20 is a schematic plan view showing a modified example of a vapor deposition mask device including a vapor deposition mask. FIG. 21 is an enlarged plan view showing a joint portion where the first intermediate portion and the second intermediate portion are joined. FIG. 22 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a joint portion where the first intermediate portion and the second intermediate portion are joined. FIG. 23A is a diagram showing a patterned substrate used for manufacturing a vapor deposition mask by a plating process. FIG. 23B is a diagram showing a step of forming a first intermediate portion and a second intermediate portion on the patterned substrate. FIG. 23C is a diagram showing a step of joining the first intermediate portion and the second intermediate portion. FIG. 24A is a diagram showing a metal plate used for manufacturing a vapor deposition mask by an etching process. FIG. 24B is a diagram showing how the exposure mask is arranged so as to overlap with the metal plate. FIG. 24C is a diagram showing a step of etching a metal plate to produce a first intermediate portion and a second intermediate portion including an effective region in which a plurality of through holes are formed.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, in the drawings attached to the present specification, for convenience of illustration and understanding, the scale, the vertical and horizontal dimension ratios, etc. are appropriately changed and exaggerated from the actual ones.

  1 to 9C are views for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. In the following embodiments and modifications thereof, a method of manufacturing a vapor deposition mask used for patterning an organic material on a substrate in a desired pattern when manufacturing an organic EL display device will be described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to such an application, and the present invention can be applied to methods for manufacturing vapor deposition masks used for various purposes.

  In the present specification, the terms “plate”, “sheet”, and “film” are not distinguished from each other based only on the difference in designation. For example, a “plate” is a concept that also includes members that can be called sheets and films.

  The term “plate surface (sheet surface, film surface)” means the target plate-shaped member (sheet-shaped member) when the target plate-shaped (sheet-shaped, film-shaped) member is viewed as a whole and comprehensively. (A member, a film-like member) refers to a surface that coincides with the plane direction. Further, the normal direction used for a plate-shaped (sheet-shaped, film-shaped) member refers to the direction normal to the plate surface (sheet surface, film surface) of the member.

  Further, as used in the present specification, the shape and geometrical conditions and physical properties and their degrees are specified, for example, terms such as “parallel”, “orthogonal”, “identical”, “equivalent”, length and angle. In addition, the values of physical properties, etc., are to be construed without being bound to a strict meaning, including the range in which similar functions can be expected.

(Evaporation mask device)
First, an example of a vapor deposition mask device including a vapor deposition mask will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a vapor deposition mask device including a vapor deposition mask, and FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a method of using the vapor deposition mask device shown in FIG.

  The vapor deposition mask device 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a plurality of vapor deposition masks 20 each having a substantially rectangular shape in a plan view, and a frame 15 that holds the plurality of vapor deposition masks 20. The vapor deposition mask 20 is attached to the frame 15 at a pair of end portions 20e in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20. The frame 15 holds the vapor deposition mask 20 in a stretched state so that the vapor deposition mask 20 is not bent. Each vapor deposition mask 20 is provided with a plurality of through holes 25 penetrating the vapor deposition mask 20, as will be described later. As shown in FIG. 2, the vapor deposition mask device 10 is supported in the vapor deposition device 90 such that the vapor deposition mask 20 faces the lower surface of a substrate that is a vapor deposition object, for example, an organic EL substrate 92, and the organic EL substrate 92 is provided. It is used for vapor deposition of vapor deposition material.

  In the vapor deposition device 90, the vapor deposition mask 20 and the organic EL substrate 92 come into close contact with each other by the magnetic force from a magnet (not shown). In the vapor deposition device 90, below the vapor deposition mask device 10, a crucible 94 that accommodates a vapor deposition material (for example, an organic light emitting material) 98 and a heater 96 that heats the crucible 94 are arranged. The vapor deposition material 98 in the crucible 94 is vaporized or sublimated by heating from the heater 96 and adheres to the surface of the organic EL substrate 92. As described above, a large number of through holes 25 are formed in the vapor deposition mask 20, and the vapor deposition material 98 adheres to the organic EL substrate 92 via the through holes 25. As a result, the vapor deposition material 98 is deposited on the surface of the organic EL substrate 92 in a desired pattern corresponding to the position of the through hole 25 of the vapor deposition mask 20. In FIG. 2, the surface of the vapor deposition mask 20 that faces the organic EL substrate 92 during the vapor deposition process (hereinafter, also referred to as the first surface) is denoted by reference numeral 20a. A surface of the vapor deposition mask 20 that is located on the opposite side of the first surface 20a (hereinafter, also referred to as a second surface) is represented by a reference numeral 20b. A vapor deposition source of the vapor deposition material 98 (here, the crucible 94) is arranged on the second surface 20b side. In the following description, a region of the vapor deposition mask 20 in which the through hole 25 through which the vapor deposition material 98 passes is also referred to as an effective region 22.

  In the present embodiment, the through holes 25 are arranged in each effective area 22 in a predetermined pattern. In addition, when it is desired to perform color display with a plurality of colors, a vapor deposition machine equipped with the vapor deposition mask 20 corresponding to each color is prepared, and the organic EL substrate 92 is sequentially loaded into each vapor deposition machine. Thereby, for example, the organic light emitting material for red, the organic light emitting material for green, and the organic light emitting material for blue can be vapor-deposited on the organic EL substrate 92 in order.

  By the way, the vapor deposition process may be carried out inside the vapor deposition apparatus 90 having a high temperature atmosphere. In this case, the vapor deposition mask 20, the frame 15, and the organic EL substrate 92 held inside the vapor deposition device 90 are also heated during the vapor deposition process. At this time, the vapor deposition mask 20, the frame 15, and the organic EL substrate 92 exhibit the behavior of dimensional change based on their respective thermal expansion coefficients. In this case, if the thermal expansion coefficients of the vapor deposition mask 20 or the frame 15 and the organic EL substrate 92 are significantly different from each other, a positional deviation occurs due to the difference in dimensional changes between them, and as a result, the organic EL substrate 92 adheres to the organic EL substrate 92. The dimensional accuracy and the positional accuracy of the vapor deposition material are reduced. In order to solve such a problem, it is preferable that the thermal expansion coefficient of the vapor deposition mask 20 and the frame 15 be equal to the thermal expansion coefficient of the organic EL substrate 92. For example, when a glass substrate is used as the organic EL substrate 92, an iron alloy containing nickel can be used as a main material of the vapor deposition mask 20 and the frame 15. Specifically, an iron alloy such as an Invar material containing 34 to 38 mass% nickel and a Super Invar material containing cobalt in addition to nickel is used to form a first metal layer 32 and a first metal layer 32, which will be described later, that constitute the vapor deposition mask 20. It can be used as a material for the two-metal layer 37 and the metal plate 21. In the present specification, the numerical range represented by the symbol "to" includes the numerical values placed before and after the symbol "to". For example, the numerical range defined by the expression "34 to 38 mass%" is the same as the numerical range defined by the expression "34 mass% or more and 38 mass% or less".

  When the vapor deposition mask 20, the frame 15 and the organic EL substrate 92 do not reach a high temperature during the vapor deposition process, the thermal expansion coefficient of the vapor deposition mask 20 and the frame 15 is equal to the thermal expansion coefficient of the organic EL substrate 92. There is no particular need to set the value of. In this case, various materials other than the above iron alloys such as nickel and nickel-cobalt alloys are used as the materials for the first metal layer 32 and the second metal layer 37 and the metal plate 21 which will be described later and constitute the vapor deposition mask 20. You can

(Evaporation mask)
Next, the vapor deposition mask 20 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 1, the vapor deposition mask 20 includes a pair of ears 17 that form a pair of ends 20 e in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20, and an intermediate portion 18 located between the pair of ears 17. I have it. The pair of ears 17 are joined to the intermediate portion 18 via a joining portion 19 described later. In FIG. 1, the length of the entire vapor deposition mask 20, the length of the ear portion 17, and the length of the intermediate portion 18 in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 are represented by reference characters A, A1 and A2, respectively. As is apparent from FIG. 1, the length A2 of the intermediate portion 18 is smaller than the length A of the entire vapor deposition mask 20 by the length A1 of the pair of ears 17. The length A1 of the ear portion 17 and the length A2 of the middle portion 18 are, for example, within a range of 50 to 250 mm and within a range of 800 to 1100 mm, respectively. The length A of the entire vapor deposition mask 20 is in the range of 850 to 1350 mm, for example.

  The ear portion 17 is a portion of the vapor deposition mask 20 that is attached to the frame 15. When the direction of the tension applied to the vapor deposition mask 20 by the frame 15 is the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20, the ears 17 may be present on the pair of end portions 20e in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20, respectively.

  FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view showing a joint portion 19 where the ear portion 17 and the intermediate portion 18 are joined. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 includes an effective region 22 having through holes 25 formed in a regular array, and a peripheral region 23 surrounding the effective region 22. .. The peripheral region 23 is a region for supporting the effective region 22, and is not a region through which a vapor deposition material intended to be vapor deposited on the organic EL substrate 92 passes. For example, in the vapor deposition mask 20 used for vapor deposition of an organic light emitting material for an organic EL display device, the effective area 22 is a display area of the organic EL substrate 92 where the organic light emitting material is vapor deposited to form pixels. It is the region within the vapor deposition mask 20 that faces the area. However, for various purposes, a through hole or a recess may be formed in the peripheral region 23. In the example shown in FIG. 1, each effective area 22 has a substantially quadrangular contour in a plan view, and more precisely, a substantially rectangular contour in a plan view. Although not shown, each effective area 22 can have contours of various shapes depending on the shape of the display area of the organic EL substrate 92. For example, each effective area 22 may have a circular contour.

  In the illustrated example, the plurality of effective regions 22 of the vapor deposition mask 20 are arranged in a line at predetermined intervals along one direction parallel to the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20. In the illustrated example, one effective region 22 corresponds to one organic EL display device. That is, according to the vapor deposition mask device 10 (vapor deposition mask 20) shown in FIG. 1, multifaceted vapor deposition is possible.

  The ear portion 17 is a portion attached to the frame 15 during a vapor deposition process using the vapor deposition mask 20. The pair of ears 17 and the frame 15 of the vapor deposition mask 20 are fixed to each other by spot welding, for example.

  The pair of ears 17 is not a region through which a vapor deposition material intended to be vapor deposited on the organic EL substrate 92 passes. However, as shown in FIG. 3, one or more through holes 26 may be formed in the ear portion 17. The through hole 26 formed in the ear 17 can be used, for example, to inspect whether or not the vapor deposition mask 20 attached to the frame 15 is deformed such as thermal contraction or thermal expansion. For example, by measuring the distance between the through hole 26 formed in the one ear 17 and the through hole 26 formed in the other ear 17, whether the vapor deposition mask 20 is deformed or not is determined. Can be inspected.

  Next, with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the joint portion 19 that joins the ear portion 17 and the intermediate portion 18 will be described. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an enlarged joint portion. In the present embodiment, the pair of ears 17 are joined to the intermediate portion 18 by welding. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the joint portion 19 has a fusion region 19b formed by melting a part of the ear portion 17 and a part of the intermediate portion 18 and then solidifying the fusion area 19b. Contains. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the end portion 17e of the ear portion 17 and the end portion 18e of the middle portion 18 are arranged so that the first surface 20a of the ear portion 17 and the second surface 20b of the middle portion 18 are in contact with each other. Over a predetermined length A3 in the longitudinal direction. The fusion area 19b described above is formed between the first surface 20a of the ear portion 17 and the second surface 20b of the intermediate portion 18 so as to straddle the ear portion 17 and the intermediate portion 18.

  The method for forming the fused region 19b is not particularly limited, and various methods can be adopted. For example, laser welding may be employed in which a portion of the ear portion 17 or a portion of the intermediate portion 18 is irradiated with laser light to melt a portion of the ear portion 17 and a portion of the intermediate portion 18. As the laser light, for example, YAG laser light generated by a YAG laser device can be used. As the YAG laser device, for example, a device provided with a crystal obtained by adding Nd (neodymium) to YAG (yttrium aluminum garnet) as an oscillation medium can be used. It is also possible to employ a method in which a current is passed through a portion of the ear portion 17 and a portion of the intermediate portion 18 to melt a portion of the ear portion 17 and a portion of the intermediate portion 18. As a method of passing an electric current, a method of utilizing an electric discharge phenomenon such as arc discharge or a method of applying a voltage between electrodes in a state where a part of the ear portion 17 and a part of the intermediate portion 18 are sandwiched between the electrodes, A so-called electric welding method or the like can be considered.

  In addition, when forming the fusion|melting area|region 19b which straddles a part of the ear|edge part 17 and a part of intermediate part 18, irrespective of the fusion|melting method employ|adopted, a part of part of the ear|gear part 17 or a part of intermediate|middle part 18 is formed. It is believed that some marks due to welding will remain on at least one of the surfaces. For example, when irradiating a part of the first surface 20a of the intermediate portion 18 with laser light to form the fusional area 19b, the first surface 20a of the intermediate portion 18 is formed on the first surface 20a of the intermediate portion 18 as shown in FIG. Welding marks 19a such as recesses due to melting are formed. When the laser light is intermittently applied to a part of the first surface 20a of the intermediate portion 18 in a dotted manner at each position along the width direction of the vapor deposition mask 20, as shown in FIG. On the first surface 20a, a plurality of spot-like welding traces 19a arranged along the width direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 are formed. In this case, a plurality of fusion regions 19b extending over a part of the ear portion 17 and a part of the intermediate portion 18 may be formed in a dot shape along the width direction of the vapor deposition mask 20.

  The length A3 at which the end portion 17e of the ear portion 17 and the end portion 18e of the middle portion 18 overlap each other is set so that the joining of the middle portion 18 to the ear portion 17 can be sufficiently ensured. For example, the length A3 is set to 1 mm or more. On the other hand, increasing the length A3 means increasing the ratio of the peripheral region 23 in the intermediate portion 18, that is, the ratio of the region where the through hole 25 is not formed. In order to improve the utilization efficiency of the vapor deposition material 98 and the productivity of the organic EL display device, it is preferable that the ratio of the effective region 22 in the intermediate portion 18 is high. From this viewpoint, the length A3 is preferably set to 30 mm or less.

  In FIG. 3, the dimensions (hereinafter, also referred to as the width) of the ear portion 17 and the intermediate portion 18 in the width direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 are represented by symbols W1 and W2, respectively. The width W2 of the intermediate portion 18 is set according to the width of the effective area 22, that is, the width of the organic EL display device manufactured. For example, the width W2 is in the range of 50 to 300 mm.

  Hereinafter, the width W1 of the ear portion 17 will be described. As described above, the pair of ears 17 are portions for holding the vapor deposition mask 20 in a stretched state so that the vapor deposition mask 20 does not bend. In order to uniformly apply tension to the vapor deposition mask 20, it is preferable that the width W1 of the ear portion 17 is large. On the other hand, when the width W1 of the ear portion 17 becomes larger than the width W2 of the middle portion 18, when a plurality of vapor deposition masks 20 are arranged on the frame 15 in the width direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 as shown in FIG. The distance between the intermediate portions 18 of the two vapor deposition masks 20 becomes large. As a result, it is conceivable that the number of effective regions 22 of the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 held by one frame 15 decreases, and the productivity of the organic EL display device decreases. From this viewpoint, it is preferable that the width W1 of the ear portion 17 is small. Considering these points, it can be said that the width W1 of the ear portion 17 is preferably substantially the same as the width W2 of the intermediate portion 18. In addition, substantially the same means that the difference between the width W1 of the ear portion 17 and the width W2 of the intermediate portion 18 is 1 mm or less.

  In FIG. 3, the thickness of the ear portion 17 is represented by reference numeral T1. In addition, the thickness of the effective region 22 in which the through hole 25 is formed in the intermediate portion 18 is represented by symbol T2. The thickness T1 of the ear portion 17 is preferably 15 μm or more. Further, the thickness T2 of the effective region 22 in which the through hole 25 is formed in the intermediate portion 18 is preferably in the range of 3 to 20 μm. Further, the difference between the thickness T1 of the ear portion 17 and the thickness T2 of the effective area 22 of the intermediate portion 18 where the through hole 25 is formed is preferably 30 μm or less.

  Next, the intermediate portion 18 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view showing the intermediate portion 18.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the plurality of through holes 25 formed in each effective region 22 may be arranged at a predetermined pitch in the effective region 22 along two directions orthogonal to each other. The shape of the through hole 25 will be described in detail below. Here, the shape of the through holes 25 when the vapor deposition mask 20 is formed by plating will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a case where the vapor deposition mask 20 produced by the plating process is cut along the line YY in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the vapor deposition mask 20 includes a first metal layer 32 having a first opening 30 formed in a predetermined pattern and a second opening 35 having a second opening 35 communicating with the first opening 30. Two metal layers 37, and. The second metal layer 37 is arranged closer to the second surface 20b of the vapor deposition mask 20 than the first metal layer 32 is. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the first metal layer 32 constitutes the first surface 20 a of the vapor deposition mask 20, and the second metal layer 37 constitutes the second surface 20 b of the vapor deposition mask 20.

