JP7361671B2 - Film deposition equipment, adjustment equipment, adjustment method, and electronic device manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a film forming apparatus, an adjusting apparatus, an adjusting method, and an electronic device manufacturing method.

In manufacturing organic EL displays and the like, a vapor deposition material is deposited on a substrate using a mask. As a pretreatment for film formation, alignment between the mask and the substrate is performed, and the two are overlapped. Patent Document 1 discloses that alignment is performed by bringing a substrate and a mask close to each other while the substrate is attracted to a suction plate such as an electrostatic chuck. Further, Patent Document 2 describes that in a process of adsorbing a substrate supported by a substrate support to an electrostatic chuck, the heights of a plurality of substrate supports may be made to be different in order to reduce the influence of deflection of the substrate. Disclosed.

JP2019-099910A JP 2019-102802 Publication

In the above conventional technology, alignment between the substrate and the mask is performed inside a chamber kept in vacuum. However, when the inside of the chamber is made into a vacuum state, the difference between the pressure outside the chamber (atmospheric pressure) and the pressure inside the chamber causes distortion in the chamber, which causes the suction plate that attracts the substrate and the mask stand on which the mask is placed to A relative tilt may occur between the two. This relative tilt can affect alignment accuracy.

The present invention provides a technique for suppressing deterioration in alignment accuracy between a substrate and a mask.

According to one aspect of the present invention,
A chamber that maintains a vacuum inside;
a suction plate provided inside the chamber and suctioning the substrate;
a mask stand provided inside the chamber and on which a mask is placed;
a substrate support part that supports the substrate at least before or after the substrate is attracted to the suction plate;
alignment means for aligning the substrate adsorbed on the suction plate and the mask placed on the mask stand;
A film forming apparatus comprising:
comprising an adjusting means for adjusting the relative inclination of the suction plate and the mask stand while the inside of the chamber is maintained in a vacuum;
A film deposition apparatus is provided.

According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress a decrease in alignment accuracy between a substrate and a mask.

A schematic diagram of part of an electronic device manufacturing line. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a film forming apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a substrate support unit and a suction plate. An explanatory diagram of the electrical wiring of the suction plate. An explanatory diagram of a measurement unit. An explanatory diagram of an adjustment unit. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the process of overlapping a substrate and a mask using a suction plate. (A) to (C) are explanatory diagrams of the relative inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5. A flowchart showing an example of control processing. The figure which shows the example of the display screen of a display part. A flowchart showing an example of control processing. (A) is an overall view of an organic EL display device, and (B) is a view showing a cross-sectional structure of one pixel.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the claimed invention. Although a plurality of features are described in the embodiments, not all of these features are essential to the invention, and the plurality of features may be arbitrarily combined. Furthermore, in the accompanying drawings, the same or similar components are designated by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

<Electronic device manufacturing line>
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a part of the configuration of an electronic device manufacturing line to which the film forming apparatus of the present invention can be applied. The manufacturing line in FIG. 1 is used, for example, to manufacture display panels for organic EL display devices for smartphones, and substrates 100 are sequentially transported to a film forming block 301, where organic EL films are formed on the substrates 100. .

The film-forming block 301 houses a plurality of film-forming chambers 303a to 303d in which film-forming processing is performed on the substrate 100, and masks before and after use, around a transfer chamber 302 having an octagonal shape in plan view. A mask storage chamber 305 is arranged. A transport robot 302a that transports the substrate 100 is arranged in the transport chamber 302. The transfer robot 302a includes a hand that holds the substrate 100 and a multi-joint arm that moves the hand in the horizontal direction. In other words, the film-forming block 301 is a cluster-type film-forming unit in which a plurality of film-forming chambers 303a to 303d are arranged to surround a transport robot 302a. Note that, when the film forming chambers 303a to 303d are collectively referred to, or when they are not distinguished, they are referred to as a film forming chamber 303.

A buffer chamber 306, a turning chamber 307, and a delivery chamber 308 are arranged upstream and downstream of the film forming block 301 in the transport direction (arrow direction) of the substrate 100, respectively. During the manufacturing process, each chamber is maintained in a vacuum state. Although only one film-forming block 301 is shown in FIG. 1, the manufacturing line according to this embodiment has a plurality of film-forming blocks 301, and the plurality of film-forming blocks 301 are connected to a buffer chamber. 306, a turning chamber 307, and a delivery chamber 308, which are connected by a connecting device. Note that the configuration of the coupling device is not limited to this, and may include only the buffer chamber 306 or the delivery chamber 308, for example.

The transfer robot 302a carries the substrate 100 from the upstream delivery chamber 308 to the transfer chamber 302, transfers the substrate 100 between the film forming chambers 303, and transfers the mask between the mask storage chamber 305 and the film forming chamber 303. The substrate 100 is transported and unloaded from the transport chamber 302 to the buffer chamber 306 on the downstream side.

The buffer chamber 306 is a chamber for temporarily storing the substrate 100 depending on the operating status of the manufacturing line. The buffer chamber 306 is provided with a substrate storage shelf also called a cassette and a lifting mechanism. The substrate storage shelf has a multi-stage structure capable of storing a plurality of substrates 100 while maintaining a horizontal state in which the processing surface (film formation surface) of the substrate 100 faces downward in the direction of gravity. The elevating mechanism moves the substrate storage shelf up and down in order to align the stage on which the substrate 100 is loaded or unloaded with the transport position. Thereby, a plurality of substrates 100 can be temporarily accommodated and retained in the buffer chamber 306.

The turning chamber 307 is equipped with a device for changing the orientation of the substrate 100. In this embodiment, the rotation chamber 307 rotates the orientation of the substrate 100 by 180 degrees by a transfer robot provided in the rotation chamber 307 . The transfer robot installed in the rotation chamber 307 rotates 180 degrees while supporting the substrate 100 received in the buffer chamber 306 and transfers it to the transfer chamber 308. The rear end is replaced. As a result, the direction when carrying the substrate 100 into the film forming chamber 303 is the same in each film forming block 301, so that the scanning direction of film forming with respect to the substrate S and the direction of the mask are the same in each film forming block 301. can be done. With such a configuration, the directions in which the masks are installed in the mask storage chambers 305 in each film forming block 301 can be aligned, and the management of the masks can be simplified and usability can be improved.

The control system of the manufacturing line includes a host computer 300 that controls the entire line, and control devices 14a to 14d, 309, and 310 that control each component, and these are connected via a wired or wireless communication line 300a. Communication is possible. The control devices 14a to 14d are provided corresponding to the film forming chambers 303a to 303d, and control the film forming apparatus 1 described later. Note that when the control devices 14a to 14d are referred to collectively or when they are not distinguished, they are referred to as the control device 14.

A control device 309 controls the transfer robot 302a. A control device 310 controls devices in the swirling chamber 307. The host device 300 transmits information regarding the substrate 100 and instructions such as transport timing to each control device 14, 309, 310, and each control device 14, 309, 310 controls each component based on the received instruction.

<Overview of film forming equipment>
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a film forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment. The film forming apparatus 1 provided in the film forming chamber 303 is an apparatus that forms a film of a vapor deposition material on a substrate 100, and forms a thin film of a vapor deposition material in a predetermined pattern using a mask 101. The material of the substrate 100 on which the film is formed in the film forming apparatus 1 can be appropriately selected from glass, resin, metal, etc., and a material in which a resin layer such as polyimide is formed on glass is preferably used. The vapor deposition substance includes organic materials, inorganic materials (metals, metal oxides, etc.), and the like. The film forming apparatus 1 is applicable to, for example, a manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing electronic devices such as display devices (flat panel displays, etc.), thin film solar cells, organic photoelectric conversion elements (organic thin film image sensors), optical members, etc. In particular, it is applicable to manufacturing equipment that manufactures organic EL panels. In the following explanation, an example will be described in which the film forming apparatus 1 forms a film on the substrate 100 by vacuum evaporation, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various film forming methods such as sputtering and CVD can be applied. . In each figure, an arrow Z indicates a vertical direction (direction of gravity), and an arrow X and an arrow Y indicate a horizontal direction orthogonal to each other.

