KR100753145B1 - Deposition of Organic for Light Emitting Diodes - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an organic material deposition apparatus of an organic light emitting device for uniformly depositing an organic material deposited on a substrate of an organic light emitting device, such as an OLED, at a predetermined thickness. A plurality of nozzles for spraying the evaporated organic matter; A plurality of evaporation means for evaporating the organic material and discharging each of the plurality of nozzles; Medium gas supply means for supplying the medium gas to the plurality of evaporation means to discharge the organic matter evaporated from the plurality of evaporation means to the plurality of nozzles; And a chamber in which the plurality of nozzles and the substrate are accommodated.

Since the method of controlling a plurality of nozzles respectively, the deposition uniformity is good, it provides an effect that facilitates the control of the deposition thickness.

Organics, Deposition, Nozzles, Evaporation

Description

Organic material deposition apparatus of organic light emitting device {Deposition of Organic for Light Emitting Diodes}

1 is a configuration diagram for explaining the configuration of a conventional organic material deposition apparatus.

Figure 2 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of another conventional organic material deposition apparatus.

Figure 3 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of another conventional organic material deposition apparatus.

Figure 4 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of an organic material deposition apparatus of the organic light emitting device according to the present invention.

5 is a plan view showing some components of the deposition apparatus according to the present invention.

6 is a front sectional view showing some components of a deposition apparatus according to the present invention;

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

51: nozzle 52: discharge pipe

52a: heater 53: crucible

53a: evaporator 53b: baffle

54a, 54b: organic matter 55: inlet pipe

56: flow control valve 57: MFC

The present invention relates to an organic material deposition apparatus of an organic light emitting device, and more particularly, to an organic material deposition apparatus of an organic light emitting device for uniformly depositing an organic material deposited on a substrate of an organic light emitting device such as an OLED to a predetermined thickness. will be.

In general, OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) or OELD (Organic Electroluminescent Display) is an exciton by recombination of electrons and holes injected through an anode and a cathode into an organic (mono-molecule / low molecular or polymer) thin film And a phenomenon in which light having a specific wavelength is generated by energy from the excitons formed.

The OLED has a fast response speed of several microseconds, which is about 1 / 1000th of that of LCD, so it is suitable for high quality video playback.It is self-luminous and can be seen even in dark places or other light disturbances. It is superior to other displays, and because it is surface emitting, more than 90% of uniform divergence is achieved.

In addition, since it is possible to manufacture ultra-thin film of 100 ~ 300nm, it is possible to apply to light and thin products.

In addition, since only the display portion emits light by itself, compared to an LCD using a backlight, it consumes very low power and is suitable for outdoor displays because high luminance of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of candelas per square meter is achieved.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the OLED having the above characteristics, holes supplied from the anode 16, which is a transparent electrode formed on one surface of the substrate 17, are injected into the hole injection layer 15 (HIL). After the electrons supplied from the cathode 10 are injected into the electron injection layer 11 (EIL), the holes and the electrons are respectively transferred to the hole transport layer (HTL) 14 and the electron transport layer 12; After passing through the Electron Transfer Layer (ETL), the light emitting layer (13) moves to the Emitting Layer (EML), and combines to form an exciton, and holes and electrons recombine and emit light as the excitation moves.

The light emitting material used in the light emitting layer 13 (EML) includes low molecular weight and high molecular weight organic materials. The low molecular weight organic material has a thin film formed on a substrate by vacuum deposition, and the high molecular weight organic material spins. A thin film is formed on the substrate by a coating method. The light emitting material should have a high quantum fluorescence yield in a solid state, a high mobility of electrons and holes, and be formed as a uniform thin film to be stable.

Meanwhile, in order to form the light emitting layer as described above, an organic material must be deposited on a substrate. For this purpose, a method using a single crucible is used as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

That is, the conventional organic material deposition apparatus, as shown in Figure 2, the self-heating crucible 23, and a plurality of nozzles 21 for injecting the organic material 24 is heated and evaporated in the crucible 23 and The pipe part 22 which delivers the evaporated organic material from the crucible 23 to the nozzle 21, and the evaporated organic material 24 in the crucible 23 through the nozzle 22. It is composed of a flow controller 27 (MFC) and a flow control valve 26 for supplying a dilution gas (dilution gas) to regulate the flow rate to discharge to the (21).

