KR101371709B1 - Preprocessing system for substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

A substrate preprocessing system includes an inline housing forming a series of work spaces to arrange a plurality of process chambers inside and continuously transferring a substrate in the work spaces by preparing a plurality of transfer rollers, a heating chamber placed at the front end of the work spaces in the housing and including an upper heating part and a lower heating part heating an upper surface and a lower surface of the substrate respectively, a cooling chamber placed at the rear end of the heating chamber in the housing and cooling the heated substrate, a plasma chamber placed at the rear end of the cooling chamber in the housing and including a plasma part performing plasma surface processing to the cooled substrate, an inter-chamber insulating part placed between process chambers in the housing and forming an air curtain between the process chamber by injecting air into the substrate, and a chamber conditioning part placed in each process chamber to discharge inner air in the chambers to the outside of the housing.

Description

Substrate Pretreatment System {PREPROCESSING SYSTEM FOR SUBSTRATE}

The present invention relates to a substrate pretreatment system. More particularly, it relates to a substrate pretreatment system for continuously surface treating a substrate prior to performing the process.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the rapid development of information and communication technology and the expansion of the market, flat panel displays have been attracting attention as display devices. Such flat panel displays include liquid crystal displays, plasma display panels, organic light emitting diodes, and the like.

Among them, organic light emitting diodes have very good advantages such as fast response speed, lower power consumption than conventional liquid crystal display devices, light weight, ultra thin without needing a back light device, and high brightness. As a result, it is attracting attention as a next generation display device.

The organic light emitting diode (OLED) is a principle of applying an anode film, an organic thin film, and a cathode film on a substrate in order, and applying a voltage between the anode and the cathode so that an appropriate energy difference is formed in the organic film to emit light by itself. That is, the excitation energy left by recombination of injected electrons and holes is generated as light. In this case, since the wavelength of light generated according to the amount of the dopant of the organic material may be adjusted, full color may be realized.

Despite the aforementioned advantages, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have not yet secured their position as next-generation display devices because mass production equipment for large-area organic light emitting diodes has not yet been standardized. In other words, as liquid crystal display devices and plasma display devices are rapidly becoming large areas, mass production equipment for producing large area panels has been developed and standardized. Therefore, in order to secure an organic light emitting device as a next-generation display device, There is a strong demand for the development of organic light emitting device mass production equipment.

Conventional OLED manufacturing systems include KR10-2006-0036006 A "Large Area Organic Thin Film Deposition Apparatus Using Laser Transfer Method". In this example, the substrate is loaded using the loading chamber 151. In this embodiment, since a cassette capable of simultaneously loading a plurality of substrates is used, a plurality of substrates can be brought into the organic thin film deposition apparatus at one time. There is an advantage that the time can be shortened, and the gas inside the loading chamber 151 is evacuated to vacuum the inside of the loading chamber, after which the gate valve G between the first conveying chamber 111 and the loading chamber 151 is provided. Is opened, and the first transfer robot provided in the first transfer chamber 111 picks up a substrate loaded in the cassette disposed in the loading chamber 151 and carries it into the substrate cleaner 131. Then, the substrate cleaner At 131, DI shower and air drying are used to remove foreign substances on the substrate, and the first transfer robot moves the substrate to the heating / cooling chamber 132. This heating / cooling In the chamber 132, the substrate is heated to 250 DEG C and cooled again to 30 DEG C. The first transfer robot then moves the substrate to the pretreatment chamber 133. The process gas is then injected from the pretreatment chamber 133. After the pretreatment step is completed, the gate valve between the pretreatment chamber 133 and the second transfer chamber 112 is opened, and the second transfer is performed. The second carrier robot provided in the chamber picks up the substrate and brings it into the first organic material deposition chamber 134. In the first organic material deposition chamber 134, a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, a hole blocking layer, and an electron injection are applied to the substrate. A layer, etc. Then, the substrate is moved to the fourth buffer chamber 124 by the second transfer robot, and the fourth buffer chamber 124 is provided with a substrate stocker. In the burr, the substrate is loaded onto a substrate stocker. ”

In other words, in order to deposit organic materials on an OLED substrate, a series of pretreatments consisting of heating, cooling, and plasma must be performed. In the related art, these pretreatment processes are all performed in separate chambers, and are transferred between the chambers. Robots are deployed to transfer substrates between chambers, which is very inefficient.