The film forming apparatus 1 has a box-shaped vacuum chamber 3 (also simply referred to as a chamber) that can maintain a vacuum inside. The internal space 3a of the vacuum chamber 3 is maintained in a vacuum atmosphere or an inert gas atmosphere such as nitrogen gas. In this embodiment, the vacuum chamber 3 is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown). Note that in this specification, "vacuum" refers to a state filled with gas at a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure, in other words, a reduced pressure state. In the internal space 3a of the vacuum chamber 3, a substrate support unit 6 that supports the substrate 100 in a horizontal position, a mask stand 5 that supports the mask 101, a film forming unit 4, a plate unit 9, and a suction plate 15 are arranged. The mask 101 is a metal mask having an opening pattern corresponding to the thin film pattern to be formed on the substrate 100, and is placed on the mask stand 5. Note that the mask stand 5 can be replaced with other forms of means for fixing the mask 101 in a predetermined position. As the mask 101, a mask having a structure in which a mask foil having a thickness of approximately several μm to several tens of μm is welded and fixed to a frame-shaped mask frame can be used. The material of the mask 101 is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to use a metal with a small coefficient of thermal expansion, such as Invar material. The film forming process is performed with the substrate 100 placed on the mask 101 and with the substrate 100 and the mask 101 superimposed on each other.

The plate unit 9 includes a cooling plate 10 and a magnet plate 11. The cooling plate 10 is suspended below the magnet plate 11 so as to be movable in the Z direction with respect to the magnet plate 11. The cooling plate 10 has a function of cooling the substrate 100 adsorbed by the suction plate 15 during film formation by coming into contact with a suction plate 15 to be described later during film formation. The cooling plate 10 is not limited to one that is equipped with a water cooling mechanism or the like to actively cool the substrate 100, but may be one that does not have a water cooling mechanism or the like but that draws heat from the substrate 100 by coming into contact with the suction plate 15. It may be a plate-like member. The magnet plate 11 is a plate that attracts the mask 101 by magnetic force, and is placed on the upper surface of the substrate 100 to improve the adhesion between the substrate 100 and the mask 101 during film formation.

Note that the cooling plate 10 and the magnet plate 11 may be omitted as appropriate. For example, if the suction plate 15 is provided with a cooling mechanism, the cooling plate 10 may not be provided. Moreover, when the attraction plate 15 attracts the mask 101, the magnet plate 11 may be omitted.

The film forming unit 4 is composed of a heater, a shutter, an evaporation source drive mechanism, an evaporation rate monitor, and the like, and is an evaporation source that evaporates the evaporation material onto the substrate 100. More specifically, in this embodiment, the film forming unit 4 is a linear evaporation source in which a plurality of nozzles (not shown) are arranged side by side in the X direction and vapor deposition material is emitted from each nozzle. For example, the linear evaporation source is reciprocated in the Y direction (the depth direction of the apparatus) by an evaporation source moving mechanism (not shown). In this embodiment, the film forming unit 4 is provided in the same vacuum chamber 3 as the alignment device 2 described later. However, in an embodiment in which the film forming process is performed in a chamber different from the vacuum chamber 3 in which alignment is performed, the film forming unit 4 is not arranged in the vacuum chamber 3.

<Alignment device>
The film forming apparatus 1 includes an alignment apparatus 2 that performs alignment between the substrate 100 and the mask 101. The alignment device 2 includes a substrate support unit 6, a suction plate 15, a position adjustment unit 20, a distance adjustment unit 22, a plate unit elevating unit 13, measurement units 7 and 8, an adjustment unit 17, a floating section 19, and a detection unit 16. Each configuration of the alignment device will be explained below.

(board support unit)
The alignment device 2 includes a substrate support unit 6 that supports the peripheral edge of the substrate 100. This will be explained with reference to FIG. 3 in addition to FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the substrate support unit 6 and the suction plate 15, and is a view of these from below.

The substrate support unit 6 includes a plurality of base parts 61a to 61d forming an outer frame thereof, and a plurality of mounting parts 62 and 63 protruding inward from the base parts 61a to 61d. Note that the placing portions 62 and 63 may also be called "receiving claws" or "fingers." The base portions 61a to 61d are each supported by a support shaft R3. The plurality of mounting parts 62 are arranged at intervals on the base parts 61a to 61d so as to receive the long side of the peripheral edge of the substrate 100. Further, the plurality of placing parts 63 are arranged at intervals on the base parts 61a to 61d so as to receive the shorter side of the peripheral part of the substrate 100. The substrate 100 carried into the film forming apparatus 1 by the transport robot 302a is supported by a plurality of mounting parts 62 and 63. Hereinafter, the base parts 61a to 61d will be referred to as the base part 61 when they are collectively referred to or when they are not distinguished.

In this embodiment, the plurality of mounting parts 62 and 63 are configured with plate springs, and when the substrate 100 supported by the plurality of mounting parts 62 and 63 is attracted to the suction plate 15, the plate springs are used. The substrate 100 can be pressed against the suction plate 15 by the elastic force.

In the example of FIG. 3, the four base parts 61 form a rectangular frame with a partial cutout, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the base parts 61 extend around the outer periphery of the rectangular substrate 100. It may be a rectangular frame with no gaps surrounding it. However, since the notches are provided by the plurality of base parts 61, the transport robot 302a can avoid the base part 61 and retreat when the transport robot 302a transfers the substrate 100 to the mounting parts 62 and 63. can. Thereby, the efficiency of conveyance and delivery of the substrate 100 can be improved.

Note that the substrate support unit 6 is provided with a plurality of clamp sections corresponding to the plurality of mounting sections 62 and 63, and the peripheral edge of the substrate 100 placed on the mounting sections 62 and 63 is sandwiched between the clamp sections. Alternatively, an aspect may be adopted in which it is held at

(Adsorption plate)
Continuing to refer to FIGS. 2 and 3. The alignment device 2 is provided inside the vacuum chamber 3 and includes a suction plate 15 that can suction the substrate 100 . In this embodiment, the suction plate 15 is provided between the substrate support unit 6 and the plate unit 9, and is supported by one or more support shafts R1. In this embodiment, the suction plate 15 is supported by four support shafts R1. In one embodiment, the support shaft R1 is a cylindrical shaft.

Further, in this embodiment, the suction plate 15 is an electrostatic chuck that suctions the substrate 100 using electrostatic force. For example, the adsorption plate 15 has a structure in which an electric circuit such as a metal electrode is embedded inside a ceramic matrix (also called a base). For example, when positive (+) and negative (-) voltages are applied to the metal electrodes arranged in the electrode arrangement area 151, polarized charges are induced in the substrate 100 through the ceramic matrix, and between the substrate 100 and the adsorption plate 15. The substrate 100 is attracted and fixed to the attraction surface 150 of the attraction plate 15 by the electrostatic attraction (electrostatic force).

Note that the electrode placement area 151 can be set as appropriate. For example, in this embodiment, a plurality of electrode arrangement regions 151 are provided apart from each other, but one electrode arrangement region 151 may be formed over substantially the entire surface of the adsorption surface 150 of the adsorption plate 15.

Further, a plurality of touch sensors 1621 are embedded in the suction plate 15 to detect contact between the suction plate 15 and the substrate 100. In this embodiment, a total of nine touch sensors 1621 are provided. At the periphery of the suction plate 15, four are provided along both long sides, and one is provided at the center of the suction plate 15. By providing the touch sensors 1621 at multiple locations on the suction plate 15 in this way, it is possible to confirm that the entire surface of the substrate 100 has been suctioned to the suction surface 150. Note that the number and arrangement of touch sensors 1621 can be changed as appropriate.

