KR20070017975A - Method and apparatus for making an organic thin film - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of coating a thin film of a nonpolymerizable compound on a substrate by providing a mixture of the nonpolymerizable compound and the fluid carrier. This mixture 1 is pumped into the interior of a heated evaporation box 7 having an internal temperature sufficient to substantially convert all nonpolymerizable compounds and fluid carriers into gaseous form. The nonpolymerizable compound and the fluid carrier are then removed from the evaporation box through the outlet slit 8 in the evaporation box. The substrate on which the nonpolymerizable compound condenses is close to the outlet slit and maintained in vacuum. Substrate 10 moves, for example, on a web roller, such that a continuous coating of nonpolymerizable compound is applied to the substrate.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING AN ORGANIC THIN FILM

The invention was made with the support of the US Government under contract DE-AC0676RLO1830 awarded by the US Department of Energy. The United States government has certain rights in this invention.

As a result of the widespread use of thin films in a variety of industries, a great deal of research has been done in the development of various types of thin films and methods of making them in an efficient and cost-effective manner. One type of thin film is a small molecule organic semiconductor, which is currently under development for many applications including displays, transistors, and memories. One particular area of concern for these materials is the application of organic light emitting devices (“OLEDs”) for interior lighting. Proof of principle experiments have shown that OLEDs can operate at as high as 60 lm / W. This record is at low brightness and is for green devices, but with this efficiency it is proven that large area illumination is scientifically feasible. This result was obtained with a planar device shape in which only ~ 20% of the photons generated in the device escaped from the planar device shape to the viewer, thus showing that the upper theoretical limit for device efficiency is at least 300 lm / W in the green. Another range of applications is in large area, very low cost electronics and low cost, large area photoelectric conversion devices based on organic thin film transistors.

Despite the prospect of energy efficient lighting represented by these materials, there is currently no high quality, low cost, high throughput deposition system for these materials. Conventional physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques or spin coating, although effective in small area, high value added applications, are too time consuming and not practical for the production of low cost lighting. Organic vapor deposition (OVPD) using shower-head type geometry and low vacuum derived from the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) industry has not demonstrated the high deposition rates required for roll-to-roll manufacturing. . Printing techniques are too time consuming and are usually limited to batch manufacturing. Roll-to-roll deposition techniques for high throughput, continuous supply, small molecule semiconductors can thus be the only practical route to mass production of OLED lighting at a cost of ownership competing with conventional lighting solutions.

Polymer multilayer deposition (PML) is a well known technique for high speed deposition of extremely uniform thin films of acrylate based polymers. Typically, PML treatment has two forms, evaporation and non-evaporation. Each begins by degassing a working monomer, the organic liquid that reacts. In the evaporation process, the monomer is metered into a hot tube through an ultrasonic atomizer, where it is evaporated instantaneously and exits through the nozzle as monomer gas. The monomer gas condenses on the substrate as a liquid film which is subsequently cross-linked with a solid polymer by exposure to UV radiation or an electron beam. In the non-evaporation process, the degassed liquid monomer protrudes through the grooved die orifice on the substrate. It is then crosslinked in the same way as in the evaporation process. Salt, graphite or oxide powders, and other nonvolatile materials, may be deposited together with the monomers in a homogeneous mixture. This mixture cannot be evaporated instantaneously but is required for electrolyte, anode, cathode, and capacitor membrane layers. The evaporation treatment was done to produce thicknesses up to approximately 10 microns at a rate of 100 ft / min. Non-evaporation treatment was done to settle from 10 microns to about 50 mils thick at substrate speeds approaching several hundred feet per minute. Various aspects of PML treatment are described in detail in the following US patents, the entire contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference: 6,613,395 molecularly doped composite polymer materials, 6,570,325 environmental barrier materials for organic light emitting devices and their manufacture Method, Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) of 6,544,600 Bonded Polymer, Environmental Barrier Material for 6,522,067 Organic Light Emitting Devices and Methods of Making the Same, Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition of 6,509,065 Bonded Polymer, Method of Making Polyurethane as 6,506,461 Thin Film, 6,497,924 Nonlinear Optical Methods for preparing polymers, environmental barrier materials for 6,497,598 organic light emitting devices and methods for their preparation, curing and deposition of 6,358,570 oligomers and resins, methods for preparing 6,274,204 nonlinear optical polymers, environmental barrier materials for 6,268,695 organic light emitting devices And a method for preparing the same, for preparing 6,228,436 light emitting polymer composite materials. Method, 6,228,434 method for producing a conformal coating of microstructured surface, plasma chemical vapor deposition with 6,224,948 low vapor pressure compounds, plasma polymer vapor deposition on 6,217,947 fixtures, plasma chemical vapor deposition of 6,307,239 bonded polymers, 6,207,238 Plasma chemical vapor deposition for high and / or low index of refraction polymer, flash evaporation of 5,902,641 liquid monomer particle mixture, 5,681,615 vacuum flash evaporation polymer composite, curing and deposition of 5,547,508 liquid monomer device, 5,395,644 liquid monomer device Curing and Deposition, Curing and Deposition of 5,260,095 Liquid Monomer Devices.