In addition, in recent years, the manufacturing of OLED is performed inline, and is performed as a series of automatic processes. If such pre-processing is performed automatically and continuously with this inline method, the production efficiency can be greatly increased.

KR 10-2006-0036006 A

An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate pretreatment system that improves process efficiency since the pretreatment can be performed very quickly by implementing each process as a series of continuous processes in pretreatment of the substrate.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a series of working spaces are formed inside the plurality of process chambers continuously arranged therein, and a plurality of feed rollers are provided inside the working space to continuously transfer the substrate from the working space. housing; A heating chamber positioned at a front end of the work space in the in-line housing and having an upper heating part and a lower heating part respectively heating upper and lower surfaces of the substrate; A cooling chamber provided at a rear end of the heating chamber in the inline housing and cooling the heated substrate; A plasma chamber provided at a rear end of the cooling chamber in the in-line housing and having a plasma unit for performing plasma surface treatment on the cooled substrate; An inter-chamber insulation portion provided between the process chambers in the in-line housing and injecting air toward the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate to form an air curtain between the process chambers; And a chamber air conditioner provided in each of the process chambers and configured to discharge air in the process chambers to the outside of the inline housing.

Each of the process chambers is provided so that an upper mounting stand and a lower mounting stand face each other, and a transfer space for transferring the substrate is formed between the upper mounting stand and the lower mounting stand, and the transfer spaces of the process chambers are connected to each other in a straight line. It may be in the form.

The air conditioning unit for each chamber is provided at the upper and lower ends of each of the process chambers, respectively, and the upper and lower mounting units have guide ducts which pass through the upper and lower parts and are connected to the air conditioning units for the chambers, and then move from the inter-chamber insulation unit to the substrate side. The injected air may be guided to the air conditioning unit for each chamber.

The upper heating portion and the lower heating portion of the heating chamber are respectively provided at the end portion facing the surface of the substrate from the upper mounting portion and the lower mounting portion, and the upper heating portion and the lower portion inside the upper mounting portion and the lower mounting portion. A first cooling channel for cooling the heating unit may be formed.

The lower heating part may be provided with a plurality of first ceramic supports having the same height instead of the feed roller.

The cooling chamber may include a cooling fin provided at an end portion of the upper mounting stand and the lower mounting stand toward the surface of the substrate; And a second cooling channel provided in the upper mounting unit and the lower mounting unit and connected to the cooling fins.

The plasma portion of the plasma chamber may be embedded in the upper mounting table to irradiate the plasma to the upper surface of the substrate.

The lower mounting bracket may be provided with a plurality of second ceramic supports having the same height instead of the feed roller.

In the substrate pretreatment system according to the embodiment of the present invention, the pretreatment may be performed very quickly by implementing each process as a series of continuous processes in pretreatment of the substrate, thereby improving process efficiency.

1 illustrates a substrate pretreatment system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention is capable of various modifications and various embodiments, and specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the detailed description. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a substrate pretreatment system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and in the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, the same or corresponding components are given the same reference numerals and are duplicated thereto. The description will be omitted.

1 is a view showing a substrate pretreatment system according to an embodiment of the present invention, the substrate pretreatment system of the present invention forms a series of workspaces such that a plurality of process chambers are continuously arranged therein, An inline housing (100) provided with a plurality of feed rollers (200) therein to continuously transport the substrate (10) in the workspace; Located in the front end of the workspace in the in-line housing 100, the heating chamber is provided with an upper heating portion 121 and the lower heating portion 122 for heating the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 10, respectively ( 120); A cooling chamber 140 provided at a rear end of the heating chamber 120 in the in-line housing 100 and cooling the heated substrate 10; A plasma chamber 160 provided at a rear end of the cooling chamber 140 in the in-line housing 100 and provided with a plasma unit 161 for performing plasma surface treatment on the cooled substrate 10; An inter-chamber insulation 400 provided between the process chambers in the in-line housing 100 and injecting air toward the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 10 to form an air curtain between the process chambers; And a chamber-specific air conditioner 500 provided for each process chamber to discharge the air inside the process chamber to the outside of the inline housing 100.

