KR100780045B1 - Plasma chamber of organic electroluminescent devices - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses an organic electroluminescent device plasma pretreatment chamber.

The organic electroluminescent device plasma pretreatment chamber according to the present invention is connected to a vacuum pump and is selectively switched to a low vacuum and high vacuum state, and is selectively opened and closed on one side to allow the introduction and removal of a glass substrate from the outside. And a vacuum chamber provided on the inner surface of the chamber to form a plasma, and a gas nozzle provided on one side of the vacuum chamber to receive and discharge gas from the gas tank, and a predetermined interval below the electrode. A casing fixed to the inner wall of the vacuum chamber by a frame, a substrate holder provided on the upper side of the casing, and a glass substrate introduced through the gate is placed on the upper surface, and one end of the casing is connected to the bottom of the substrate holder, and the other end is casing. Force vertically extending into the inside of the substrate to be able to move up and down integrally with the substrate holder And, the elevating plate and one end of the plate-shaped member that is integrally coupled to the other end of the post and one end through the elevating plate, the upper and lower ends are guide pins connected to the upper and lower surfaces of the casing, and the lower portion of the casing The one end is provided at the lower end of the elevating plate is configured to include an elevating cylinder for transmitting up and down lifting force.

Since the organic electroluminescent device plasma pretreatment chamber configured as described above can stably and precisely clean the glass substrate, it is possible to reduce product defect rate due to foreign matters, which greatly improves the productivity and lowers the manufacturing cost. Provide a useful effect.

Organic, plasma, pretreatment, substrate

Description

Plasma chamber of organic electroluminescent devices

1 is a system configuration diagram for explaining the configuration of an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus to which the present invention is applied;

2 is a schematic view showing an organic electroluminescent device plasma pretreatment chamber according to the present invention;

3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating main parts of an internal structure of the organic light emitting device plasma pretreatment chamber according to the present invention;

Figure 4 is a plan view showing an organic light emitting device plasma pretreatment chamber according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

1: vapor deposition apparatus 2: transfer chamber

3: charging chamber 4: carrying chamber

5: process chamber 10: vacuum chamber

11 electrode 12 gas nozzle

20: casing 21: frame

25: insulator 30: substrate holder

35: Post 36: Platform

38: guide pin 40: lifting cylinder

41: loading

The present invention relates to an organic light emitting device plasma pretreatment chamber, and more particularly, to an organic light emitting device plasma pretreatment chamber capable of efficiently improving the removal of impurities on the surface of the substrate and the work function.

Recently, various flat panel display devices that can reduce the weight and volume, which are disadvantages of cathode ray tubes, have been developed. Such flat panel display devices include a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a field emission display device. (Field Emission Display (FED)), Plasma Display Panel (PDP), Electro-luminescence (EL) display elements, and the like.

Here, the PDP is most advantageous for large screens because of its relatively simple structure and manufacturing process, but has a disadvantage of low luminous efficiency, low luminance, and high power consumption. As it is mainly used as a display device of a computer, the demand is increasing, but it is difficult to make a large screen and the power consumption is large due to the backlight unit. There was a narrow problem. In contrast, EL display devices are classified into organic ELs and inorganic ELs, and have advantages of fast response speed and high luminous efficiency, luminance, and viewing angle. At this time, the organic electroluminescent display element which is an organic EL can display an image with a high luminance of tens of thousands [cd / m 2] at a voltage of about 10 [V].

In general, an organic light emitting display device emits light when electrons and holes are paired and extinguished when charge is injected into an organic film formed between an electron injection electrode (cathode) and a hole injection electrode (anode). The device is characterized in that the power consumption is relatively low.

That is, the organic light emitting display device is a flat panel display using a phenomenon in which when the direct current voltage is applied to the laminated thin film of the organic material, the electrical energy is converted into light energy and emits light.

The organic EL display, which has been commercialized until recently, uses a low molecular weight organic light emitting material, and since the low molecular weight organic light emitting material is weak to moisture or high energy particles, the thin film formation of the organic light emitting layer or the cathode metal electrode is used as a shadow mask. The pattern is formed by vacuum evaporation using).

 Looking at the manufacturing process of such an organic EL (electroluminesecence) display device as follows.