Unfortunately, polymer materials that follow PML deposition are not electrically active, and although it is possible to couple guest molecules to PML fluxes, the active material is sufficient to realize an electrically active device, such as an efficient, low voltage OLED. It is difficult to load high. In addition, PML's evaporation scheme is commonly used to make films of suitable thickness for electrical devices, and guest molecules tend to fractionate into evaporation boxes at the moment they accumulate, rather than when deposited on a target substrate. Similar approaches are described in US Pat. No. 6,471,327, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. As described by the '327 patent, an apparatus and method for concentrating a functional material includes a pressurized source of fluid in a thermodynamically stable mixture with the functional material. The discharge device with inlet and outlet is connected to a source pressurized at the inlet. The discharge device is configured to produce a collimated beam of functional material, wherein the fluid is in a gaseous state at a location before or beyond the exit of the discharge device. The fluid can be either a compressed liquid or a supercritical fluid. A thermodynamically stable mixture includes one of a functional material dispersed in the fluid and a functional material dissolved in the fluid. Drawbacks to the approach of the '327 patent include problems associated with manipulating highly pressurized fluids, such as supercritical fluids. That is, in order to solve manufacturing problems regarding low cost or large area electronic devices, there is a need for a technology having characteristics similar to PML, but a technology useful for organic semiconductors and capable of preventing problems with gas under high pressure. .

That is, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for coating a thin film of a non-polymeric compound on a substrate. The method of the present invention differs from PML in several key points. One of these key differences concerns the difference between PML coatings, which are monomers or oligomer materials that are easily transferred in liquid form from the ultrasonic nozzles directed to the evaporation box, and, for example, organic semiconductors. It consists of a non-polymeric compound which ultimately forms the coating of the present invention. The coatings of the present invention are mostly solid at room temperature and have many sublimes without going through the liquid phase and do not readily evaporate in such a way that the PML coating evaporates. The second difference is that PML coatings use monomeric or oligomeric starting materials but deposited films are typically rendered polymers as polymers or treatment on the substrate immediately after deposition, while the coatings of the present invention are chemically substantially starting materials. Is similar to To overcome this difference, the present invention provides a non-polymeric compound and a fluid carrier. The mixture typically consists of a slurry of nonpolymerizable compound in the fluid carrier. However, the mixture may have all or part of the nonpolymerizable compound in solution in the fluid carrier, or as a colloidal suspension in the carrier, or a combination thereof. As used herein, the term "mixture" is to be construed to anticipate all such possibilities. This mixture is then pumped into the interior of a heated evaporation box having an internal temperature sufficient to substantially convert all nonpolymerizable compounds and fluid carriers into gaseous form. The nonpolymerizable compound and the fluid carrier are then removed from the evaporation box through the outlet slit in the evaporation box. The substrate on which the nonpolymerizable compound condenses is close to the outlet slit and kept in vacuum. The substrate moves relative to the evaporation box, for example on a web roller, allowing a continuous coating of nonpolymerizable compound to be applied to the substrate.

