KR20070051602A - Vacuum deposition apparatus of organic substances - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an organic material vacuum deposition apparatus that enables the deposition of organic material with a uniform thickness on the entire deposition substrate.

Organic matter vacuum deposition apparatus according to the present invention, a vacuum chamber; A deposition substrate disposed above the vacuum chamber; A crucible for accommodating an organic material under the deposition substrate and having a heating wire around it; An openable shutter unit formed between the deposition substrate and the crucible; A deposition amount control plate having a plurality of through holes arranged radially to have a larger diameter toward the outside, and formed between the shutter portion and the crucible; And an exhaust system for exhausting exhaust gas in the vacuum chamber.

Organic Vapor Deposition Equipment, Deposition Control Plate

Description

Organic matter vacuum deposition apparatus {VACUUM DEPOSITION APPARATUS OF ORGANIC SUBSTANCES}

1 is a simplified diagram showing the structure of an organic vacuum deposition apparatus according to the prior art,

2 is a simplified diagram showing the structure of an organic material vacuum deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention,

3 is a simplified (a) plan view and (b) cross-sectional view of the deposition rate control plate of the organic material vacuum deposition apparatus shown in FIG.

      -Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings-

100: organic matter vacuum deposition apparatus 101: vacuum chamber

102: deposition substrate 103: shutter unit

104: crucible 105: heating wire for heating

106: evaporation source 107: exhaust system

108: deposition amount control plate 109: through hole

The present invention relates to an organic material vacuum deposition apparatus that enables the deposition of organic material with a uniform thickness on the entire deposition substrate.

The organic light emitting device is one of the representative flat panel display devices and has a structure in which an organic thin film layer including an organic light emitting layer is inserted between the positive electrode layer and the negative electrode layer. Therefore, in manufacturing such an organic light emitting device, a process of depositing an organic material is required to form an organic thin film layer such as the organic light emitting layer.

By the way, organic matter, unlike inorganic matter, is a group of atoms connected to each other, and each organic molecule is much heavier than single or single molecule inorganic matters, and bonds are easily broken by high thermal energy such as electron beam or ion plasma from the outside. As it loses, organics tend to lose their original properties relatively easily compared to inorganics. For this reason, in the process of depositing an organic substance, a method of vacuum sublimation or evaporation of the organic substance is applied by applying relatively small thermal energy, rather than using an electron beam or plasma.

In particular, in the process of depositing the organic material, a method of depositing on a deposition substrate such as an organic light emitting device by using an organic vacuum evaporation device to heat the organic material by applying heat in the vacuum chamber of the device.

Hereinafter, a configuration and problems of the organic material vacuum deposition apparatus according to the related art will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a simplified diagram showing the structure of an organic material vacuum deposition apparatus according to the prior art.

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional organic vacuum deposition apparatus 10 includes a vacuum chamber 11 and a power source, and a deposition substrate 12 on which organic materials are to be deposited is disposed on an upper portion of the vacuum chamber 11. . In addition, a shutter 13 that can be opened and closed is provided under the deposition substrate 12, and a crucible 14 for accommodating organic matter and heat around the crucible 14 are provided below the shutter 13. The heating wire 15 for heating is formed. The crucible 14 and the heating heating wire 15 form an evaporation source 16 for evaporating the organic material to the upper deposition substrate 12. One side of the vacuum chamber 11 is provided with an exhaust system 17 for discharging the exhaust gas in the vacuum chamber 11.

Briefly referring to the conventional organic material deposition method using the organic vacuum deposition apparatus 10, first, by heating the crucible 14 containing the organic material using the heating heating wire 15 to a predetermined temperature at which the organic material can evaporate Raise the temperature. When the amount and speed at which the organic matter evaporates from the crucible 14 are stabilized and stabilized by continuously applying heat at a predetermined temperature, the organic matter evaporated from the crucible 14 is opened by opening the shutter unit 13. It reaches to the vapor deposition substrate 12 through the opening of (13). Then, the organic material is deposited on a predetermined portion of the deposition substrate 12 to form an organic thin film. In the process of depositing these organics, the exhaust gas is discharged through the exhaust system 17, so that the vacuum chamber 11 is maintained in a vacuum state.