Further, in this embodiment, the touch sensor 1621 mechanically detects contact between itself and a target. As an example, the touch sensor 1621 is provided such that its tip portion is biased by a spring or the like and protrudes from the suction surface 150 when the tip portion is not in contact with the substrate 100 or the like. When the substrate 100 comes into contact with the tip of the touch sensor 1621, the tip is pushed by the substrate 100 and retracts toward the suction plate 15, making contact with an internal contact point so that a predetermined electrical signal is output. configured. Note that the shape of the tip is not particularly limited, and may be button-shaped or rod-shaped. The touch sensor 1621 can substantially detect the contact between the suction plate 15 and the substrate 100 by appropriately setting the length by which the tip protrudes from the suction surface 150 when it is not in contact with the object. Further, the plurality of touch sensors 1621 constitute a detection unit 16 that detects the parallelism between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 (see <Detection Unit>), as described later.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the suction plate 15 is provided with a fiber sensor 1622 that confirms the suction state of the substrate 100 to the suction plate 15 . Fiber sensor 1622 includes a light emitting section 1622a and a light receiving section 1622b. The light emitting section 1622a and the light receiving section 1622b are provided below the suction plate 15, for example, several mm to several tens of mm below the suction plate 15, so as to form an optical path 1622c. When a part of the substrate 100 is not adsorbed by the adsorption plate 15, the part bends downward due to gravity. If the substrate 100 is deflected after the substrate 100 is attracted to the attraction plate 15, the deflection of the substrate 100 is detected because the deflected portion blocks the optical path 1622c. That is, it can be detected that the substrate 100 is not properly attracted. Note that the fiber sensor 1622 may be omitted.

Further, a plurality of openings 152 are formed in the suction plate 15, and measurement units (a first measurement unit 7 and a second measurement unit 8), which will be described later, image a mask mark, which will be described later, through the plurality of openings 152.

Also refer to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 schematically shows the structure from the suction plate 15 to the support shaft R1. Further, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the electric wiring of the suction plate, and shows wiring for supplying electricity to the electrodes arranged in the electrode arrangement area 151 of the suction plate 15. As shown in FIG. In the case of this embodiment, the plurality of support shafts R1 that support the suction plate 15 are formed in a hollow cylindrical shape. Electric wires 153 for applying positive (+) and negative (-) voltages are wired to pass through the inside thereof. In the example of FIG. 4, two electric wires 153 are shown, one each for applying positive (+) and negative (-) voltages. Further, the electric wire 153 extending from the lower part of the support shaft R1 to the vacuum chamber 3 extends along the short side of the adsorption plate 15, and is connected to an electrical connection part 154 provided approximately at the center of the short side. That is, the electric wire 153 is guided from the outside to the inside of the vacuum chamber 3 via the support shaft R1 and connected to the electrical connection part 154. Further, the power supplied from the electric wire 153 to the electrical connection section 154 is supplied to each electrode arranged in the electrode arrangement region 151.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, four support shafts R1 are provided, and various electric wires (cables) are guided into the vacuum chamber 3 through these support shafts R1. In one embodiment, electric wires 153 that supply electricity to the suction plate 15 pass through the insides of two support shafts R1 provided diagonally, and touch the insides of the remaining two support shafts R1. Cables such as a sensor 1621 and a fiber sensor 1622 (described later) pass through in a bundled state.

(position adjustment unit)
The alignment device 2 includes a position adjustment unit 20 that adjusts the relative position of the mask 101 and the substrate 100 whose peripheral portion is supported by the substrate support unit 6 or the substrate 100 that is suctioned by the suction plate 15 . The position adjustment unit 20 adjusts the relative position of the substrate 100 with respect to the mask 101 by displacing the substrate support unit 6 or the suction plate 15 on the XY plane. That is, it can be said that the position adjustment unit 20 is a unit that adjusts the horizontal position of the mask 101 and the substrate 100. For example, the position adjustment unit 20 can displace the substrate support unit 6 in rotational directions around the axes in the X direction, Y direction, and Z direction. In this embodiment, the position of the mask 101 is fixed and the substrate 100 is displaced to adjust these relative positions. It may be displaced.

In this embodiment, the position adjustment unit 20 includes a fixed plate 20a, a movable plate 20b, and a plurality of actuators 201 arranged between these plates. The fixed plate 20a is fixed on the upper wall 30 of the vacuum chamber 3. Further, a frame-shaped pedestal 21 is mounted on the movable plate 20b, and the pedestal 21 supports a distance adjustment unit 22 and a plate unit elevating unit 13. When the movable plate 20b is horizontally displaced with respect to the fixed plate 20a by the actuator 201, the pedestal 21, the distance adjustment unit 22, and the plate unit elevating unit 13 are integrally displaced.

The plurality of actuators 201 include, for example, an actuator capable of displacing the movable plate 20b in the X direction and an actuator capable of displacing the movable plate 20b in the Y direction, and by controlling the amount of movement of these, the movable plate 20b is displaced in the X direction. direction, Y direction and Z direction. For example, the plurality of actuators 201 may include a motor as a driving source and a mechanism such as a ball screw mechanism that converts the driving force of the motor into linear motion.

(distance adjustment unit)
The distance adjustment unit 22 adjusts the distance between the suction plate 15 and the substrate support unit 6 by raising and lowering them and the mask stand 5, and brings the substrate 100 and the mask 101 closer together in the thickness direction (Z direction) of the substrate 100. and separate (separate). In other words, the distance adjustment unit 22 causes the substrate 100 and the mask 101 to approach each other in the direction in which they overlap, or to separate them in the opposite direction. Note that the "distance" adjusted by the distance adjustment unit 22 is a so-called vertical distance (or vertical distance), and the distance adjustment unit can also be said to be a unit that adjusts the vertical position of the mask 101 and the substrate 100.

As shown in FIG. 2, the distance adjustment unit 22 includes a first lifting plate 220. As shown in FIG. A guide rail 21a extending in the Z direction is formed on the side of the pedestal 21, and the first elevating plate 220 can move up and down in the Z direction along the guide rail 21a.

The first elevating plate 220 supports the suction plate 15 via a plurality of support shafts R1. When the first elevating plate 220 moves up and down, the suction plate 15 moves up and down accordingly. In other words, the first elevating plate 220 supports a plurality of support shafts R1 that support the suction plate 15, and as the first elevating plate 220 moves up and down, the plurality of support shafts R1 rise and fall in synchronization, and the suction plate 15 move up and down while maintaining their parallelism. Further, the first elevating plate 220 supports the substrate support unit 6 via a plurality of actuators 65 and a plurality of support shafts R3. When the first elevating plate 220 goes up and down, the substrate support unit 6 goes up and down accordingly. Moreover, the plurality of actuators 65 can move the plurality of connected support shafts R3 in the vertical direction. The substrate support unit 6 is moved relative to the suction plate 15 in the vertical direction by a plurality of actuators 65 . The plurality of actuators 65 may be configured to be able to move the support shaft R3 in the vertical direction, for example, by a motor, a ball screw mechanism, or the like.

The elevating and lowering of the first elevating plate 220 will be explained in more detail. The distance adjustment unit 22 is supported by the pedestal 21 and includes a drive unit 221 as an actuator that moves the first elevating plate 220 up and down. The drive unit 221 is a mechanism that transmits the driving force of a motor 221a, which is a driving source, to the first elevating plate 220. As the transmission mechanism of the drive unit 221, in this embodiment, a ball screw mechanism having a ball screw shaft 221b and a ball nut 221c is employed. The ball screw shaft 221b extends in the Z direction, and rotates around the axis in the Z direction by the driving force of the motor 221a. The ball nut 221c is fixed to the first elevating plate 220 and meshes with the ball screw shaft 221b. By rotating the ball screw shaft 221b and switching its rotation direction, the first elevating plate 220 can be moved up and down in the Z direction. The amount of elevation of the first elevating plate 220 can be controlled, for example, based on the detection results of a sensor such as a rotary encoder that detects the amount of rotation of each motor 221a. Thereby, the position in the Z direction of the suction plate 15 that suctions and supports the substrate 100 can be controlled, and the contact and separation between the substrate 100 and the mask 101 can be controlled. Furthermore, an adjustment unit 17, which will be described later, is provided above the first elevating plate 220.

Note that although the distance adjustment unit of this embodiment fixes the position of the mask stand 5 and moves the substrate support unit 6 and suction plate 15 to adjust the distance in the Z direction, the distance adjustment unit is not limited thereto. The position of the substrate support unit 6 or suction plate 15 may be fixed, and the mask stand 5 may be moved to adjust the position. Alternatively, the substrate support unit 6, suction plate 15, and mask stand 5 may each be moved to adjust the position of each other. You may adjust the distance.