  In the present embodiment, the first opening 30 and the second opening 35 communicate with each other to form a through hole 25 penetrating the vapor deposition mask 20. In this case, the opening size and the opening shape of the through hole 25 on the first surface 20 a side of the vapor deposition mask 20 are defined by the first opening 30 of the first metal layer 32. On the other hand, the opening size and the opening shape of the through hole 25 on the second surface 20b side of the vapor deposition mask 20 are defined by the second opening 35 of the second metal layer 37. In other words, the through hole 25 is provided with both the shape defined by the first opening 30 of the first metal layer 32 and the shape defined by the second opening 35 of the second metal layer 37. There is.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the first opening 30 and the second opening 35 forming the through hole 25 may have a substantially polygonal shape in a plan view. Here, an example is shown in which the first opening 30 and the second opening 35 have a substantially quadrangular shape, more specifically, a substantially square shape. Although not shown, the first opening portion 30 and the second opening portion 35 may have other substantially polygonal shapes such as a substantially hexagonal shape and a substantially octagonal shape. The “substantially polygonal shape” is a concept including a shape in which the corners of the polygon are rounded. Although not shown, the first opening 30 and the second opening 35 may have a circular shape. Further, as long as the second opening 35 has a contour that surrounds the first opening 30 in a plan view, the shape of the first opening 30 and the shape of the second opening 35 do not have to be similar.

  In FIG. 6, reference numeral 41 represents a connection portion where the first metal layer 32 and the second metal layer 37 are connected. Further, the symbol S0 represents the size of the through hole 25 in the connecting portion 41 between the first metal layer 32 and the second metal layer 37. Although FIG. 6 shows an example in which the first metal layer 32 and the second metal layer 37 are in contact with each other, the present invention is not limited to this, and the first metal layer 32 and the second metal layer 37 may be connected to each other. Other layers may be interposed in the. For example, a catalyst layer for promoting the deposition of the second metal layer 37 on the first metal layer 32 may be provided between the first metal layer 32 and the second metal layer 37.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the opening dimension S2 of the through hole 25 (second opening portion 35) in the second surface 20b is larger than the opening dimension S1 of the through hole 25 (first opening portion 30) in the first surface 20a. Has become. Hereinafter, the advantages of forming the first metal layer 32 and the second metal layer 37 in this way will be described.

  The vapor deposition material 98 flying toward the vapor deposition mask 20 from the second surface 20b side of the vapor deposition mask 20 passes through the second opening 35 and the first opening 30 of the through hole 25 in order and adheres to the organic EL substrate 92. The region of the organic EL substrate 92 to which the vapor deposition material 98 adheres is mainly determined by the opening size S1 and the opening shape of the through hole 25 in the first surface 20a. By the way, the vapor deposition material 98 moves from the crucible 94 toward the organic EL substrate 92 along the normal direction N of the vapor deposition mask 20, as shown by the arrow from the second surface 20b side to the first surface 20a in FIG. Not only that, but it may move in a direction largely inclined with respect to the normal direction N of the vapor deposition mask 20. Here, assuming that the opening dimension S2 of the through hole 25 on the second surface 20b is the same as the opening dimension S1 of the through hole 25 on the first surface 20a, it is largely inclined with respect to the normal direction N of the vapor deposition mask 20. Most of the vapor deposition material 98 that moves in the direction reaches and adheres to the wall surface 36 of the second opening 35 of the through hole 25 before reaching the organic EL substrate 92 through the through hole 25. Therefore, in order to improve the utilization efficiency of the vapor deposition material 98, it can be said that it is preferable to increase the opening dimension S2 of the second opening 35.

  In FIG. 6, a path of the vapor deposition material 98 that passes through the end portion 38 of the through hole 25 (second opening 35) on the second surface 20b side of the vapor deposition mask 20 and that can reach the organic EL substrate 92. Of these, the path having the smallest angle with respect to the normal direction N of the vapor deposition mask 20 is represented by reference symbol L1. Further, an angle formed by the path L1 and the normal direction N of the vapor deposition mask 20 is represented by a reference sign θ1. In order to reach the organic EL substrate 92 as much as possible without reaching the wall surface 36 of the second opening 35, the vapor deposition material 98 moving diagonally is advantageous in increasing the angle θ1. For example, the angle θ1 is preferably 45° or more.

  The above-mentioned opening sizes S0, S1, S2 are appropriately set in consideration of the pixel density of the organic EL display device, the desired value of the angle θ1 described above, and the like. For example, when manufacturing an organic EL display device having a pixel density of 400 ppi or more, the opening dimension S0 of the through hole 25 in the connection portion 41 can be set within the range of 20 to 60 μm. The opening dimension S1 of the first opening 30 on the first surface 20a is set within the range of 10 to 50 μm, and the opening dimension S2 of the second opening 35 on the second surface 20b is within the range of 15 to 80 μm. Can be set to.

  Next, an outline of a method of manufacturing the vapor deposition mask 20 shown in FIG. 6 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7A to 7C.

(Middle part preparation process)
First, an intermediate portion preparation step of preparing the intermediate portion 18 having the plurality of through holes 25 formed therein is performed. Here, an example of manufacturing the intermediate portion 18 using a plating process will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 7A, a patterned substrate 50 is prepared. The pattern substrate 50 has a base material 51 and a predetermined conductive pattern 52 formed on the base material 51, as described later. Next, a plating solution is supplied to the patterned substrate 50 to deposit a metal layer such as the above-mentioned first metal layer 32 and second metal layer 37 on the conductive pattern 52. As a result, as shown in FIG. 7B, a plurality of intermediate portions 18 including a plurality of effective regions 22 can be formed on the patterned substrate 50. Then, the intermediate portion 18 is separated from the patterned substrate 50. For example, the intermediate portion 18 is peeled off from the pattern substrate 50 while holding a part of the intermediate portion 18. In this way, the intermediate section 18 can be prepared by utilizing the plating process.

  In FIG. 7A, the dimension of the pattern substrate 50 in the longitudinal direction of the intermediate portion 18 formed on the pattern substrate 50 (hereinafter, also referred to as the length of the pattern substrate 50) is represented by a symbol B1. Further, the dimension of the pattern substrate 50 in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the intermediate portion 18 formed on the pattern substrate 50 (hereinafter, also referred to as the width of the pattern substrate 50) is represented by a symbol B2. The length B1 of the patterned substrate 50 is set to be longer than the length A2 of the intermediate portion 18 and smaller than the length A of the entire vapor deposition mask 20. For example, the length B1 is in the range of 850 to 1200 mm. The width B2 of the pattern substrate 50 is set according to the number of intermediate portions 18 formed on the pattern substrate 50. For example, the width B2 is in the range of 300 to 850 mm.

(Ear preparation process)
Moreover, the ear|edge part preparation process which prepares a pair of ear|edge part 17 which comprises a pair of edge part 20e in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 is implemented. For example, although not shown, first, an ear substrate for forming the ear 17 is prepared. For example, when an iron alloy such as the above-mentioned Invar material is used as the material for the ear substrate, a metal plate made of an iron alloy is prepared. Next, the pair of ears 17 is manufactured by processing the ears substrate. When forming the through hole 26 and the like in the ear portion 17, etching may be employed as a method of processing the ear portion substrate. As a processing method by etching, a method similar to the method of manufacturing the intermediate portion 18 by etching, which will be described later as a modified example, can be adopted. Etching can be adopted not only as a method of forming the through hole 26 but also as a method of cutting out the ear portion 17 having a desired shape from the ear portion substrate. The ear substrate may be prepared in a roll shape in which the long ear substrate is wound, or may be prepared in a sheet-like form such as a sheet. Alternatively, the ears 17 may be manufactured using a plating process.

(Joining process)
Then, the joining step of joining the pair of ears 17 to the intermediate portion 18 via the joining portion 19 is performed so that the intermediate portion 18 is located between the pair of ears 17. As a result, the vapor deposition mask 20 can be obtained as shown in FIG. 7C. As a joining method, various methods such as the above-mentioned laser welding can be adopted.

  Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing the intermediate portion 18 using a plating process will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 8A to 9C.

[Pattern substrate preparation process]
First, an example of a method of manufacturing the patterned substrate 50 will be described. First, the base material 51 is prepared. Next, as shown in FIG. 8A, a conductive layer 52a made of a conductive material is formed. The conductive layer 52a is a layer that becomes the conductive pattern 52 by being patterned.

  The material forming the base material 51 and the thickness of the base material 51 are not particularly limited as long as the material has an insulating property and an appropriate strength. For example, glass, synthetic resin, or the like can be used as the material forming the base material 51.

  As a material forming the conductive layer 52a, a conductive material such as a metal material or an oxide conductive material is appropriately used. Examples of the metal material include chrome and copper. Preferably, a material having a high adhesiveness to the resist pattern 53 described later is used as a material forming the conductive pattern 52. For example, when the resist pattern 53 is formed by patterning a so-called dry film, such as a resist film containing an acrylic photo-curable resin, the material forming the conductive pattern 52 is higher than that of the dry film. It is preferable to use copper having adhesiveness.