Typically, the substrate is maintained at a temperature high enough so that the fluid carrier does not condense on the substrate, thereby forming a coating of a non-polymeric coating without any fluid carrier. However, this object can also be achieved by maintaining the substrate at a temperature high enough to rapidly evaporate the fluid carrier, upon which the fluid carrier can initially condense upon contact with the substrate. Alternatively, by maintaining the substrate at a temperature low enough to allow both the fluid carrier and the nonpolymerizable compound to condense on the substrate in the outlet slit of the evaporation box, and subsequently increase the temperature of the substrate to a temperature sufficient to cause the fluid carrier to evaporate. A coating of the nonpolymerizable compound without any fluid carrier is formed. The preferred mode of operation is likely to depend on the organic compound to be evaporated and / or the desired tissue (ie crystalline or amorphous) of the deposited film.

Under this approach, the goal is to produce a coating of non-polymeric material that is substantially free of any fluid carriers. In this way, the fluid carrier can be trapped so that the fluid carrier is subsequently used to provide an additional mixture of the fluid carrier and the nonpolymerizable compound. Capture of the fluid carrier can be readily accomplished by providing a cold trap that condenses the fluid carrier.

A suitable device for the treatment is shown in FIG. 1. As shown in the figure, the mixture 1 of the non-polymerizable compound and the fluid carrier is held in a reservoir 2 having a syringe pump 4. The reservoir 2 is provided with means 3 for stirring the mixture, which may be used to keep the mixture homogeneous, including but not limited to ultrasonic agitation, mechanical vibration, and magnetic agitation. When the pump 4 is pushed, the mixture 1 is directed under the capillary 5, preferably the ultrasonic tip, or the fuel injector 6. The mixture 1 is injected into the evaporation box 7 in an atomized form via an ultrasonic tip or fuel injector 6. The interior of the evaporation box 7 is maintained at a temperature sufficient to keep the nonpolymerizable compound and the fluid carrier in a gaseous state by heating means. Without limiting, the heating means may comprise a resistance coil 14 as shown in the figure. The evaporated fluid carrier and the nonpolymerizable compound 1 exit the evaporation box 7 through the outlet slit 8 where the nonpolymerizable compound is preferably condensed in the moving substrate 9. Without limiting, the moving substrate may be installed on the web roller 10. The moving substrate may be rigid, such as a glass plate, or flexible, such as a plastic or metal foil. The web roller is maintained at the vacuum produced by the pump 11. As noted above, by providing a cold trap 12 in front of the pump, the fluid carrier can be trapped so that the fluid carrier is subsequently used to provide an additional mixture of fluid carrier and nonpolymerizable compound. The plasma source 13 can optionally be used for substrate processing to clean the substrate and improve the adhesion of the layers deposited thereon. The outlet of the evaporation box may be provided with a series of outlet slits, as shown in FIG. 2.

