KR20050053448A - Equipments for forming layers in vacuum condition - Google Patents

Abstract

A vacuum film forming apparatus comprising a substrate holder in a deposition chamber to which a vacuum can be applied, a deposition source in which deposition material is contained and heated, and a deposition source shutter capable of opening and closing an entrance of the deposition source by a position change means, Energy providing means for energizing the deposition source shutter to remove material deposited on the deposition source shutter when the deposition source shutter is in a position to open the deposition source by the position changing means, and collecting the removed material; Disclosed is a vacuum film forming apparatus, further comprising a collecting means.

According to the present invention, the materials deposited on the lower surface of the deposition source shutter in the deposition type vacuum deposition apparatus can be removed by itself during or between the processes without dismantling the deposition chamber, thereby maintaining the vacuum deposition apparatus. The period can be extended and the operating efficiency of the device can be increased.

Description

Vacuum deposition device {Equipments for forming layers in vacuum condition}

The present invention relates to a vacuum film forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a deposition source of a vacuum film forming apparatus for evaporating a material to form a deposited film.

The display device has a wide variety of forms, and manufacturing of the display device is very much made through various types of detailed processes. One of the important processes in the manufacture of a display device is to form a film using various materials such as a substrate forming the display surface of the display device.

One method of film formation is deposition. In the deposition process, a high energy is applied to the film-forming material to form a vapor, which spreads and forms a thin film as it condenses on the substrate surface. Meanwhile, the deposition method may be divided into several detailed deposition methods according to the method of applying energy to the deposition film source material and the deposition conditions.

As an example of a conventional film deposition method, a type of deposition method for a cathode electrode layer or an electron injection layer in a display device such as an organic electroluminescent display (ELD), according to a method of energizing a source material Electron beam deposition, resistive heating deposition, high temperature cell deposition, and the like.

In such a deposition method, the deposition source sources are placed under the deposition chamber in which the deposition process takes place, where it is energized and vaporized. The substrate is brought into contact with a source material vapor that is vaporized and diffuses upwards as it passes over the energized portion (deposition source) in which the deposition material material is placed in the chamber. The vapor deposition film is formed on the lower surface of the substrate.

1 is a side cross-sectional view showing an example of a deposition chamber configuration in which a conventional resistance heating vapor deposition method is performed.

As shown, the substrate holder 20 is provided on the ceiling of the chamber 10 to hold the substrate 30 above the chamber 10, and the substrate 30 is installed wider than the substrate 30 below the substrate 30. 30 is provided with a main shutter 40 for controlling the contact of the deposition material. One or more deposition sources may be provided under the chamber 10 depending on the area of the substrate 30 or the material to be deposited. The deposition source is made of a crucible 50 of resistance heating, and the deposition source shutter 60 is provided to cover the upper entrance of the crucible 50. The deposition source shutter 60 is a disk shape fixed in parallel in the horizontal direction from the top of the rotation shaft 70 next to the crucible 50 to cover or open the inlet of the crucible 50 of the deposition source according to the rotation of the rotation shaft 70. .

In the chamber 10 where the deposition is performed, a vacuum is generally applied so that the evaporated material can easily reach the surface to be deposited without interference, and a vacuum line (not shown) having a vacuum pump is provided in the deposition chamber 10 for vacuum application. It is connected. Vacuum deposition methods are commonly used to form deposition films of several micrometers thickness.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing problems of the deposition source portion as shown in FIG.

1 and 2, the deposition material 80 is contained in a crucible 50 having a resistance heating heater 55 embedded therein. When the deposition material 80 is heated by the heater 55, the deposition material 80 evaporates and diffuses to the upper side, while condensing on the lower surface of the upper substrate 30 to form a deposited film. In order to adjust the thickness of the deposited film, an operation of opening and touching the main shutter 40 under the substrate 30 may be performed. Meanwhile, the deposition source shutter 60 may be used to prevent vapor deposition of the deposition material 80 from being deposited in the deposition source during the period in which the deposition film is not actually formed. The deposition source shutter 60 may be used to adjust the thickness of the deposition film and to form the multilayer film. The present invention can be used for forming a hybrid film in which several materials are simultaneously deposited.

