KR20040084057A - Apparatus for making thin film - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An apparatus for manufacturing a thin film is provided to obtain a uniform coated large-scale substrate and secure uniformity of a thin film in-situ during depositing process by mounting a shutter unit inside a deposition chamber. CONSTITUTION: An apparatus for manufacturing a thin film comprises an upper chamber(10); a lower chamber(30); and a shutter unit(40). A substrate loading gate valve(14) and a substrate unloading gate valve(16) are connected to the both sides of the upper chamber and a substrate to be treated is transferred and loaded to the upper chamber. A sidewall(20) having a window is interposed between the upper chamber and the lower chamber and a linear evaporation source(32) is installed into the lower chamber. The shutter unit is mounted at least one of lateral walls for adjusting area of the window.

Description

Thin film manufacturing equipment {Apparatus for making thin film}

The present invention relates to a thin film manufacturing apparatus, and more particularly, to a thin film manufacturing apparatus having a shutter unit capable of linear movement and rotation movement to ensure uniformity of the thin film and to control the deposition ratio.

In the development of various photo-electronic devices to be developed recently, the thin film process is almost an essential process. In the thin film process, by adjusting the exact thickness and ensuring the uniformity of the thin film, the performance of various opto-electronic devices can be guaranteed.

In particular, in the manufacture of organic electro luminescence displays, evaporation sources that can be applied to large-area coatings in forming organic semiconductors into thin films are still under development. This is a possible trend.

In order to uniformly coat the organic thin film layer with the correct thickness, the evaporation source was linearly configured, and the deposition was performed while scanning the substrate in the vertical direction of the linear evaporation source.

Referring to the structure of a conventional deposition chamber, the chamber is divided into a substrate transfer region and an area where an evaporation source exists by the partition wall, and an open area for deposition is formed in the central portion of the partition wall, including an inset. Linear evaporator, thickness control unit, various shutters and the like.

When coating a large area substrate using a linear evaporation source, a thickness control unit, and various shutters required for deposition, it is possible to ensure uniformity in the horizontal direction of the substrate scanning direction, but to ensure uniformity in the vertical direction of the substrate scanning direction. It is difficult and it is not easy to guarantee uniformity ± 5% with most of the developed equipment.

In order to solve this problem, the specific linear evaporator secures uniformity using insets, but it is impossible to respond in-situ in order to secure uniformity during the process. The loss is very big.

In addition, there is a problem that the reaction time is considerably longer in controlling the deposition ratio in order to raise the correct thickness at the correct process time.

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem, the object of the present invention is to provide a uniformly coated large area substrate by mounting a shutter unit capable of linear and rotational movement inside the deposition chamber, In order to ensure the uniformity of the thin film in-situ during the process, to provide a thin film manufacturing apparatus that can easily control the deposition ratio.

Other objects and features of the present invention will be more clearly understood through the preferred embodiments described below.

1 is a partially exploded perspective view showing a thin film manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a state of use of the thin film manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

3A to 3D are plan views illustrating a moving example of the shutter unit to which the present invention is applied.

According to an aspect of the invention, the substrate loading gate valve and the substrate unloading gate valve is connected to both sides, the upper chamber is transported and loaded the substrate to be processed; A lower chamber partitioned independently through a partition wall formed with an upper chamber and a window, and having a linear evaporation source; Provided is a thin film manufacturing apparatus comprising a shutter unit installed on at least one side wall of the lower chamber to move in the width direction of the linear evaporation source to adjust the area of the window.

According to another aspect of the invention, the substrate loading gate valve and the substrate unloading gate valve is connected to both sides, the upper chamber is transported and loaded the substrate to be processed; A lower chamber partitioned independently through a partition wall formed with an upper chamber and a window, and having a linear evaporation source; A shutter unit movably installed on at least one side wall of the lower chamber to move in the width direction of the linear evaporation source to adjust an area of the window, wherein the shutter unit is rotatably coupled to two independently driven feed shafts. A thin film manufacturing apparatus is provided.

Preferably, the shutter unit may be installed on both side walls facing in the width direction of the linear evaporation source of the lower chamber, respectively.

Also preferably, the inside of the upper chamber is provided with a thickness measuring unit, and may further include a controller for controlling the shutter unit in response to the deposition ratio of the substrate measured from the thickness measuring unit.

