KR20090108497A - Evaporation equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A deposition apparatus for optimally controlling the deposition apparatus according to the use environment is provided to maintain the deposition apparatus for minimizing the deposition apparatus by forming a lamination space by a partition. CONSTITUTION: A deposition apparatus for optimally controlling the deposition apparatus according to the use environment is as follows. The deposition material for forming a thin film on a substrate is evaporated by partitioning one chamber. A substrate transfer unit transfers in order to pass through the evaporation space of the substrate for forming the thin film on the substrate.

Description

Evaporation Equipment {EVAPORATION EQUIPMENT}

The present invention relates to a deposition apparatus for depositing a thin film on a substrate, and in particular, it is possible to miniaturize and to reduce the deposition process time, and to adjust the uniformity of the deposition thickness and the use of the deposition material optimally according to the use environment. A deposition apparatus that can be used.

In general, the deposition apparatus may be classified into a cluster type and an inline type. In the cluster type deposition apparatus, a plurality of organic or inorganic thin film process vacuum chambers are arranged in a polygonal structure around a substrate transfer chamber, and a large vacuum robot is positioned in a large substrate transfer chamber to extend the robot's arm to transfer the substrate to each process chamber. In the process of depositing a substrate in a specific process chamber, the robot transfers another substrate to another specific process chamber to perform a mass production process of an organic or inorganic device.

However, by using the cluster type organic or inorganic device mass production deposition apparatus of polygonal structure, the substrate is transferred and the alignment of the shadow mask is performed. Therefore, the actual substrate processing time is only 1/2 of the overall processing time and the film uniformity is improved. In order to maintain a certain distance between the substrate and the evaporation source, the use efficiency of the actual evaporation material drops to 5-10%.

On the other hand, the inline deposition apparatus arranges a plurality of vacuum chambers in a row to transfer a substrate to each chamber to form a thin film. More specifically, the in-line deposition apparatus transfers a substrate combined with a tray or a shadow mask to each independent process chamber and deposits a thin film of the type to perform a mass production process of an organic or inorganic device.

However, in the conventional inline deposition apparatus as described above, a plurality of process chambers are densified, thereby increasing the size of the deposition equipment. In addition, the transfer chamber is disposed between the process chambers to increase the size of the deposition equipment, and the deposition process takes a long time because the deposition process is carried out while intermittently transferring the substrate in each process chamber without being transferred continuously. There is a disadvantage.

In addition, in the case of the conventional evaporation source, the distance from the substrate is fixed, it is impossible to control the use efficiency of the deposition material and the uniformity of the thickness of the deposited thin film, thereby unable to properly adjust the user's environment according to the use environment.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described point, and an object thereof is to provide a deposition apparatus capable of miniaturization and reducing a deposition process time.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a deposition apparatus capable of optimizing the uniformity of the deposited thin film thickness and the use efficiency of the evaporation material.

The deposition apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object has a plurality of deposition spaces partitioned by partition walls in one chamber, an evaporation source is disposed in each of the deposition spaces, the substrate by the substrate transfer unit A substrate is transported to pass through the plurality of deposition spaces, and a deposition material evaporated from each evaporation source is attached to the transported substrate to form a thin film.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the substrate transfer unit includes a transfer rail provided inside the chamber, a tray slidably installed on the transfer rail, and a substrate on which the substrate is seated, a drive motor, and the drive connected to the tray. And a conveying belt driven by a motor to convey the tray along the conveying rail.

In addition, the evaporation source may be moved in a direction that is close to and spaced from the substrate by the evaporation source drive unit.

According to the above-mentioned problem solving means, by forming the deposition space inside the one chamber by the partition wall, not only the deposition apparatus can be downsized but also simplified, and the maintenance of the deposition apparatus becomes easy.

In addition, by performing the deposition process while continuously passing through each deposition space without stopping the substrate, it is possible to significantly shorten the deposition process time. By shortening the deposition process time, it is possible to improve the productivity of the substrate.

On the other hand, the evaporation source can be close to and spaced apart from the substrate to optimize the use efficiency of the deposition material and the uniformity of the deposition thickness according to the user's use environment, thereby improving the efficiency of the deposition process and increase convenience.

Hereinafter, a deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

1 to 3, a deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a partition wall partitioning a plurality of deposition spaces in one chamber, an evaporation source unit disposed in a lower space of each deposition space, And a substrate transfer unit configured to transfer a substrate to be transferred through the plurality of deposition spaces.

The barrier rib is formed inside one chamber to form a plurality of deposition spaces, and the barrier rib partitions the deposition space into an upper space and a lower space. The upper space and the lower space are in communication with each other so that the deposition material evaporated by the evaporation source unit can pass therethrough. An evaporation source unit is disposed in the lower space.

The evaporation source unit is arranged to evaporate the deposition material, one in each of the plurality of lower spaces. Each evaporation source unit includes an evaporation source for depositing a deposition material and an evaporation source driving unit for driving the evaporation source in the vertical direction.

The evaporation source has a heating element such as a heating wire embedded therein, and heats the deposition material in accordance with a signal applied to evaporate the deposition material. The evaporated deposition material is attached to a substrate that flies and transports to the upper space. Such an evaporation source may be provided with a control valve for selectively controlling the evaporation of the evaporation material is released. By such a control valve, each evaporation source can release the evaporation material only when the substrate is in proximity to each evaporation source, thereby preventing unnecessary evaporation of the evaporation material.

