KR20210116251A - Substrate carrier, film forming apparatus, and film forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a substrate carrier which reverses or returns a substrate while supporting the same without drastic increase of the total weight of the substrate carrier. The substrate carrier comprises: a plate-shape member having a first surface supporting the substrate and a second surface as an opposite surface of the first surface; a plurality of adhesive members which are placed on the first surface and have adhesive surfaces to support the substrate, respectively; and a first rib placed on the second surface. The plurality of adhesive members include a first adhesive member group arranged in a row along the first surface. An area where each adhesive surface of the first adhesive member group is vertically projected on the first surface overlaps with an area where the first rib is vertically projected on the first surface.

Description

A substrate carrier, a film forming apparatus, and a film forming method

The present invention relates to a substrate carrier, a deposition apparatus, and a deposition method.

As a method of manufacturing an organic EL display, a mask film forming method is known in which a film of a predetermined pattern is formed by forming a film on a substrate through a mask having openings formed therein in a predetermined pattern. In the mask film forming method, after aligning the mask and the substrate, the mask and the substrate are brought into close contact to form a film.

Patent Document 1 describes that a substrate is held by a chuck plate (also referred to as a "substrate carrier"), and the substrate is conveyed with the chuck plate. Thereby, it becomes possible to convey even a large area board|substrate with large sag. Further, in Patent Document 1, the processing surface of the substrate is held by the substrate carrier in a vertically upward state, and thereafter, the side surface of the substrate carrier is mechanically held and rotated by 180° to invert the processing surface of the substrate. Changing to the vertical direction downward is described.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-55093

In recent years, in order to enlarge the area of an organic electroluminescent display, or to improve production efficiency, it is calculated|required to perform film-forming using the board|substrate of a large size. Generally, at the time of manufacture of organic electroluminescent display, thin plates, such as glass and resin, are used as a board|substrate in many cases, and when the size of a board|substrate becomes large, the sag when a board|substrate is hold|maintained horizontally becomes large.

Sagging of the substrate can be reduced by carrying the substrate while being held by the substrate carrier. However, sag also exists in the substrate carrier holding the substrate. Inverting the substrate carrier holding the substrate reverses the direction of the substrate holding surface of the substrate carrier with respect to gravity, so that the deflection shape of the substrate carrier is reversed before and after inversion. Thus, when the attitude|position of a substrate carrier changes, the shape of the contact surface of a board|substrate and a board|substrate carrier changes, and when the change amount is too large, a board|substrate peeled from a board|substrate carrier, and there existed a possibility that a board|substrate might fall.

On the other hand, if the rigidity of the substrate carrier is made as high as possible to make it difficult to sag as a whole, the weight of the substrate carrier is remarkably increased, making conveyance and inversion difficult.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate carrier capable of stably inverting or conveying while holding the substrate without significantly increasing the weight of the entire substrate carrier in view of the above problems.

In order to solve the above problems, the substrate carrier of the present invention,

a plate-shaped member having a first surface for holding the substrate and a second surface which is a surface opposite to the first surface;

a plurality of adhesive members disposed on the first surface side and each having an adhesive surface for holding the substrate;

and a first rib disposed on the second surface side,

The plurality of adhesive members includes a first group of adhesive members arranged in a row along the first surface,

A region in which each of the adhesive surfaces of the first adhesive member group is vertically projected onto the first surface overlaps a region in which the first rib is vertically projected onto the first surface.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the board|substrate carrier which can be stably reversed can be provided, holding a board|substrate, without significantly increasing the weight of the whole board|substrate carrier.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the board|substrate carrier of embodiment.
It is a schematic diagram which shows the lower surface of the board|substrate carrier of embodiment.
It is a schematic block diagram of the in-line manufacturing system of the organic electroluminescent panel of embodiment.
It is a figure which shows the top view of the board|substrate carrier of embodiment, and the example of arrangement|positioning of a rib.
It is a schematic diagram of the alignment mechanism of embodiment.
It is an enlarged view of the carrier holding part and the mask holding part of embodiment.
It is a perspective view of the alignment mechanism of embodiment.
It is a schematic diagram of the alignment state in the board|substrate carrier of a comparative example.
It is a schematic diagram of the alignment state of the carrier of embodiment.
It is a perspective view which shows an example of a rotation translation mechanism.
Fig. 11 is a plan view showing a holding state of a substrate and a mask, and an enlarged view of a mark.
12 is a flowchart showing each step of the processing in the embodiment.
13 is an explanatory diagram of an organic EL display device.

[Embodiment 1]

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, with reference to drawings, the form for implementing this invention is demonstrated in detail by illustration based on an Example. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of components described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention to only these, unless otherwise specifically stated.