In order to completely evaporate the nonpolymerizable compound and the fluid carrier, the evaporation box temperature is preferably provided above 100 ° C. It is an important criterion that the box is at a temperature high enough to evaporate the entire fluid flux flowing and provided with enough energy to maintain this temperature at a certain rate of fluid inflow. In this way, the deposition rate on the substrate does not depend on the temperature of the evaporation box but only on the fluid pump speed and the condensation efficiency on the substrate. Mixtures can also be used, for example, without limitation, 4 in 4,4'-N, N'-dicarbazole-biphenyl (4,4'-N, N'-dicarbazole-biphenyl) A doped light emitting layer consisting of% pack-tris (2-phenylpyridine) iridium (4% fac-tris (2-phenylpyridine) iridium, the light emitting layer for green phosphorescent OLEDs maintained at a temperature to evaporate both components and fluids It can be deposited starting from a detailed base mixture of the constituent materials in the fluid carrier using an evaporation box, which enhances the most commonly used technique of producing doped films of small molecule organic semiconductors, where a high vacuum chamber The two partially separate sources are heated separately with the rate of precipitation of each material controlled by the temperature of each source in. The problem is that the evaporation rate is first exponentially dependent on the source temperature and thus very sophisticated Figure control is required In the present invention, the evaporation box is required to be kept above the minimum temperature and the composition of the deposited film is substantially determined by the composition of the starting mixture.

Non-polymerizable compounds may be selected as organic materials, including but not limited to OLED materials such as metal (8-hydroxyquinoline) chelates, or inorganic materials, or mixtures thereof. As used herein, it should be noted that the term "nonpolymerizable" means that the compound provided in the mixture is substantially the same as the compound ultimately applied to the substrate; That is, it did not polymerize, as is typical in PML treatments. Some monomers which may polymerize but nevertheless have not been polymerized during the deposition process are thus referred to as "nonpolymerizable" compounds as used herein. Oligomers will also be included according to IUPAC. Suitable OLED materials have been described in detail in the patent literature, along with OLED fabrication techniques and suitable structures for multilayer materials using OLEDs. Suitable OLEDS are described in the following US patents, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety: 6,613,395 "Molecular doped composite polymer materials." (2003), 6,602,540 "Non-polymerizable flexible organic light emitting device." (2003), 6,596,134 "Method for manufacturing transparent contacts for organic devices." (2003), 6,582,838 "Red-emitting organic light emitting devices." (2003), 6,570,325 "Environmental barrier materials for organic light emitting devices. "(2003), 6,558,736" Low-pressure vapor deposition of organic thin films. "(2003), 6,548,956" Transparent contacts for organic devices. "(2003), 6,497,924" Methods for manufacturing nonlinear optical polymers. "(2002), 6,469,437. "Very transparent organic light emitting devices using non-metal cathodes." (2002), 6,468,819 "Method for patterning organic thin films using dies." (2002), 6,451,455 "Electron transport and hole transport sites. Branched metal complexes. "(2002), 6,420,031 One non-metal cathode. "(2002), 6,403,392" Method for patterning a device. "(2002), 6.396.860" Organic Semiconductor Laser. "(2002), 6,365,270" Organic Light Emitting Device. "(2002), 6,358,631" Electroluminescence. Mixed deposited films for devices. "(2002), 6,337,102" Low-pressure vapor deposition of organic thin films. "(2002), 6,392,085" Red-emitting organic light emitting devices (OLEDs). "(2001), 6,330,262" Organic semiconductor lasers. "(2001), 6.303,238" OLEDs doped with phosphorescent compounds. "(2001), 6,297,516" Method for patterning and deposition of organic thin films. "(2001), 6,294,398" Method for patterning devices. "(2001), 6,274,980 "Monochrome Stacked Organic Light Emitting Devices." (2001), 6,264,805 "Method for Producing Transparent Contacts for Organic Devices." (2001), 6,232,714 "Saturated full color stacked organic light emitting devices." (2001 ), 6,214,631 "Method for patterning light emitting devices incorporating movable masks." (2001), 6,160,828 "Organic vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers." (2000), 6,125,226 "High brightness (2000), 6,111,902 "Organic Semiconductor Laser." (2000), 6,097,147 "Structure for High Efficiency Electroluminescent Device." (2000), 6,091,195 "Display with mesa pixel shape." 2000), 6,048,630 "Red-Emitting Organic Light Emitting Devices (OLEDs)." (2000), 6,046,543 "High reliability, high efficiency, integrated organic light emitting devices and methods of production thereof." (2000), 6,045,930 "Materials for multicolor light emitting diodes." "(2000), 6,030,715" azlactone-related dopants in the emitting layer of OLEDs. " 6,030,700 "Organic Light Emitting Devices." (2000), 6,013,538 "Methods and Devices for OLEDs Patterning and Manufacturing." (1999), 6,005,252 "Methods and Devices for Measuring Film Spectral Properties." (1999), 5,998,803 Organic light emitting device. "(1999), 5,986,401" High contrast transparent organic light emitting device display. "(1999), 5,981,306" Method for depositing an indium tin oxide layer in an organic light emitting device. "(1999), 5,986,268 "Organic Light Emitting Coatings for Light Sensors." (1999), 5,953,587 "Methods for Patterning and Deposition of Organic Thin Films." (1999), 5,917,280 "Laminated Organic Light Emitting Devices." Device. "(1999), 5,874,803" A light emitting device with a stack of OLEDs and a phosphor downconverter. "(1999), 5,861,219" Contains a metal complex of 5-hydroxy-quinoxaline as a host material. Organic light emitting device. "(1999), 5,844,363" Deposited, non-polymerizable flexible organic light emitting device (1998), 5,844,893 "High efficiency organic light emitting device with optical path control structure." (1998), 5,757,139 "Drive circuit for stacked organic light emitting devices." (1998), 5,757,026 "Multicolor OLED." 1998, 5,721,160 "Multicolor Organic Light Emitting Devices." (1998), 5,707,745 "Multicolor Organic Light Emitting Devices." (1998), 5,703,436 "Transparent Contacts for Organic Devices." (1997), 5,554,220 "Organic Thin Films with Large Optical Nonlinearity." A method and apparatus using organic vapor phase deposition for the growth of silicon. "(1996). As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, in addition to the manufacture of light emitting devices, the present invention is directed to thin film transistors, photoelectric conversion devices and other devices. It is widely applicable to devices and products requiring thin coatings of organic materials.