  As will be described later, a first metal layer 32 is formed on the conductive pattern 52 formed by patterning the conductive layer 52a so as to cover the conductive pattern 52. In the step of, the conductive pattern 52 is separated. Therefore, a recess corresponding to the thickness of the conductive pattern 52 is usually formed on the surface of the first metal layer 32 that is in contact with the conductive pattern 52. Considering this point, it is preferable that the thickness of the conductive pattern 52, that is, the thickness of the conductive layer 52a is smaller as long as the conductive pattern 52 has the conductivity required for the electrolytic plating treatment. On the other hand, if the thickness of the conductive layer 52a is too small, the electrical resistance of the conductive layer 52a increases, and thus it becomes difficult to form the first metal layer 32 on the conductive pattern 52 during the electrolytic plating process. Considering these points, the thickness of the conductive layer 52a is preferably within the range of 50 to 500 nm.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 8B, a resist pattern 53 having a predetermined pattern is formed on the conductive layer 52a. As a method of forming the resist pattern 53, a photolithography method or the like can be adopted as in the case of the resist pattern 55 described later. As a method of irradiating the material for the resist pattern 53 with light in a predetermined pattern, a method of using an exposure mask that transmits exposure light in a predetermined pattern, or a method of exposing light in a predetermined pattern to the material for the resist pattern 53 is used. And a method of relatively scanning can be adopted. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 8C, the portion of the conductive layer 52a that is not covered with the resist pattern 53 is removed by etching. Next, as shown in FIG. 8D, the resist pattern 53 is removed. Thereby, the patterned substrate 50 on which the conductive pattern 52 having the pattern corresponding to the first metal layer 32 is formed can be obtained.

[First film forming step]
Next, the first film forming step of forming the above-mentioned first metal layer 32 using the patterned substrate 50 will be described. Here, the 1st plating solution is supplied on the base material 51 in which the conductive pattern 52 was formed, and the 1st plating process process which deposits the 1st metal layer 32 on the conductive pattern 52 is implemented. For example, the base material 51 on which the conductive pattern 52 is formed is immersed in a plating bath filled with the first plating solution. As a result, as shown in FIG. 9A, it is possible to obtain the first metal layer 32 having the first openings 30 provided on the base material 51 in a predetermined pattern. The thickness of the first metal layer 32 is, for example, 5 μm or less.

  Due to the characteristics of the plating process, as shown in FIG. 9A, the first metal layer 32 is not only a portion overlapping the conductive pattern 52 when viewed along the normal direction of the base material 51, but also the conductive pattern 52. It can also be formed in a portion that does not overlap. This is because the first metal layer 32 is further deposited on the surface of the first metal layer 32 deposited on the portion overlapping the end portion 54 of the conductive pattern 52. As a result, as shown in FIG. 9A, the end portion 33 of the first opening portion 30 may be located at a portion that does not overlap the conductive pattern 52 when viewed along the normal direction of the base material 51. ..

  The specific method of the first plating treatment step is not particularly limited as long as the first metal layer 32 can be deposited on the conductive pattern 52. For example, the first plating treatment step may be performed as a so-called electrolytic plating treatment step in which the first metal layer 32 is deposited on the conductive pattern 52 by applying a current to the conductive pattern 52. Alternatively, the first plating treatment step may be an electroless plating treatment step. When the first plating treatment step is an electroless plating treatment step, a suitable catalyst layer may be provided on the conductive pattern 52. Alternatively, the conductive pattern 52 may be configured to function as a catalyst layer. A catalyst layer may be provided on the conductive pattern 52 even when the electrolytic plating process step is performed.

  The components of the first plating solution used are appropriately determined according to the characteristics required for the first metal layer 32. For example, when the first metal layer 32 is made of an iron alloy containing nickel, a mixed solution of a solution containing a nickel compound and a solution containing an iron compound can be used as the first plating solution. For example, a mixed solution of a solution containing nickel sulfamate or nickel bromide and a solution containing ferrous sulfamate can be used. The plating solution may contain various additives. As the additive, a pH buffering agent such as boric acid, a primary brightening agent such as saccharin natriu, a secondary brightening agent such as butynediol, propargyl alcohol, coumarin, formalin, or thiourea, and an antioxidant may be used. ..

[Second film forming step]
Next, the second film forming step of forming the second metal layer 37 having the second opening 35 communicating with the first opening 30 on the first metal layer 32 is performed. First, a resist forming step of forming a resist pattern 55 with a predetermined gap 56 on the base material 51 and the first metal layer 32 is performed. FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view showing the resist pattern 55 formed on the base material 51. As shown in FIG. 9B, in the resist forming step, the first opening 30 of the first metal layer 32 is covered with the resist pattern 55, and the gap 56 of the resist pattern 55 is located on the first metal layer 32. Be implemented.

  Hereinafter, an example of the resist forming step will be described. First, a dry film is attached to the base material 51 and the first metal layer 32 to form a negative resist film. Examples of the dry film include those containing an acrylic photocurable resin such as RY3310 manufactured by Hitachi Chemical. Alternatively, the resist film may be formed by applying the material for the resist pattern 55 on the base material 51 and then performing baking as required. Next, an exposure mask that does not allow light to pass through a region of the resist film that should be the gap 56 is prepared, and the exposure mask is arranged on the resist film. After that, the exposure mask is sufficiently adhered to the resist film by vacuum adhesion. A positive resist film may be used as the resist film. In this case, as the exposure mask, an exposure mask that allows light to pass through the region of the resist film to be removed is used.

  After that, the resist film is exposed through the exposure mask. Further, the resist film is developed to form an image on the exposed resist film. As described above, as shown in FIG. 9B, the gap 56 located on the first metal layer 32 is provided, and the resist pattern 55 covering the first opening 30 of the first metal layer 32 can be formed. .. In order to bring the resist pattern 55 into closer contact with the base material 51 and the first metal layer 32, a heat treatment step of heating the resist pattern 55 may be performed after the developing step.

  Next, the second plating treatment step of supplying the second plating solution to the gaps 56 of the resist pattern 55 to deposit the second metal layer 37 on the first metal layer 32 is performed. For example, the base material 51 on which the first metal layer 32 is formed is immersed in a plating bath filled with the second plating solution. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 9C, the second metal layer 37 can be formed on the first metal layer 32. The thickness of the second metal layer 37 is set such that the thickness T2 of the intermediate portion 18 is within the range of 3 to 20 μm.

  As long as the second metal layer 37 can be deposited on the first metal layer 32, the specific method of the second plating treatment step is not particularly limited. For example, the second plating treatment step may be performed as a so-called electrolytic plating treatment step of depositing the second metal layer 37 on the first metal layer 32 by passing an electric current through the first metal layer 32. Alternatively, the second plating treatment step may be an electroless plating treatment step. When the second plating treatment step is an electroless plating treatment step, a suitable catalyst layer may be provided on the first metal layer 32. A catalyst layer may be provided on the first metal layer 32 even when the electrolytic plating treatment step is performed.

  As the second plating solution, the same plating solution as the above-mentioned first plating solution may be used. Alternatively, a plating solution different from the first plating solution may be used as the second plating solution. When the composition of the first plating solution and the composition of the second plating solution are the same, the composition of the metal forming the first metal layer 32 and the composition of the metal forming the second metal layer 37 are also the same.

  Although FIG. 9C shows an example in which the second plating process is continued until the upper surface of the resist pattern 55 and the upper surface of the second metal layer 37 are aligned with each other, the present invention is not limited to this. The second plating treatment step may be stopped while the upper surface of the second metal layer 37 is located below the upper surface of the resist pattern 55.

[Removal process]
After that, a removing step of removing the resist pattern 55 is performed. For example, the resist pattern 55 can be peeled from the base material 51, the first metal layer 32, and the second metal layer 37 by using an alkaline stripping solution.

[Separation process]
Next, a separation step of separating the combined body of the first metal layer 32 and the second metal layer 37 from the base material 51 is performed. As a result, the first metal layer 32 having the first opening 30 in a predetermined pattern and the second metal layer 37 having the second opening 35 communicating with the first opening 30 are provided. The intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 can be obtained.

  Then, as described above, the vapor deposition mask 20 can be obtained by joining the pair of ears 17 prepared separately from the intermediate portion 18 to the intermediate portion 18.

  The advantages of manufacturing the vapor deposition mask 20 as described above will be described below.

  In the present embodiment, vapor deposition mask 20 is configured by joining a pair of ears 17 and intermediate portion 18. Therefore, the length A2 of the intermediate portion 18 in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 is smaller than the length A of the entire vapor deposition mask 20. Therefore, the length B1 of the patterned substrate 50 used for manufacturing the intermediate portion 18 can be made smaller than the length A of the entire vapor deposition mask 20. Therefore, as compared with the case of manufacturing the vapor deposition mask 20 in which the pair of ear portions 17 and the middle portion 18 are integrally formed, the pattern substrate 50 is used to manufacture the middle portion 18 using a small manufacturing facility. You can For example, as equipment for forming the resist pattern 55 on the pattern substrate 50 by a photolithography method using an exposure mask, small equipment can be used. Further, as the equipment for supplying the plating solution (second plating solution) to the gap 56 of the resist pattern 55 to form the metal layer (second metal layer 37), small equipment can be used. Therefore, as compared with the case of using a large-sized facility, it is possible to prevent the position and shape of the through hole 25 of the intermediate portion 18 from being varied and from being deviated from the design. Therefore, it is possible to provide the vapor deposition mask 20 that can be applied to the large-sized organic EL substrate 92 and can deposit the vapor deposition material 98 on the organic EL substrate 92 precisely. In addition, it is possible to reduce the capital investment required to cope with the increase in size of the vapor deposition mask 20.