A substrate carrier, a film forming apparatus, a film forming method, and a manufacturing method of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 12 . In the following description, the mask mounting apparatus etc. which are provided in the apparatus for manufacturing an electronic device are taken as an example and demonstrated. In addition, the case where the vacuum vapor deposition method is employ|adopted as an example as a film-forming method for manufacturing an electronic device is demonstrated. However, this invention is applicable also when employ|adopting a sputtering method as a film-forming method. In addition, the mask mounting apparatus and the like of the present invention can be applied not only to the apparatus used in the film forming process, but also to various apparatuses requiring a mask to be mounted on the substrate, and in particular, can be preferably applied to an apparatus in which a large substrate is to be processed. have. In addition, as a material of the board|substrate applied to this invention, other than glass, arbitrary materials, such as a semiconductor (for example, silicon|silicone), a polymeric film, a metal, can be selected. Moreover, as a board|substrate, the board|substrate in which films, such as polyimide, were laminated|stacked on a silicon wafer or a glass substrate, for example can also be employ|adopted. On the other hand, in the case of forming a plurality of layers on a substrate, it is also referred to as a "substrate" including the layers already formed up to the previous step. In addition, in the case of having a plurality of the same or corresponding members in the same drawing, such as various devices described below, subscripts such as a and b are sometimes indicated in the drawing, but when there is no need to distinguish them in the description, In some cases, subscripts such as a and b are omitted.

(Carrier configuration)

1 and 2, the configuration of the substrate carrier 9 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1A shows the state of the substrate carrier 9 when the substrate carrier 9 is viewed obliquely from above, and shows the self-weight deformation shape of the entire substrate carrier 9 in a supported state at the time of conveyance and alignment. In addition, FIG. 2 has shown the mode of the board|substrate carrier 9 when the back surface of the board|substrate carrier 9 is seen obliquely from below, and illustration of the conveyance roller 15 is abbreviate|omitted.

The substrate carrier 9 is a planar view quadrangular flat plate-shaped structure, in which the vicinity of two opposing sides among the four sides constituting the rectangular outer periphery is in a posture in which the opposing two sides follow the conveying direction, the substrate carrier 9 It is supported by the conveyance roller 15 as a conveyance rotating body arrange|positioned in multiple numbers along the conveyance direction on both sides of the conveyance path of . With this support structure, the movement of the substrate carrier 9 in the conveying direction is guided by the rotation of the conveying roller 15 . 1A and 2 show a state in which the vicinity of two opposing sides among the four sides constituting the rectangular outer periphery of the substrate carrier 9 is supported by the conveying roller 15, and both supported by the deformation due to its own weight. The figure shows the deformed state so that the central part away from the side (the central part in the direction along two opposing sides, not the supporting side among the four sides) sinks downward.

The substrate carrier 9 includes a carrier face plate 30 which is a rectangular plate-shaped member, and a plurality of chuck members 32 . The substrate carrier 9 holds the substrate 5 on the holding surface (the first surface, the lower surface in the state shown in FIG. 1 ) of the carrier face plate 30 .

The chuck member 32 has a chuck surface for chucking the substrate 5 in contact with the substrate 5 . The chuck surface of the chuck member 32 of the present embodiment is an adhesive surface constituted by an adhesive member, and holds the substrate 5 by adhesive force. Therefore, the chuck member 32 of the present embodiment may be called an adhesive pad. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2 , each of the plurality of chuck members 32 has a chuck surface (adhesive surface) of the carrier face plate 30 inside a plurality of holes provided in the carrier face plate 30 . It is arranged so that there is no step difference with the holding surface (to be located on the same plane). Thereby, by chucking the substrate 5 by each of the plurality of chuck members 32 , the substrate 5 can be held along the holding surface of the carrier face plate 30 . On the other hand, the plurality of chuck members 32 may be arranged such that the chuck surfaces each have protrude from the holding surface of the carrier face plate 30 by a predetermined distance. The chuck member 32 may be disposed at any position. As an example, the chuck member 32 is preferably arranged according to the shape of the mask 6 , and corresponds to a boundary portion (portion of a grate) for dividing a film formation region of the substrate 5 of the mask 6 . It is more preferable that it is arranged. Thereby, the influence on the temperature distribution of the film-forming area of the board|substrate 5 by the chuck member 32 contacting the board|substrate 5 can be suppressed.

On the surface (the second surface, in this embodiment, the upper surface) opposite to the holding surface of the carrier face plate 30, a central reinforcing rib 80 (first rib) for suppressing the amount of deflection and deflection of the entire substrate carrier 9 under its own weight. ) is fixed. In addition, a peripheral reinforcing rib 81 (second rib) is fixed to the vicinity of a side of the carrier face plate 30 in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction. These central reinforcing ribs 80 and peripheral reinforcing ribs 81 can be arranged at an arbitrary position of the carrier face plate 30, and are configured to be appropriately added or reduced in number.

The material of the carrier face plate 30 is preferably aluminum or an aluminum alloy as a main material in order to reduce the weight of the entire substrate carrier 9 . In addition, although the central reinforcing rib 80 and the peripheral reinforcing rib 81 may be made of aluminum, in order to secure rigidity while saving space, it is good also considering stainless steel, high rigidity steel, and ceramics as a material.

