KR100780058B1 - Board alignment device of organic electroluminescent devices - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a substrate alignment device for an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus.

The substrate aligning apparatus of the present invention is provided with a loading and unloading chamber for loading and unloading a substrate at both ends with a transfer chamber having a tray reciprocating straight by a main cylinder, between which deposition and encapsulation are carried out on the transfer chamber. In the organic light emitting device deposition apparatus in which a plurality of process chambers in a vacuum state performing a process is arranged crosswise, the process chamber is a pair of brackets installed in the longitudinal direction on both sides of the entry direction of the substrate, and one side of the pair of brackets A position cylinder having a clip connected to the bottom surface of the board, which is connected to the other side and supported by the upper surface, and a rod which is installed on the pair of brackets, respectively, and is settled in a direction opposite to each other to selectively contact both sides of the substrate. And, respectively provided at the corresponding position of the bracket corresponding to the side edges of the substrate And a balance actuator having a rotation pin that rotates at right angles and corrects positional shifts by contacting the side surfaces of the substrate.

The substrate aligning device for the organic light emitting device deposition apparatus configured as described above can improve the production yield since the positional distortion correction can be performed quickly on the left, right and front and rear sides of the substrate loaded into the process chamber. In addition, it provides an industrially useful effect that can improve the alignment of the substrate.

Organic, Substrate, Aligned, Actuator

Description

Board alignment device of organic electroluminescent devices

1 is a plan view for explaining the configuration of the organic electroluminescent display device deposition apparatus according to the prior art,

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

3 to 8 are views for explaining the configuration and operation of the substrate alignment apparatus for an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus according to the present invention;

9 is a configuration diagram for explaining the fixing structure of the substrate is completed alignment by the substrate alignment apparatus for an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus 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: process chamber

20,21: Bracket 30,31,32,33: Clip

40, 41: position cylinder 50, 51, 52, 53: balance actuator

g: substrate

The present invention relates to a substrate aligning device for an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus of the in-line cross type, and more particularly, to sequentially contact the four sides of the substrate so that a smooth process can be performed on the substrate loaded into the process chamber. The present invention relates to a substrate aligning device for an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus for performing alignment.

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.

Therefore, in order to mass-produce the organic electroluminescent display device, it is very important to purify the material so that there is no influence on the material. For this purpose, the organic electroluminescent display device is sealed in the chamber and formed into a film in vacuum to block each material from the air. I'm trying to.

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 is mainly used in which a processor chamber is attached around a single transfer chamber.

1 is a planar schematic diagram showing an example of an organic light emitting display device deposition apparatus according to the prior art.

As shown in the drawing, the glass substrate stored in the substrate storage chamber 100 was taken out from the transfer chamber 200 located at the center by the vacuum transfer robot 300 and fed to the pretreatment chamber 400, and the pretreatment chamber 400. In the pre-treatment prior to performing the vacuum deposition, and then again by the transfer robot 300 of the transfer chamber 200, it is distributed to several deposition chambers (500, 600, 700, 800) and distributed, and in each of the deposition chambers (500, 600, 700, 800) The vacuum deposition process is performed to form a plurality of laminated thin films on the glass substrate, and when the vacuum deposition process is completed, the transport robot 300 of the transport chamber 200 is supplied to the feed chamber 900 to perform the next process.

In addition, in the case of vacuum deposition on glass substrates in various deposition chambers 500, 600, 700, and 800, these deposition chambers 500, 600, 700, and 800 have a glass substrate equipped with a shadow mask on a single stage and are fixed in several stages. The vacuum deposition process is sequentially performed, and the vacuum deposition process is performed independently, and vacuum deposition is performed inside each of the deposition chambers 5, 6, 7, and 8 in a single stage form.

However, the organic light emitting display device deposition apparatus according to the prior art as described above has the following problems.

First, it is impossible to install unnecessary additional chambers or attach process chambers to the transfer chambers when the transfer chambers are connected to each other, resulting in an increase in equipment cost and a decrease in production speed.

Second, there is a disadvantage that it is virtually impossible to add a chamber to change the process and increase the yield, which means that when a plurality of process chambers are attached to one transfer chamber, the transfer chamber becomes excessively large and the arms of the transfer robot become long. In addition, when the transfer chamber was added, a transfer robot was required in each transfer chamber, resulting in a cost increase.