As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate pretreatment system of the present invention is first provided with an in-line housing 100. The in-line housing 100 refers to the entire housing of the work space where the heating process, the cooling process, and the plasma processing process of the substrate pretreatment occur continuously. This can be seen as a whole housing is divided into a plurality of spaces, and a series of working spaces are formed so that a plurality of process chambers are continuously disposed therein, a plurality of feed rollers 200 in the working space The substrate 10 may be continuously transferred from the workspace.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the substrate 10 may be transported in a state loaded on the transport pallet 30, and the transport pallet 30 may have a lattice shape or a quadrangular frame shape. In the supported state, the substrate 10 may be safely transported without damage, and both the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 10 may be exposed. In addition, the conveying pallet 30 is supported on the upper portion of the conveying roller 200 to ride through the conveying roller 200 to go through the steps of each process.

On the other hand, the in-line housing 100 is composed of a heating chamber 120, a cooling chamber 140 and the plasma chamber 160, so that the pre-treatment process can be continuously performed even if only one transfer of the substrate 10, and continuously Even if the substrate 10 is introduced, the pretreatment continues and is performed quickly, thereby improving production efficiency.

Specifically, the heating chamber 120 may be partitioned into a space located at the front end of the workspace in the in-line housing 100. The heating chamber 120 is provided with an upper heating part 121 and a lower heating part 122 for heating the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 10, respectively, and the lower heating part 122 protrudes toward the substrate 10 and the substrate. A plurality of first ceramic support 124 is provided to support the bottom surface. That is, the heating chamber 120 is partitioned into a space located at the front end of the working space in the in-line housing 100, the upper heating portion 121 and the lower heating portion 122 is provided with the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate Heat all of them evenly. The upper heating part 121 and the lower heating part 122 may use an electric heating furnace type and may have a shape in which a plurality of the upper heating part 121 and the lower heating part 122 are continuously arranged up and down along the transport direction of the substrate 10.

In addition, a cooling chamber 140 is provided at the rear end of the heating chamber 120 in the in-line housing 100, and the cooling chamber 140 cools the heated substrate 10. In addition, the plasma chamber 160 is provided at the rear end of the cooling chamber 140 in the in-line housing 100, and the plasma chamber 160 performs plasma surface treatment on the cooled substrate 10. It is provided.

In particular, the inter-chamber insulation 400 is provided between each process chamber in the in-line housing 100 and injects air toward the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 10 to form an air curtain between the process chambers. And a chamber-specific air conditioner 500 provided in each of the process chambers for discharging air inside the chamber to the outside of the inline housing 100 to insulate the process chambers, and to allow convection to occur in the process chambers. will be.

That is, the in-line housing 100 is divided into a heating chamber 120, a cooling chamber 140, and a plasma chamber 160. Since the process is performed at different temperatures in each process chamber, the in-line housing 100 Inter-chamber insulation is very important for continuous placement in 100). At the same time, the substrate 10 must move continuously between these chambers.

Thus, by arranging the inter-chamber insulation 400 forming the air curtain between each process chamber, the process chambers are insulated from each other and at the same time the substrate 10 can pass between the process chambers. To this end, the inter-chamber insulation 400 is provided between the process chambers in the in-line housing 100 and the air curtain is formed between the process chambers by injecting air toward the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 10. do.

In addition, an air conditioner 500 for each process chamber is provided in each process chamber so that the air injected from the inter-chamber insulation unit 400 is sucked into the chamber, and the air inside the chamber is sucked out of the inline housing 100 and discharged. Convection takes place inside. As a result, the heating chamber 120 allows the upper heating portion 121 and the lower heating portion 122 to perform heating by radiation and at the same time, heating is performed by convection, and the cooling fin 141 in the cooling chamber 140. Convection occurs between the substrate and the substrate 10 to allow the substrate to cool.