  Various modifications can be made to the above-described embodiment. Modifications will be described below with reference to the drawings as necessary. In the following description and the drawings used in the following description, for the portions that can be configured in the same manner as the above-described embodiment, the same reference numerals as those used for the corresponding portions in the above-described embodiment are used. A duplicate description will be omitted. Further, when it is clear that the effects obtained in the above-described embodiment can be obtained in the modified example as well, the description thereof may be omitted.

(First modification)
In the example shown in FIGS. 6 and 9A to 9C described above, the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 is formed by stacking at least two metal layers, that is, the first metal layer 32 and the second metal layer 37. I explained about the case. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 may be composed of one metal layer 27 in which a plurality of through holes 25 are formed in a predetermined pattern. Hereinafter, an example in which the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 includes one metal layer 27 will be described with reference to FIGS. 10A to 11. In this modified example, a portion of the through hole 25 extending from the first surface 20a to the second surface 20b of the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 on the first surface 20a is referred to as a first opening portion 30 and A portion of the hole 25 located on the second surface 20b is referred to as a second opening 35.

  First, a method of manufacturing the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 according to the present modification will be described.

  First, the base material 51 on which the predetermined conductive pattern 52 is formed is prepared. Next, as shown in FIG. 10A, a resist forming step of forming a resist pattern 55 on the base material 51 with a predetermined gap 56 is performed. Preferably, the distance between the side surfaces 57 of the resist pattern 55 that defines the gap 56 of the resist pattern 55 becomes narrower as the distance from the base material 51 increases. That is, the resist pattern 55 has a so-called reverse taper shape in which the width of the resist pattern 55 becomes wider as the distance from the base material 51 increases.

  An example of a method of forming such a resist pattern 55 will be described. For example, first, a resist film containing a photocurable resin is provided on the surface of the base material 51 on the side where the conductive pattern 52 is formed. Next, the resist film is exposed by irradiating the resist film with the exposure light incident on the base member 51 from the side of the base material 51 opposite to the side on which the resist film is provided. Then, the resist film is developed. In this case, the resist pattern 55 having an inverse taper shape as shown in FIG. 10A can be obtained based on the wraparound (diffraction) of the exposure light.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 10B, a plating solution is supplied to the gap 56 of the resist pattern 55 to deposit the metal layer 27 on the conductive pattern 52. After that, by performing the above-described removal step and separation step, the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 including the metal layer 27 in which the through holes 25 are provided in a predetermined pattern can be obtained as shown in FIG. 11. it can. The thickness of the metal layer 27 is in the range of 5 to 50 μm, for example.

  The resist pattern 55 that can be used to manufacture the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 shown in FIG. 11 is not limited to the resist pattern 55 shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B. For example, even when the resist pattern 55 has a shape in which the width of the resist pattern 55 becomes narrower with increasing distance from the base material 51, that is, a so-called forward taper shape, vapor deposition in which the through hole 25 shown in FIG. 11 is provided. The intermediate portion 18 of the mask 20 can be obtained. In this case, the surface of the metal layer 27 formed by the plating process on the side in contact with the base material 51 becomes the second surface 20b of the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20.

(Second modified example)
In the above-described present embodiment and first modified example, an example in which the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 is manufactured by the plating process has been described. However, the method adopted for producing the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 is not limited to the plating process. Hereinafter, an outline of a method of forming the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 by forming the through holes 25 in the metal plate 21 by etching and obtaining the vapor deposition mask 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. 12A to 12C.

(Intermediate part preparation process)
First, as shown in FIG. 12A, a metal plate 21 having a predetermined thickness is prepared. As a material forming the metal plate 21, an iron alloy containing nickel or the like can be used. Note that FIG. 12A shows an example in which the metal plate 21 is prepared in the form of a single sheet such as a sheet, but the present invention is not limited to this. Although not shown, a long metal plate 21 may be prepared. Next, the through holes 25 are formed in the metal plate 21 by using etching to provide the metal plate 21 with the plurality of effective regions 22 in which the plurality of through holes 25 are formed. For example, first, a resist film is provided on each of the first surface 21a and the second surface 21b of the metal plate 21. Next, the resist film is irradiated with exposure light through an exposure mask so that the resist film located on the region of the metal plate 21 where the through hole 25 is to be formed is removed, and then the resist film is removed. develop. FIG. 12B shows how the exposure mask 70 is arranged so as to overlap the metal plate 21. Next, the region of the metal plate 21 not covered with the resist film is etched. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 13, the metal plate 21 can be provided with a plurality of effective regions 22 in which a plurality of through holes 25 are formed. At this time, as shown in FIG. 12C, the metal plate 21 may be cut into a plurality of pieces along the direction corresponding to the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 by utilizing etching. This makes it possible to obtain the intermediate portion 18 in which the plurality of effective regions 22 are provided along the longitudinal direction.

  In FIG. 12B, the dimension of the exposure mask 70 in the longitudinal direction of the intermediate portion 18 assigned to the metal plate 21 (hereinafter, also referred to as the length of the exposure mask 70) is represented by reference symbol B3. Further, the dimension of the exposure mask 70 in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the intermediate portion 18 allocated to the metal plate 21 (hereinafter, also referred to as the width of the exposure mask 70) is represented by reference symbol B4. The length B3 of the exposure mask 70 is set to be longer than the length A2 of the intermediate portion 18 and smaller than the length A of the entire vapor deposition mask 20. For example, the length B3 is in the range of 850 to 1200 mm. The width B4 of the exposure mask 70 is set according to the number of the intermediate portions 18 allocated to the metal plate 21. For example, the width B4 is in the range of 300 to 750 mm.

(Ear preparation process)
Further, similarly to the case of the above-described present embodiment, the ear portion preparation step of preparing the pair of ear portions 17 forming the pair of end portions 20e in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 is performed.
(Joining process)
After that, as in the case of the above-described present embodiment, the joining for joining the pair of ears 17 to the intermediate portion 18 via the joining portion 19 so that the intermediate portion 18 is located between the pair of ears 17. Carry out the process. Thereby, the vapor deposition mask 20 can be obtained.

  Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing the intermediate portion 18 using etching will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 13 to 14D.

  FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing a case where the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 produced by utilizing etching is cut along the line YY of FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 13, as will be described later in detail, the first opening 30 is formed by etching on the first surface 21a of the metal plate 21, which is one side in the normal direction of the vapor deposition mask, and The second opening 35 is formed in the second surface 21b on the other side in the normal direction by etching. The first opening 30 is connected to the second opening 35, so that the second opening 35 and the first opening 30 are formed so as to communicate with each other. The through hole 25 is composed of a second opening 35 and a first opening 30 connected to the second opening 35.

  As shown in FIG. 13, the plate of the intermediate portion 18 at each position along the normal direction of the intermediate portion 18 from the first surface 20a side to the second surface 20b side of the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20. The cross-sectional area of each first opening 30 in the cross section along the plane gradually becomes smaller. Similarly, the cross-sectional area of each second opening 35 in the cross section along the plate surface of the intermediate portion 18 at each position along the normal direction of the intermediate portion 18 is from the second surface 20b side of the intermediate portion 18. It gradually becomes smaller toward the first surface 20a side.

  As shown in FIG. 13, the wall surface 31 of the first opening portion 30 and the wall surface 36 of the second opening portion 35 are connected via a circumferential connecting portion 41. In the connection portion 41, the wall surface 31 of the first opening portion 30 that is inclined with respect to the normal direction of the intermediate portion 18 and the wall surface 36 of the second opening portion 35 that is inclined with respect to the normal direction of the intermediate portion 18 merge. It is defined by the ridgeline of the protruding portion. Then, the connecting portion 41 defines a penetrating portion 42 in which the area of the through hole 25 is minimized in a plan view of the intermediate portion 18.

  As shown in FIG. 13, on the surface on one side along the normal line direction of the intermediate portion 18, that is, on the first surface 20 a of the intermediate portion 18, the two adjacent through holes 25 are the plates of the intermediate portion 18. Spaced from each other along the plane. That is, as in the manufacturing method described later, the metal plate 21 is etched from the first surface 21a side of the metal plate 21 corresponding to the first surface 20a of the intermediate portion 18 to form the first opening 30. In this case, the first surface 21a of the metal plate 21 remains between the two adjacent first openings 30.

