KR100571271B1 - Thin Film Forming Device for Substrate for Flat Panel Display - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus used for forming a flat panel display substrate thin film, such as a chemical vapor deposition apparatus using plasma, and in particular, a cooling gas is supplied to a mask seated on a top of a flat panel display substrate and a glass substrate to maintain the substrate and the mask at a low temperature. The present invention relates to a flat panel display substrate thin film forming apparatus capable of being made.

OLED, chemical vapor deposition apparatus, chuck, glass substrate, mask,

Description

Apparatus for Forming Thin Film on Substrate for Flat Panel Display}

1A is a cross-sectional view of a substrate thin film forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1B is a cross-sectional view of a substrate thin film forming apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a plan view of a substrate thin film forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a plan view of a substrate thin film forming apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a plan view of the chuck used in the substrate thin film forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a plan view of a chuck in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a plan view of a chuck in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of the reference numerals for the main parts of the drawings>

10-board 20-chuck

21-Central Vertical Hole 22-Outer Vertical Hole

23-Upper groove 30-Mask

32-mask body 34-mask frame

40-Clamp 42-Shear Fixing

44-Retaining Groove 46-Retaining Spring

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus used for forming a flat panel display substrate thin film, such as a chemical vapor deposition apparatus using plasma, and in particular, a cooling gas is supplied to a mask seated on a top of a flat panel display substrate and a glass substrate to maintain the substrate and the mask at a low temperature. The present invention relates to a thin film forming apparatus for a flat panel display substrate.

Recently, the flat panel display has been attracting attention such as plasma display panel (PDP), organic light emitting display, liquid crystal display (LCD), and especially organic light emitting display has excellent characteristics such as self-luminous, wide viewing angle, and high-speed response characteristics. Have The organic light emitting diode (hereinafter referred to as 'OLED') used in the organic light emitting diode display is typically a first electrode, a hole transport layer, a light emitting layer, and an electron transport layer corresponding to an anode on a glass substrate. And a second electrode corresponding to an organic film made of, for example, a cathode, and the like.

When a voltage of about several volts (V) is applied between the anode and the cathode, holes are generated at the anode and electrons are generated at the cathode. The generated holes and electrons are combined in the emission layer via the hole transport layer or the electron transport layer, respectively, to generate excitons of high energy state. As the excitons return to the ground state, light with energy corresponding to the energy difference between the two states is generated. Therefore, it is essential to form an electrode film for supplying electrons to the organic light emitting layer together with other films in the organic light emitting device.

The organic layer may be formed separately from the electron and hole generation and transport layers, and the organic light emitting device may be variously configured in the display device such that only the electroluminescent layer is present between the two electrodes without the transport layer being separately formed.

An organic light emitting display device using an organic light emitting element as a pixel may be classified into a simple matrix organic light emitting display device and an active matrix organic light emitting display device. In addition, in a conventional bottom emission type organic light emitting display device, light passes through a transparent anode made of a transparent electrode such as indium tin oxide (ITO) and exits through the substrate. At this time, the cathode uses a metal such as aluminum. On the other hand, the front emission type which emits through a protective film through a transparent or translucent cathode is also used. In this case, the cathode uses a transparent conductive film such as ITO, but a separate layer that can serve as an electron supply is usually further interposed.

In any of these cases, in order to avoid damaging the organic film when forming the cathode electrode and the protective film after forming the organic film including the lower anode electrode and the organic light emitting layer on the substrate, damage due to particle collision can be reduced and at low temperature. Possible film forming process is required.

As a method of forming a conductor thin film such as a metal on a substrate, a research using a direct current / radio frequency (DC / RF) sputter has been conducted. However, this sputtering method has problems such as temperature rise and denaturation of OLED organic film, re-sputtering of substrate surface, interfacial reaction, generation of secondary electrons and the like due to high energy particles generated during plasma formation. Therefore, in general, in the process of manufacturing OLED, a low temperature process of 100 ° C. or less is preferable due to the material properties of the organic material.

Recently, as another method of forming a conductor thin film, application of a chemical vapor deposition method, in particular, a thin film formation method using a chemical vapor deposition method using plasma has been studied. In other words, applications such as plasma enhanced CVD and inductively coupled plasma CVD have been studied. However, in order to deposit high quality thin films using chemical vapor deposition as in the semiconductor or LCD manufacturing process, a process temperature of 300 ° C. or more is required.