The fluid carrier is preferably a fluid which evaporates widely at the desired temperature of the evaporation box and condenses at a temperature higher than the condensation temperature of the nonpolymerizable compound. Suitable fluid carriers are straight chain and branched alcohols and diols, amides, dimethylsulfoxide, N-methylpyrolidinone, toluene, ketones, esters, halogenated solvents, and their Combinations include but are not limited to.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention used to perform a proof-of-principle experiment.

2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention showing multiple slits in an evaporation box.

3 is a photograph showing a film resulting from a proof-of-principle experiment described in the detailed description of Examples below.

Experiments were conducted to demonstrate one embodiment of the present invention. Devices as described above and as shown in FIG. 1 have been fabricated by retrofitting existing PML systems, allowing for the transport and subsequent deposition of molecular organic semiconductors in solvent carriers. The syringe pump functioned as a source reservoir, which supplies the organic / solvent mixture to the injector which atomizes the mixture to the evaporation box at a constant flow. The temperature of the evaporation box was sufficient to ensure that the entire mixture was evaporated at a rate sufficient to ensure that there was no accumulation of material in the box. The vapor flow exited through the slit and directed to the moving web, which temperature was controlled to the extent that only certain organic semiconductors were deposited as solid films, and solvent was pumped from the immersion chamber without deposition or rapid evaporation. Was pumped out. In this proof-of-principle experiment, a typical organic light-emitting semiconductor, aluminum (8-hydroxyquinoline) chelate (Alq ₃ ), was first formed into a slurry by grinding with a mortar and pestle, stirring with ultrasound and mixing with 1-hexanol. . The filling of Alq ₃ in 1-hexanol was about 30% by weight. The bilayer organic light emitting device was fabricated using two separate paths through the system. The substrate was 7 inches wide and was passed through the system at speeds up to about 10 ft / min, although faster speeds were possible. The web temperature was maintained between 70 and 90 ° F. For this proof-of-principle experiment, the temperature of the evaporation box was maintained between 500 and 700 ° F. The syringe pump transferred the mixture between 0.11 and 1.65 ml / min. The pressure in the pump was maintained between 5 and 15 psi and the capillary between the pump and the evaporation box was reduced by 30 mil id to 20 mil id to maintain the back pressure at the pump. This diameter worked for the particular pressure situation and mixture used for this experiment, while one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that a suitable size to prevent back pressure in the pump would depend on the viscosity of the mixture and select the capillary accordingly. The vacuum surrounding the web roller was maintained between 10 ^-5 and 10 ^-4 torr. The electrode was applied using a conventional vacuum heat sink system and as a result the device was observed to emit light in response to the introduced current. An example of the membrane produced by this experiment is shown in FIG. 3.