First, an anode on which a transparent conductive film made of indium tin oxide (ITO) is formed is formed on an upper surface of a glass substrate having insulation and transparency. A hole injection layer is formed on the anode upper surface, and a hole transport layer is deposited on the hole injection layer upper surface. And the iron-based light emitting layer is formed on the upper surface of the hole transport layer. In this case, a dopant, which is a kind of impurity, is added to the organic light emitting layer as necessary. Subsequently, a thin metal compound layer alkali metal or alkaline earth metal is deposited on the upper surface of the electron injection layer to improve electron injection. And finally to form a cathode using a metal on the metal layer.

In this case, since the organic light emitting layer generally has pi electrons, the organic light emitting layer interacts with water molecules. Therefore, moisture in the air, or moisture already attached to the substrate, gradually attacks the electrode and the organic thin film even if it is simply stored without driving the device to form a dark spot.

Thus, the biggest problem of an organic electroluminescent display element is improvement of durability, and the biggest problem is the generation | occurrence | production of the non-light-emitting part called said black spot and prevention of the growth.

In particular, it is known that even a very small amount of moisture has a great effect. Therefore, in order to mass-produce the organic EL display element, it is very important to purify the material so that there is no moisture in the material. For this purpose, the organic electroluminescent display element is sealed in a chamber, and each material is deposited under vacuum to maximize the moisture in the air. I'm blocking it.

In addition, in the method of depositing the organic light emitting display device, a source loaded with an organic material in the chamber is loaded, vacuum evacuated through pumping, and heat is applied to the source to evaporate the deposition material to deposit on the substrate.

For this reason, once loaded ITO substrate is processed in an inert gas atmosphere excluding water and oxygen even during the deposition process and the encapsulation process. To this end, satellite-type equipment, in which a processor chamber is attached, is mainly used for one transfer chamber.

On the other hand, the deposition substrate in which a plurality of laminated thin films are deposited by the above process requires a proper surface pretreatment for the glass substrate because the defect rate increases when the foreign matter is introduced into the deposition process.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an organic electroluminescent device plasma pretreatment chamber to reduce the failure rate by performing a rapid and stable plasma pretreatment when a glass substrate is loaded into the chamber. There is a purpose.

The organic electroluminescent device plasma pretreatment chamber according to an embodiment of the present invention for realizing the above object is connected to a vacuum pump and is selectively switched to a low vacuum and high vacuum state and is selectively opened and closed on one side. A vacuum chamber having a gate to enable the loading and unloading of the glass substrate; A gas nozzle provided at an inner upper surface of the chamber to form a plasma and a gas nozzle provided at one side of the vacuum chamber to receive and discharge gas from a gas tank; A casing positioned below the electrode at a predetermined interval and fixed to the inner wall of the vacuum chamber by a frame; The substrate holder is provided on the upper side of the casing, the glass substrate introduced through the gate is mounted on the upper surface and one end is connected to the bottom surface of the substrate holder and the other end is vertically extended into the casing to be able to be raised and lowered integrally with the substrate holder. With post; A lifting plate made of a plate-shaped member integrally coupled to the other end of the post, and a guide pin having one end penetrating the lifting plate and upper and lower ends connected to the upper and lower surfaces of the casing; The lower end of the casing is provided with one end is connected to the lower end of the elevating plate is characterized in that it comprises a lifting cylinder for transmitting up and down lifting force.

As a preferable feature of the present invention, the substrate holder is provided with a size for accommodating the glass substrate, and a stepped portion is formed, and the bottom portion of the glass substrate is supported through the stepped portion.

The features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description based on the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, the terms or words used in the present specification and claims are consistent with the technical spirit of the present invention based on the principle that the inventor can appropriately define the concept of the term in order to explain the invention in the best way. It must be interpreted as meaning and concept.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of an organic light emitting diode plasma pretreatment chamber according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a system configuration diagram for explaining a configuration of an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an organic light emitting device plasma pretreatment chamber according to the present invention.

3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating main parts of the organic electroluminescent device plasma pretreatment chamber according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a plan view of the organic electroluminescent device plasma pretreatment chamber according to the present invention.

First, as shown in Fig. 1, the plasma pretreatment chamber of the present invention is applied to an inline cross type deposition apparatus.