Meanwhile, each of the process chambers is provided so that the upper mounting bracket 170 and the lower mounting bracket 180 face each other, and the transfer space 190 in which the substrate 10 is transferred between the upper mounting bracket 170 and the lower mounting bracket 180. Is formed, the transfer space 190 of each process chamber may be in a form connected to each other in a straight line.

That is, the in-line housing 100 is composed of a plurality of process chambers, each of which is provided with an upper mount 170 and a lower mount 180 in the upper and lower portions of the chamber, respectively. In addition, the transfer space 190 for transferring the substrate 10 is formed between the upper mount 170 and the lower mount 180. The upper mounting unit 170 and the lower mounting unit 180 is provided with heating means or cooling means, respectively, each chamber is between the upper mounting unit 170 and the upper mounting unit 170 and the lower mounting unit 180 and the lower mounting unit of the chamber By placing the inter-chamber insulation 400 between each 180, each process chamber is to be distinguished and insulated.

On the other hand, the transfer space 190 of each of these process chambers are connected to each other in a straight line to form a transfer trajectory of a series of linear substrate 10. In addition, the transfer rollers 200 disposed in the process chambers are continuously disposed on the lower mounting table 180 so as to transfer the substrate 10.

In addition, the air conditioning unit 500 for each chamber is provided at the top and bottom of each process chamber, respectively, the upper duct 170 and the lower mounting guide 180 through the upper and lower guide duct connected to the air conditioning unit 500 for each chamber 172 and 182 may be formed to guide air injected from the inter-chamber insulation 400 to the substrate 10 toward the air conditioning unit 500 for each chamber.

Thus, in each process chamber, the heating means or the cooling means is installed in the upper mounting bracket 170 and the lower mounting bracket 180, and the substrate 10 is formed at the same time as the transfer space is formed between the upper mounting bracket 170 and the lower mounting bracket 180. Air injected to the side is to be guided to the air conditioning unit 500 for each chamber.

On the other hand, the upper heating portion 121 and the lower heating portion 122 of the heating chamber 120 is provided at the end facing the surface of the substrate 10 in the upper mounting bracket 170 and lower mounting bracket 180, respectively, The first cooling channel 123 for cooling the upper heating unit 121 and the lower heating unit 122 may be formed in the installation unit 170 and the lower installation unit 180. In addition, the lower heating part 122 may be provided with a plurality of first ceramic supports 124 having the same height instead of the feed roller.

That is, an upper heating unit 121 and a lower heating unit 122 are respectively provided in the upper mounting unit 170 and the lower mounting unit 180 positioned in the heating chamber 120 to heat the substrate. The upper heating portion 121 and the lower heating portion 122 is provided at the end facing the surface of the substrate 10 in the upper mounting portion 170 and the lower mounting portion 180 through the radiant heat directly on the surface of the substrate 10 At the same time as heating, the substrate allows heat transfer as convection through air flowing through the surface.

In addition, since the first cooling channel 123 for cooling the upper heating unit 121 and the lower heating unit 122 is formed in the upper mounting unit 170 and the lower mounting unit 180, the upper mounting unit 170 and the lower mounting unit are formed. (180) itself prevents deterioration due to high temperature, the lower heating portion 122 is provided with a plurality of first ceramic support 124 of the same height in place of the transfer roller to prevent the stop of the line due to damage of the roller in advance do. The first ceramic support 124 is to support the lower surface of the substrate instead of the transfer roller, so that it can withstand high temperature is disposed between the plurality of lower heating portion 122 to enable the substrate to stably support.

In addition, the cooling chamber 140 of the cooling unit 141 and the upper mounting unit 170 and the lower mounting unit 180 provided at the end facing the surface of the substrate 10 in the upper mounting unit 170 and the lower mounting unit 180. It may be configured as a second cooling channel 142 provided inside and connected to the cooling fins 141. That is, a second cooling channel 142 is formed in the upper mounting unit 170 and the lower mounting unit 180 provided inside the cooling chamber 140, and a cooling fin (2) is provided in the second cooling channel 142. By connecting the 141, cooling of the cooling fin 141 is possible. And the cooling fin 141 is provided at the end facing the surface of the substrate 10 in the upper mounting 170 and lower mounting 180 to cool the air flowing through the surface of the substrate 10 to convection the substrate 10 This is to cool.

