KR20180111343A - Roll to roll mask and pattern forming apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a roll-to-roll mask (200) for forming a plurality of pattern layers by depositing a deposition material on a substrate film (100) in a roll-to-roll manner. In the roll-to-roll mask (200), two or more layers of mask films (210, 230, 250) for depositing each of different pattern layers on the substrate film (100) adhere to each other by an adhesive. Two or more mask patterns (210a, 230a, 250a) for forming different pattern layers are successively formed at regular intervals in the longitudinal direction in each of the two or more layers of mask films (210, 230, 250). A plurality of groove-shaped alignment marks (200a) are formed in at least one longitudinal end portion of the roll-to-roll mask so that positioning is performed with the substrate film.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a roll-to-roll mask and a pattern forming apparatus using the mask,

The present invention relates to a roll-to-roll mask and a pattern forming apparatus using the mask.

Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), in which electrons injected from an anode and a cathode respectively emit light in a light emitting layer composed of an organic material, A roll-to-roll method has been adopted in view of cost reduction and productivity improvement in the production of such OLEDs.

The prior art described in Patent Document 1 is known as a deposition technique by the roll-to-roll method. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a roll-to-roll mask of the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1. FIG.

As shown in Fig. 1, the roll-to-roll mask of the prior art is composed of a plurality of films having a mask pattern substantially identical in shape to the layer to be formed on the substrate film 10 by vapor deposition, A sealing layer mask 21 in which a mask layer forming mask pattern 21a having the largest mask pattern size is formed in order from the side of the mask layer forming mask 21a, 23, and a mask 25 for an organic layer in which a mask pattern 25a for forming an organic layer having the smallest mask pattern is formed are adhered to each other.

In the process of depositing each layer constituting the OLED on the substrate film 10, when the deposition of the organic layer on the substrate film 10 is completed, the mask 25 for the organic layer is first peeled off, When the deposition is completed, the mask 23 for the negative electrode layer is peeled off, and when the sealing layer is completely vapor-deposited, each layer is deposited on the substrate film 10 in such a manner that the mask 21 for sealing layer is peeled off.

On the other hand, each layer constituting the OLED and the like is a very fine-sized layer, and when the layers including the organic layer are sequentially laminated on the substrate film to form the layers, the positions of the substrate film and the roll- In particular, in a roll-to-roll system in which a deposition process is continuously performed, positional deviation is very important in that it can be gradually enlarged to the next process.

It is also very important to separate the used mask layer accurately from the roll-to-roll mask after the deposition process.

However, in the prior art of Patent Document 1, no mention is made as to precisely separating the used mask layer from the roll-to-roll mask, as well as the alignment to align the positions of the substrate film and the roll- none.

Published Patent Application No. 10-2010-0143589 (published on December 17, 2014)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for aligning a substrate film and a roll- Roll mask and a pattern forming apparatus using the mask.

The roll-to-roll mask of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is a roll-to-roll mask for depositing an evaporation material on a substrate film in a roll-to-roll manner to form a plurality of pattern layers, Wherein at least two mask films for depositing different pattern layers among the pattern layers of the plurality of pattern layers are adhered to each other by an adhesive, Wherein at least one end of the roll-to-roll mask is provided with a groove-shaped alignment mark for alignment with the substrate film, and at least one of the mask patterns is continuously formed at a predetermined interval in the longitudinal direction thereof, Are continuously formed.

The pattern forming apparatus of the present invention for solving the above problems is a pattern forming apparatus for forming a plurality of pattern layers by depositing an evaporation material on a substrate film using a roll to roll mask, And a separating means for separating the mask film, which has been deposited in the deposition step, from the roll-to-roll mask, from the roll-to-roll mask, And a plurality of evaporation sources for supplying evaporation materials for respectively forming the plurality of pattern layers in the evaporation process.

