KR20140145047A - Thin Film Deposition Apparatus, and Linear Source therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a thin-film deposition apparatus which can deposit a high quality thin-film by minimizing particles when the thin-film is formed on a substrate using an atomic layer deposition process. In the thin-film deposition apparatus according to the present invention and a linear source therefor, a plasma suction gas injection line which injects a plasma suction gas reacting with the negative ions in a reaction gas in the plasma state can be installed on the front and rear side of a reaction gas injection line in the relative movement direction of the substrate. Accordingly, the present invention can minimize the generation of the particles due to the reaction between the reaction gas and source has and the formation of a porous thin-film caused by the particles.

Description

Thin Film Deposition Apparatus and Linear Source Therefor,

The present invention relates to a thin film deposition apparatus for depositing a thin film on a substrate and a linear source used therein.

The organic electroluminescent display device is a self-luminous display that emits light by electrically exciting a fluorescent organic compound. The organic electroluminescent display device is attracting attention as a next generation display because it can be driven at a low voltage, is easy to be thinned, has a wide viewing angle and fast response speed .

However, the light emitting layer of the organic electroluminescent device has a problem that the light emitting layer is damaged when exposed to moisture and oxygen. Accordingly, a sealing means is provided on a substrate on which an organic electroluminescent device is formed in order to prevent the organic electroluminescent device from being damaged by moisture and oxygen. The sealing means may be provided as an encapsulating substrate or a sealing thin film. As the display becomes smaller and thinner, the sealing means is formed of a sealing film.

Such a sealing thin film is formed by alternately laminating at least four inorganic films and organic films, and has a thickness of 0.5 to 10 mu m. For example, the sealing film may be formed by alternately laminating a first organic film, a first inorganic film, a second organic film, and a second inorganic film.

As described above, the organic light emitting display device can be formed to have a thin thickness by applying a thin sealing film having an inorganic film and an organic film.

For example, a thin sealing thin film formed on an organic light emitting display may be formed of Al ₂ O ₃ , AlON, or the like.

A thin sealing thin film formed on an organic light emitting display can be formed on a substrate by various processes. In particular, a reactive gas such as source gas O ₂ , NH ₃ , NO _2, etc., such as TMA, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > atomic layer deposition < / RTI >

However, in the process of spraying the source gas and the reaction gas onto the substrate to be sprayed, the source gas and the reactive gas react with each other on the substrate to generate particles, thereby forming a porous thin film on the substrate.

The present invention provides a thin film deposition apparatus capable of depositing a thin film by minimizing the formation of particles when a thin film is formed on a substrate by using an atomic layer deposition process and a linear source used therein The purpose.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a linear source of a thin film deposition apparatus for spraying a source gas and a reactive gas in a plasma state so as to form a thin film on a substrate by moving relative to the substrate in a horizontal direction, And a plurality of reaction gas injection lines for injecting reactive gases in a plasma state are alternately arranged in a direction of relative movement with respect to the substrate, and a plasma absorbing gas injecting a plasma absorbing gas reacting with anions of the reactive gas in the plasma state And a gas injection line is provided in front of and behind the reaction gas injection line in a relative movement direction with respect to the substrate.

Wherein the linear source includes an exhaust line for sucking and exhausting a gas, and a purge gas injection line provided in front of and behind the exhaust line in a relative movement direction with respect to the substrate, the purge gas injection line injecting a purge gas, And can be further provided between the absorption gas injection lines.

A pair of exhaust lines for sucking and exhausting gas may be provided in front of and behind the source gas injection line and the reaction gas injection line in a relative movement direction with respect to the substrate.