  Similarly, as shown in FIG. 13, on the other side along the normal direction of the intermediate portion 18, that is, on the side of the second surface 20b of the intermediate portion 18, two adjacent second opening portions 35 are formed. They may be separated from each other along the plate surface of the vapor deposition mask. That is, the second surface 21b of the metal plate 21 may remain between the two adjacent second openings 35. In the following description, a portion of the effective area 22 of the second surface 21b of the metal plate 21 that remains without being etched is also referred to as a top portion 43. By manufacturing the intermediate portion 18 so that such a top portion 43 remains, the intermediate portion 18 can have sufficient strength. This can prevent the vapor deposition mask 20 from being damaged during transportation, for example. If the width β of the top portion 43 is too large, a shadow may be generated in the vapor deposition process, which may reduce the utilization efficiency of the vapor deposition material 98. Therefore, the vapor deposition mask 20 is preferably manufactured so that the width β of the top portion 43 does not become excessively large. For example, the width β of the top portion 43 is preferably 2 μm or less. The width β of the top portion 43 generally changes according to the direction in which the width β is measured. For example, the width β of the top portion 43 in the cross-sectional view when the vapor deposition mask is virtually cut along the line YY of FIG. 5 and the direction intersecting the line YY of FIG. The width β of the top portion 43 in the cross-sectional view when the vapor deposition mask is virtually cut along may be different from each other. In this case, the intermediate portion 18 may be configured such that the width β of the top portion 43 becomes 2 μm or less when the intermediate portion 18 is cut in any direction.

  In FIG. 13 as well, similar to the case shown in FIGS. 6 and 11, the path of the vapor deposition material 98 passing through the end portion 38 of the through hole 25 (second opening 35) on the second surface 20b side of the intermediate portion 18. Of the paths that can reach the organic EL substrate 92, the path having the smallest angle with respect to the normal direction N of the intermediate portion 18 is represented by reference symbol L1. Further, an angle formed by the path L1 and the normal direction N of the intermediate portion 18 is represented by a symbol θ1. Also in this embodiment, in order to improve the utilization efficiency of the vapor deposition material 98, it is preferable to increase the angle θ1. For example, it is preferable to reduce the thickness of the intermediate portion 18 as much as possible within the range where the strength of the intermediate portion 18 can be secured, and thereby increase the angle θ1. For example, the thickness of the intermediate portion 18 is set to 80 μm or less, for example, in the range of 10 to 80 μm or in the range of 20 to 80 μm. In order to further improve the accuracy of vapor deposition, the thickness of the intermediate portion 18 may be set to 40 μm or less, for example, within the range of 10 to 40 μm or within the range of 20 to 40 μm. The thickness of the intermediate portion 18 is the thickness of the peripheral region 23, that is, the thickness of the portion of the intermediate portion 18 where the first opening 30 and the second opening 35 are not formed. Therefore, it can be said that the thickness of the intermediate portion 18 is the thickness of the metal plate 21.

  Next, a method of manufacturing the vapor deposition mask 20 shown in FIG. 13 using etching will be described.

  First, a metal plate 21 having a predetermined thickness is prepared. As a material forming the metal plate 21, an iron alloy containing nickel or the like can be used. Next, as shown in FIG. 14A, a first resist pattern 65a is formed on the first surface 21a of the metal plate 21 with a predetermined gap 66a. Further, the second resist pattern 65b is formed on the second surface 21b of the metal plate 21 with a predetermined gap 66b. As described above, the first resist pattern 65a and the second resist pattern 65b are formed in a predetermined pattern by using a resist film provided on the first surface 21a and the second surface 21b of the metal plate 21 using an exposure mask. It is obtained by exposing at 1, and then developing.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 14B, a first surface etching step of etching a region of the first surface 21a of the metal plate 21 that is not covered with the first resist pattern 65a with the first etching solution is performed. For example, the first etching liquid is sprayed from the nozzle arranged on the side facing the first surface 21a of the metal plate 21 toward the first surface 21a of the metal plate 21 over the first resist pattern 65a. As a result, as shown in FIG. 14B, the erosion by the first etching solution proceeds in the region of the first surface 21a of the metal plate 21 which is not covered with the first resist pattern 65a. As a result, a large number of first openings 30 are formed on the first surface 21a of the metal plate 21. As the first etching solution, for example, a solution containing ferric chloride solution and hydrochloric acid is used.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 14C, the first opening 30 is covered with the resin 69 having resistance to the second etching liquid used in the subsequent second surface etching step. That is, the resin 69 having resistance to the second etching liquid seals the first opening 30. In the example shown in FIG. 14C, the resin 69 film is formed so as to cover not only the formed first opening 30 but also the first surface 21a (first resist pattern 65a) of the metal plate 21.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 14D, a region of the second surface 21b of the metal plate 21 which is not covered with the second resist pattern 65b is etched to form a second opening 35 in the second surface 21b. A surface etching process is performed. The second surface etching step is performed until the first opening portion 30 and the second opening portion 35 communicate with each other, thereby forming the through hole 25. As the second etching solution, a solution containing, for example, a ferric chloride solution and hydrochloric acid is used as in the above-described first etching solution.

  It should be noted that the erosion by the second etching liquid is performed in the portion of the metal plate 21 that is in contact with the second etching liquid. Therefore, the erosion proceeds not only in the normal direction (thickness direction) of the metal plate 21, but also in the direction along the plate surface of the metal plate 21. Here, preferably, in the second surface etching step, the two second opening portions 35 respectively formed at the positions facing the two adjacent gaps 66b of the second resist pattern 65b are located between the two gaps 66b. It is terminated before the merging on the back side of the bridge portion 67b. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 14D, the top portion 43 described above can be left on the second surface 21b of the metal plate 21.

  Then, the resin 69 is removed from the metal plate 21. This makes it possible to obtain the intermediate portion 18 including the plurality of through holes 25 formed in the metal plate 21. The resin 69 can be removed by using, for example, an alkaline stripping solution. When the alkaline stripping solution is used, the resist patterns 65a and 65b can be removed simultaneously with the resin 69. After removing the resin 69, the resist patterns 65a and 65b may be removed separately from the resin 69 by using a peeling liquid different from the peeling liquid for peeling the resin 69. After that, the pair of ears 17 prepared separately from the intermediate portion 18 are joined to the intermediate portion 18, whereby the vapor deposition mask 20 can be obtained.

  Similar to the case of the present embodiment described above, also in the present modification, the vapor deposition mask 20 is configured by joining the pair of ears 17 and the intermediate portion 18. Therefore, the length A2 of the intermediate portion 18 in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 is smaller than the length A of the entire vapor deposition mask 20. Therefore, the length B3 of the exposure mask 70 used for manufacturing the intermediate portion 18 can be made smaller than the length A of the entire vapor deposition mask 20. Therefore, as compared with the case of manufacturing the vapor deposition mask 20 in which the pair of ears 17 and the middle portion 18 are integrally formed, the metal plate 21 is processed to manufacture the middle portion 18 by using a small-sized manufacturing facility. You can For example, small equipment can be used as equipment for forming the resist patterns 65a and 65b on the metal plate 21 by the photolithography method using the exposure mask 70. In addition, a small equipment can be used as the equipment for etching the regions of the surfaces 21a and 21b of the metal plate 21 that are not covered by the resist patterns 65a and 65b. Therefore, as compared with the case where a large-sized facility is used, it is possible to suppress variations and deviations in design from occurring in the position and shape of the through hole 25 of the intermediate portion 18. Therefore, it is possible to provide the vapor deposition mask 20 that can be applied to the large-sized organic EL substrate 92 and can deposit the vapor deposition material 98 on the organic EL substrate 92 precisely. In addition, it is possible to reduce the capital investment required to cope with the increase in size of the vapor deposition mask 20.

  13 to 14D described above shows an example in which the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 is produced by etching the metal plate 21 from both the first surface 21a side and the second surface 21b side. It was However, the present invention is not limited to this, and although not shown, the metal plate 21 is etched from the second surface 21b side to form the through hole 25 extending from the second surface 21b to the first surface 21a. The intermediate portion 18 of the mask 20 may be produced.

(Third Modification)
Although the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 includes the plurality of effective regions 22 arranged in a line along the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 in the above-described present embodiment and each modification, It is not limited to. For example, as shown in FIG. 15, a plurality of effective regions 22 may be arranged in a lattice shape along both the longitudinal direction and the width direction of the vapor deposition mask 20. Also in this modified example, as shown in FIG. 15, the pair of end portions 20 e in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 may be configured by the pair of ears 17 joined to the intermediate portion 18 via the joining portion 19. Good.

(Fourth Modification)
In the above-described present embodiment, in the bonding step, the laser light is intermittently applied to a part of the first surface 20a of the intermediate portion 18 in a dot shape at each position along the width direction of the vapor deposition mask 20. An example was given. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and in the bonding step, the laser light is continuously and linearly applied to each position along the width direction of the vapor deposition mask 20, on a part of the first surface 20a of the intermediate portion 18. May be. In this case, the fusional area 19 b extending over a portion of the ear portion 17 and a portion of the intermediate portion 18 is formed linearly along the width direction of the vapor deposition mask 20. Further, as shown in FIG. 16, a linear welding mark 19c extending along the width direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 is formed on the first surface 20a of the intermediate portion 18. The linear welding trace 19c has a concave shape or the like in the cross-sectional view, like the dot-like welding trace 19a described above.