According to the present invention having the above-described structure, it is possible to align the substrate film and the roll-to-roll mask so as to align their positions accurately in the process of attaching them, So that the used mask layer can be accurately separated.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a roll-to-roll mask of the prior art,
2 is a view showing a configuration of a roll-to-roll mask according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention,
Fig. 3 is a view showing an example of the roll-to-roll mask manufacturing method of Fig. 2,
4 schematically shows the structure of a pattern forming apparatus using a roll-to-roll mask according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention,
5 is a view showing an example of an aligning roller according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention,
6 is a view showing a configuration of a modification of the roll-to-roll mask of the present invention,
FIG. 7 is a view showing a mask separation method in a deposition process using the roll-to-roll mask of FIG. 6,
8 is a view showing another example of the mask separation method in the deposition process using the roll-to-roll mask of FIG.

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

In the following description, the roll-to-roll mask and the pattern forming apparatus according to the present embodiment are used for manufacturing an OLED. However, this is merely an example, and if a device or an apparatus is deposited by a continuous process, Can also be used in the manufacture of devices or devices.

An optoelectronic device such as an OLED has an anode layer and a cathode layer formed at a position corresponding thereto. An organic layer (a light emitting layer, a hole injecting layer, an electron injecting layer, an electron transporting layer, an electron transporting layer, etc.) And an anode layer among these components constituting the OLED is usually formed by using a photolithography technique, but it is general that the layers other than the anode layer are formed by vapor deposition . Therefore, the pattern forming apparatus using the roll-to-roll mask of the present embodiment can be used in the process of forming most layers other than the anode layer among the layers constituting the OLED.

Next, a roll-to-roll mask 200 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to Fig. 2 (a) is a cross-sectional view of a roll-to-roll mask 200, (b) is a plan view of the roll-to-roll mask 200 (c) is a plan view of the substrate film 100 which is adhered to the roll-to-roll mask 200.

The roll-to-roll mask 200 of the present embodiment has a film-like sealing layer formation mask 210 having two or more sealing layer formation mask patterns 210a and two or more cathode layer formation mask patterns 230a A film-like organic layer forming mask 250 having a film-shaped negative electrode layer-forming mask 230 and two or more organic layer-forming mask patterns 250a are adhered to each other using a pressure-sensitive adhesive (not shown) At least two patterns 210a, 230a, and 250a are continuously formed at regular intervals in the longitudinal direction of the roll-to-roll mask 200.

2 (a), in the OLED manufacturing process, the roll-to-roll mask 200 is bonded to the substrate film 100 to deposit each layer, and the substrate film 100 and the roll- At least one end or both ends in the longitudinal direction of the substrate film 100 and the longitudinal direction of the roll-to-roll mask 200 are aligned with the substrate alignment mark 100a and the mask alignment mark 100a, respectively, Marks 200a are formed at regular intervals. Although the substrate alignment mark 100a and the mask alignment mark 200a are formed in a circular shape in FIG. 2, the substrate alignment mark 100a and the mask alignment mark 200a may have other shapes, The size and the spacing between the plurality of alignment marks must be equal to each other.

The sealing layer forming mask pattern 210a, the cathode layer forming mask pattern 230a and the organic layer forming mask pattern 250a of the roll-to-roll mask 200 are formed so as to have the shapes of the sealing layer, The plurality of layers are adhered to each other with the adhesive so that the open area having the same shape and size and the largest open area is on the side of the substrate film 100 and the smallest side is on the opposite side of the substrate film 100 .

In the pressure-sensitive adhesive which adheres each of the masks to each other, the pressure-sensitive adhesive which is closest to the substrate film 100 has the greatest adhesive force and the pressure-sensitive adhesive which is relatively farther away from the substrate film 100 is used, Will be described later.