That is, as shown in the drawings, the organic electroluminescent display device deposition apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied is intended to secure the ease of equipment upgrade while enabling rapid continuous deposition over a long period of time during device fabrication. The transfer chamber 2 to be transferred is provided in a straight structure having a predetermined length, and the charging chamber 3 and the carrying out chamber 4 for loading and unloading the substrate are provided at both ends of the transfer chamber 2. The crossover arrangement of the process chambers 5 constituted by a plurality of chambers on both sides of the transfer chamber 2 is performed.

Here, the respective chambers are maintained in a vacuum state by a vacuum means such as a known vacuum pump, except that the charge chamber 3 and the discharge chamber 4 for loading and unloading the substrate are selectively maintained in a vacuum state. to be.

That is, the organic electroluminescent display device deposition apparatus to which the plasma pretreatment chamber of the present invention is applied is characterized by a straight transfer chamber 2 having a tray 2a through which a substrate is transferred in a vacuum state, and a deposition and substrate. The process chamber 5 in which the treatment process is performed is arranged on the left and right sides of the straight transfer chamber 2 to simplify the transfer and transfer paths, and use the tray 2a and the main cylinder 2b instead of the transfer robot. To realize rapid transfer and transfer of the substrate.

On the other hand, the plasma pretreatment chamber of the present invention is applied to the above-described inline cross-type deposition apparatus, as shown in Figs. 2 to 4 of the vacuum chamber 10 and the vacuum chamber 10 having a large sealed structure It is coupled to the other end of the post 35 and the holder 35 is provided integrally on the lower side of the holder 30 and the holder 30 for placing the casing 20 and the glass substrate (gp) provided therein The plate-shaped lifting plate 36 and the lifting plate 36 are composed of a guide pin 38 for maintaining balance during the lifting operation, and a lifting cylinder 40 for providing the lifting force to the post 35.

The vacuum chamber 10 is a hermetic structure in which one side is connected to the vacuum pump 15 and is selectively switched to a low vacuum and a high vacuum state, and at one side thereof, a gate 13 is opened and closed by a hydraulic cylinder (unsigned). do. The gate 13 may be selectively opened to allow the glass substrate gp to be introduced from the transfer chamber 2 in FIG. 1 or to carry out the cleaned glass substrate gp to the transfer chamber. Will be.

The vacuum chamber 10 configured as described above is provided with an electrode 11 for plasma formation on one side thereof, and the electrode 11 is a well-known technique, so detailed description thereof will be omitted.

And, the side of the vacuum chamber 10 is provided with a plurality of gas nozzles 12, the gas nozzle 12 at this time is supplied to the gas from the gas tank is injected into the vacuum chamber (10). On the other hand, the gas discharged through the gas nozzle 12 may be NF3, SF6 gas, O2 gas and a mixture of the gas.

The casing 20 is provided at a position spaced apart from the electrode 11 at regular intervals, and is fixed to the inner wall of the vacuum chamber 10 by the frame 21.

The casing 20 is provided in a sealed structure having a space in which various components can be embedded, and a substrate holder 30 is positioned above and a lifting cylinder 40 is provided below.

The substrate holder 30 is spaced apart at regular intervals above the casing 20 and has a structure in which the glass substrate gp introduced through the gate 13 is placed on the upper surface. That is, the substrate holder 30 has a size that accommodates the glass substrate gp provided in a rectangular shape, and has a stepped edge portion. At this time, the edge surface of the glass substrate gp is supported through the stepped portion of the substrate holder 30.

The substrate holder 30 configured as described above is integrally provided with the post 35 so that the glass substrate gp is brought close to the electrode 11 so that surface cleaning by plasma is performed.

Post 35 is disposed vertically, the upper end is coupled to the bottom surface of the substrate holder 30 and the lower end is extended to the inside of the casing 20 has a structure which is provided to be elevated with the substrate holder 30 integrally to be.

The post 35 is provided with a lifting plate 36 is integrally coupled to the lower end to the stable lifting in the casing 20, the lifting plate 36 is a plate-shaped member of the casing 20 It is provided inside. The elevating plate 36 is stabilized and maintained at the time of elevating by the guide pin 38. That is, the guide pin 38 is provided symmetrically about the rod 41 as shown in Figure 3, one end of the penetrating the lifting plate 36, the upper and lower ends of the casing 20 It is a structure that is fixed to the upper and lower surfaces.