(Fifth Modification)
In the above-described present embodiment, an example has been shown in which the first surface 20a of the intermediate portion 18 is irradiated with the laser light in the joining process. However, as long as it is possible to melt a part of the ear portion 17 and a part of the intermediate portion 18 and thereby join the ear portion 17 and the intermediate portion 18, the surface irradiated with the laser light is particularly limited. There is no such thing. For example, the laser light may be applied to a part of the second surface 20b of the ear part 17 that is overlapped with a part of the intermediate part 18. In this case, as shown in FIG. 17, a welding mark 19a such as a recess due to melting of the intermediate portion 18 is formed on the second surface 20b of the ear portion 17.

  Although not shown, welding marks 19a such as a recess due to melting of the intermediate portion 18 may be formed on both the surface of the intermediate portion 18 and the surface of the ear portion 17. For example, when an electric welding method is performed in which a voltage is applied between the electrodes in a state where a part of the ear portion 17 and a part of the intermediate portion 18 are sandwiched between the electrodes, a welding mark 19a such as a recess is formed on the intermediate portion 18. It can be formed on both the face and the face of the ear 17.

  4 and 17, the end portion 17e of the ear portion 17 and the end portion 18e of the intermediate portion 18 are overlapped so that the first surface 20a of the ear portion 17 and the second surface 20b of the intermediate portion 18 are in contact with each other. An example was given. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and although not shown, the end 17e of the ear 17 and the end of the intermediate portion 18 are arranged so that the second surface 20b of the ear 17 and the first surface 20a of the intermediate portion 18 are in contact with each other. The part 18e may be overlapped.

(Sixth Modification)
In the above-described present embodiment, an example in which the ear portion 17 and the intermediate portion 18 are joined together in the joining step with the end portion 17e of the ear portion 17 and the end portion 18e of the intermediate portion 18 overlapped with each other. Indicated. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and as shown in FIG. 18, the end portion 17e of the ear portion 17e is in contact with the end surface of the end portion 17e of the ear portion 17 and the end surface of the end portion 18e of the middle portion 18. And the end surface of the end portion 18e of the intermediate portion 18 are melted, thereby forming a fusional region 19b between the end portion 17e of the ear portion 17 and the end portion 18e of the intermediate portion 18, and the ear portion 17 and the intermediate portion 18b. The part 18 may be joined.

(Seventh Modification)
In the above-described present embodiment, an example has been shown in which the joint portion 19 includes the fusion area 19b in which a part of the ear portion 17 and a part of the intermediate portion 18 are fused. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the ear portion 17 and the intermediate portion 18 may be joined together by using a member separate from the ear portion 17 and the intermediate portion 18. For example, as shown in FIG. 19, with the end surface of the end portion 17e of the ear portion 17 and the end surface of the end portion 18e of the intermediate portion 18 in contact with each other, the joining member 19d is arranged so as to overlap the end portions 17e and 18e. Then, the ears 17 and the intermediate portion 18 may be joined by melting the joining member 19d. As the joining member 19d, the same material as the material forming the ears 17 and the intermediate portion 18 can be used. For example, invar material containing 34 to 38 mass% nickel, or cobalt in addition to nickel An iron alloy such as a Super Invar material containing the same can be used.

(Eighth modification)
In the above-described present embodiment, all of the pair of ears 17 that form the pair of ends 20e in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 are joined to the intermediate portion 18 via the joining portion 19. An example was given. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and at least one of the pair of ears 17 may be joined to the intermediate portion 18 via the joining portion 19. For example, one ear portion of the pair of ear portions 17 is joined to the middle portion 18 via the joint portion 19, while the other ear portion of the pair of ear portions 17 is the middle portion. It may be configured integrally with 18. For example, when the intermediate portion 18 is produced by plating, the other ear is also produced together with the intermediate portion 18 by plating. Further, when the intermediate portion 18 is produced by etching the metal plate 21, the other ear portion is also produced from the metal plate 21 together with the intermediate portion 18. Even in this case, the length A2 of the intermediate portion 18 can be made smaller than the entire length A of the vapor deposition mask 20 by the length A1 of the pair of ears 17. This candy can be used to manufacture the middle portion 18 and the other ear portion 17 using a small-sized manufacturing facility.

(Ninth Modification)
In the above-described present embodiment and each modification, an example in which the vapor deposition mask 20 is configured by joining the ear portion 17 and the intermediate portion 18 has been shown. However, as long as the vapor deposition mask 20 can be manufactured using a small manufacturing facility, the division mode of the vapor deposition mask 20 is not limited to the mode in which the vapor deposition mask 20 is divided into the ear portion 17 and the intermediate portion 18. Absent. In this modification, an example in which the intermediate portion 18 of the vapor deposition mask 20 is divided into a first intermediate portion 18A and a second intermediate portion 18B will be described.

  FIG. 20 is a plan view showing the vapor deposition mask device 10 including the vapor deposition mask 20 according to the present modification. As shown in FIG. 20, the vapor deposition mask 20 includes a pair of ears 17 that form a pair of ends 20 e in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20, and an intermediate portion 18 located between the pair of ears 17. I have it. The intermediate portion 18 includes a plurality of effective regions 22 provided along the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 and a peripheral region 23 surrounding the 22. Further, in the effective area 22, a plurality of through holes 25 are formed in a regular array.

  In this modification, the intermediate portion 18 is at least partitioned in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 into a first intermediate portion 18A including at least one effective area 22 and a second intermediate portion 18B including at least one effective area 22. To be done. FIG. 20 shows an example in which each of the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B includes three effective areas 22. Although not shown, the number of effective areas 22 included in the first intermediate portion 18A may be different from the number of effective areas 22 included in the second intermediate portion 18B.

  In the example shown in FIG. 20, one ear portion 17 including one end portion 20e of the vapor deposition mask 20 is integrally formed with the first intermediate portion 18A. Further, the other ear portion 17 including the other end portion 20e of the vapor deposition mask 20 is configured integrally with the second intermediate portion 18B. In FIG. 20, the length of the first intermediate portion 18A integrally formed with the one ear portion 17 in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 is represented by symbol C1. Further, the length of the second intermediate portion 18B integrally formed with the other ear portion 17 in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 is represented by reference numeral C2.

  In the present modification, the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B are joined via the joining portion 19 in the peripheral region 23. FIG. 21 is an enlarged plan view showing a joint portion 19 where the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B are joined. 22 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the joint portion 19. As shown in FIG. 22, the joint portion 19 is fused by melting a part of the peripheral region 23 of the first intermediate portion 18A and a part of the peripheral region 23 of the second intermediate portion 18B, and then solidified. The fused region 19b formed by When the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B are irradiated with the laser light to form the fusional area 19b, the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B have the first and second intermediate portions 18A and 18B, as shown in FIG. Welding traces 19a such as recesses due to melting of the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B are formed.

  Preferably, as shown in FIG. 22, in the joint portion 19, the end surface of the end portion 18Ae located in the peripheral region 23 of the first intermediate portion 18A and the end portion 18Be of the end portion 18Be located in the peripheral region 23 of the second intermediate portion 18B. It is in contact with the end face. In this case, as shown in FIG. 22, the first surface 20a of the first intermediate portion 18A and the first surface 20a of the second intermediate portion 18B are located on the same plane, or the second surface of the first intermediate portion 18A is located. 20b and the 2nd surface 20b of the 2nd intermediate part 18B can be located on the same plane. This can prevent a step from being formed between the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B. Although not shown, as in the case of the above-described seventh modified example shown in FIG. 19, the end surface of the end portion 18Ae of the first intermediate portion 18A and the end surface of the end portion 18Be of the second intermediate portion 18B are brought into contact with each other. In this state, the joining member 19d is arranged so as to overlap the end surface of the end portion 18Ae and the end surface of the end portion 18Be, and the joining member 19d is melted to form the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B. May be joined together.

  Next, an example of a method of manufacturing the vapor deposition mask 20 shown in FIG. 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. 23A to 23C.

(Intermediate part preparation process)
First, an intermediate portion preparation step of preparing the intermediate portion 18 including the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B in which the plurality of through holes 25 are formed is performed. Here, as in the case of the above-described present embodiment, an example of manufacturing the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B by using the plating process will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 23A, a patterned substrate 50 is prepared. Next, a plating solution is supplied to the pattern substrate 50 to deposit a metal layer such as the first metal layer 32 or the second metal layer 37 on the conductive pattern 52 of the pattern substrate 50. As a result, as shown in FIG. 23B, the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B including the plurality of effective regions 22 can be formed on the pattern substrate 50, respectively. Then, the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B are separated from the patterned substrate 50, respectively. For example, the first intermediate portion 18A is peeled from the pattern substrate 50 while holding a part of the first intermediate portion 18A. In this way, the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B can be prepared by utilizing the plating process. As shown in FIG. 23B, one ear 17 is integrally formed with the first intermediate portion 18A by plating, and the other ear 17 is integrally formed with the second intermediate portion 18B by plating. May be.