Wherein the source gas is TMA, the reactive gas is O _2, and NH ₃ and NO ₂ at least one of the absorption gas, O _2, can be used any one of the NH ₃ and NO _2.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a plasma processing apparatus comprising: a vacuum chamber for providing a thin film deposition process environment; and a gas supply unit for supplying a source gas and a reactive gas in a plasma state to the substrate, And a linear moving part for relatively moving the substrate in the horizontal direction with respect to the linear source, wherein the linear source includes a source gas injection line for injecting a source gas, and a source gas injection line for injecting a reaction gas in a plasma state And a plasma absorbing gas injection line for injecting a plasma absorbing gas reacting with the anion of the reactive gas in the plasma state is disposed in a direction of relative movement of the substrate with respect to the substrate, Characterized in that the thin film is provided on the front side and the rear side of the gas injection line The mounting apparatus is provided.

The thin film deposition apparatus and the linear source used in the thin film deposition apparatus according to the present invention are characterized in that the plasma absorption gas injection line for spraying the plasma absorption gas reacting with the anion of the reactive gas in the plasma state is disposed in front of and in front of the reaction gas injection line The generation of particles due to the reaction of the source gas and the reaction gas and the formation of the porous thin film due to the reaction of the source gas and the reaction gas can be minimized and a thin film of good quality can be formed.

That is, a plasma absorbing gas injection line is further provided in front of and behind the reactive gas injection line to react with the anion of the reactive gas in the plasma state injected from the reactive gas injection line, thereby suppressing the reaction with the source gas, It is possible to minimize the generation of particles and the formation of a porous thin film according to the reaction of the thin film to form a thin film of good quality.

1 is a cross-sectional view of a thin film deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention,
Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along a line II-II in Fig. 1,
FIG. 3 is a conceptual view showing an embodiment of a linear source installed in the thin film deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of a linear source provided in the thin film deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 3,
Fig. 5 is a plan view of the linear source of Fig. 4 with the cover member removed;
FIG. 6A is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 4,
FIG. 6B is a partial cross-sectional view of the portion A in FIG. 6A,
FIG. 7A is a partial cross-sectional view taken along III-III in FIG. 4 showing another example of the linear source of FIG. 4,
Fig. 7B is a partial cross-sectional view of the portion B in Fig.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a thin film deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an embodiment of a linear source provided in the thin film deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 5 is a plan view of a state in which the cover member is removed from the linear source of FIG. 4, FIG. 6A is a plan view of the linear source shown in FIG. Fig. 6A is a partial cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A in Fig. 6A. Fig. 7A is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in Fig. 4 showing another example of the linear source in Fig. And Fig.

The thin film deposition apparatus according to the present invention is a thin film deposition apparatus in which a linear source 12 for spraying a source gas and a reactive gas in a plasma state relatively moves in a horizontal direction relative to a substrate S to form a thin film on the substrate S .

More specifically, a thin film deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a vacuum chamber 10 for providing a thin film deposition process environment as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, A linear source 12 for injecting a reactive gas in a gas and plasma state and a linear movement section 13 for linearly moving the substrate S in a horizontal direction with respect to the linear source 12. [

The vacuum chamber 10 may be any component that provides a processing environment for performing a thin film deposition process.

The vacuum chamber 10 may include a container forming a predetermined internal space and formed with a gate 11 through which the substrate S can pass.

The container may have an exhaust means for maintaining a predetermined pressure on the inner space.

The linear moving part 13 can be any component as long as the substrate S is loaded and linearly moves the substrate S in the horizontal direction with respect to the linear source 12 as a component capable of moving the substrate linearly .

The linear source 12 may be any component provided on the upper portion of the vacuum chamber 10 and capable of injecting a source gas and a reactive gas in a plasma state.

For example, the linear source 12 includes a source gas injection line 1 for injecting a source gas so as to deposit a thin film using an atomic layer deposition process, a reaction gas injection line 3 for injecting a reaction gas in a plasma state ) Are sequentially arranged in a direction perpendicular to the relative movement direction with respect to the substrate (S).

The linear source 12 is connected to the exhaust line 2 for sucking and exhausting the gas and the purge gas injection line 4 for injecting the purge gas, Are arranged in various forms at appropriate locations.