The lifting plate 36 configured as described above has the flow restrained by the guide pin 38 when moving in the up and down directions, thereby ensuring a stable lifting. As a result, the glass plate gp mounted on the substrate holder 30 is obtained. Plasma cleaning is performed precisely.

The elevating cylinder 40 is provided at the lower portion of the casing 20 described above to provide an elevating force that is connected to the lower end of the elevating plate 36 so as to be elevated in the up and down directions. ) May be used a conventional hydraulic cylinder or electric actuator for mounting the rod 41.

The lifting cylinder 40 configured as described above is configured such that an upper end of the rod 41 which is selectively mounted in the upward direction is connected to the lifting plate 36 provided in the casing 20. When the 41 is raised, the rod 41 including the elevating plate 36 and the substrate holder 30 are moved upward integrally.

On the other hand, reference numeral 25 is an insulator made of quartz glass to prevent the plasma generated by the electrode 11 from leaking to the outside through the casing 20, this insulator 25 is the Depending on the shape and the coupling structure of the post 35, the shape and size may be appropriately modified. In addition, various known techniques may be used as long as the insulator 25 has a feature capable of insulating the plasma generated by the electrode 11.

Referring to the operation of the organic light emitting device plasma pretreatment chamber of the present invention configured as described above are as follows.

First, the vacuum chamber 10 is switched to a high vacuum state at the exhibition point where the substrate is loaded while the low vacuum state is maintained.

When the gate 13 is opened in this state, the glass substrate gp is loaded in the vacuum equilibrium with the transfer chamber 2, and the glass substrate gp is seated on the substrate holder 30, and the glass substrate gp is completed. When the gate 13 is closed.

Subsequently, when at least one of NF 3, SF 6 gas, and O 2 is injected through the gas nozzle 12 to reach a set pressure, plasma is generated through the electrode 11.

When the plasma generated through the electrode 11 is maintained in a stable state, the rod 41 is raised and raised by using the lifting cylinder 40 to move the substrate holder 30 closer to the electrode 11 side. .

Then, surface cleaning is performed on the glass substrate gp to which the plasma generated by the electrode 11 is moved in close proximity.

When the surface cleaning on the glass substrate gp is completed as described above, the lifting cylinder 40 lowers the rod 41, and as a result, the substrate holder 30 is lowered to complete the plasma pretreatment process.

The glass substrate gp in which the plasma cleaning is completed is carried out to the transfer chamber side at the same time as the gate 13 is opened, and the vacuum chamber 10 is switched to the low vacuum state with the gate 13 closed.

On the other hand, the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, such modifications or variations will have to belong to the claims of the present invention.

The organic electroluminescent device plasma pretreatment chamber constructed and operated as described above can stably and precisely clean glass substrates, thereby reducing product defect rate due to foreign substances, thereby improving productivity and lowering manufacturing costs. It provides a very useful effect.

Claims (2)

A vacuum chamber connected to a vacuum pump and selectively switched to a low vacuum and a high vacuum state, and having a gate configured to selectively open and close at one side thereof to enable the introduction and removal of the glass substrate from the outside; An electrode which is provided on an inner upper surface of the vacuum chamber to form a plasma and a gas nozzle which is provided on one side of the vacuum chamber to receive and discharge gas from a gas tank; A casing positioned below the electrode at a predetermined interval and fixed to the inner wall of the vacuum chamber by a frame; The substrate holder is provided on the upper side of the casing, the glass substrate introduced through the gate is mounted on the upper surface and one end is connected to the bottom surface of the substrate holder and the other end is vertically extended into the casing to be able to be raised and lowered integrally with the substrate holder. With post; A lifting plate made of a plate-shaped member integrally coupled to the other end of the post, and a guide pin having one end penetrating the lifting plate and upper and lower ends connected to the upper and lower surfaces of the casing; A lifting cylinder provided at a lower portion of the casing to connect one end to a lower end of the lifting plate to transmit upward and downward lifting force; The organic light emitting device plasma pretreatment chamber, characterized in that comprises a. The organic light emitting diode plasma pretreatment according to claim 1, wherein the substrate holder has a size for accommodating the glass substrate, and a step portion is formed at the edge, and supports the bottom surface of the glass substrate through the stepped portion. chamber.

Images