Next, a method of forming a roll-to-roll mask 200 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be briefly described with reference to Fig. Fig. 3 is a view showing an example of the roll-to-roll mask manufacturing method of Fig. 2;

3 (a), the roll-to-roll mask 200 is manufactured by forming a mask layer 210a and a mask layer 230a for forming a negative-electrode layer, each having a different open- The sealing layer forming mask 210, the cathode layer forming mask 230, and the organic layer forming mask 250, which are formed by separately forming the mask layer 250a and the organic layer forming mask pattern 250a, 3 (b), three films for forming a roll-to-roll mask 200 are first adhered to each other, and then the three sheets of cohesive films are adhered to each other by a sealant, A method of forming a roll-to-roll mask 200 having open regions of different sizes by simultaneously boring the forming mask pattern 210a, the cathode layer forming mask pattern 230a, and the organic layer forming mask pattern 250a And these methods can be used in the industry Stand is well known.

As shown in Fig. 3 (c), the roll-to-roll mask 200 formed by the method of Fig. 3 (a) or 3 (b) (200-1, 200-2, ..., 200-n) may be cut into a unit roll roll mask 200-1, 200-2, ..., 200-n.

Although materials for the masks 210, 230, and 250 constituting the roll-to-roll mask 200 are preferably the same as those for the substrate film 100, for example, PET ( Polyethylene terephthalate), PI (polyimide), PEN, and the like.

Next, a deposition process for depositing a layer necessary for an OLED using the roll-to-roll mask 200 of the present embodiment will be described. 4 is a view schematically showing a configuration of a pattern forming apparatus using a roll-to-roll mask according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The pattern forming apparatus 300 using the roll-to-roll mask according to the present embodiment includes a substrate film supply roll 310a and a recovery roll 320, a mask supply roll 310b, lapping rollers 313a and 313b, Two or more separation rollers 314, two or more recovery trays 319, and one or more support rollers 315, which may be disposed in a deposition chamber (not shown).

The deposition chamber is for depositing each layer constituting the OLED, for example, a cathode layer or the like on the substrate film 100 in a vacuum atmosphere, and a known deposition chamber may be used.

The substrate film 100 is wound on a substrate film supply roll 310a and fed to a deposition process with appropriate tension by a drive roller not shown, while the roll-to-roll mask 200 is wound on a mask supply roll 310b And is also supplied to the deposition process with a suitable tension by a driving roller of a not shown. At this time, the substrate film 100 is fed to the pair of laminating rollers 313a and 313b side by aligning the substrate alignment mark 100a with the substrate film aligning roller 311a, and the roll- The mask 200a is sandwiched by the mask alignment roller 311b and fed to the pair of laminating rollers 313a and 313b and the substrate film 100 and the roll- 200 are aligned with each other, that is, they are aligned with each other and joined together, and are supplied to a subsequent deposition process.

In place of the separate drive roller, a pair of lapping rollers 313a and 313b may also serve as the drive roller.

Therefore, in order to accurately align the substrate film 100 and the roll-to-roll mask 200, the distance between the substrate film aligning roller 311a and the pair of lapping rollers 313a and 313b and the distance between the mask aligning roller 311b and the pair The distance between the laminating rollers 313a and 313b is preferably the same.

The substrate film aligning roller 311a and the mask aligning roller 311b may be rollers of the same shape and may have a shape as shown in Figs. 5 (a), 5 (b) and 5 (c) Other various shapes of rollers may be used.

The recovery roll 320 recovers the substrate film 100 that has been deposited in the deposition process.

The evaporation source supplies evaporation materials for layer formation, which are formed on the substrate film 100. In this embodiment, the organic layer, the cathode layer, and the sealing layer are formed on the substrate film 100 by the roll- It is naturally necessary to use three evaporation sources including an organic layer deposition source 318a, a cathode layer deposition source 318b and a sealing layer deposition source 318c. The arrangement order of these evaporation sources is that the largest size layer is formed in the evaporation source which forms the layer having the smallest opening area of the mask pattern from the substrate film supply roll 310a side to the recovery roll 320 side In the present embodiment, the organic layer evaporation source 318a, the cathode layer evaporation source 318b, and the sealing layer evaporation source 318c are arranged in this order.