(Plate unit lifting unit)
The plate unit elevating unit 13 is connected to the second elevating plate 12 and lifts and lowers the plate unit 9 disposed inside the vacuum chamber 3 by elevating the second elevating plate 12 arranged outside the vacuum chamber 3. do. The plate unit 9 is connected to the second elevating plate 12 via one or more support shafts R2. In this embodiment, the plate unit 9 is supported by two support shafts R2. The support shaft R2 extends upward from the magnet plate 11 and passes through an opening in the upper wall 30, each opening in the fixed plate 20a and the movable plate 20b, and an opening in the first lifting plate 220. It is connected to the second lifting plate 12.

The second elevating plate 12 is movable up and down in the Z direction along the guide shaft 12a. The plate unit elevating unit 13 is supported by the pedestal 21 and includes a drive mechanism for elevating the second elevating plate 12. The drive mechanism included in the plate unit elevating unit 13 is a mechanism that transmits the driving force of the motor 13a, which is a drive source, to the second elevating plate 12. As a transmission mechanism for the plate unit elevating unit 13, a ball screw mechanism having a ball screw shaft 13b and a ball nut 13c is employed in this embodiment. The ball screw shaft 13b extends in the Z direction, and rotates around the axis in the Z direction by the driving force of the motor 13a. The ball nut 13c is fixed to the second elevating plate 12 and meshes with the ball screw shaft 13b. By rotating the ball screw shaft 13b and switching its rotation direction, the second elevating plate 12 can be moved up and down in the Z direction. The amount of elevation of the second elevating plate 12 can be controlled, for example, based on the detection results of a sensor such as a rotary encoder that detects the amount of rotation of each motor 13a. Thereby, the position of the plate unit 9 in the Z direction can be controlled, and contact and separation between the plate unit 9 and the substrate 100 can be controlled.

The opening in the upper wall 30 of the vacuum chamber 3 through which each of the support shafts R1 to R3 described above passes has a size that allows each of the support shafts R1 to R3 to be displaced in the X direction and the Y direction. In order to maintain the airtightness of the vacuum chamber 3, a bellows or the like is provided at the opening of the upper wall portion 30 through which each of the support shafts R1 to R3 passes. For example, the support shaft R1 that supports the first elevating plate 220 is covered with a bellows 31 (see FIG. 4, etc.).

(Measurement unit)
The alignment device 2 includes measurement units (first measurement unit 7 and second measurement unit 8) that measure the positional deviation between the mask 101 and the substrate 100 whose peripheral portion is supported by the substrate support unit 6. This will be explained with reference to FIG. 5 in addition to FIG. 2. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the first measurement unit 7 and the second measurement unit 8, and shows how the positional deviation between the substrate 100 and the mask 101 is measured. The first measurement unit 7 and the second measurement unit 8 of this embodiment are both imaging devices (cameras) that capture images. The first measurement unit 7 and the second measurement unit 8 are arranged above the upper wall part 30 and are capable of capturing an image inside the vacuum chamber 3 through a window part (not shown) formed in the upper wall part 30. be.

A substrate rough alignment mark 100a and a substrate fine alignment mark 100b are formed on the substrate 100, and a mask rough alignment mark 101a and a mask fine mark 101b are formed on the mask 101. Hereinafter, the substrate rough alignment mark 100a will be referred to as a substrate rough mark 100a, the substrate fine alignment mark 100b will be referred to as a substrate fine mark 100b, and both may be collectively referred to as a substrate mark. Further, the mask rough alignment mark 101a is called a mask rough mark 101a, the mask fine alignment mark 101b is called a mask fine mark 101b, and both are sometimes called a mask mark collectively.

The board rough mark 100a is formed at the center of the short side of the board 100. The substrate fine marks 100b are formed at the four corners of the substrate 100. The mask rough mark 101a is formed at the center of the short side of the mask 101, corresponding to the substrate rough mark 100a. Further, mask fine marks 101b are formed at the four corners of the mask 101 corresponding to the substrate fine marks 100b.

Four second measurement units 8 are provided (second measurement units 8a to 8d) so as to image each set (four sets in this embodiment) of the corresponding substrate fine mark 100b and mask fine mark 101b. The second measurement unit 8 is a high magnification CCD camera (fine camera) that has a relatively narrow field of view but high resolution (for example, on the order of several μm), and measures the positional deviation between the substrate 100 and the mask 101 with high precision. do. One first measurement unit 7 is provided, and images each set (two sets in this embodiment) of the corresponding substrate rough mark 100a and mask rough mark 101a.

The first measurement unit 7 is a low magnification CCD camera (rough camera) having a relatively wide field of view but low resolution, and measures the rough positional deviation between the substrate 100 and the mask 101. Although the example in FIG. 5 shows a configuration in which two sets of substrate rough marks 100a and mask rough marks 101a are imaged together by one first measurement unit 7, the present invention is not limited to this. Similar to the second measurement unit 8, two first measurement units 7 may be provided at positions corresponding to the respective sets of substrate rough marks 100a and mask rough marks 101a so as to photograph each set.

In this embodiment, after roughly adjusting the positions of the substrate 100 and the mask 101 based on the measurement results of the first measurement unit 7, the positions of the substrate 100 and the mask 101 are adjusted based on the measurement results of the second measurement unit 8. Make precise position adjustments.

(adjustment unit)
The alignment device 2 includes an adjustment unit 17. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the adjustment unit 17 (adjustment device). The adjustment unit 17 is a unit that adjusts the relative inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5. In this embodiment, the adjustment unit 17 adjusts the relative inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 by moving the suction plate 15. Furthermore, by adjusting the axial position of at least some of the plurality of support shafts R1, the relative inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 is adjusted.

The adjustment unit 17 has a plurality of operation parts 171 operated by an operator. In this embodiment, a plurality of operation parts 171 are provided corresponding to each of the plurality of support shafts R1. When the operating section 171 is operated, the corresponding support shaft R1 moves in the vertical direction, which is the axial direction thereof, independently of the other support shafts R1. That is, each of the plurality of operation parts 171 can independently adjust the position in the vertical direction at which the corresponding support shaft R1 supports the suction plate 15. Therefore, the relative inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 is adjusted by the operator operating the operation unit 171. In order to increase the degree of freedom of adjustment, it is preferable that the operating section 171 is provided on each of the plurality of support shafts R1. However, if the operating section 171 is provided on at least one support shaft R1, the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 The relative slope can be adjusted within a certain range.

In this embodiment, the operating section 171 is an adjustment nut that moves the support shaft R1 in the vertical direction, which is the axial direction of the support shaft R1. The adjustment nut and the thread 172 formed on the support shaft R1 are provided so as to be screwed together, and when the adjustment nut is turned by an operator, the support shaft R1 moves.

Further, in this embodiment, the operation section 171 is provided outside the vacuum chamber 3. Specifically, the support shaft R1 is supported by the first elevating plate 220 via a slide bush 173, and the operating portion 171 is provided above the slide bush 173. By providing the operation unit 171 outside the vacuum chamber 3, an operator can perform adjustment using the adjustment unit 17 while the inside of the vacuum chamber 3 is maintained in a vacuum.

Further, a bending portion 18 is provided between the support shaft R1 and the suction plate 15 to connect the support shaft R1 and the suction plate 15 so as to vary the angle of the suction plate 15 with respect to the support shaft R1. In this embodiment, the bending portion 18 is a spherical bearing and includes a spherical portion 181 and a bearing portion 182 that slidably receives the spherical portion 181.

In this embodiment, the plurality of support shafts R1 are configured to be movable only in the vertical direction (axial direction). Therefore, in the state where the suction plate 15 is kept horizontal as in the state ST1 shown on the left side of FIG. The angle formed by the suction plate 15 with respect to R1 is different. In this embodiment, by bending the suction plate 15 with respect to the support shaft R1 at the bent portion 18, the support shaft R1 can support the suction plate 15 even when the suction plate 15 is tilted. Note that the bent portion 18 can be appropriately configured to have a structure such as a universal joint that connects two members such that the connection angle thereof can be changed.