Third, since each process chamber is close to the transfer chamber, it is not easy to monitor the process during production, and a lot of time is used during maintenance and there is a problem that the operation is not easy when an abnormality occurs in the transfer chamber.

In order to improve the above problems, an inline cross type has been proposed, and the inline cross type organic light emitting device deposition apparatus performs deposition and encapsulation processes on both sides with a transfer chamber of length members disposed in a straight line. The process chamber and the transfer chamber which are provided in the opposing position of these process chambers, and are charged or carried in the element on a transfer chamber are arrange | positioned.

Here, the process of loading or unloading the device transferred through the transfer chamber to each process chamber in the process step is carried out by a transfer cylinder provided in the transfer chamber, the transfer cylinder at this time is a glass substrate as the element Is charged and taken out of the process chamber.

Since such a transfer chamber must move the glass substrate stably without flow, it is urgent to develop a support device that can secure high reliability and stability.

The present invention was created in order to solve the above problems, the present invention enables the substrate loaded into the process chamber can be aligned to the optimum position for performing the process to enable the production of high-quality devices while increasing the reliability of the operation It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate aligning device for an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus.

Substrate alignment apparatus for an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention for realizing the above object, the substrate is charged at both ends with a transfer chamber having a tray reciprocating straight by the main cylinder In the organic EL device deposition apparatus is provided with a charge and export chamber for carrying out and carrying out, and the process chambers in a vacuum state for performing the deposition and encapsulation process on the transfer chamber therebetween,

The process chamber includes a pair of brackets installed in the longitudinal direction on both sides of the entry direction of the substrate; A clip having one side connected to the pair of brackets and the other side contacted and supported by a bottom surface of the substrate charged into an upper surface thereof; A position cylinder installed at each of the pair of brackets and mounted on the pair of brackets in a direction opposite to each other and having rods selectively contacting both sides of the substrate; And a balance actuator having a rotation pin which is provided at a corresponding position of a bracket corresponding to the side of the four corners of the substrate, and which has a rotation pin which rotates at right angles and contacts the side of the substrate to correct the positional deviation. It is done.

As a preferable feature of the invention, the clip is composed of four in contact with the bottom of the four corners of the substrate.

In another preferred aspect of the present invention, the process chamber is to prevent the flow by pressing the upper side of the aligned side of the substrate is installed vertically on the upper side of the bracket to move up and down while the support piece is provided on one side thereof It further comprises a fixed cylinder having a.

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, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described a preferred embodiment of the substrate alignment apparatus for an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus according to the present invention.

2 is a system configuration diagram for explaining the configuration of an organic light emitting device manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, Figures 3 to 8 is a configuration and operation state of the substrate alignment apparatus for an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus according to the present invention A diagram for explaining. And, Figure 9 is a block diagram for explaining a fixed structure of the substrate alignment is completed by the substrate alignment apparatus for an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus according to the present invention.

First, as shown in Figure 2, the transfer chamber expansion structure of the present invention is implemented in the organic electroluminescent device manufacturing apparatus 1 of the inline cross type.

That is, as shown in the drawing, the apparatus for manufacturing an organic light emitting display device to which the present invention is applied is largely classified into a deposition part for depositing a glass substrate and an encapsulation part for bonding the deposition substrate to a glass can together with an absorbent. .

The deposition part is to ensure the ease of equipment upgrade while enabling rapid continuous deposition over a long time during the deposition process on the glass substrate, a straight structure having a predetermined length of the deposition transfer chamber (2) for transferring the glass substrate And a deposition charging chamber 3 and a deposition carrying chamber 4 for loading and unloading a substrate at both ends of the deposition transfer chamber 2, and a plurality of sides of the deposition transfer chamber 2. The deposition process chambers 5 constituted by the chambers are arranged in a cross-sectional manner.

Here, each of the chambers is maintained in a vacuum state by a vacuum means such as a known vacuum pump, except that the deposition charge chamber 3 and the deposition discharge chamber 4 for loading and unloading the substrate are selectively maintained in a vacuum state. It is a configuration.

On the other hand, the encapsulation part is connected to the carrying out chamber 4 and the glove box 6 of the deposition part is provided with a deposition substrate by the robot (r).