However, in the conventional organic material vacuum deposition apparatus and the organic material deposition method, since the organic material is evaporated radially from the crucible 14 in which the organic material is accommodated, and the organic material is deposited on the deposition substrate 12, the crucible 14 A relatively large amount of organic material is deposited at the central portion of the deposition substrate 12 at a short distance from the deposition substrate 12, whereas a relatively small amount of organic material is deposited at the edge portion of the deposition substrate 12. For this reason, since it is hard to deposit organic substance with uniform thickness on the said vapor deposition board | substrate 12, using the organic substance vacuum vapor deposition apparatus 10 which concerns on the said prior art, For example, the organic light emitting layer of an organic light emitting element, etc. There was a problem in that the organic thin film layer could not be deposited to a uniform thickness.

Conventionally, in order to solve this problem, a method of sufficiently increasing the distance from the evaporation source 15 consisting of the crucible 14 and the heating heating wire 15 to the deposition substrate 12 has been applied. However, applying this method, the overall size of the vacuum chamber 11 and the organic material vacuum deposition apparatus 10 becomes unnecessarily large, while a considerable amount of organic matter is deposited in the vacuum chamber 11 during the deposition process by evaporation of the organic material. There was a problem that is attached to the inner wall of the loss.

The present invention is to provide an organic vacuum deposition apparatus capable of depositing a uniform thickness of the organic material on the entire surface of the deposition substrate without unnecessarily increasing the size of the vacuum chamber, in order to solve the problems of the prior art as described above.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a vacuum chamber; A deposition substrate disposed above the vacuum chamber; A crucible for accommodating an organic material under the deposition substrate and having a heating wire around it; An openable shutter unit formed between the deposition substrate and the crucible; A deposition amount control plate having a plurality of through holes arranged radially to have a larger diameter toward the outside, and formed between the shutter portion and the crucible; And it provides an organic vacuum deposition apparatus comprising an exhaust system for exhausting the exhaust gas in the vacuum chamber.

In the organic vacuum deposition apparatus according to the present invention, the deposition amount control plate is preferably made of a hot plate.

In addition, in the organic vacuum deposition apparatus according to the present invention, the through hole is preferably formed to have an increasing diameter toward the top.

Hereinafter, an organic vacuum deposition apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily practice the present invention. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.

2 is a simplified diagram showing the structure of an organic vacuum deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 is a simplified (a) plan view and (b) of the deposition rate control plate of the organic vacuum deposition apparatus shown in FIG. ) Cross section.

Referring to FIG. 2, the organic material vacuum deposition apparatus 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes a vacuum chamber 101 and a power source, and a deposition substrate 102 on which organic materials are to be deposited is disposed on an upper portion of the vacuum chamber 101. have. In addition, a shutter 103 that can be opened and closed is provided under the deposition substrate 102, and a crucible 104 for accommodating organic matter and heat around the crucible 104 are disposed below the shutter 103. The heating wire 105 for heating is formed. The crucible 104 and the heating wire 105 form an evaporation source 106 for evaporating the organic material to the upper deposition substrate 102. One side of the vacuum chamber 101 is provided with an exhaust system 107 for discharging the exhaust gas in the vacuum chamber 101.

However, the configuration is similar to the organic vacuum deposition apparatus according to the prior art, and according to the conventional configuration that will be apparent to those skilled in the art, further detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Meanwhile, the organic material vacuum deposition apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment further includes a deposition amount control plate 108 formed between the shutter unit 103 and the crucible 104 in addition to the above-described configuration.

2 and 3, a plurality of through holes 109 are formed in the deposition control plate 108, and the plurality of through holes 109 are arranged radially on the deposition control plate 108. The through hole 109 having a larger diameter toward the outside from the central portion of the deposition control plate 108 is formed.

As will be described in more detail later, in the organic material vacuum deposition apparatus 100 according to this embodiment, the distance from the evaporation source 106 is the most depending on the configuration of the deposition control plate 108 and the through hole 109 In the central portion of the adjacent deposition substrate 102, only a portion of the large amount of organic matter reaching the deposition control plate 108 through the through hole 109 having a relatively small diameter of the deposition control plate 108, the deposition control plate 108 Is deposited through). On the contrary, the distance from the evaporation source 106 is farther away from the central portion of the deposition substrate 102 so that the amount of organic matter reaching the deposition control plate 108 decreases. Larger amounts of organic material may be deposited through the through holes 109. As such, an organic material of uniform thickness may be deposited over all regions of the deposition substrate 102. As a result, in the organic vacuum deposition apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, even if the size of the vacuum chamber 101 and the organic vacuum deposition apparatus including the same is not increased, only the diameter of the through hole 109 is appropriately adjusted. Since the organic material having a uniform thickness may be deposited on the deposition substrate 102, the problems of the prior art may be completely solved.