In particular, application of a thin film formation method using plasma has been studied in a process of forming a protective film using a silicon compound on the glass substrate for a top-emitting OLED. In order to form such a protective film, it is necessary to use a metal or ceramic mask as a mask located on the organic substrate. However, when such a mask is exposed to the plasma, the temperature of the mask is increased to cause deformation of the mask, which makes it difficult to accurately pattern the protective film. In addition, when the temperature of the mask is increased, there is a problem in that it causes the organic film formed on the surface of the OLED substrate adversely affects the characteristics of the OLED.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a flat panel display capable of maintaining the substrate and the mask at a low temperature by supplying a cooling gas to the mask seated on the substrate and the substrate when forming a thin film of a flat panel display substrate such as an OLED. The object is to provide a thin film forming apparatus for a substrate.

The present invention for solving the above problems is a thin film forming apparatus for a flat panel display substrate comprising a chuck, a mask and a clamp, the central vertical hole and the upper and lower ends of the central vertical hole and the upper and lower ends in the center An upper groove for connecting the substrate, a mask on which the substrate is seated on the upper surface, a mask on which the thin film pattern is formed, and is formed on the substrate, and the upper surface of the upper surface of the chuck. It characterized in that it comprises a clamp fixed to the upper portion of the substrate.

In addition, in the present invention, the upper groove is formed to include at least three upper left and right grooves and the upper front and rear grooves connected to each other and formed in parallel with each other at predetermined intervals extending from both ends at the center of the chuck. Can be.

In addition, in the present invention, the upper groove may be formed radially from the central vertical hole to each side end of the chuck.

In addition, in the present invention, the chuck may further include an outer vertical hole which is vertically penetrated so as to be connected to the upper groove at a predetermined distance from the both ends to the inner region.

In addition, in the present invention, the mask may be formed with a mask body formed with a pattern and a mask frame formed at both ends of the mask body.

In addition, in the present invention, the clamp is formed in the front end of the clamp protrudes in the center direction of the chuck and is fixed to the upper surface of the mask fixed to the mask and the mask formed on the lower portion of the clamp and the mask frame It may be combined with and formed to include a fixing groove for supporting the mask.

In addition, in the present invention, the clamp may be formed to further include a fixing spring fixed to the upper portion in the fixing groove and in contact with the upper surface of the mask frame to support the mask.

In addition, in the present invention, the fixed spring may be formed of a leaf spring or a coil spring.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1A is a cross-sectional view of a substrate thin film forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1B is a cross-sectional view of a substrate thin film forming apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a plan view showing a substrate thin film forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a plan view showing a substrate thin film forming apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 shows a plan view of the chuck used in the substrate thin film forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 5 shows a top view of a chuck in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a plan view of a chuck according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In the thin film forming apparatus of a flat panel display substrate according to the present invention, referring to FIGS. 1A to 3, a thin film pattern is formed on the chuck 20 and the upper portion of the glass substrate 10 on which the glass substrate 10 on which the thin film pattern is formed is seated. It is formed to include a mask 30 to be seated and a clamp 40 for fixing the mask 30 to the chuck 20. In addition, the substrate thin film forming apparatus may further include a fixing spring 46 installed in the clamp 40 to assist the close contact between the mask 30 and the glass substrate 10. Here, although a glass substrate is disclosed as a substrate used in flat panel displays, especially OLED, it can be used to form a thin film of another substrate besides the glass substrate.

 As shown in FIG. 4, the chuck 20 is formed of a plate-shaped block of a predetermined size, and is preferably formed in a square block shape in the same shape as that of the glass substrate 10 to be seated therein, and in the vacuum chamber of the plasma apparatus. It is installed on the chuck support 15 to be installed. The chuck 20 may include a central vertical hole 21, an outer vertical hole 22, and an upper groove 23.

The central vertical hole 21 is vertically penetrated from the top to the bottom in the center of the chuck 20, and a separate gas supply pipe (not shown) is connected to the bottom to supply cooling gas to the top. .

The outer vertical hole 22 is formed by vertically penetrating the chuck 20 from the upper side at a position separated by a predetermined distance from both end side 28 of the chuck 20 to the inner region. The outer vertical hole 22 is preferably formed in the lower portion of the clamp fixed to the upper portion of the chuck 20, as shown in Figure 1a and 4 above.

Meanwhile, when the outer vertical hole 22 has a sufficient cooling effect, as shown in FIG. 5, the outer vertical hole 22 formed at the center of both ends 28 of the chuck 20 may not be formed. Of course.

In addition, the outer vertical hole 22 may not be formed when the cooling effect of the glass substrate 10 and the mask 30 is sufficient by supplying the cooling gas of the central vertical hole 21.