When manufacturing versions of the process, the solvent can be recovered for recycling. The solvent used in the example was 1-hexanol, and the non-polymeric compound was Alq _3, but 1-hexanol was a poor solvent for Alq ₃ , and the mixture was almost (made by grinding and agitating) rather than a clear solution. It should be known that it is a fine slurry. This is acceptable for processing as long as the slurry does not interfere with the feed system; The role of the solvent is only a rechargeable, continuous feed fluid source and is designed not to bind to the deposited thin film. A desirable feature of the solvent is the smooth viscosity that passes smoothly through the supply system under sufficiently high vapor pressure and positive pressure (ie, flow control rather than temperature control) to ensure minimal bonding to the deposited film.

Alternative embodiments of the present invention may include, but are not limited to, a continuous supply system based on the design in which two or more fluid source reservoirs are switched by a multi-way valve. The temperature of the evaporation box is controlled so that all incoming as a fluid is present as vapor so that the film thickness is flow controlled, not temperature controlled. By premixing the dopant in the fluid reservoir rather than the conventional method used in thermal evaporation systems to independently control two or more thermal evaporation boxes, a doped membrane is also possible with very precise control over the doping rate. Accurate doping control is difficult because the evaporation rate in the heat sublimation system is exponentially dependent on temperature. Thus, the present invention overcomes this obstacle.

If premixing is prohibited for any reason, a source larger than 1 meter may supply the same evaporation box at a controlled rate independently through separate atomizers or by turning both sources to the same atomizer.

The distance from the slit to the substrate can be adjusted within limits defined by the geometry of the deposition system, but with the proper optimization of the slit size, flow rate, and temperature (and further pressure in the box), good uniformity is achieved through very long outlet slits. It can also be obtained at a distance from the adjacent slit to the substrate (ie 1 cm or less). This results in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, where multiple outlet nozzles are used to obtain a rough pattern of organic semiconductors in a technique similar to (but different from) inkjet printing. Micron-scale nozzles fabricated using the techniques of microfluidics can produce micron-scale patterned film deposition on a substrate. In other embodiments, each nozzle may be connected to a separate source reservoir and controlled at separate temperature limits, for example, simultaneous infiltration of red, blue and green light emitting layers on a moving web or heterogeneous integration of organic electronics. Metal organic materials for n, P, and transistor applications. Lateral jitter at the substrate position can be used to sharpen the Gaussian lineshape expected at the edge of each pattern and a small shutter installed at each nozzle patterning in the substrate transfer direction. ) Can be provided.

Since embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many changes and improvements can be made therein without departing from the invention in a broader sense. The appended claims are therefore intended to embrace all such changes and improvements as fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, in addition to the manufacture of light emitting devices, the present invention is widely applicable to thin film transistors, photoelectric conversion devices and other devices and articles requiring thin coatings of organic materials.