This encapsulation part, like the evaporation part, is intended to ensure the ease of equipment upgrade while enabling rapid continuous deposition over a long time during the encapsulation process on the evaporation substrate. It is provided in a straight structure having a length, and is provided with a bag charging chamber 3 'and a bag carrying chamber 4' for charging a glass can and a light emitting substrate at both ends of the bag transfer chamber 2 '. And the encapsulation process chamber 5 'composed of a plurality of chambers on both sides of the encapsulation transfer chamber 2' is arranged to cross. At this time, an encapsulation substrate charging chamber 7 is provided on the encapsulation process chamber 5 'to receive the deposition substrate from the deposition part and provide the encapsulation substrate to the encapsulation transfer chamber 2'.

Here, each of the chambers constituting the deposition part and the encapsulation part is a configuration in which the vacuum state is maintained by a vacuum means such as a known vacuum pump, and the structure for vacuum of each of these chambers may be implemented by a known technique. Since detailed description is omitted.

The organic electroluminescent device manufacturing apparatus 1 configured as described above is characterized in that the deposition transfer chamber 2 and the bag are arranged in a straight line with the glass substrate and the trays 2a and 2a 'through which the glass cans are transferred in a vacuum state. The transfer chamber 2 'and the respective chambers in which the deposition and encapsulation processes are performed are alternately arranged at the left and right sides of the straight deposition transfer chamber 2 and the encapsulation transfer chamber 2', respectively. 5 (5 '), that is, the material (organic field display element) on the transfer chamber (2, 2') enters each chamber at a position opposite to each other with the transfer chamber (2, 2 ') in between. The transfer chamber (t) having a cylinder for making the cylinder is arranged to simplify the conveying and conveying path and to use the trays (2a, 2a ') and the main cylinders (2b, 2b') instead of the conveying robot. To realize rapid transfer and transfer of The.

On the other hand, the present invention is applied to the organic light emitting device deposition apparatus of the in-line cross type described above, as shown in Figures 2 to 8, the process chamber 10 is a configuration in which the substrate (g) is entered to one side Although not shown, the substrate g is closed and is converted into a high vacuum state when it is completed.

The process chamber 10 has a structure in which a substrate aligning device is integrally provided to correct a positional shift with respect to the loaded substrate g. At this time, the substrate aligning device is largely opposite to the entry direction of the substrate g. A pair of brackets 20 and 21 positioned on the clip, clips 30, 31, 32 and 33 supporting the bottom surface of the substrate g provided on the brackets 20 and 21, and the substrate g. Position cylinders 40 and 41 for correcting left and right distortion of the substrate g by sequentially contacting both side surfaces of the substrate g and the front and rear sides with respect to the entry direction of the substrate g. The balance actuator 50, 51, 52, 53 which corrects the front-back distortion of the board | substrate g by this, and the fixed cylinder 60, 61 which fixes the position with respect to the aligned board | substrate g are comprised.

The brackets 20 and 21 are members of length members disposed on both sides of the substrate g as shown in the drawing, and provide a space in which various components are installed.

The brackets 20 and 21 configured as described above should be provided to be positioned at regular intervals from the substrate g so that position interference does not occur when the substrate g enters.

The clips 30, 31, 32, and 33 are connected to one pair of brackets, and the other side thereof extends to support the substrate g by contacting the bottom surface of the substrate g loaded on the upper surface thereof.

The clips 30, 31, 32, and 33 have a structure in which the upper surface is flat and all four are arranged on the same horizontal line, so that the four of the substrates g can be supported in a stable state. It is preferable to be provided at a position corresponding to the corner.

Four clips 30, 31, 32, and 33 configured as described above are proposed in the present invention, but the number, shape, and position of the clips 30, 31, 32, and 33 may be appropriately changed according to the size or shape of the substrate g.

The position cylinders 40 and 41 are installed in the pair of brackets 20 and 21, respectively, and are in contact with each other in a direction opposite to each other to selectively contact both side surfaces of the loaded substrate g so as to be left and right. It serves to compensate for misalignment in the right direction.

That is, the position cylinders 40 and 41 are provided with rods 40a and 41a capable of broadly supporting the side surface of the substrate g at their ends, and these rods 40a and 41a are opposed to each other. It is arranged in the direction and appearing as a predetermined section serves to align the substrate (g) to be located in the set section.

The position cylinders 40 and 41 configured as described above may operate simultaneously, but are preferably operated sequentially to increase the accuracy of alignment while preventing damage to the substrate g.