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

1 is a partially exploded perspective view showing a thin film manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the state of use of the thin film manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

In the thin film manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, the chamber is partitioned into the upper chamber 10 and the lower chamber 30 via the partition wall 20, and the upper chamber 10 and the lower chamber 30 are independently partitioned, thereby Since the substrate 50 in the chamber 10 and the linear evaporation source 32 in the lower chamber 30 can be separated, the contamination of the substrate 50 can be minimized.

The partition wall 20, which is coupled to the inner sidewall of the chamber and divides the upper chamber 10 and the lower chamber 30 into independent spaces, has a window 22 through which material evaporated from the linear evaporation source 32 passes through the center portion. do.

The upper chamber 10 is an area where the substrate 50 is transferred, and the lower chamber 30 is an area where the linear evaporation source 32 exists, and the deposition material evaporated from the linear evaporation source 32 of the lower chamber 30 ( 36 is deposited on the substrate 50 of the upper chamber 10.

The thickness measuring unit 12 for measuring the deposition ratio of the substrate 50 is installed at a predetermined position inside the upper chamber 10 to determine whether the material evaporated from the linear evaporation source 32 is uniformly deposited on the substrate 50. It can be monitored and monitored in real time, and in general, a thickness monitor is mainly applied.

In addition, a substrate transfer unit (not shown) for transferring the substrate 50 is installed inside the upper chamber 10, and a substrate loading gate valve 14 for loading the substrate 50 into the upper chamber 10; The substrate unloading gate valve 16 which unloads the substrate 50 from the upper chamber 10 is connected.

In the central portion of the inner bottom of the lower chamber 30 is installed a linear evaporator 32 including an inset 34, the inset 34 is installed opposite the window 22 to evaporate from the linear evaporator 32 The deposition material 36 allows for good transfer through the window 22 to the substrate 50.

In addition, the shutter unit 40 is installed on at least one sidewall of the lower chamber 30 to adjust the area of the window 22 by moving in the width direction of the linear evaporator 32, and the shutter unit 40 is provided in the lower chamber. It is preferable that they are respectively provided on both side walls facing the width direction of the linear evaporation source 32 of (30).

The shutter unit 40 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a pair of shutters 42 having a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and the pair of shutters 42 are independently driven on both sides of one surface. It is installed on both side walls facing the width direction of the linear evaporation source 32 of the lower chamber 30 via the feed shaft 46 and the drive unit 48 of the lower chamber 30, is controlled by a controller (not shown) and the window 22 Adjust the area of).

In addition, although the shutter unit 40 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention showed the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped, it may be configured by changing to another shape such as a closed curve.

The controller controls the drive unit 48 and the feed shaft 46 to move the pair of shutters 42 in response to the deposition ratio of the substrate 50 measured from the thickness measuring unit 12.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the four feed shafts 46 installed in the pair of shutters 42 for the linear movement and the rotational movement of the shutter unit 40 are independent of each other by the four driving units 48. Driven by.

The operation of the thin film manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention having the configuration as described above will be briefly described.

The substrate loading gate valve 14 is opened, and the substrate 50 to be processed is loaded into the upper chamber 10 by the substrate transfer unit.

After the substrate 50 is transferred to the upper chamber 10, the substrate 50 is scanned in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 2, and the deposition material 36 from the linear evaporation source 32 including the inset 34. The vaporization is carried out and deposited on the substrate 50 through the window 22 formed in the partition wall 20.

Since the scan is performed, the thickness measuring unit 12 continuously monitors the deposition ratio of the substrate 50 in real time to monitor whether the deposition material 36 is deposited on the substrate 50 with a uniform thickness, and the deposition ratio is uniform. If not, or not deposited to the desired thickness, the controller controls the shutter unit 40 to appropriately adjust the area of the window 22.

When the formation of the uniform thin film to the desired thickness is completed through this process, the substrate unloading gate valve 16 is opened and unloaded for the next process by the substrate transfer unit.

3A to 3D are plan views illustrating a moving example of the shutter unit to which the present invention is applied.

With reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in more detail the operation of the shutter unit 40 for adjusting the deposition ratio by adjusting the area of the window 22.

3A and 3B are views illustrating an example in which the shutter unit 40 is linearly moved, and FIGS. 3C and 3D are views illustrating an example in which the shutter unit 40 is rotated and moved. This is a plan view showing only the lower chamber 30 except for the upper chamber 10 in order to easily explain the linear movement and the rotational movement.