The upper groove 23 is formed as a groove of a predetermined depth horizontally on the upper surface of the chuck 20, the upper left and right grooves 24 and the upper left and right are formed in the left and right directions so that both end side 28 is connected to each other It is formed including the upper front and rear grooves 25 to connect the grooves 24 with each other. At least three upper left and right grooves 24 are formed to be parallel to each other at a predetermined interval, and if necessary, the number can be increased. In addition, the upper left and right grooves 24 and the upper and rear grooves 25 penetrate the upper portion of the central vertical hole 21 and are connected to the central vertical hole 21. Therefore, the upper groove 23 is connected to the central vertical hole 21 as a whole, and the cooling gas supplied from the central vertical hole 21 is supplied to the upper groove 23 and flows as a whole. In addition, when the outer vertical hole 22 is formed, the outer vertical hole 22 is formed at both side ends of the upper left and right grooves 24 and is connected to each other.

 Therefore, when the glass substrate 11 is seated on the upper groove 23, the upper groove 23 and the glass substrate form a horizontal hole, so that it is supplied from the central vertical hole 21 and the outer vertical hole 22. As the cooling gas flows along the upper groove 23 of the chuck 20 as a whole, the upper surface of the chuck 20 comes into contact with the glass substrate 10 to cool the glass substrate 10 and the mask 30.

In addition to the shape of FIG. 4, the upper groove 23 may extend from the central vertical hole 21 to each side end 28, 29 of the chuck 20 radially. When the upper groove 23 is formed in a radial manner as described above, there is an advantage that the cooling gas can be uniformly supplied to each upper groove 23.

The mask 30 is formed to include a mask body 32 having a pattern to be formed on the glass substrate 10 and a mask frame 34 formed at both ends of the mask body 32.

The mask body 32 is formed in a plate shape of a metal or ceramic having a predetermined size so as to be seated on the chuck 20 to be in contact with the entire upper surface of the glass substrate 10 on which the pattern is formed. As described above, the mask body 32 has the same fine pattern shape to be formed on the glass substrate 10.

The mask frame 34 is formed to protrude upwardly along both side ends of the mask body 32 in a bar shape, and is coupled to the clamp 40 to connect the mask body 32 to the glass substrate 10. It is fixed in close contact with). As shown in FIG. 1A, the mask frame 34 may be formed in a bar shape having a rectangular cross section, and may be formed in a bar shape having a semicircle or polygonal cross section. The length of the mask frame 34 may be formed differently according to the shape of the clamp 40.

As shown in FIGS. 1A and 2, the clamp 40 is formed of a general clamp having a block shape, and includes a shear fixing part 42, a fixing groove 44, and a fixing spring 46. The clamp 40 is coupled to the upper portion of the chuck 20 or the chuck support 15 to fix the mask 30 to the upper portion of the glass substrate 10. In this case, as shown in FIG. 1B, the fixed spring 46 may not be installed when the fixed spring 46 is not required, such as when the coupling precision of the mask frame 34 and the fixed groove 44 is not required. Of course it can.

The clamp 40 is preferably formed equal to the length of the mask 30 used. Therefore, as shown in Figure 2 may be formed long so as to fix the side end of the mask body 32 as a whole, as shown in Figure 3 may be formed short so that only a portion of the side end of the mask body 32 can be fixed Of course.

In addition, the clamp 40 may improve the thermal conductivity by performing aluminum anodizing (Al Anodizing) on the surface. That is, by rapidly dissipating the heat transferred from the mask 30 through the surface, it is possible to increase the cooling effect of the mask (30).

The shear fixing portion 42 is formed to protrude to a predetermined width from the front end of the clamp 40 to have a horizontal plane, the lower horizontal plane is formed to contact the upper surface of the mask body 32.

The fixing groove 44 is formed to have a predetermined shape upward at a position corresponding to the position where the mask frame 34 is formed under the clamp 40. The fixing groove 44 is preferably formed in a shape corresponding to the upper shape of the mask frame 34. That is, if the cross section of the mask frame 34 is a quadrangular shape, the fixing groove 44 is also formed in a quadrangular shape, so that the fixing of the mask 30 by the combination of the mask frame 34 and the fixing groove 44 is advantageous.

The fixing spring 46, as shown in Figure 1a, is formed of a plate-like spring, in a separate fixing means (not shown in the figure), such as a bolt on the upper portion of the fixing groove 44 of the clamp 40 Is fixed. Therefore, the fixing spring 46 is in contact with the upper portion of the mask frame 34 coupled to the fixing groove 44 to apply a constant force to the mask frame 34 to fix the mask 30. Therefore, the fixing spring 46 can more easily fix the mask 30 even when the height of the mask frame 34 is not constant.