In addition, the plasma unit 161 of the plasma chamber 160 is embedded in the upper mounting unit 170 to irradiate the plasma to the upper surface of the substrate 10, and the lower mounting unit 180 has a plurality of agents having the same height instead of the transfer roller. 2 ceramic support 164 may be provided. Specifically, a plasma portion 161 is embedded in the upper mounting table 170 of the plasma chamber 160 to surface-treat the upper surface of the substrate 10 with plasma, and the plasma portion 161 has a source inlet 162 at the top. The cooling channel 163 is formed along the side surface to prevent equipment failure due to heat generation and thermal accumulation of the plasma unit 161 in the plasma chamber 160. In addition, since the plasma chamber 160 is also a high temperature environment, a plurality of second ceramic supports 164 having the same height may be provided in the lower mount 180 instead of the transfer roller to stably support the substrate.

According to the substrate pretreatment system having the structure described above, the pretreatment can be performed very quickly by implementing each process as a series of continuous processes in pretreatment of the substrate, thereby improving process efficiency.

In addition, each process chamber is insulated using air, and at the same time, the heating or cooling efficiency is maintained at the maximum using air.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.

100: in-line housing 120: heating chamber
140: cooling chamber 160: plasma chamber
170: upper mounting bracket 180: lower mounting bracket
400: insulation between chambers 500: air conditioning unit by chamber

Claims (8)

An inline housing forming a series of work spaces such that a plurality of process chambers are continuously disposed therein, and having a plurality of feed rollers provided in the work space to continuously transfer substrates from the work space;
A heating chamber positioned at a front end of the work space in the in-line housing and having an upper heating part and a lower heating part respectively heating upper and lower surfaces of the substrate;
A cooling chamber provided at a rear end of the heating chamber in the inline housing and cooling the heated substrate;
A plasma chamber provided at a rear end of the cooling chamber in the in-line housing and having a plasma unit for performing plasma surface treatment on the cooled substrate;
An inter-chamber insulation portion provided between the process chambers in the in-line housing and injecting air toward the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate to form an air curtain between the process chambers; And
A chamber-specific air conditioner provided for each process chamber to discharge air inside the process chamber to the outside of the inline housing,
Each of the process chambers are provided so that the upper mounting and lower mounting facing each other,
Between the upper mount and the lower mount is formed a transfer space for transferring the substrate,
The transfer space of each of the process chambers are in a form of being connected in a straight line,
The upper heating portion and the lower heating portion of the heating chamber are respectively provided at the end portion facing the surface of the substrate in the upper mount and the lower mount,
And a first cooling channel for cooling the upper heating part and the lower heating part in the upper mounting part and the lower mounting part. delete The method of claim 1,
The air conditioning unit for each chamber is provided at the top and bottom of each process chamber, respectively
Substrate pretreatment system, characterized in that through the upper and lower mounting guides through the upper and lower guide ducts connected to the air conditioning unit for each chamber is formed, the air injected from the inter-chamber insulation unit is guided to the air conditioning unit for each chamber . delete The method of claim 1,
Substrate pretreatment system, characterized in that the lower heating portion is provided with a plurality of first ceramic support having the same height instead of the feed roller. The method of claim 1,
The cooling chamber may include a cooling fin provided at an end portion of the upper mounting stand and the lower mounting stand toward the surface of the substrate; And
And a second cooling channel provided inside the upper mount and the lower mount and connected to the cooling fins. The method of claim 1,
And the plasma portion of the plasma chamber is embedded in the upper mounting table to irradiate the plasma to the upper surface of the substrate. 8. The method of claim 7,
Substrate pretreatment system, characterized in that the lower mount is provided with a plurality of second ceramic support having the same height instead of the feed roller.

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