Here, the configuration of the adjustment unit 17 will be explained in comparison with the distance adjustment unit 22. When the first elevating plate 220 of the distance adjustment unit 22 moves up and down, the plurality of support shafts R1 supported by the first elevating plate 220 are all raised and lowered by the same amount, that is, the plurality of support shafts R1 are raised and lowered synchronously. do. Therefore, the suction plate 15 moves up and down while the parallelism or relative inclination of the suction plate 15 to the mask stand 5 is maintained. On the other hand, the adjustment unit 17 can move any one of the plurality of support shafts R1 in the vertical direction (axial direction) with respect to the first lifting plate 220 independently of the other support shafts R1. For example, the adjustment unit 17 can adjust the axial position of the remaining one support shaft R1 without changing the position of the three support shafts R1. Thereby, the adjustment unit 17 can adjust the inclination of the suction plate 15 supported by the plurality of support shafts R1.

(Floating part)
The alignment device 2 includes a floating section 19 . The floating portion 19 is provided between the bent portion 18 and the suction plate 15. Floating portion 19 includes an elastic member 191, a bush 192, a shaft member 193, a suction plate support portion 194, and a flange 195. The shaft member 193 is provided to extend downward from the bent portion 18 . The bush 192 is provided so as to be interposed between the shaft member 193 and the suction plate support portion 194, and reduces friction and wobbling between them. For example, the bush 192 is made of a sintered metal material or the like with good sliding properties. The suction plate support section 194 supports the suction plate 15. The elastic member 191 is provided between the suction plate support portion 194 and a flange 195 provided on the shaft member 193, and is configured to receive the load of the suction plate 15. That is, the floating portion 19 is connected to the support shaft R1 via the bent portion 18, and the elastic member 191 of the floating portion 19 supports the suction plate 15. In this way, by supporting the suction plate 15 with the support shaft R1 via the elastic member 191 of the floating part 19, the load applied to the mask 101 when the suction plate 15 contacts the mask 101 is reduced, and the suction It is possible to ensure that the suction plate 15 escapes when the plate 15 and the mask 101 come into contact.

(detection unit)
The alignment device 2 includes a detection unit 16. Referring again to FIGS. 2 and 3. The detection unit 16 detects the parallelism between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5. In this embodiment, the parallelism is a degree indicating the degree of relative inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5. In this embodiment, the detection unit 16 is configured to include the plurality of touch sensors 1621 described above, which are provided on the suction plate 15 side. The plurality of touch sensors 1621 are attached to the suction plate 15 so that the lengths of the tips protruding from the suction surface 150 are approximately equal to each other. By attaching the touch sensor 1621 to the suction plate 15, even if the vacuum chamber 3 is deformed due to atmospheric pressure, a change in the relative position between the suction plate 15 and the touch sensor 1621 can be reduced. That is, even in a vacuum state, the protruding lengths of the tips of the touch sensors 1621 hardly change and are maintained substantially equal to each other. Therefore, if all of the plurality of touch sensors 1621 react almost simultaneously when the suction plate 15 moves, it is determined that the degree of parallelism is high, in other words, the relative inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 is small. can do. By appropriately changing the length of the tip protruding from the suction surface 150, a predetermined non-parallel inclination can be set as the target value. The operation of detecting the parallelism of the suction plate 15 using the detection unit 16 will be described later. Further, in this embodiment, the touch sensor 1621 detects both the contact between the suction plate 15 and the substrate 100 and the parallelism between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5. Thereby, the number of sensors can be reduced compared to the case where sensors for detecting these are provided separately.

<Control device>
The control device 14 controls the entire film forming apparatus 1 . The control device 14 includes a processing section 141, a storage section 142, an input/output interface (I/O) 143, a communication section 144, a display section 145, and an input section 146. The processing unit 141 is a processor represented by a CPU, and controls the film forming apparatus 1 by executing a program stored in the storage unit 142. The storage unit 142 is a storage device such as a ROM, RAM, or HDD, and stores various control information in addition to programs executed by the processing unit 141. The I/O 143 is an interface that transmits and receives signals between the processing unit 141 and external devices. The communication unit 144 is a communication device that communicates with the host device 300 or other control devices 14, 309, 310, etc. via the communication line 300a, and the processing unit 141 receives information from the host device 300 via the communication unit 144. Alternatively, the information is transmitted to the host device 300. The display unit 145 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, and displays various information. The input unit 146 is, for example, a keyboard or a pointing device, and accepts various inputs from the user. Note that all or part of the control devices 14, 309, and 310 and the host device 300 may be configured with PLC, ASIC, or FPGA.

<Process of overlapping substrate and mask>
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the process of overlapping the substrate 100 and the mask 101 using the adsorption plate 15. FIG. 7 shows each state of the process.

State ST100 is a state after the substrate 100 is carried into the film forming apparatus 1 by the transport robot 302a and the transport robot 302a is evacuated. At this time, the substrate 100 is supported by the substrate support unit 6.

State ST101 is a state in which the substrate support unit 6 is raised as a preparation stage for suction of the substrate 100 by the suction plate 15. The substrate support unit 6 is raised from the state ST100 by the actuator 65 so as to approach the suction plate 15. In state ST101, the peripheral edge of the substrate 100 supported by the substrate support unit 6 is in contact with the suction plate 15, or is located slightly apart. On the other hand, the center portion of the substrate 100 is bent due to its own weight, and is therefore located further away from the suction plate 15 than the peripheral portion.

State ST102 is a state in which the substrate 100 is sucked by the suction plate 15. By applying a voltage to the electrodes arranged in the electrode arrangement area 151 of the attraction plate 15, the substrate 100 is attracted to the attraction plate 15 by electrostatic force.

State ST103 is a state for checking whether or not the substrate 100 is normally attracted to the suction plate 15. While the substrate support unit 6 is lowered and separated from the substrate 100 , whether or not the substrate 100 is attracted to the attraction plate 15 is confirmed based on the detection value of the touch sensor 1621 . For example, the control device 14 determines that the substrate 100 is normally attracted to the suction plate 15 when all the touch sensors 1621 embedded in the suction plate 15 detect contact with the substrate 100. . Furthermore, if a fiber sensor 1622 is provided, it may be determined whether the substrate 100 is being attracted normally based on the output from the fiber sensor 1622.

State ST104 is a state in which alignment between the substrate 100 and the mask 101 is being performed. The control device 14 executes an alignment operation using the position adjustment unit 20 while the distance adjustment unit 22 lowers the suction plate 15 to bring the substrate 100 and the mask 101 closer together.

State ST105 is a state in which the substrate 100 and the mask 101 are brought into closer contact with each other by the magnet plate 11. After the alignment operation is completed, the control device 14 lowers the plate unit 9 using the plate unit elevating unit 13. When the magnet plate 11 approaches the substrate 100 and the mask 101, the mask 101 is drawn toward the substrate 100, and the adhesion between the substrate 100 and the mask 101 is improved.

Through the operations described above, the process of overlapping the substrate 100 and the mask 101 is completed. For example, after the present process is finished, a vapor deposition process is performed by the film forming unit 4.

By the way, when aligning the substrate 100 and the mask 101 in the process described above, the inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 may affect the accuracy of the alignment. By performing alignment while bringing the distance between substrate 100 and mask 101 closer, alignment precision can be improved. However, if there is a relative inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5, a portion of the substrate 100 may come into contact with the mask 101, which may cause damage to the substrate 100. As the distance between the substrate 100 and the mask 101 is increased to protect the substrate 100, the accuracy of alignment may decrease. Therefore, generally, the parallel adjustment between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 is sometimes performed in an environment where the internal space 3a of the vacuum chamber 3 is at atmospheric pressure. Parallel adjustment under an atmospheric pressure environment is performed, for example, by inserting a shim into the connecting portion of the substrate support unit 6.

FIGS. 8(A) to 8(C) are explanatory diagrams of the relative inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5. FIG. 8(A) shows the state after the tilt adjustment has been performed with the internal space 3a at atmospheric pressure. In the state shown in FIG. 8(A), the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 are kept substantially parallel. On the other hand, FIG. 8(B) shows a state in which the air in the internal space 3a is evacuated to create a vacuum from the state shown in FIG. 8(A). Even if the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 are adjusted parallel to each other in an atmospheric pressure environment, when the internal space 3a is evacuated, distortion etc. will occur in the vacuum chamber 3 due to the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the vacuum chamber 3, and the suction plate 15 An inclination may occur between the mask stand 5 and the mask table 5. However, if the internal space 3a of the vacuum chamber 3 is a vacuum, it may not be possible to perform parallel adjustment similar to the above-described parallel adjustment under an atmospheric pressure environment. Therefore, in this embodiment, the decrease in alignment accuracy is suppressed by adjusting the inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 while the internal space 3a of the vacuum chamber 3 is in a vacuum state.