In other words, the linear source 12 is controlled in accordance with the conditions of the thin film deposition process in which the source gas injection line 1, the exhaust line 2, the reaction gas injection line 3 and the purge gas injection line 4 are to be performed, Various arrangements of sequences are possible.

In addition, the linear sources 12 may be provided in a plurality of units as shown in FIG.

The source gas injection line 1 is configured to inject a source gas such as TMA, and the reaction gas injection line 3 can be configured to inject reactive gases such as O ₂ , NH ₃ , NO _2, and the like. Here, the physical properties of the reaction gas and the source gas are determined according to the thin film to be formed on the substrate (S).

A thin film made of Al ₂ O ₃ , AlON or the like may be formed on the substrate S by the source gas injection line 1 and the reaction gas injection line 3.

The purge gas injection line 4 is configured such that an inert gas such as Ar is injected to remove gas, particles, and the like remaining on the substrate S, and removal of gas, particles, and the like is most effective.

The exhaust line 2 is a component for sucking and exhausting the gas. By sucking the source gas injected from the source gas injection line 1 before the substrate S is moved to the region where the reactive gas is injected, And can be used to suppress the generation of particles due to the reaction of gas.

In this case, when the source gas is left when the substrate S is moved to the region where the reactive gas is injected, the particles are formed by reaction with the reaction gas, and the formed particles are deposited on the substrate S to form a porous thin film But it is possible to suppress the generation of particles due to the reaction of the reaction gas and the suction gas by sucking the source gas injected from the source gas injection line 1. [

On the other hand, there is still a problem in that, despite the suction of the source gas by the exhaust line 2, it remains and reacts with the reaction gas to form particles.

3, the linear source 12 has a plasma absorbing gas injection line 5 for injecting a plasma absorbing gas reacting with an anion of a reactive gas in a plasma state, The reaction gas injection line 3 may be provided in front of and behind the reaction gas injection line 3.

The plasma absorbing gas injection line 5 is disposed in front of and behind the reaction gas injection line 3 to inject a plasma absorbing gas to react with the anion of the reactive gas in the plasma state to absorb the plasma.

For example, if the source gas is TMA and the reaction gas is any one of O ₂ , NH ₃ and NO ₂ , it can absorb the anions (O ^- , NO ₃ ^- , NH ₂ ^- ) in the reaction gas in the plasma state The absorption gas may be any one of O ₂ , NH ₃ and NO ₂ .

The exhaust gas is introduced into the exhaust line 2 in the direction of relative movement with respect to the substrate S in order to block the reaction between the source gas and the reactive gas by the plasma absorbing gas injection line 5, And a purge gas injection line 4 is further provided between the source gas injection line 1 and the plasma absorbing gas injection line 5.

As described above, since the exhaust line 2 and the purge gas injection line 4 are further provided, the reaction between the source gas and the reaction gas can be more effectively blocked.

It is further preferable that a pair of exhaust lines 2 are provided in front of and behind the source gas injection line 1 and the reaction gas injection line 2 in the direction of movement relative to the substrate S. [

In this way, the reaction between the source gas and the reaction gas can be more effectively blocked by the additional installation of the exhaust line 2.

The plane shape of the substrate S on which the thin film deposition process is to be performed is rectangular, and the injection regions 12 of the linear source also have a rectangular shape in plan view.

The linear source 12 is preferably longer than the substrate S with respect to the direction of movement relative to the substrate S in order to perform a smooth film deposition process.

As described above, the linear source 12 has various numbers and arrangements depending on the design of the reaction gas injection line, the source gas, the reaction gas, the purge gas injection line, and the exhaust line with respect to the moving direction of the substrate S , Its structure can be variously configured.

For example, the linear source 12 may be configured such that the injection lines 1, 3, 4, 5 and the exhaust line 2 are connected to the substrate S as shown in Figs. 4, 5, 6A and 7B And may be formed by a plurality of sheets 54 provided sequentially at an interval in the relative movement direction.