In more detail, in the case of adjusting the thickness of the deposited film, when the deposition source shutter 60 is opened and the deposition is performed, when the deposition film of the substrate 30 reaches the target thickness, the rotary shaft 70 is rotated to deposit the crucible 50 inlet. It is blocked by the one shutter (60). In the case of multilayer film formation, when the thickness of the first film reaches the target value, the inlet of the crucible 50 containing the material of the first film is blocked by the deposition source shutter 60. Then, the deposition source shutter 60 above the crucible 50 containing the material of the second film is opened to deposit the second film. In hybrid film deposition, the crucible 50 inlet containing the deposition material 80 of the first film and the crucible 50 inlet containing the deposition material 80 of the second film are simultaneously opened to deposit two materials on the substrate 80 together. To be done.

The deposition material evaporated during the time that the deposition source shutter 60 prevents the vapor of the deposition material 80 from diffusing out of the deposition source contacts the lower surface of the deposition source shutter to form the deposition film 83. As the process continues, a part of the deposition film 83 thickly stacked on the lower surface of the deposition source shutter 60 is dropped from the deposition source shutter 60. The deposition film on the lower surface of the deposition source shutter 60 may be impacted by the movement during the operation of blocking and opening the crucible 50 in the process chamber 10, or may be peeled off due to shrinkage or expansion due to a change in temperature. have.

The dropped deposition material film may act as a particle that is a contaminant in the process chamber 10 to cause a process failure. In particular, in the hybrid film deposition or the multilayer film deposition process, a part of the material deposited on the deposition source shutter 60 together with other deposition materials and other contaminants may fall into the crucible 50 to contaminate the deposition material 80 in the crucible 50. do.

In order to prevent such a problem, a facility maintenance operation such as opening the deposition chamber 10 and periodically cleaning the deposition source shutter 60 should be performed. This problem is also an important cause of shortening the maintenance cycle of the deposition chamber 10.

However, this maintenance work is expensive and time, there is a problem that the efficiency of the operation is reduced by reducing the uptime of the facility.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum film forming apparatus having a means for extending the cycle of opening a deposition chamber and maintaining a deposition facility by removing the materials deposited on the lower surface of the deposition source shutter by itself. It is done.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum film forming apparatus having a structure capable of reducing the cost of frequent maintenance work of the vacuum film forming apparatus and increasing the operating efficiency of the vacuum film forming apparatus.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum film forming apparatus which can reduce defects caused by contamination of foreign matter on particles or deposition materials while increasing the maintenance cycle in the vacuum film forming apparatus.

The present invention for achieving the above object is a deposition source shutter that can open and close the entrance of the deposition source by the substrate holder in the deposition chamber to which a vacuum can be applied, the deposition source to be deposited and heated and the position change means A vacuum film forming apparatus comprising: providing energy to remove a material deposited on a deposition source shutter by supplying energy to the deposition source shutter when the deposition source shutter is in a position to open the deposition source by a position changing means; Means and a collection means for collecting the material to be removed is characterized in that it is further provided.

In the present invention, the deposition source may be made of a crucible with a built-in heating heater.

In the present invention, the position change means may be provided with a rotation axis that fixes and rotates the deposition source shutter by a predetermined angle, and the energy providing means may be at a position where the deposition source shutter is opened by the position change means. When the heating heater is installed thereon. The collecting means may also consist of a container installed below the deposition source shutter when it is in a position to open the deposition source.

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

3 is a side cross-sectional view showing a deposition chamber as a vacuum film forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a deposition source shutter in which the deposition source shutter forms an energy providing means and a collecting means in the embodiment of FIG. It is a perspective explanatory diagram that shows the form well.

According to FIG. 3, the substrate holder 20 is provided on the ceiling of the chamber 10. The substrate holder 20 holds the substrate 30 on the chamber 10 by a vacuum or the like. The main shutter 40 is installed below the substrate 30 to be wider than the substrate 30. The main shutter 40 may be supported on the ceiling of the chamber 10 by the shutter rotation shaft or the moving shaft 45. The main shutter 40 also serves as a means for adjusting the thickness of the deposited film formed on the substrate 30.

The crucible 50 is installed below the chamber 10 as a deposition source. The lower part of the crucible 50 has a heating heater 55 embedded therein so as to vaporize by applying energy to the deposition material 80. A deposition source shutter 60 is provided to cover the upper entrance of the crucible 50. The deposition source shutter 60 is formed in a disk shape such that a horizontal axis installed in the horizontal direction above the rotary shaft 70 next to the crucible 50 passes the diameter thereof. As the rotating shaft 70 rotates 90 degrees or 180 degrees, the deposition source shutter 60 changes its position to cover or open the inlet of the crucible 50 as the deposition source.