During the deposition process, the thickness measurement unit 12 installed inside the upper chamber 10 continuously operates to monitor in real time whether the deposition material 36 is uniformly deposited or has a desired thickness on the substrate 50.

Referring to FIG. 3A, when the deposition ratio measured by the thickness measuring unit 12 is higher than the desired deposition ratio, the area of the window 22 is moved by linearly moving the shutter unit 40 in the inward direction of the lower chamber 30. By decreasing the size, the amount of the deposition material 36 deposited on the substrate 50 through the window 36 is adjusted to be small.

Referring to FIG. 3B, when the deposition ratio measured by the thickness measuring unit 12 is lower than the desired deposition ratio, the area of the window 22 is linearly moved by moving the shutter unit 40 in the outward direction of the lower chamber 30. By increasing the size, the amount of the deposition material 36 deposited on the substrate 50 through the window 36 is adjusted to increase.

In addition, when the deposition ratios of the left and right sides of the substrate 50 traveling direction measured by the thickness measuring unit 12 are different from each other, the area of one side and the other side of the window 22 is rotated by moving the shutter unit 40. By controlling the differently, an appropriate amount of deposition material 36 is transferred to the corresponding portion of the substrate 50.

Referring to FIGS. 3C and 3D, when the deposition rate is to be prevented from being deposited, the corresponding transfer shaft 46 of the shutter unit 40 corresponding to the portion having the relatively high deposition ratio is measured by lower chamber ( It moves inwardly of 30 to reduce the area of the window 22 corresponding thereto.

On the contrary, in the case where it is desired to increase the deposition of the portion where the deposition ratio is measured, the corresponding feed shaft 46 of the shutter unit 40 corresponding to the portion where the deposition ratio is measured is lowered toward the outside of the lower chamber 30. By moving, the area of the window 22 corresponding thereto is increased.

By controlling the opening area of the window 22 by the shutter unit 40 operated as described above according to the deposition ratio of the substrate 50 measured by the thickness measuring device 12, the thickness control of the thin film is more precisely controlled. It can be controlled to obtain the uniformity and thickness reproducibility of the thin film.

Although the above has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, various modifications and changes are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification but should be defined by the claims of the patent.

As described above, the thin film manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention is equipped with a shutter unit capable of linear movement and rotational movement between the substrate and the linear evaporation source, and according to the deposition rate monitored in real time through a thickness measuring device By adjusting, uniformity can be secured not only horizontally but also vertically in the substrate scanning direction, and the desired deposition rate can be easily adjusted.

In addition, since a feedback process through a plurality of correspondences is not necessary to secure uniformity, it is possible to obtain a deposition rate having a desired thickness in a short time, thereby reducing process time, and to secure uniformity of in-situ thin films during the deposition process. It can be effective.

Moreover, the structure of the shutter unit is simple, there is an effect that can reduce the manufacturing cost.

Claims (5)

An upper chamber in which substrate loading gate valves and substrate unloading gate valves are connected to both sides, and the substrate to be processed is transferred and loaded; A lower chamber that is partitioned independently through a partition wall in which the upper chamber and the window are formed, and a linear evaporation source is installed; And a shutter unit installed on at least one sidewall of the lower chamber to move in the width direction of the linear evaporation source to adjust the area of the window. An upper chamber in which substrate loading gate valves and substrate unloading gate valves are connected to both sides, and the substrate to be processed is transferred and loaded; A lower chamber that is partitioned independently through a partition wall in which the upper chamber and the window are formed, and a linear evaporation source is installed; A shutter unit movably installed on at least one sidewall of the lower chamber to move in a width direction of the linear evaporator to adjust an area of the window; The shutter unit is a thin film manufacturing apparatus, characterized in that rotatably coupled to two independently driven feed shaft. The thin film manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the shutter unit is provided on both side walls of the lower chamber which face each other in the width direction of the linear evaporation source. According to claim 1 or 2, wherein the thickness measuring unit is installed inside the upper chamber, and further comprising a controller for controlling the shutter unit in response to the deposition ratio of the substrate measured from the thickness measuring unit. Thin film manufacturing apparatus made of. The thin film manufacturing method of claim 3, wherein a thickness measuring unit is installed in the upper chamber, and further comprising a controller controlling the shutter unit in response to the deposition ratio of the substrate measured from the thickness measuring unit. Device.