  In FIG. 23A, the dimension of the pattern substrate 50 (hereinafter, also referred to as the length of the pattern substrate 50) in the longitudinal direction of the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B formed on the pattern substrate 50 is denoted by the symbol B1. Is represented. In addition, the dimension of the pattern substrate 50 (hereinafter, also referred to as the width of the pattern substrate 50) in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B formed on the pattern substrate 50 is denoted by reference sign B2. It is represented by. The length B1 of the patterned substrate 50 is set to be the length C1 of the first intermediate portion 18A or more, the length C2 of the second intermediate portion 18B or more, and smaller than the length A of the entire vapor deposition mask 20. To be done.

(Joining process)
After that, a joining step of joining the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B via the joining portion 19 so that the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20. Carry out. As a result, the vapor deposition mask 20 can be obtained as shown in FIG. 23C. As a joining method, various methods such as the above-mentioned laser welding can be adopted.

  Also in this modification, as in the case of the above-described present embodiment, the length B1 of the pattern substrate 50 used for manufacturing the first intermediate portion 18A, the second intermediate portion 18B, and the like is set to the entire evaporation mask 20. It can be smaller than the length A. Therefore, the intermediate portion 18 is manufactured using the patterned substrate 50 by using a manufacturing facility that is smaller than in the case of manufacturing the vapor deposition mask 20 in which the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B are integrally formed. can do. Therefore, as compared with the case where a large-sized facility is used, it is possible to suppress variations and deviations from the design in the position and shape of the through hole 25 of the intermediate portion 18. Therefore, it is possible to provide the vapor deposition mask 20 that can be applied to the large-sized organic EL substrate 92 and can deposit the vapor deposition material 98 on the organic EL substrate 92 accurately. In addition, it is possible to reduce the capital investment required to cope with the increase in size of the vapor deposition mask 20.

  Also in this modification, as in the case of the second modification described above, the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B of the vapor deposition mask 20 are formed by forming the through holes 25 in the metal plate 21 by etching. The vapor deposition mask 20 may be obtained by manufacturing. In this case, first, as shown in FIG. 24A, a metal plate 21 having a predetermined thickness is prepared. Next, the through holes 25 are formed in the metal plate 21 by using etching to provide the metal plate 21 with the plurality of effective regions 22 in which the plurality of through holes 25 are formed. For example, first, a resist film is provided on each of the first surface 21a and the second surface 21b of the metal plate 21. Next, the resist film is irradiated with exposure light through an exposure mask so that the resist film located on the region of the metal plate 21 where the through hole 25 is to be formed is removed, and then the resist film is removed. develop. FIG. 24B shows that the exposure mask 70 is arranged so as to overlap the metal plate 21. Next, the region of the metal plate 21 not covered with the resist film is etched. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 24C, the metal plate 21 can be provided with a plurality of effective regions 22 in which a plurality of through holes 25 are formed. At this time, as shown in FIG. 24C, the metal plate 21 may be cut into a plurality of pieces along a direction corresponding to the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20 by using etching. Thereby, the first intermediate portion 18A including at least one effective area 22 and the second intermediate portion 18B including at least one effective area 22 can be obtained. Note that, as shown in FIG. 24C, one ear 17 may be integrally formed with the first intermediate portion 18A by etching, and the other ear 17 may be integrally formed with the second intermediate portion 18B by etching. Good.

  In FIG. 24B, the dimension of the exposure mask 70 (hereinafter, also referred to as the length of the exposure mask 70) in the longitudinal direction of the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B assigned to the metal plate 21 is represented by reference symbol B3. ing. Further, the dimension of the exposure mask 70 (hereinafter, also referred to as the width of the exposure mask 70) in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B assigned to the metal plate 21 is represented by a symbol B4. Has been done. The length B3 of the exposure mask 70 is set to be longer than the length C1 of the first intermediate portion 18A, longer than the length C2 of the second intermediate portion 18B, and smaller than the length A of the entire vapor deposition mask 20. To be done.

(Joining process)
After that, similarly to the case of the above-described joining step shown in FIG. 23C, the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B are arranged so that the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask 20. A joining step of joining the intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B is performed. Thereby, the vapor deposition mask 20 can be obtained.

  Also in this modification, the length B3 of the exposure mask 70 used for manufacturing the first intermediate portion 18A, the second intermediate portion 18B, and the like can be made smaller than the length A of the entire vapor deposition mask 20. Therefore, as compared with the case where the vapor deposition mask 20 in which the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B are integrally formed is manufactured, the metal plate 21 is processed to manufacture the intermediate portion 18 using a small-sized manufacturing facility. can do. Therefore, as compared with the case where a large-sized facility is used, it is possible to suppress variations and deviations from the design in the position and shape of the through hole 25 of the intermediate portion 18. Therefore, it is possible to provide the vapor deposition mask 20 that can be applied to the large-sized organic EL substrate 92 and can deposit the vapor deposition material 98 on the organic EL substrate 92 accurately. In addition, it is possible to reduce the capital investment required to cope with the increase in size of the vapor deposition mask 20.

  20 to 24C, the ear portion 17 is configured as a member separate from the intermediate portion 18 also in the ninth modified example described above, as in the case of the above-described present embodiment. It may be joined to the first intermediate portion 18A or the second intermediate portion 18B. In this case, the length of the first intermediate portion 18A and the length of the second intermediate portion 18B are made smaller than in the case where the ear portion 17 and the first intermediate portion 18A and the second intermediate portion 18B are integrally formed. can do. Therefore, as the manufacturing equipment for manufacturing the intermediate portion 18, smaller equipment can be used. Alternatively, a larger vapor deposition mask 20 can be manufactured using conventional manufacturing equipment.

  Although some modified examples of the above-described embodiment have been described, it goes without saying that a plurality of modified examples can be appropriately combined and applied.

17 Ear 18 Intermediate part 19 Joint 19a Point-like welding mark 19b Fusion area 19c Linear welding mark 19d Joining member 20 Evaporation mask 21 Metal plate 22 Effective area 23 Surrounding area 25 Through hole 26 Through hole 30 First opening Part 31 Wall surface 32 First metal layer 35 Second opening part 36 Wall surface 37 Second metal layer 41 Connection part 43 Top part 50 Pattern substrate 51 Base material 52 Conductive pattern 53 Resist pattern 54 Edge part 55 Resist pattern 56 Gap 65a First Resist pattern 65b Second resist pattern 70 Exposure mask 92 Organic EL substrate 98 Vapor deposition material

Claims (8)

Vapor deposition mask,
A pair of ears forming a pair of ends in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask,
Positioned between the pair of ears, the middle part made of a member separate from the ears,
A plurality of through holes are formed in the intermediate portion,
The difference between the width of the ear portion and the width of the intermediate portion in the width direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction is 1 mm or less,
At least one of the pair of ears is joined to the intermediate portion via a joining portion ,
The vapor deposition mask , wherein the difference between the thickness of the ear portion and the thickness of the effective region of the intermediate portion where the plurality of through holes is formed is 30 μm or less .   The vapor deposition mask according to claim 1, wherein the joint portion includes a fusion area in which a part of the ear portion and a part of the intermediate portion are fused.   The vapor deposition mask according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a thickness of an effective region in which the plurality of through holes are formed in the intermediate portion is within a range of 3 to 20 µm. The length and the length of the ear portion of the intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction of the deposition mask is in the range of each range of 800~1100mm and 50 to 250 mM, in any one of claims 1 to 3 The vapor deposition mask described. A method of manufacturing a vapor deposition mask, comprising:
An ear preparation step of preparing an ear forming an end in the longitudinal direction of the vapor deposition mask,
An intermediate part preparation step of preparing an intermediate part in which a plurality of through holes are formed, which is composed of a member separate from the ear part,
A joining step of joining the ear portion to the intermediate portion via a joining portion,
The difference in the width of the ear portion in the width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and the width of the intermediate portion is Ri der less 1 mm,
The method of manufacturing a vapor deposition mask , wherein the difference between the thickness of the ear portion and the thickness of the effective region of the intermediate portion where the plurality of through holes are formed is 30 μm or less . The method for manufacturing a vapor deposition mask according to claim 5 , wherein in the ear preparation step, the ear is produced by etching the ear substrate and processing the ear substrate. The intermediate portion preparation step,
A resist forming step of forming a resist pattern with a predetermined gap on a predetermined base material;
A plating treatment step of depositing a metal layer in the gap of the resist pattern,
The manufacturing method of the vapor deposition mask of Claim 5 or 6 which has the isolation|separation process which isolate|separates the said metal layer from the said base material. The intermediate portion preparation step,
A step of preparing a metal plate,
A resist forming step of forming a resist pattern on the metal plate with a predetermined gap,
The area|region which is not covered with the said resist pattern among the said metal plates is etched, and the process of forming the said through-hole in the said metal plate, The manufacturing method of the vapor deposition mask of Claim 5 or 6 .

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