In the chamber 10 where the deposition is performed, a vacuum is applied so that the evaporated material can easily contact the substrate surface to be deposited without interruption. In this embodiment, two deposition sources are provided, and different deposition materials are supplied to the deposition sources, respectively. This deposition source configuration is particularly suitable for hybrid film deposition and multilayer film deposition.

In the case of multilayer film formation, when the thickness of the first film reaches the target value, the inlet of the crucible 50 containing the material of the first film is blocked by the deposition source shutter 60. Then, the deposition source shutter 60 on the crucible 50 containing the material of the second film is opened to deposit the second film. In the hybrid film deposition, the inlet of the crucible 50 containing the material of the first film and the inlet of the crucible 50 containing the material of the second film are simultaneously opened so that the deposition of the two materials is performed together on the substrate 30.

In addition to this configuration, the present embodiment further includes a deposition source shutter cleaner 140 corresponding to each deposition source. 3 and 4, the deposition source shutter cleaner 140 has a cylindrical shape located opposite to the crucible 50 with respect to the rotation axis 70 on which the deposition source shutter 60 is fixed. A portion of the cylindrical deposition source shutter cleaner 140 is provided with an inlet 141 so that the deposition source shutter 60 can be completely inserted when the deposition source shutter 60 is rotated 180 degrees about the rotation axis 70.

The deposition source shutter cleaner 140 may be largely divided into an upper part 130 in which the heating heater 131 is installed and a lower part 120 forming a cylindrical container. The upper portion 130 corresponds to the energy providing means of the present invention, and when the deposition source shutter 60 is in a position to open the deposition source by the position changing means, that is, the rotation axis 70, By heating, the material deposited on the lower surface of the deposition source shutter 60 is vaporized. The lower part 120 corresponds to the collecting means of the present invention. When the deposition source shutter 60 is in the position where the deposition source shutter 60 is opened by the rotation shaft 70, the substances vaporized by the heating heater 131 of the deposition source shutter cleaner 140 are mainly diffused downward. At this time, the vaporized materials are condensed by contacting the inner surface 121 of the cylindrical container, that is, the deposition source shutter cleaner 120. As shown in FIG. 3, it is preferable that a cooling line 123 through which a refrigerant flows is installed on the lower inner surface 121 to facilitate condensation.

Looking at an example in which the deposition source shutter 60 using the deposition source shutter cleaner 140 and the deposition source shutter cleaner 140 in this embodiment having such a structure is performed in more detail, first the substrate 30 in the deposition chamber 10 ) Is fixed to the substrate holder 20 and is fed. In a continuous process, a vacuum pump (not shown) is constantly operated to achieve a state in which a vacuum is applied. In the intermittent process, a vacuum may be intermittently applied only during deposition whenever a substrate is supplied or replaced. If a vacuum is applied to the preparation chamber for supplying the substrate, the vacuum may be continuously applied in the deposition chamber 10.

The substrate 30 is placed above the deposition source, and heating is performed on the deposition material 80 in a preheated state with a vacuum applied thereto. First, as the deposition source shutter 60 on the crucible 50 forming the first deposition source unit 1 moves in accordance with the rotation of the rotation shaft 70, the first deposition material vaporized in the crucible 50 diffuses toward the substrate surface. The first deposition film is formed on the substrate. When the thickness of the first deposition film reaches a predetermined thickness, the deposition source shutter 60 attached to the first deposition source unit 1 closes, and the deposition source shutter that closes the crucible 50 that is the deposition source of the second deposition source unit 2 is closed. 60 is opened. When the vaporized second deposition material contacts the substrate by diffusion, a second deposition film is formed on the first deposition film. When the second deposition film is also formed to a predetermined thickness, the deposition source shutter 60 is moved above the crucible 50 that is the second deposition source to close the crucible 50.

When the above deposition process is continued for various substrates, a deposition film is thickly formed on the lower surface of each deposition source shutter 60 facing the inlet of the crucible 50 as the deposition source. As the thickness of the deposited film becomes thicker, the weight of the deposited film itself increases, and as the deposition film shutter 60 opens and closes, the deposition film is easily peeled off or dropped off depending on the material difference between the deposition source shutter 60 and the deposition film. Therefore, before the probability of peeling or dropping is increased, power is applied to the heating heater 131 of the upper portion of the deposition source shutter cleaner 140 to vaporize the deposition film on the lower surface of the deposition source shutter 60. The heating heater 131 is heated to a temperature sufficient to vaporize the deposited film.