Here, the sheets 54 are sequentially disposed at intervals in the direction of relative movement with respect to the substrate S, thereby spraying a gas such as a source gas, a reactive gas, a plasma absorbing gas, etc., (1, 3, 4, 5) or forming an exhaust passage (2) for intake and exhaust of gas.

The sheets 54 may have rigidity enough to form the injection lines 1, 3, 4, 5 and the exhaust line 2 and may be formed of aluminum, aluminum Alloys and the like can be used.

Further, the intervals formed by the sheets 54 can be appropriately selected in accordance with the gas injection amount and the exhaust amount.

The thickness of the sheets 54 is preferably 0.3 mm to 2 mm. When the thickness of the sheet 54 is smaller than 0.3 mm, the working is difficult and the rigidity is difficult to secure. When the thickness is less than 2 mm, adequate rigidity and thickness reduction effect can be maximized. do.

One or more spacers 61 may be provided between the plurality of sheets 54 to maintain the spacing therebetween. The spacers 61 may be made of the same material as the sheet 54 or may be made of various materials such as synthetic resin such as Teflon.

The spacer 61 may also be integrally formed with one or more rib-shaped sheets 54 formed on the surface of the sheet 54 in the up-and-down direction.

The plurality of sheets 54 also include side ribs 53 which are spaced from the adjacent sheets 54 and which are protruded in one direction at both sides to form a closed flow path 21, Can be formed.

The side ribs 53 are components that protrude in one direction at both ends and are joined to the adjacent sheet 54 by welding or the like to form a flow path 21 whose side is closed.

The side ribs 53 may be formed as separate members from the sheet 54, or may be formed by being bent at both end portions.

The plurality of sheets 54 may be coupled to the lower end of the one or more lower cover members 55 having the openings 56 corresponding to the plurality of sheets 54. [

The lower cover member 55 is structurally reinforced by being coupled to the lower ends of the plurality of sheets 54 while forming an injection port for injecting gas by forming the opening 56 or forming an intake port through which gas is sucked .

The lower cover member 55 may be formed as a separate member from the seat 54, or may be formed by bending at an end portion thereof.

The plurality of sheets 54 also cover the tops of the plurality of sheets 54 and correspond to the plurality of sheets 54 so that one or more pipes 65 are coupled The upper cover 50 can be engaged.

The upper cover 50 covers the upper end of the plurality of sheets 54 to form a closed flow path 21 while corresponding to the plurality of sheets 54 so as to inject or exhaust gas. So that gas injection or exhaustion through the flow path 21 is possible.

The linear source 12 has a support housing 49 having a support portion 49 which is vertically open and supports a plurality of sheets 54 on the upper side so as to be inserted and supported on the upper side in a state where the plurality of sheets 54 are engaged, 51).

The support housing 51 can be variously configured as a component supporting the plurality of sheets 54 after being inserted from above. Here, the plurality of sheets 54 may be individually inserted in the joined state instead of being inserted from the upper side. At this time, guide grooves (not shown) for guiding the insertion of the sheets 54 are formed on the inner circumferential surface of the support housing 51 Can be formed.

On the other hand, when the reaction gas is injected onto the substrate S, it is necessary to change to a plasma state.

Therefore, the reaction gas injection line may be changed into a plasma state by providing an electrode in a flow path through which the reaction gas flows, or by using RPG.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 6A to 7B, between the sheets 54 forming the flow path 21 for injecting the reactive gas in the sheets 54, a plasma converting part 23 are installed.

The plasma converting unit 23 is a component for converting the reactive gas into the plasma state between the sheets 54 forming the flow path 21 for injecting the reactive gas among the sheets 54. The plasma converting unit 23 includes a flow path 21).

The plasma converting unit 23 may be configured to convert the reaction gas into a plasma by an induction field and may be installed on the opposite side of the flow path 21 on the basis of the dielectric 22 and the dielectric 22 made of ceramic, And one or more electrodes 24 to which RF power is applied.