The conventional organic material deposition apparatus configured as described above operates as follows.

That is, the substrate is mounted in the deposition chamber, and when the crucible 23 is heated, the organic material 24 is heated to a temperature at which it can be evaporated.

When the organic material 24 is evaporated, the flow control valve 26 is opened. When dilution gas is introduced through the MFC 27, the organic material 24 evaporated by the negative pressure into the vacuum chamber is the nozzle 21. Sprayed through).

In the conventional organic material deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of holes 21a are formed in the pipe portion 22a instead of the nozzle 21 in FIG. 2, and the plurality of holes 21a are formed. Are arranged in accordance with the length of the pipe portion (22a) and drilled.

The deposition thickness of the organic material 24 deposited on the substrate by the organic material deposition apparatus as described above should be in the range of 200 ~ 2000Å, uniformity should be deposited to 5% or less.

However, the conventional large-area deposition technique as described above should uniformize the amount of organic matter sprayed from each nozzle (or hole). As described above, the nozzles 21 and the holes 22a in the pipe portions 22 and 22a may be used. It is technically difficult to evenly divide the vapor of organic matter into each nozzle through a simple configuration, which is particularly difficult for large area substrates.

In addition, the deposition of a large area, and in order to increase the deposition rate to increase the amount of evaporation of organic matter, there is a difficulty in redesigning the crucible, the nozzle and pipes, etc. every time, it is also difficult to match the deposition uniformity.

As described above, the reason why the uniform deposition is difficult in the case of using the conventional deposition apparatus is as follows.

That is, in order to evaporate a large amount of organic matter, a large crucible needs to be heated. As the crucible becomes larger, the capacity of the heater increases, making it difficult to control uniform temperature, thereby making it difficult to maintain a constant evaporation amount of the organic matter. Even if organic matter is controlled and evaporated to a desired amount, the length of the pipe is long to cover the large area when it is injected into the nozzle through the pipe, so that the number of nozzles is increased, so that the pressure is uniform through all the nozzles. Since no vapor of organic matter is released, uniform spraying becomes difficult.

In order to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, Patent Publication No. 10-2003-0008276 "Deposition equipment of the organic light emitting device" is disclosed.

As shown in FIG. 4, the deposition apparatus introduced in Patent Publication No. 10-2003-0008276 is configured to heat a gas supply pipe 40 through which an organic light emitting material flows in a gas state, and heat the gas supply pipe 40. The heater line 41 to keep the light emitting material in a gas state, a shower head 42 mounted on the lower end of the gas supply pipe 40 to spray the organic light emitting material, and the shower head 42 A chamber 48 mounted on the chamber 48, a rotary worktable 47 rotatably mounted at a lower end of the chamber 48, and a mask 43 provided on an upper portion of the substrate 45 mounted on the rotary worktable 47. ) Is equipped with a mask holder 44 to be mounted, and a cooler 46 installed below the substrate 45 of the rotary worktable 47 to cool the substrate 45 for low temperature deposition.

In the deposition apparatus of Patent Publication No. 10-2003-0008276 configured as described above, when the organic light emitting material is deposited on one surface of the substrate 45, the rotary worktable 47 rotates at a predetermined speed. Allow the luminescent material to be deposited uniformly.

However, since the deposition apparatus is designed for deposition on a substrate having a constant area, there is a problem that it cannot be efficiently applied to substrates having different areas.

That is, in order to deposit on a small area substrate by using a deposition apparatus designed for a large area substrate, the shower head needs to be replaced, and if not, the organic light emitting material sprayed through the shower head is wasted into the space outside the substrate. . On the other hand, there is a problem that cannot be applied to a large area substrate when designed for a small area substrate.

In addition, Patent Publication No. 10-2005-0049200 discloses a "droplet supply equipment, a manufacturing method of a display device using the same".

However, since the device disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2005-0049200 is also supplied from a single coaching material source, there is a limit in improving deposition uniformity, and the design change of the device is changed according to the area of the substrate to be deposited. This is accompanied by a problem of poor device scalability.