In the organic material vacuum deposition apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the deposition control plate 108 is preferably made of a hot plate that can generate heat itself. By configuring the deposition control plate 108 as a hot plate, since the organic matter accumulated in the lower surface or through hole 109 of the deposition control plate 108 can be continuously evaporated and deposited on the deposition substrate 102, the organic material deposition process It is possible to minimize the loss of the organic matter during the blocking of the through hole 109.

In addition, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, the through hole 109 is preferably formed to have an increasing diameter toward the upper portion of the deposition control plate 108. By this configuration, each through hole 109 has a trapezoidal cross-sectional shape. With this configuration, since the organic material having passed through the through hole 109 can be spread more radially, it is possible to deposit an organic material having a more uniform thickness over all the regions of the deposition substrate 102.

Next, a specific operation of the organic material vacuum deposition apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment and an organic material deposition method using the same will be described in detail.

First, as in the prior art, heat is applied to the crucible 104 containing the organic material by using the heating wire 105 for heating, thereby raising the temperature to a predetermined temperature at which the organic material can be evaporated. When the amount and speed at which the organic matter evaporates from the crucible 104 is uniformized and stabilized by applying heat continuously for a predetermined time at such a predetermined temperature, the shutter unit 103 is opened to release the organic matter evaporated from the crucible 104. Through the opening of the part 103, the deposition substrate 102 is allowed to be deposited.

Meanwhile, in the deposition process of the organic material, the organic material evaporated from the crucible 104 is deposited through the opening of the shutter unit 103 by passing through the plurality of through holes 109 once reaching the deposition control plate 108. Is deposited on the substrate 102. However, as described above, since the plurality of through holes 109 are formed to have a larger diameter toward the outside from the central portion of the deposition control plate 108, the evaporation source 106 including the crucible 104 is provided. In the center portion of the deposition substrate 102 closest to the distance, only a portion of the large amount of organic matter reaching the deposition control plate 108 through the through hole 109 having a relatively small diameter of the deposition control plate 108. The deposition rate control plate 108 is deposited on the deposition substrate 102. In comparison, the amount of organic matter reaching the deposition control plate 108 decreases toward the outside of the deposition substrate 102, but the amount of organic matter passes through the through hole 109 having a relatively large diameter, which increases gradually. Passed through 109 may be deposited on the deposition substrate 102. As such, an organic material having a uniform thickness may be deposited over all regions of the deposition substrate 102 through the deposition process.

In addition, in the deposition process of such an organic material, heat is continuously applied by the deposition control plate 108, which is preferably made of a hot plate. As a result, the organic matter accumulated in the bottom surface of the deposition control plate 108 or the through hole 109 may be continuously evaporated and deposited on the deposition substrate 102.

On the other hand, in the above-described deposition process of the organic matter, the exhaust gas is continuously discharged through the exhaust system 107, thereby maintaining the vacuum chamber 101 in a vacuum state.

As described above, according to the organic material vacuum deposition apparatus and the organic material deposition method using the same according to the present embodiment, even if the size of the vacuum chamber and the organic material vacuum deposition apparatus having the same itself is not increased, uniform across all areas of the deposition substrate A thickness of organic material can be deposited.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements of those skilled in the art using the basic concepts of the present invention defined in the following claims are also provided. It belongs to the scope of rights.

As described above, according to the present invention, an organic vacuum deposition apparatus capable of depositing an organic substance on a deposition substrate with a uniform thickness without unnecessarily increasing the size of the vacuum chamber and the organic vacuum deposition apparatus itself including the same. Can provide.

By using such an organic vacuum vapor deposition apparatus, for example, an organic thin film layer, such as an organic light emitting layer of an organic light emitting element, can be formed with uniform thickness, and therefore, more reliable organic light emitting element can be manufactured.

Claims (3)

A vacuum chamber; A deposition substrate disposed above the vacuum chamber; A crucible for accommodating an organic material under the deposition substrate and having a heating wire around it; An openable shutter unit formed between the deposition substrate and the crucible; A deposition amount control plate having a plurality of through holes arranged radially to have a larger diameter toward the outside, and formed between the shutter portion and the crucible; And And an exhaust system for exhausting exhaust gas in the vacuum chamber. The organic material deposition apparatus of claim 1, wherein the deposition control plate comprises a hot plate. The organic vacuum deposition apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the through hole is formed to have a diameter gradually increasing toward the upper portion.

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