The evaporation source may be any evaporation source selected from a thermal evaporation source, an electron beam evaporation source, an ion beam evaporation source, a plasma evaporation source, a DC sputtering source, a DC magnetron sputtering source, and an RF sputtering source.

The separation roller 314 separates the used mask among the three masks of the roll-to-roll mask 200 in the deposition process from the roll-to-roll mask 200 and allows it to be recovered to the recovery tray 319. In this embodiment, since the deposition is performed on the substrate film 100 in the order of the organic layer, the cathode layer and the sealing layer, the mask 250 for organic layer formation is first separated from the roll-to-roll mask 200, The mask for layer formation 230 and the mask for forming a sealing layer 210 are separated from the roll-to-roll mask 200 and recovered in the recovery tray 319 in this order.

4, the mask after the deposition is separated from the roll-to-roll mask 200 by the separation roller 314 and is recovered to the recovery tray 319. However, Details of the method for separating the completed mask will be described later.

The support rollers 315 are connected to the rolls 320 by a deposition process in a state in which the substrate film 100 and the roll-to-roll mask 200, which are fixed to each other by a pair of lapping rollers 313a and 313b, And an appropriate number of support rollers 315 can be disposed at appropriate positions as required. 4, each of the separation rollers 314 is separated from the mask on which the deposition is completed in a state in which the separation rollers 314 are supported by one support roller 315 on the substrate film 100 side. However, this is only an example, Change and so on.

≪ Modification Example 1 &

Next, Modification 1 will be described.

In Modification 1 of the present embodiment, in the process of depositing each layer of the OLED on the substrate film 100 using the pattern forming apparatus 300 of the embodiment described above, the mask after deposition is easily removed from the roll- The shape of the roll-to-roll mask is partially changed so as to be separated.

6 is a view showing the configuration of a modified example of the roll-to-roll mask of the present invention.

6, the roll-to-roll mask 400 of the present modification example includes a sealing layer formation mask 410 having at least two sealing layer formation mask patterns 410a and at least two mask layer formation mask patterns 430a And a mask 450 for forming an organic layer having two or more organic layer forming mask patterns 450a are adhered to each other with an adhesive, and the length of the roll-to-roll mask 400 The roll-to-roll mask 200 according to the embodiment is the same as the roll-to-roll mask 200 according to the embodiment in that a mask alignment mark 400a for facilitating alignment with the substrate film 100 is formed.

However, in this modified example, in order to easily separate the mask after deposition from the roll-to-roll mask 200, the width of the end portion of the roll-to-roll mask 400 composed of three layers is gradually narrowed toward the end And the stepped portions are formed by making the lengths of the end portions of the masks of the three layers different from each other.

Here, the length of the end of the mask of the three layers is the longest in terms of easiness of separation, and the mask with the longest mask is the shortest. Therefore, in this modified example, the length of the end of the mask 450 for forming the organic layer is the longest, and the length of the end of the mask 410 for forming the seal layer is the shortest.

Next, a method of separating the mask after deposition from the roll-to-roll mask in the pattern forming apparatus using the roll-to-roll mask 400 of Modification Example 1 will be described.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a mask separation method in a deposition process using the roll-to-roll mask of FIG. 6;

The pattern forming apparatus according to Modification Example 1 is basically the same as the pattern forming apparatus 300 according to the above-described embodiment shown in Fig. 4 except that the mask having been deposited by the pattern forming apparatus 300 of the above- As shown in Fig. 7, a portion having a substantially " a " -shaped shape and contacting the end portion of the roll-to-roll mask 400 has a thinner tapered surface Shaped mask 500 is used to separate the mask after deposition.