An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, to provide an organic material deposition apparatus of an organic light emitting device for depositing an organic material in a uniform thickness on the substrate of the organic light emitting device.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an organic material deposition apparatus of an organic light emitting device that is easy to change the design corresponding to the area of the substrate on which the organic material is deposited.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an organic material deposition apparatus for an organic light emitting device capable of rapidly depositing an organic material.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a plurality of nozzles which are installed in correspondence to the area of the substrate on which the organic material is deposited by setting a distance between each other, and spraying the evaporated organic material; A plurality of evaporation means for evaporating the organic material and discharging each of the plurality of nozzles; Medium gas supply means for supplying the medium gas to the plurality of evaporation means to discharge the organic matter evaporated from the plurality of evaporation means to the plurality of nozzles; And a chamber in which the plurality of nozzles and the substrate are accommodated.

The present invention is made of a heat insulating material, characterized in that further comprises a discharge pipe connected between the plurality of evaporation means and the plurality of nozzles, respectively.

The discharge pipe is characterized in that it further comprises a plurality of heaters for heating the evaporated organic matter passing through.

It is further configured to include a plurality of flow rate control valve connected between the medium gas supply means and the plurality of evaporation means to adjust the flow rate of the medium gas introduced respectively.

The plurality of evaporation means is characterized in that it further comprises a baffle is installed in the inner space to the gas inside to form a vortex to increase the amount of evaporation of organic matter.

The plurality of nozzles is characterized in that the distance between each other is adjustable, the plurality of nozzles is characterized in that the distance to the substrate is adjustable.

(Example)

Hereinafter, an organic material deposition apparatus of an organic light emitting device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The organic material deposition apparatus of the organic light emitting device according to the present invention, as shown in Figures 5 and 6, MFC (57; Mass) which is a medium gas supply means for supplying by adjusting the flow rate of the medium gas consisting of dilution gas (dilution gas) Flow controller) and a plurality of flow control valves 56 for receiving diluent gas from each of the MFCs 57 and controlling the amount of passage through the same, and connected to the plurality of flow control valves 56, respectively. A plurality of inlet pipes 55 and a plurality of crucibles 53, which are evaporation means for evaporating organic substances stored therein and discharged through the diluent gas introduced from the plurality of inlet pipes 55, and a heat insulating material Consisting of a plurality of discharge pipes 52 each connected to the plurality of crucibles 53, and a plurality of nozzles 51 connected to each of the plurality of discharge pipes 52 to inject diluent gas and evaporated organic matter do.

In addition, the nozzle 51 and the substrate 59 are installed in a vacuum chamber (not shown). In order to smoothly install the nozzle 51, that is, to place the nozzle 51 in a proper position, a part of the discharge pipe 52 is disposed. It is preferable to insert into the vacuum chamber and install.

The discharge pipe 52, the crucible 53, the inlet pipe 55, the flow control valve 56, etc., including the nozzle 51 is determined in consideration of the spray area of the nozzle 51 to determine the installation interval between each other, What is necessary is just to determine according to the number of the nozzles 51 installed considering the area of the said board | substrate 59.

In addition, the distance to the substrate 59 should also be determined in consideration of the injection area of the gas injected from the nozzle 51 and the distance to each other. The distance is determined in consideration of the distance in which the injection trajectories are uniformly distributed. good.

In addition, since the discharge pipe 52 is made of a heat insulating material, the organic material evaporated from the crucible 53 and discharged to a gaseous state by a dilution gas is prevented from leaking to the outside to some extent, and the organic material is already vaporized. Although sprayed through the nozzle 51 in a closed state, the internal energy is lowered in the expansion process sprayed through the nozzle 51, so that organic matter may be liquefied, so that a heater 52a is mounted around the discharge pipe 52. It is preferable to heat it.

As shown in FIG. 7, the crucible 53 includes a heating means (not shown) for heating the stored organic matter, and the inflow pipe 55 is connected to one side of the upper side thereof, and the inflow pipe Evaporation tank 53a to which the discharge pipe 52 is connected to the opposite side of 55, and the organic matter 54a and 54b by being installed in the lower portion of the inside of the evaporation tank 53a to form an internal gas into the vortex It consists of a baffle (53b; baffle) that promotes the evaporation of.