The balance actuators 50, 51, 52, and 53 are members installed at corresponding positions of the brackets 20, 21 corresponding to the side edges of the substrate g. The balance actuators 50, 51, 52, 53 are rotated at right angles to the substrate g. It is a structure provided with the rotation pin (gear) which correct | amends a position shift by contacting a side surface.

That is, the balance actuators (50, 51, 52, 53) are corrected to the front and rear of the substrate g by contacting the front and rear side of the substrate g with respect to the entry direction of the substrate g. Done.

Although all four balance actuators 50, 51, 52, and 53 may operate simultaneously, the balance actuators 50, 51, 52, and 53 may be operated at the same time based on the entry direction of the substrate g to increase the accuracy of alignment while minimizing the impact force applied to the substrate g. It is preferable to perform line alignment with respect to the back side of (g), and to perform post-alignment with respect to the front side of the board | substrate g.

The fixing cylinders 60 and 61 perform position fixing with respect to the aligned substrate g. As shown in the drawing, the fixing cylinders 60 and 61 press the upper surface of the edge side of the aligned substrate g to prevent flow. The support pieces 60a and 61a are integrally provided on one side of the lifting rods 60r and 61r which are installed vertically on the upper side of the 20 and 21 and are lifted up and down, and these support pieces 60a and 61a. Is provided at positions corresponding to the above-described clips 30, 31, 32, and 33 to prevent the substrate g from being broken by the pressing force of the support pieces 60a, 61a.

Looking at the operation of the substrate alignment apparatus for an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus configured as described above are as follows.

First, as shown in FIG. 3, the substrate g enters the process chamber 10 as shown in FIG. 4 while the substrate g is positioned to enter the process chamber 10, and thus the clips 30, 31, 32, When seated on the upper surface of 33), the rod 41a of the position cylinder 41, which is located on either of the position cylinders 40 and 41, that is, on the right side as shown in FIG. The right side of the substrate g is aligned by being in contact with the right side of the substrate g.

Subsequently, the rotation pins rp of the balance actuators 50 and 51 located on the rear side of the substrate g are rotated 90 degrees to align the rear side of the loaded substrate g as shown in FIG. 6. do.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the rod 40a of the position cylinder 40 located on the left side of the position cylinders 40 and 41 is advanced to be brought into contact with the left side of the loaded substrate g. As a result, the left side of the substrate g is aligned.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 8, the rotation pins rp of the balance actuators 52 and 53 located on the front side of the substrate g are rotated by 90 degrees to align the front side of the loaded substrate g. As a result, the positional distortion of the substrate g relative to the four sides is corrected.

As described above, in the state where the alignment of the substrate g is completed, the alignment of the substrate g can be completed by fixing the substrate g in a stable state by the fixing cylinders 60 and 61 as shown in FIG. 9.

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 substrate aligning device for the organic light emitting device deposition apparatus constructed and operated as described above can quickly perform positional correction on the left, right, and front and back sides of the substrate loaded into the process chamber, thereby improving production yield. Not only can this be done, but it also provides an industrially useful effect that can improve the alignment of the substrate.

Claims (3)

In the vacuum state of carrying out deposition and encapsulation process on the transfer chamber between the transfer chamber having a transfer chamber having a tray reciprocating straight by the main cylinder between the charge and discharge chamber for loading and unloading the substrate between them In the organic light emitting device deposition apparatus in which a plurality of process chambers are cross-placed, The process chamber includes a pair of brackets installed in the longitudinal direction on both sides of the entry direction of the substrate; A clip having one side connected to the pair of brackets and the other side contacted and supported by a bottom surface of the substrate charged into an upper surface thereof; A position cylinder installed on the pair of brackets and disposed in opposite directions and having rods selectively contacting both sides of the substrate; A balance actuator having a rotation pin which is provided at corresponding positions of brackets corresponding to the side edges of the substrate, respectively, and rotates at right angles to compensate for the positional shift by contacting the side surfaces of the substrate; Substrate alignment apparatus for an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus comprising a. The substrate alignment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the clip comprises four clips in contact with a bottom surface of the substrate. The method of claim 1, wherein the process chamber is to prevent the flow by pressing the upper side of the side of the aligned substrate is installed vertically on the upper side of the bracket is provided with a lifting rod which is provided with a support piece on one side thereof up and down Substrate alignment apparatus for an organic light emitting device deposition apparatus characterized in that it further comprises a fixed cylinder.

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