At this time, the deposition source shutter 60 should be in the position to open the crucible 50 by the rotation shaft 70, the material deposited on the lower surface of the deposition source shutter is vaporized while touching the inner wall 121 of the cylindrical vessel of the lower 120 Condensation. The deposition source shutter 60 is shielded by the deposition source shutter cleaner 140 except for a portion of the narrow slit deposition source shutter inlet 141 formed on the sidewall of the deposition source shutter cleaner 140 and the lower inner wall 121. Since the state is cooled by the refrigerant circulation, the probability that the vaporized material exits the deposition source shutter cleaner 140 and causes particle contamination in the deposition chamber 10 is reduced. In addition, there is a small risk that the condensed material on the inner wall of the container may come out of the narrow slit deposition source shutter inlet 141 until a substantial amount accumulates in the container and contaminate the deposition chamber 10. Therefore, the condensed material may be removed by proceeding the deposition process for a sufficient time and by replacing the container, which is the lower portion 120 of the deposition source shutter cleaner 140, at a regular maintenance period of the deposition facility. The vessel may be disassembled and cleaned outside the deposition chamber 10 and mounted on the deposition source shutter cleaner 140 of the deposition chamber 10 at the next replacement.

In the above embodiment, the heating of the upper part of the shutter cleaner may be performed at any time during the process, but there is an aspect that increases the energy cost. When the process is performed separately from the substrate deposition process, deposition source shutter cleaning may be performed simultaneously or alternately in both deposition sources.

According to the present invention, materials deposited on the bottom surface of the deposition source shutter in the deposition type vacuum deposition apparatus may be removed by themselves during or between processes without dismantling the deposition chamber. Therefore, it is possible to increase the period of work in which the deposition chamber is opened and the vacuum film forming apparatus is to be maintained, thereby reducing the maintenance work cost and increasing the operating efficiency of the vacuum film forming apparatus.

According to another aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reduce defects caused by contamination of foreign matter on particles or deposition materials in the vacuum film forming apparatus.

1 is a side cross-sectional view showing an example of a deposition chamber configuration in which a conventional resistance heating vapor deposition method is performed;

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a problem of a deposition source portion as shown in FIG. 1;

3 is a side sectional view showing a deposition chamber as a vacuum film forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective explanatory view showing the manner in which the deposition source shutter enters and exits the deposition source shutter cleaner constituting the energy providing means and the collecting means in the embodiment of FIG.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

1: first deposition source portion 2: second deposition source portion

10 chamber 20 substrate holder

30: substrate 40: main shutter

45: moving shaft 50: crucible

55: heater 60: deposition source shutter

70: rotation axis 80: deposition material

83: deposited film 120: (deposition source shutter cleaner) lower

121: inside 123: cooling line

130: (deposition source shutter cleaner) top 131: heating heater

140: evaporation source shutter cleaner 141: inlet

Claims (7)

In a deposition chamber into which a vacuum can be applied, Substrate holder; and A deposition source in which the deposition material is contained and heated; And A vacuum deposition apparatus comprising: a deposition source shutter capable of opening and closing an entrance of the deposition source by a position change means. Energy providing means for energizing the deposition source shutter to remove material deposited on the deposition source shutter when the deposition source shutter is in a position to open the deposition source by the position changing means; And a collecting means for collecting the material removed from the deposition source shutter. The method of claim 1, The deposition source is a vacuum film forming apparatus, characterized in that consisting of a crucible with a built-in heating heater. The method of claim 1, And the position change means is provided with a rotating shaft capable of fixing the deposition source shutter and rotating the lens at a predetermined angle. The method of claim 1, And said energy providing means comprises a heating heater positioned above said deposition source shutter when said deposition source shutter is in a position to open said deposition source by said position changing means. The method of claim 4, wherein And said collecting means comprises a container installed below said deposition source shutter in a position to open said deposition source. The method according to claim 1 or 5, And said collecting means comprises cooling means for cooling the inner surface of said collecting means. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, And a plurality of deposition sources, and a plurality of deposition source shutters are provided corresponding to the deposition sources.