The dielectric 22 is a component for forming an induced electric field by the electrode 24 and can be installed at any position as long as the reaction gas in the flow path 21 can be changed into a plasma state by induction electric field A part of the flow path 21 can be configured as shown in Figs. 6A and 6B.

The electrode 24 is a component that changes the reaction gas to a plasma state by induction electric field through the dielectric 22 by one end being supplied with RF power and the other end being grounded.

The electrodes 24 may have various shapes such as a circular rod or a plate, and may be installed in a variety of pairs. In particular, the electrode 24 may be provided outside the vacuum chamber 11. [

On the other hand, the plasma converting unit 23 is a constituent element for changing the reaction gas into a plasma state by the ICP method, and can have any configuration.

For example, the dielectric 22 may be a hollow tube disposed in the width direction of the substrate S as shown in Figs. 7A and 7B.

And the electrode 24 may be installed in the tube of the dielectric 22 made of a hollow tube.

As described above, since the plasma conversion unit 23 is provided in the flow path 21 through which the reaction gas flows, the reaction gas can be easily converted into the plasma state, and the entire structure and assembly of the linear source 12 can be simplified.

1 ... Source gas injection line 2 ... Reaction gas injection line
3 ... purge gas injection line 4 ... exhaust line

Claims (8)

1. A linear source of a thin film deposition apparatus for spraying a source gas and a reactive gas in a plasma state so as to form a thin film on a substrate by moving relative to the substrate in a horizontal direction,
A source gas injection line for injecting a source gas and a reaction gas injection line for injecting a reactive gas in a plasma state are alternately arranged in a direction of relative movement with respect to the substrate,
And a plasma absorbing gas injection line for injecting a plasma absorbing gas reacting with the anion of the reaction gas in the plasma state is provided in front of and behind the reaction gas injection line in a relative movement direction with respect to the substrate. sauce. The method according to claim 1,
And a purge gas injection line provided in front of and behind the exhaust line in a relative movement direction with respect to the substrate for injecting a purge gas, Wherein the thin film deposition apparatus further comprises: 3. The method of claim 2,
And a pair of exhaust lines for sucking and exhausting gas are provided at the front and rear of the source gas injection line and the reaction gas injection line in a relative movement direction with respect to the substrate. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Wherein the source gas is TMA, the reactive gas is O _2, and NH ₃ and NO ₂ at least one of the absorption gas, O _2, NH _3, and the film deposition apparatus, characterized in that at least one of the NO ₂ Of linear sources. A linear source provided in the vacuum chamber for spraying a source gas and a reactive gas in a plasma state so as to form a thin film on the substrate relative to the substrate in a horizontal direction relative to the substrate; And a linear movement portion that relatively moves in the horizontal direction with respect to the linear source,
Wherein the linear source is sequentially provided with a source gas injection line for injecting a source gas and a reaction gas injection line for injecting a reactive gas in a plasma state alternately in a relative movement direction with respect to the substrate, And a plasma absorbing gas injection line for injecting a plasma absorbing gas which reacts with an anion is installed in front of and behind the reaction gas injection line in a relative movement direction with respect to the substrate. 6. The method of claim 5,
And a purge gas injection line provided in front of and behind the exhaust line in a relative movement direction with respect to the substrate for injecting a purge gas, And the thin film deposition apparatus is further provided between the first substrate and the second substrate. The method according to claim 6,
Wherein a pair of exhaust lines for sucking and exhausting gas are provided in front of and behind the source gas injection line and the reaction gas injection line in a relative movement direction with respect to the substrate. 8. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 7,
Wherein the source gas is TMA, the reactive gas is O _2, and NH ₃ and NO ₂ at least one of the absorption gas, O _2, NH _3, and the film deposition apparatus, characterized in that at least one of the NO ₂ .

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