As described above, in the roll-to-roll mask 400 of the first modification, the end portions of the end portions are formed in a narrow tapered shape, and the stepped portions having the lengths of the end portions of the three layers of the mask are formed, The end of the mask that has been deposited in the course of the deposition process of the roll-to-roll mask 400 attached to the substrate film 100 is easily transferred to the roll-to-roll mask (not shown) while being in contact with the tapered surface of the separation blade 500 400, and is recovered to the lower end of the recovery tray 319.

Roll-to-roll mask 400 used in Modification 1 is a unit roll-to-roll mask in which a roll-to-roll mask is cut in a predetermined number of units in the longitudinal direction as in the roll-to- It may be more convenient to use. In order to adhere the unit roll transfer mask to the substrate film 100, it is also possible to use, for example, a unit roll transfer mask in which a plurality of unit roll transfer masks are stacked in place of the mask supply roll 310b in FIG. And the masks are supplied to the front end of the pair of lapping rollers 313a and 313b one by one and joined together.

≪ Modification Example 2 &

Next, Modification 2 will be described. 8 is a view showing another example of the mask separation method in the deposition process using the roll-to-roll mask of FIG.

In the second modification, the roll-to-roll mask 200 of the first embodiment or the roll-to-roll mask 400 of the first modification described above is used.

The pattern forming apparatus according to the second modification is basically the same as the pattern forming apparatus 300 according to the above-described embodiment shown in Fig. 4 except that the pattern forming apparatus 300 according to the above- Instead of the separating roller 314 separating the mask from the roll-to-roll mask 200, a separating roller 700 having a pressure-sensitive adhesive material coated on the surface of the roller as shown in Fig. This is different in that it separates the finished mask.

As described above, in the roll-to-roll mask 400 used in the present modification, the end portions of the end portions are formed into a narrow tapered shape, and the stepped portions having the lengths of the end portions of the three layers of the mask are formed A separating adhesive roller 700 in which an end portion of a mask having been deposited in a roll-to-roll mask 400 adhered to the substrate film 100 in a deposition process is coated with a sticky substance on the surface, Roll mask 400 while being wound on the separating adhesive roller 700 in accordance with the rotation of the separating adhesive roller 700 while being in contact with the surface of the roll-to-roll mask 400. [ However, in this modified example, since the mask having been separated and deposited is wound around the surface of the separating adhesive roller 700 to be recovered, the recovery tray 319 shown in FIG. 4 may be omitted.

As described above, the pressure-sensitive adhesive that adheres each of the masks such as the sealing layer forming masks 210 and 410 and the negative-electrode layer-forming masks 230 and 430 to each other has an adhesive agent used on the side closest to the substrate film 100 The possibility that two or more layers of masks are separated at the same time by the separating adhesive rollers 700 is reduced because the mask layers are adhered to each other by using a pressure sensitive adhesive agent having the greatest adhesive force and a relatively small adhesive force as moving away from the substrate film 100 And can be separated and recovered in order by the separating adhesive rollers 700 in the order of the mask located farther from the substrate film 100. [

The roll-to-roll mask 400 used in Modification 2 of the present invention may also be a roll-to-roll mask as shown in Fig. 3 (c) It may be more convenient to use a mask, and in order to bond the unit roll transfer mask with the substrate film 100, a plurality of unit roll transfer masks may be stacked, for example, in place of the mask supply roll 310b of FIG. And the unit roll transfer masks are fed one by one to the pair of lapping rollers 313a and 313b by a jig or the like, and they are joined together.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments and Modifications 1 and 2, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment and Modifications 1 and 2, and various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the present invention .

In the embodiment and Modifications 1 and 2, the roll-to-roll masks each have three mask layers each consisting of a mask for forming a sealing layer, a mask for forming a negative electrode layer, and a mask for forming an organic layer, but the number of mask layers is three But the number is not limited and may be two or four or more.

In the above-described embodiment and Modifications 1 and 2, the sealing layer, the cathode layer and the organic layer of the OLED are continuously formed using a roll-to-roll mask, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Any other layer may be used.