The evaporation source driving unit, as shown in Figure 4, is to control the distance between the evaporation source and the substrate by moving the evaporation source in the vertical direction. Such an evaporation source drive unit may not only be composed of an air pump and a bellows which contract and expand by the pressure of the air driven by the air pump, but also a drive motor and a ball screw. In addition, various driving units may be used as long as the evaporation source can be moved in the vertical direction.

The distance between the evaporation source and the substrate is an important parameter in determining the utilization efficiency of the deposition material and the uniformity of the film thickness. For example, when the distance between the evaporation source and the substrate is close, the use efficiency of the deposition material is improved while the uniformity of the thickness of the thin film is reduced. On the contrary, when the distance between the evaporation source and the substrate is far, the amount of deposition of the evaporated evaporation material on the place other than the substrate is increased so that the use efficiency of the evaporation material is lowered while the uniformity of the thin film thickness is improved. However, depending on the nature of the final product or the type of deposition material, an important variable of the use efficiency of the deposition material and the uniformity of the thickness varies. However, in the conventional deposition apparatus, since the distance between the evaporation source and the substrate is kept constant, the deposition process is performed regardless of the use environment of the deposition apparatus. However, by adjusting the distance between the evaporation source and the substrate by the evaporation source driving unit as in this embodiment, it is possible to set the optimum deposition environment for the user, thereby increasing the convenience of use.

The substrate transfer unit is configured to transfer the plurality of upper spaces, and includes a drive source such as a drive motor, a drive belt connected to the drive source to rotate, and a tray connected to the drive belt.

The tray is slidably coupled to a transfer rail provided inside the chamber. Therefore, when the drive source is driven, the drive belt is rotated and the tray is moved along the transfer rail by the rotation of the drive belt. The conveying rail is disposed in the left and right direction, and when the tray is moved along the conveying rail, the tray passes through a plurality of upper spaces. The tray is mounted with a substrate to which the shadow mask is coupled. Therefore, when the tray is transferred, the substrate moves along with the shadow mask while passing through the plurality of upper spaces, in which deposition material is deposited from each of the plurality of evaporation sources in the lower space and attached to the substrate. As a result, the vapor deposition material of each evaporation source is sequentially attached to the substrate to form a plurality of desired layers.

As described above, in the case of the conventional inline deposition apparatus in which a plurality of deposition chambers in which evaporation sources are disposed are arranged in a line and a transfer chamber is disposed between the deposition chambers, the size of the conventional inline deposition apparatus is inevitably increased, There was a disadvantage in that it takes a long time to deposit the deposition material. As described above, however, the inside of one chamber is partitioned into partitions to form a plurality of deposition spaces, and the substrate is subjected to the deposition process while passing through each deposition space, thereby reducing the size of the deposition apparatus and the deposition process. Time can be shortened drastically, and thereby productivity can be improved.

In addition, in contrast to the cluster type deposition apparatus, the deposition apparatus according to the present embodiment adopts a linear transfer method using a rail and a substrate tray, thus eliminating the substrate transfer robot shown in the conventional thin film forming apparatus, and using a mask and Since the alignment device of the substrate is not necessary, the time required for the production of the organic or inorganic thin film device is reduced to 1/2 or less. In addition, the substrate is not transported at regular intervals, but the deposition process can be performed continuously, so it is possible to control the evaporation material wasted during the substrate transfer time, and to maintain the uniformity of the thin film formed on the substrate by linearly configuring the nozzle of the evaporation source. Can be.

1 is a conceptual diagram schematically showing a deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram schematically illustrating an upper surface of the deposition apparatus of FIG. 1;

3 is a conceptual view schematically showing a substrate transfer unit for transferring a substrate shown in FIG.

4 is a front view schematically showing the evaporation source unit shown in FIG.

Claims (9)

A plurality of deposition spaces formed by partitioning one chamber into a partition wall; A plurality of evaporation source units for evaporating a deposition material for forming a thin film on a substrate, each of the plurality of deposition spaces; And And a substrate transfer unit for transferring the substrate to pass through the plurality of deposition spaces. The method of claim 1, Each of the plurality of deposition spaces is partitioned into an upper space and a lower space by the partition wall, And the substrate transfer unit is provided in the upper space, and the evaporation source unit is provided in the lower space. The method of claim 1, The substrate transfer unit, A transfer rail provided to allow the substrate to pass through the plurality of deposition spaces; A drive source for providing power for transferring the substrate along the transfer rail; And And a drive belt driven by the drive source to transfer the substrate along the transfer rail. The method of claim 3, wherein The substrate is mounted, further comprising a tray installed on the transfer rail to move along the transfer rail, And the drive belt is installed on the tray to move the tray along the transfer rail. The method of claim 1, Each evaporation source unit, An evaporation source for evaporating the deposition material; And And an evaporation source driving unit for transferring the evaporation source in a direction close to and spaced apart from the substrate. The method of claim 5, And the evaporation source comprises a linear nozzle formed in a direction crossing the transfer direction of the substrate. The method of claim 5, And a control valve at the evaporation source for selectively blocking the evaporation of the evaporation deposition material onto the substrate. The method of claim 5, The evaporation source drive unit, Air pump; And And a bellows to move the evaporation source in a direction to move closer to and away from the substrate while contracting and expanding by the air pump. The method of claim 5, The evaporation source drive unit, Evaporation source drive motor; And And a ball screw moving the evaporation source in a direction in which the evaporation source is approached and spaced apart from the substrate while being rotated by the evaporation source driving motor.

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