In addition, the fixed spring 46 may be formed using an elastic body such as a coil spring or heat-resistant rubber, in addition to the plate-shaped spring.

Next, the operation of the thin film forming apparatus of the substrate for flat panel display according to the present invention will be described.

After mounting the glass substrate 10 on the upper surface of the chuck 20 installed inside the thin film forming apparatus of the substrate, the mask 30 is again placed on the upper portion of the glass substrate 10. The clamp 40 is fixed to the upper portion of the chuck 20 while the mask frame 34 is coupled to the fixing groove 44 of the clamp 40. The fixing spring 46 is fixed to the fixing groove 44 of the clamp 40. ) Is formed, it is not necessary to precisely match the height of the mask frame 34 and the depth of the fixing groove 44, it is easy to fix the mask 30.

After the glass substrate 10 and the mask 30 are completely fixed to the upper surface of the chuck 20, an external cooling gas supply device (not shown) is operated to lower the lower portion of the central vertical hole 21. Cooling gas is supplied to the upper surface of the chuck 20 through. At this time, helium gas is preferably used as the cooling gas. Cooling gas supplied to the upper surface of the chuck 20 flows from the upper surface of the chuck 20 to each side end along the upper groove 23 formed on the upper surface of the chuck 20 to cool the glass substrate 10 and the mask 30. Done.

Meanwhile, when the outer vertical hole 22 is formed together with the central vertical hole 21, the cooling gas is also supplied to the outer vertical hole 23 separately from the central vertical hole 21. Therefore, some of the cooling gas supplied from the outer vertical hole 23 flows from the upper surface of the chuck 20 to the side end, but some of the cooling gas flows from the upper surface of the chuck 20 toward the center and is supplied from the central vertical hole 21. The cooling gas flows along the gas to the upper portion of the clamp 40 along the mask frame 34 and the fixing groove 44. Therefore, the mask frame 34 and the clamp 40 can also be cooled effectively.

As described above, the present invention is not limited to the specific preferred embodiments described above, and any person having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from the gist of the present invention claimed in the claims. Various modifications are possible, of course, and such changes are within the scope of the claims.

According to the thin film forming apparatus for a flat panel display substrate according to the present invention, it is possible to maintain the glass substrate and the mask at a low temperature by using a separate cooling gas, especially in the process of forming a thin film on the glass substrate for OLED. It is effective in preventing damage to the film and minimizing deformation of the mask.

In addition, according to the present invention, by supplying the cooling gas from the outer surface of the upper surface of the chuck, the cooling gas is directly contacted with the mask frame and the clamp, and the surface of the clamp is anodized aluminum to increase the cooling effect of the mask.

In addition, according to the present invention, by including the fixing spring in the clamp there is an effect that the mask can be easily fixed without matching the shape of the fixing groove of the mask frame and the clamp when fixing the mask frame.

Claims (8)

In the thin film forming apparatus of a flat panel display substrate comprising a chuck, a mask and a clamp, A central vertical hole penetrating up and down from a center and an upper groove connecting the central vertical hole and both end sides from an upper surface thereof, and having the substrate seated on an upper surface thereof; A mask seated on the substrate and having a thin film pattern formed on the substrate; And a clamp installed at both end sides of the upper portion of the chuck to fix the mask to the upper portion of the substrate. The method of claim 1, The upper groove is formed to include at least three upper left and right grooves extending in parallel to each other at a predetermined interval from the center of the chuck and the upper front and rear grooves connecting the upper left and right grooves to each other Thin film forming apparatus of substrate for flat panel display. The method of claim 1, The upper groove is a thin film forming apparatus of a flat panel display substrate, characterized in that formed radially from the central vertical hole to each side end of the chuck. The method of claim 2 or 3, And the chuck further includes an outer vertical hole which is vertically penetrated to be connected to the upper groove at a predetermined distance from both sides to an inner region. The method of claim 1, The mask is a thin film forming apparatus for a flat panel display substrate, characterized in that it comprises a mask body is formed on both sides of the mask body and the mask body pattern is formed. The method of claim 5, The clamp is formed in the front end of the clamp protruding toward the center of the chuck and the shear fixing portion for contacting the upper surface of the mask to fix the mask And a fixing groove formed under the clamp and coupled to the mask frame to support the mask. The method of claim 6, And the clamp further comprises a fixed spring fixed to an upper portion of the fixing groove and in contact with an upper surface of the mask frame to support the mask. The method of claim 7, wherein The fixed spring is a thin film forming apparatus for a flat panel display, characterized in that the leaf spring or coil spring.

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