<Explanation of adjustment operation>
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the control processing of the processing unit 141, and shows the processing when the adjustment unit 17 performs the tilt adjustment operation. For example, this flowchart is executed when the air in the internal space 3a of the vacuum chamber 3, which was under an atmospheric pressure environment, is evacuated by a vacuum pump (not shown) or the like, and the internal space 3a becomes a vacuum state. For example, this flowchart is executed at a predetermined cycle while the internal space 3a is in a vacuum state. For example, this flowchart is executed when the mask 101 is not placed on the mask stand 5, the substrate 100 is not attracted to the suction plate 15, and the substrate 100 is not supported by the substrate support unit 6. Ru.

In step S1 (hereinafter simply referred to as S1; the same applies to other steps), the processing unit 141 executes parallelism detection processing between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5. In the present embodiment, in the parallelism detection process, the processing unit 141 detects the parallelism between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5, and determines whether the detected parallelism is within an allowable range. I do. Note that a specific example of this process will be described later (see FIG. 11).

In S2, based on the processing result in S1, the processing unit 141 ends the flowchart if the parallelism is within the allowable range, and proceeds to S3 if the parallelism is not within the allowable range. For example, in the case of the state shown in FIG. 8(B), it is determined in S1 that the parallelism or inclination is outside the allowable range, and the process proceeds to S3.

In S3, the processing unit 141 instructs tilt adjustment. In one embodiment, the processing unit 141 causes the display unit 145 to display an instruction for the operator to adjust the inclination of the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the display screen 145a of the display unit 145. In the example of FIG. 10, as an example of a display indicating an instruction to adjust the tilt, a character string "Please operate the operating section of the support shaft C to lower the support shaft C." is shown. That is, information regarding the support shaft to be adjusted by the adjustment unit 17 and the adjustment direction of the support shaft is shown. In addition to this, the processing unit 141 may display information such as whether adjustment by the adjustment unit 17 is necessary and the amount of operation of the support shaft R1 to be operated (the amount of adjustment by the adjustment unit 17). Note that the processing unit 141 may transmit information to the host device 300 to instruct tilt adjustment, and the host device 300 that has received the information may display a display on a display unit (not shown) or the like to instruct the adjustment. .

FIG. 8(C) is an explanatory diagram of the relative inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5, in which an operator adjusts the inclination using the adjustment unit 17 while the internal space 3a of the vacuum chamber 3 is in a vacuum state. It is a figure which shows the state after carrying out. Compared to the state shown in FIG. 8(B), in the state shown in FIG. 8(C), the support shaft R1 on the right side of the drawing is moved downward by the adjustment unit 17. Thereby, the inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 is reduced. For example, the operator performs such work using the adjustment unit 17 based on the instruction given in S3.

In S4, the processing unit 141 receives the completion of adjustment. Specifically, the processing unit 141 receives, through the input unit 146, an input from the operator who has adjusted the inclination of the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5, indicating that the adjustment has been completed. For example, the processing unit 141 may determine that the completion of the adjustment has been accepted when the operator selects the “end adjustment” button 145b shown in FIG. 10 using the input unit 146 such as a pointing device. When the processing unit 141 receives the adjustment completion, it returns to S1. Through the process described above, the inclination adjustment between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 is executed until the parallelism between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 falls within the permissible range.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the parallelism detection process shown in FIG. In S11, the processing unit 141 causes the distance adjustment unit 22 to start lowering the suction plate 15. In S12, the processing unit 141 checks whether any of the touch sensors 1621 among the plurality of touch sensors 1621 detects contact, and if contact is detected, the process proceeds to S13, and if contact is not detected, the process proceeds to S13. repeats the determination in S12. That is, the processing unit 141 starts lowering the suction plate 15 in S11, and then continues lowering the suction plate 15 until one of the touch sensors 1621 detects contact.

In S13, the processing unit 141 uses the distance adjustment unit 22 to lower the suction plate 15 by a predetermined amount. That is, the processing unit 141 further lowers the suction plate 15 by a predetermined amount from the state in which one of the touch sensors 1621 first detects contact. The amount of descent of the suction plate 15 here can be appropriately set depending on the desired parallelism. In one embodiment, the suction plate 15 may be lowered by 5 to 10 mm, for example. Note that the processing unit 141 may temporarily stop the suction plate 15 when any of the touch sensors 1621 detects contact, and then lower the suction plate 15 by a predetermined amount. Further, the processing unit 141 may stop the suction plate 15 when the suction plate 15 is further lowered by a predetermined amount after one of the touch sensors 1621 detects contact while the suction plate 15 is being lowered. That is, the lowering operation of the suction plate 15 starting in S11 and the lowering operation of the suction plate 15 in S13 may be continuous operations or may be independent operations.

In S14, the processing unit 141 checks whether all the touch sensors 1621 have detected a contact, and if all the touch sensors 1621 have detected a contact, the process proceeds to S15, and at least one touch sensor 1621 has detected a contact. If no contact has been detected, the process advances to S16.

Here, if the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 are parallel or their inclination is relatively small, all the touch sensors 1621 provided on the suction plate 15 detect contact with the mask stand 5 almost simultaneously. . Therefore, all the touch sensors 1621 can detect contact with the mask stand 5 at the time when the suction plate 15 is lowered by a predetermined amount in S13.

On the other hand, when the relative inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 is relatively large, the distance to the mask stand 5 is relatively large at the time when any of the touch sensors 1621 detects contact with the mask stand 5. A touch sensor 1621 will be present. In the example of FIG. 8B, when the touch sensor 1621 on the left side of the drawing contacts the mask stand 5, the distance between the touch sensor 1621 on the right side of the drawing and the mask stand 5 is relatively large. If the distance between the touch sensor 1621 and the mask stand 5 at this time is larger than the predetermined amount in S13, all the touch sensors 1621 will not detect contact even if the suction plate 15 is lowered by the predetermined amount in S13. Become.

That is, by checking whether or not all the touch sensors 1621 have detected contact while the suction plate 15 is lowered by a predetermined amount from the height at which any one of the touch sensors 1621 has detected contact, the suction plate 15 and It can be confirmed whether the inclination with respect to the mask stand 5 is smaller than a predetermined value. Therefore, from a certain point of view, the amount of descent of the suction plate 15 in S13 can be set based on the permissible value of the parallelism (or inclination) between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5. When adjusting to a higher degree of parallelism, that is, when the permissible range of parallelism is narrow, the amount of descent of the suction plate 15 in S13 may be set to a small value.

In S15, the processing unit 141 determines that the parallelism is within the allowable range. On the other hand, if the process proceeds to S16, the processing unit 141 determines that the parallelism is outside the allowable range.

In S17, the processing unit 141 raises the suction plate 15 by a predetermined amount and ends the flowchart. Note that the predetermined amount here may be a different value from the predetermined amount in S13. In one embodiment, the processing unit 141 raises the suction plate 15 to the height at which the suction plate 15 starts lowering in S11.

Through the above processing, it can be determined whether the parallelism between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 is within the allowable range. Note that in this embodiment, the processing unit 141 checks whether all the touch sensors 1621 have detected contact in S14, but if a plurality of predetermined touch sensors 1621 have detected contact, You may proceed to S15 and determine that the parallelism is within the allowable range. For example, the processing unit 141 may determine that the parallelism is within an allowable range if the touch sensors 1621 provided at the four corners of the suction plate 15 detect contact. Further, if the predetermined number of touch sensors 1621 detect contact in S14, the processing unit 141 may proceed to S15 and determine that the parallelism is within an allowable range. For example, if a majority of five or more touch sensors 1621 among the nine touch sensors 1621 provided on the suction plate 15 detect contact, the processing unit 141 determines that the parallelism is within the allowable range. You may judge.