In the above embodiment, three layers are successively deposited on the substrate film 100 in one deposition chamber. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and two or more layers may be continuously deposited in one chamber, The deposition chamber may be separately deposited on the substrate 100 while the two or more layers are deposited on the substrate film 100 in the continuous process by the roll-to-roll mask 200 of the present embodiment, In other words, a separate chamber may be provided for each deposited layer, such as a deposition chamber for forming a cathode layer, a deposition chamber for forming an organic layer, and a deposition chamber for forming a sealing layer, and each layer may be deposited in each chamber.

The above embodiment and the modification may be combined with each other.

100 substrate film
100a substrate alignment mark
200, 400 Roll to Roll Mask
200a, 400a mask alignment mark
210, < RTI ID = 0.0 > 410 &
210a and 410a, a mask layer for forming a sealing layer
230, 430 Mask for forming cathode layer
230a, 430a A mask pattern for forming a cathode layer
250, 450 Mask for forming organic layer
250a, 450a Mask pattern for organic layer formation
300 pattern forming device
311a substrate film alignment roller
311b Mask alignment roller
313 Coating roller
314 separation roller
319 times tray
500 separating blade
700 Adhesive roller for separation

Claims (10)

A roll-to-roll mask for depositing an evaporation material on a substrate film in a roll-to-roll manner to form a plurality of pattern layers,
Wherein the roll-to-roll mask comprises two or more mask films for adhering different pattern layers among the plurality of pattern layers on the substrate film,
Wherein two or more mask patterns for forming different pattern layers among the plurality of pattern layers are successively formed in each of the two or more mask films at regular intervals in the longitudinal direction thereof,
Wherein at least one end portion of the roll-to-roll mask in the longitudinal direction is continuously formed with groove-shaped alignment marks for alignment with the substrate film. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the roll-to-roll mask is constituted by sticking with a pressure-sensitive adhesive having the greatest adhesive force nearest to the substrate film and a relatively small adhesive force toward the substrate film. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the different pattern layers are formed in such a manner that the two mask films are adhered to each other in such a manner that the size of the mask pattern is the largest nearest to the substrate film and the size becomes gradually smaller toward the substrate film, . The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the step of the roll-to-roll mask has step portions with different lengths at the ends of the two or more mask films. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the end portion of the roll-to-roll mask has a tapered shape whose width gradually decreases toward the end. A pattern forming apparatus for forming a plurality of pattern layers by depositing an evaporation material on a substrate film using the roll-to-roll mask according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A laminating roller for laminating the substrate film and the roll-to-roll mask, which are aligned by the aligning means, to a deposition process;
Separating means for separating, from the roll-to-roll mask, the mask film that has been deposited in the deposition step among the two or more mask films,
And a plurality of evaporation sources for supplying evaporation materials for forming the plurality of pattern layers in the deposition step. The method of claim 6,
Wherein the separating means is a separating adhesive roller having a surface coated with an adhesive material. A pattern forming apparatus for forming a plurality of pattern layers by depositing an evaporation material on a substrate film using the roll-to-roll mask according to any one of claims 4 and 5,
A cohesive roller for coalescing the substrate film and the roll-to-roll mask, which are aligned by the positioning means, to a subsequent deposition process;
Separating means for separating, from the roll-to-roll mask, the mask film that has been deposited in the deposition step among the two or more mask films,
And a plurality of evaporation sources for supplying evaporation materials for forming the plurality of pattern layers in the deposition step. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the separating means is a separating blade having a tapered surface shape having a substantially " a " shape and a portion in contact with the end portion being the thinnest. The method according to claim 6 or 8,
Wherein the positioning means comprises:
A substrate film alignment roller for guiding a substrate alignment mark formed at a position corresponding to the alignment mark on the substrate film to guide the substrate film to the adhesion roller,
And a substrate film alignment roller for guiding the alignment mark to guide the roll-to-roll mask to the lapping roller.

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