On the other hand, the present invention may be used by arranging the plurality of nozzles 51 in the vertical direction, it is possible to deposit the organic material on the substrate with a more uniform thickness to install the spraying direction of the nozzle in the gravity direction.

In other words, the substrate 59 is installed on the ground in the horizontal direction, and the spraying direction of the nozzle 51 is made perpendicular to the ground, that is, sprayed in the horizontal direction and influenced by gravity to be sprayed. The gas is prevented from bowing downward to allow more uniform deposition.

The organic material deposition apparatus of the organic light emitting device according to the present invention configured as described above acts as follows.

First, considering the area of the substrate 59 on which the organic material is deposited, the number of the nozzles 51, the installation interval, and the distance from the substrate 59 are set, and the substrate 59 is installed on one side in the vacuum chamber (preferably To the ground in the horizontal direction under the vacuum chamber).

Then, the passage flow rate is set by adjusting the degree of opening and closing of the plurality of flow control valves 56, and then, the diluent gas is supplied through the MFC 57.

At this time, since the organic materials 54a and 54b are self-heated by the self-heating in the crucible 53, when the dilution gas supplied from the MFC 57 flows into the crucible 53 through the inlet pipe 55, When the evaporated organic material is loaded in the diluent gas and discharged through the discharge pipe 52, the organic material is sprayed onto the substrate 59 by the nozzle 51, and the organic material is deposited on one surface of the substrate 59.

Here, since the dilution gas flowing into the crucible 53 is smoothly formed by the baffle 53b, evaporation of the organic materials 54a and 54b is promoted.

The present invention made as described above is based on a method of individually controlling a plurality of crucibles 53 for evaporating organic substances.

Therefore, it is possible to apply variously from the board | substrate of a small area to the board | substrate of a large area through adjustment of the installation number of the nozzle 51. In addition, the present invention can be deposited regardless of the size of the substrate as well as to increase the deposition uniformity compared to the prior art.

This is because the injection amount of the organic substance heated in each crucible 53 can be easily controlled through the flow control valve 56.

In addition, in the present invention, when the substrate 59 stands in the vertical direction in the vacuum chamber and moves in the horizontal direction, the nozzles 51 and the like are arranged in the vertical direction and operated as shown in FIG. In the case of being disposed parallel to the ground and moving in the horizontal direction, the nozzles 51 and the like may be arranged in the horizontal direction and operated.

This feature of the present invention has the advantage that productivity is improved because it increases the expandability when designing and manufacturing the device.

The organic material deposition apparatus of the organic light emitting device according to the present invention made as described above is a method of controlling a plurality of nozzles, respectively, the deposition uniformity is good, it is easy to control the deposition thickness.

In addition, the device is easily expandable according to the change in the size and the process direction of the substrate, and thus the device is easily manufactured, and since the deposition is performed by a plurality of nozzles, the deposition speed is increased, thereby providing an effect of increasing productivity.

Claims (7)

A plurality of nozzles having a predetermined distance therebetween so as to correspond to the area of the substrate on which the organic material is deposited, and spraying the evaporated organic material; A plurality of evaporation means for evaporating the organic material and discharging each of the plurality of nozzles; Medium gas supply means for supplying the medium gas to the plurality of evaporation means to discharge the organic matter evaporated from the plurality of evaporation means to the plurality of nozzles; A chamber in which the plurality of nozzles and the substrate are accommodated; And An organic material deposition apparatus of an organic light emitting device, characterized in that it comprises a discharge pipe made of a heat insulating material, respectively connected between the plurality of evaporation means and the plurality of nozzles. delete The organic material deposition apparatus of claim 1, wherein the discharge pipe further comprises a plurality of heaters for heating the evaporated organic material passing therethrough. The organic light emitting diode of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of flow rate control valves connected between the medium gas supply means and the plurality of evaporation means, respectively, to control the flow rate of the introduced medium gas. Organic material deposition apparatus of the device. The organic light emitting device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of evaporation means further includes a baffle installed in the inner space to increase the evaporation amount of the organic material by causing the internal gas to form a vortex. Material deposition apparatus. The organic material deposition apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of nozzles have adjustable intervals. The organic material deposition apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of nozzles are adjustable in distance to the substrate.

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