<Method for manufacturing electronic devices>
Next, an example of a method for manufacturing an electronic device will be described. The configuration and manufacturing method of an organic EL display device will be illustrated below as an example of an electronic device. In this example, the film forming blocks 301 illustrated in FIG. 1 are provided at, for example, three locations on the production line.

First, the organic EL display device to be manufactured will be explained. FIG. 12(A) is an overall view of the organic EL display device 50, and FIG. 12(B) is a view showing the cross-sectional structure of one pixel.

As shown in FIG. 12A, in the display area 51 of the organic EL display device 50, a plurality of pixels 52 each including a plurality of light emitting elements are arranged in a matrix. Although details will be explained later, each light emitting element has a structure including an organic layer sandwiched between a pair of electrodes.

Note that the pixel herein refers to the smallest unit that can display a desired color in the display area 51. In the case of a color organic EL display device, a pixel 52 is configured by a combination of a plurality of sub-pixels including a first light-emitting element 52R, a second light-emitting element 52G, and a third light-emitting element 52B that emit different light emissions. The pixel 52 is often composed of a combination of three types of subpixels: a red (R) light emitting element, a green (G) light emitting element, and a blue (B) light emitting element, but is not limited thereto. The pixel 52 only needs to include at least one type of subpixel, preferably two or more types of subpixels, and more preferably three or more types of subpixels. The subpixels constituting the pixel 52 may be, for example, a combination of four types of subpixels: a red (R) light emitting element, a green (G) light emitting element, a blue (B) light emitting element, and a yellow (Y) light emitting element.

FIG. 12(B) is a schematic partial cross-sectional view taken along line AB in FIG. 12(A). The pixel 52 includes, on a substrate 53, a first electrode (anode) 54, a hole transport layer 55, one of a red layer 56R, a green layer 56G, and a blue layer 56B, an electron transport layer 57, and a second electrode. It has a plurality of sub-pixels each made of an organic EL element including an electrode (cathode) 58. Among these, the hole transport layer 55, the red layer 56R, the green layer 56G, the blue layer 56B, and the electron transport layer 57 correspond to organic layers. The red layer 56R, the green layer 56G, and the blue layer 56B are formed in patterns corresponding to light emitting elements (sometimes referred to as organic EL elements) that emit red, green, and blue, respectively.

Further, the first electrode 54 is formed separately for each light emitting element. The hole transport layer 55, the electron transport layer 57, and the second electrode 58 may be formed in common across the plurality of light emitting elements 52R, 52G, and 52B, or may be formed for each light emitting element. That is, as shown in FIG. 12(B), a hole transport layer 55 is formed as a common layer over a plurality of subpixel regions, and a red layer 56R, a green layer 56G, and a blue layer 56B are separated for each subpixel region. Further, an electron transport layer 57 and a second electrode 58 may be formed as a common layer over a plurality of sub-pixel regions.

Note that an insulating layer 59 is provided between the first electrodes 54 in order to prevent short circuits between adjacent first electrodes 54 . Furthermore, since the organic EL layer is degraded by moisture and oxygen, a protective layer 60 is provided to protect the organic EL element from moisture and oxygen.

In FIG. 12(B), the hole transport layer 55 and the electron transport layer 57 are shown as one layer, but depending on the structure of the organic EL display element, they may be formed of multiple layers including a hole blocking layer and an electron blocking layer. may be done. Further, an energy band structure is provided between the first electrode 54 and the hole transport layer 55 so that holes can be smoothly injected from the first electrode 54 to the hole transport layer 55. Alternatively, a hole injection layer may be formed. Similarly, an electron injection layer may also be formed between the second electrode 58 and the electron transport layer 57.

Each of the red layer 56R, the green layer 56G, and the blue layer 56B may be formed of a single light emitting layer, or may be formed by laminating a plurality of layers. For example, the red layer 56R may be composed of two layers, with the upper layer being a red light-emitting layer and the lower layer being a hole transport layer or an electron blocking layer. Alternatively, the lower layer may be formed of a red light emitting layer, and the upper layer may be formed of an electron transport layer or a hole blocking layer. Providing a layer below or above the light emitting layer in this manner has the effect of improving the color purity of the light emitting element by adjusting the light emitting position in the light emitting layer and adjusting the optical path length.

Note that although an example of the red layer 56R is shown here, a similar structure may be adopted for the green layer 56G and the blue layer 56B. Further, the number of layers may be two or more. Furthermore, layers of different materials may be laminated, such as a light-emitting layer and an electronic block layer, or layers of the same material may be laminated, such as a layer of two or more light-emitting layers.

Next, an example of a method for manufacturing an organic EL display device will be specifically described. Here, it is assumed that the red layer 56R is composed of two layers, a lower layer 56R1 and an upper layer 56R2, and the green layer 56G and the blue layer 56B are composed of a single light emitting layer.

First, a substrate 53 on which a circuit (not shown) for driving an organic EL display device and a first electrode 54 are formed is prepared. Note that the material of the substrate 53 is not particularly limited, and may be made of glass, plastic, metal, or the like. In this embodiment, as the substrate 53, a substrate in which a polyimide film is laminated on a glass substrate is used.

A resin layer such as acrylic or polyimide is coated by bar coating or spin coating on the substrate 53 on which the first electrode 54 is formed, and an opening is formed in the portion where the first electrode 54 is formed by applying a lithography method to the resin layer. The insulating layer 59 is formed by patterning to form an insulating layer 59. This opening corresponds to the light emitting region where the light emitting element actually emits light. Note that in this embodiment, the large substrate is processed until the formation of the insulating layer 59, and after the formation of the insulating layer 59, a dividing step of dividing the substrate 53 is performed.

The substrate 53 on which the insulating layer 59 has been patterned is carried into the first film forming chamber 303, and the hole transport layer 55 is formed as a common layer on the first electrode 54 in the display area. The hole transport layer 55 is formed using a mask in which an opening is formed for each display area 51 that will eventually become a panel portion of each organic EL display device.

Next, the substrate 53 on which the hole transport layer 55 has been formed is carried into the second film forming chamber 303. The substrate 53 and the mask are aligned, the substrate is placed on the mask, and the portion of the substrate 53 on the hole transport layer 55 where the element that emits red color is arranged (the area where the red sub-pixel is formed) Then, a red layer 56R is formed. Here, the mask used in the second film-forming chamber is a mask with openings formed only in a plurality of regions that will become red subpixels among a plurality of regions on the substrate 53 that will become subpixels of the organic EL display device. It is a fine mask. As a result, the red layer 56R including the red light-emitting layer is formed only in the area that will become the red subpixel among the plurality of areas on the substrate 53 that will become the subpixel. In other words, the red layer 56R is not deposited on a region that becomes a blue subpixel or a region that becomes a green subpixel among the plurality of subpixel regions on the substrate 53; The film is selectively formed in the area where

Similar to the formation of the red layer 56R, a green layer 56G is formed in the third film formation chamber 303, and a blue layer 56B is further formed in the fourth film formation chamber 303. After the formation of the red layer 56R, green layer 56G, and blue layer 56B is completed, the electron transport layer 57 is formed over the entire display area 51 in the fifth film formation chamber 303. The electron transport layer 57 is formed as a layer common to the three color layers 56R, 56G, and 56B.

The substrate on which up to the electron transport layer 57 has been formed is moved to the sixth film forming chamber 303, and the second electrode 58 is formed into a film. In this embodiment, each layer is formed by vacuum evaporation in the first film forming chamber 303 to the sixth film forming chamber 303. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the second electrode 58 may be formed by sputtering in the sixth film forming chamber 303. Thereafter, the substrate on which up to the second electrode 58 has been formed is moved to a sealing device, and a protective layer 60 is formed by plasma CVD (sealing step), thereby completing the organic EL display device 50. In addition, although the protective layer 60 is formed by the CVD method here, it is not limited to this, and may be formed by the ALD method or the inkjet method.

Here, films are formed in the first film forming chamber 303 to the sixth film forming chamber 303 using masks in which openings are formed corresponding to the patterns of the respective layers to be formed. During film formation, after performing relative positional adjustment (alignment) between the substrate 53 and the mask, the substrate 53 is placed on the mask and film formation is performed. Here, the alignment process performed in each film forming chamber is performed as described above.