Claims (25)

As a method of coating a thin film of a non-polymerizable compound on a substrate, a. Providing a mixture of the non-polymeric compound and the fluid carrier, b. Pumping the mixture inside a heated evaporation box, c. Exposing the mixture to a temperature sufficient to substantially convert all of the nonpolymerizable compound and the fluid carrier into gaseous form in the heated evaporation box, d. Removing the non-polymerizable compound and the fluid carrier in gaseous form through an outlet slit in the evaporation box, and e. Condensing the nonpolymerizable compound and the fluid carrier on a substrate maintained in vacuum and moving relative to the outlet slit in the evaporation box. The method according to claim 1, Maintaining the substrate at a sufficiently high temperature so that the fluid carrier does not condense on the substrate. The method according to claim 1, Maintaining the substrate at a temperature high enough for the fluid carrier in contact with the substrate to evaporate. The method according to claim 1, a. Maintaining the substrate at a temperature low enough for both the fluid carrier and the nonpolymerizable compound to condense on the substrate in the outlet slit of the evaporation box; and b. Thereafter, increasing the temperature of the substrate to a temperature sufficient for the fluid carrier to evaporate. The method according to claim 1, Capturing the fluid carrier and subsequently recycling the fluid carrier to further provide a mixture of the fluid carrier and the nonpolymerizable compound. The method according to claim 5, Providing a cold trap in front of the pump used to provide the vacuum to condense the fluid carrier. The method according to claim 1, The substrate is provided on a web roller. The method according to claim 1, The box temperature is provided to be greater than 100 ° C. The method according to claim 1, The non-polymerizable compound is selected as an organic material. The method according to claim 4, The organic material is selected from the group consisting of an OLED material and a metal (8-hydroxyquinoline) chelate. The method according to claim 1, The non-polymerizable compound is selected as an inorganic material. The method according to claim 1, The solvent is a straight chain and branched alcohol and diols, amides, dimethylsulfoxide, N-methylpyrrolidinone, toluene ), Ketones, esters, halogenated solvents, 1-hexanol, and combinations thereof. The method according to claim 1, The nonpolymerizable compound is selected as a mixture of organic and inorganic materials. The method according to claim 1, The outlet slit is installed as a series of outlet slits The method according to claim 1, The mixture is atomized with a fine spray inside the evaporation box. The method according to claim 16, The mixture is atomized with a fine spray using an ultrasonic tip or fuel injector The method according to claim 1, Stirring the mixture in a source reservoir prior to introducing the mixture into the evaporation box. The method according to claim 18, Wherein the agitation is provided by ultrasonic agitation, mechanical vibration, magnetic agitation, and combinations thereof. a. Providing a mixture of metal (8-hydroxyquinoline) chelate and 1-hexanol, b. Pumping the mixture into the heated evaporation box, c. Exposing the mixture to a temperature sufficient to convert all of the metal (8-hydroxyquinoline) chelate and 1-hexanol into gaseous form in the heated evaporation box, d. Removing gaseous metal (8-hydroxyquinoline) chelate and 1-hexanol through an outlet slit in the evaporation box, and e. Condensing said metal (8-hydroxyquinoline) chelate on a substrate maintained in vacuum and moving relative to said exit slit in said evaporation box. How to coat thin films. The method of claim 20, Maintaining the substrate at a sufficiently high temperature so as not to condense on the 1-hexanol substrate. The method of claim 20, Maintaining the substrate at a temperature high enough to evaporate any 1-hexanol in contact with the substrate. The method of claim 20, a. Maintaining the substrate at a temperature low enough for both the metal (8-hydroxyquinoline) chelate and 1-hexanol to condense on the substrate in the outlet slit of the evaporation box; and b. Thereafter further comprising increasing the temperature of the substrate to a temperature sufficient to evaporate the 1-hexanol. The method according to claim 1, Wherein said nonpolymerizable compound forms part or all of a light emitting device. The method according to claim 1, And wherein the nonpolymerizable compound forms part or all of the thin film transistor. The method according to claim 1, The non-polymerizable compound forms part or all of a photovoltaic device

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