<Other embodiments>
In the embodiment described above, the adjustment unit 17 is configured so that the operator can perform the adjustment operation manually, but it may also be configured so that the axial position of the support shaft R1 can be adjusted using a motor or the like. For example, by individually providing a servo motor for each support shaft R1, and operating the operating section 171 provided on the support shaft R1 by the individual servo motor (in the example of the above embodiment, by rotating a nut). , each support shaft R1 may be raised and lowered independently. Further, when such a configuration is adopted, the entire suction plate 15 may be raised and lowered by driving individual servo motors in synchronization. Note that when the adjustment unit 17 includes a motor, the motor and the operation section 171 may be provided inside the vacuum chamber 3. However, by providing these outside the vacuum chamber 3, generation of particles inside the vacuum chamber 3 can be suppressed.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the relative inclination between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 is adjusted by adjusting the inclination of the suction plate 15; The relative tilt may be adjusted. However, in the above embodiment, the adjustment can be made more reliably by adjusting the inclination on the side of the adsorption plate 15 made of a relatively more rigid ceramic material or the like than the mask stand 5 made of an aluminum plate or the like. It can be carried out.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the parallelism between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 is detected by the plurality of touch sensors 1621, but the parallelism may be detected by other sensors. For example, a group of optical sensors (a plurality of distance measuring sensors) capable of measuring the distance between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 may be provided at a plurality of positions. Then, the parallelism between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 may be detected based on the difference in the detection results of each sensor, that is, the difference in the distance between the suction plate 15 and the mask stand 5 at the measurement position. However, in the above embodiment, by employing the touch sensor 1621, the sensor can be made smaller and the electrical wiring can be simplified compared to the case where an optical sensor is employed. Note that by downsizing the sensor, the area of the electrode arrangement region 151 can be made larger, and the adsorption force of the adsorption plate 15 can be improved.

Further, in the above embodiment, the suction plate 15 is an electrostatic chuck, but the suction plate 15 may have another configuration. For example, the suction plate 15 may be a physical sticky chuck (PSC) or the like having physical adhesiveness on its surface.

Further, in the above embodiment, the adjustment operation is performed in a state where the mask 101 is not placed on the mask stand 5, the substrate 100 is not attracted to the suction plate 15, and the substrate 100 is not supported by the substrate support unit 6. is executed. However, the adjustment operation may be performed with the mask 101 placed on the mask stand 5.

The present invention provides a system or device with a program that implements one or more functions of the embodiments described above via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or device reads and executes the program. This can also be achieved by processing. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the following claims are hereby appended to disclose the scope of the invention.

1 Film forming apparatus, 2 Alignment apparatus, 5 Mask stand, 6 Substrate support unit, 141 Processing section, 16 Detection unit, 17 Adjustment unit, 22 Distance adjustment unit, 100 Substrate, 101 Mask

Claims (28)

A chamber that maintains a vacuum inside;
a suction plate provided inside the chamber and suctioning the substrate;
a mask stand provided inside the chamber and on which a mask is placed;
a substrate support part that supports the substrate at least before or after the substrate is attracted to the suction plate;
alignment means for aligning the substrate adsorbed on the suction plate and the mask placed on the mask stand;
A film forming apparatus comprising:
comprising an adjusting means for adjusting the relative inclination of the suction plate and the mask stand while the inside of the chamber is maintained in a vacuum;
A film forming apparatus characterized by the following. The adjustment means has an operating section provided outside the chamber.
The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that: 3. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the adjusting means adjusts the relative inclination by moving the suction plate. 4. The film forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the suction plate is made of a material having higher rigidity than a material forming the mask stand. further comprising a plurality of support shafts that support the suction plate,
The adjustment means adjusts the axial position of at least some of the plurality of support shafts.
The film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: 6. The film forming apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a bending part connecting the support shaft and the suction plate so that the angle of the suction plate with respect to the support shaft is variable. The film forming apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a spherical bearing provided between the support shaft and the suction plate. a floating part connected to the support shaft via the bent part;
The film forming apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising an elastic member attached to the floating part so as to support the suction plate. a floating part connected to the support shaft via the spherical bearing;
8. The film forming apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising an elastic member attached to the floating part so as to support the suction plate. The film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 7, further comprising an elastic member interposed between the support shaft and the suction plate and supporting the suction plate. Further comprising an elevating means having an elevating plate that supports the plurality of support shafts and an actuator that elevates and lowers the elevating plate,
The adjusting means is provided between the elevating plate and each of the plurality of support shafts so as to be able to adjust the relative position of each of the plurality of support shafts with respect to the elevating plate.
The film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 10. The film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 11, wherein the adjusting means includes an adjusting nut that is threadedly engaged with the support shaft along a thread formed on the support shaft. Any one of claims 5 to 12, wherein the adsorption plate includes an electrode for adsorbing the substrate by electrostatic force, and an electric wire for supplying power to the electrode is wired inside the support shaft. The film forming apparatus described in . Further comprising a plurality of touch sensors provided on the suction plate and detecting contact with the mask stand,
13. The cable connected to the plurality of touch sensors is wired inside a support shaft other than the support shaft inside which the electric wire is wired, among the plurality of support shafts. The film forming apparatus described in . The film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 13, further comprising a plurality of touch sensors provided on the suction plate and detecting contact with a mask stand. 16. The film forming apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the plurality of touch sensors detect that the substrate has contacted the suction surface of the suction plate. The film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 13, further comprising detection means for detecting parallelism between the suction plate and the mask stand. Processing means for displaying information regarding the adjustment of the relative inclination by the adjustment means based on the detection result of the detection means, or processing for transmitting the information based on the detection result of the detection means. The film forming apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising: a film forming apparatus according to claim 17; The film forming apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the information includes information regarding at least one of necessity, adjustment target, adjustment amount, and adjustment direction of adjustment of the relative inclination by the adjustment means. . The film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 13, further comprising a plurality of distance measuring sensors that detect distances between the suction plate and the mask stand. Claims 1 to 20, wherein the relative inclination is adjusted by the adjusting means in a state where the suction plate is not suctioning the substrate and no mask is placed on the mask stand. The film forming apparatus according to any one of the items. 22. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the suction plate is an electrostatic chuck. 23. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a film forming means for forming a film on the substrate through the mask. A chamber that maintains a vacuum inside;
a suction plate provided inside the chamber and suctioning the substrate;
a mask stand provided inside the chamber and on which a mask is placed;
a substrate support part that supports the substrate at least before or after the substrate is attracted to the suction plate;
alignment means for aligning the substrate adsorbed on the suction plate and the mask placed on the mask stand;
An adjustment device that is attached to a film forming apparatus including:
comprising an adjusting means for adjusting the relative inclination of the suction plate and the mask stand while the inside of the chamber is maintained in a vacuum;
An adjusting device characterized by: A chamber that maintains a vacuum inside;
a suction plate provided inside the chamber and suctioning the substrate;
a mask stand provided inside the chamber and on which a mask is placed;
a substrate support part that supports the substrate at least before or after the substrate is attracted to the suction plate;
alignment means for aligning the substrate adsorbed on the suction plate and the mask placed on the mask stand;
A method for adjusting a film forming apparatus comprising:
an adjustment step of adjusting the relative inclination of the suction plate and the mask stand while the interior of the chamber is maintained in a vacuum;
An adjustment method characterized by: 26. In the adjusting step, the relative inclination is adjusted in a state where the suction plate is not suctioning the substrate and no mask is placed on the mask stand. How to adjust. The film forming apparatus further includes a plurality of touch sensors provided on the suction plate and detecting contact with a mask stand,
The adjustment method is
a moving step of moving at least one of the suction plate and the mask stand so that the suction plate and the mask stand are brought closer;
After the moving step, a detecting step of detecting that the plurality of touch sensors have contacted the mask stand,
The adjustment method according to claim 25 or 26, wherein the adjustment step is performed based on whether or not the plurality of touch sensors have detected contact with the mask stand. an adjustment step of adjusting the relative inclination of the suction plate and the mask stand by the adjustment method according to any one of claims 25 to 27;
an alignment step of aligning the substrate adsorbed on the adsorption plate and the mask placed on the mask stand;
a film forming step of forming a film on the substrate through the mask,
A method for manufacturing an electronic device, characterized by:

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