1B is a perspective view of the substrate carrier 9 according to the present embodiment in a sagging state due to its own weight, viewed from the side in the width direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction, and the deformed cross section in the central portion of the width direction is a central reinforcing rib ( 80) has a hyperbolic shape as the vertex. Since the central reinforcing rib 80 is thick and has high rigidity, the amount of sag in the central part in the width direction of the substrate carrier 9 is reduced in the central part in the conveyance direction. That is, in the substrate carrier 9, it is common that the central part of the width direction sinks most downward in any position in the conveyance direction. The settling becomes a reduced deflection deformation than the settling of the end portion in the conveying direction. The amount of deflection of the substrate carrier 9 at the center in the width direction and the center in the conveying direction reinforced by the central reinforcing rib 80 is dcc. In addition, the amount of deflection of the substrate carrier 9 in the width direction central part of the part reinforced by the peripheral reinforcing rib 81 along the side extending in the width direction among the four outer periphery sides of the substrate carrier 9 is dce. The "sag amount" as used herein refers to a pair of peripheral regions corresponding to a pair of opposing edges arranged along a predetermined direction among a plurality of edges constituting the peripheral edge of the substrate 5 in the peripheral portion of the substrate carrier 9 . It is the amount of deflection when the bay is supported by a pair of supporting means such as the conveying roller 15 and the carrier support part 8 . In addition, the "sag amount" refers to the amount by which the lower part of the substrate carrier 9 sags with respect to the height of the conveying roller 15 which is the support point of the substrate carrier 9 or the height from the carrier support part 8 in the said support state. say That is, in the central portion in the conveyance direction of the substrate carrier 9, the height difference between the upper end (upper surface) of one end portion in the width direction where the height is the highest and the lower end (lower surface) of the width direction central portion at which the height is the lowest An absolute value is defined as a deflection amount (dcc). Similarly, at one end in the conveyance direction of the substrate carrier 9, the height in the height direction between the upper end (upper surface) of one end portion in the width direction at which the height is the highest and the lower end (lower surface) of the width direction central portion at which the height becomes the lowest. The absolute value of the difference is defined as the amount of deflection (dce). On the other hand, instead of the difference in height between the upper end of the one end in the width direction and the lower end of the central portion in the width direction as described above, the amount of deflection may be defined by the height difference between the upper ends of the one end in the width direction and the central portion, or the height difference between the lower ends. . In addition, when a height direction makes a conveyance direction a 1st direction and makes a width direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction a 2nd direction, it can prescribe|regulate as a 1st direction and a 3rd direction orthogonal to a 2nd direction.

The substrate 5 is adsorbed and held by a plurality of chuck members 32 disposed on the lower surface of the carrier face plate 30 mainly holding the substrate 5 itself in the substrate carrier 9 . The suction force of the chuck member 32 is limited by the characteristics of the chuck member 32 and peels off when a force equal to or greater than a threshold value is applied. Moreover, the number and arrangement|positioning of the chuck members 32 can be designed suitably so that the board|substrate 5 can be hold|maintained within this threshold value. The chuck member 32 may be detachably attached so that the arrangement of the chuck member 32 can be changed according to the shape of the mask 6 .

The central reinforcing rib 80, which is a characteristic configuration of the present invention, is arranged according to the arrangement of the chuck members 32, and in particular, a position at which the arrangement of the chuck members 32 intersects (specifically, a position perpendicular to the vertical and horizontal directions) or The structure in which the position with high arrangement|positioning density in the board|substrate carrier 9 of the chuck member 32 was reinforced and the amount of sag dcc was reduced is taken. As a result, the entire substrate carrier 9 can take a hyperbolic sagging deformation state.

With reference to FIG. 3, the manufacturing system (film-forming apparatus) which concerns on embodiment of this invention is demonstrated. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a manufacturing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and illustrates a manufacturing system 300 for manufacturing an organic EL panel (organic EL display device) in-line. The organic EL panel is generally manufactured through an organic light emitting element forming process of forming an organic light emitting element on a substrate and a sealing process of forming a protective layer on the formed organic light emitting layer, but the manufacturing system 300 according to the present embodiment ) mainly performs the organic light emitting device forming process.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the manufacturing system 300 includes an alignment chamber 100 (mask attaching chamber), a plurality of film formation chambers 110 , a rotation chamber 111 , a transfer chamber 112 , and a mask. It has a separation chamber 113 , a substrate separation chamber 114 , a substrate input chamber 117 (a substrate attaching chamber), a transfer chamber 118 , and a transfer chamber 115 . The manufacturing system 300 also has conveying means which will be described later, and the substrate carrier is conveyed along a predetermined conveyance path through each chamber of the manufacturing system 300 by the conveying means. Specifically, in the configuration of FIG. 3 , the substrate carrier 9 includes an alignment chamber 100 (mask attaching chamber), a plurality of film formation chambers 110a , a rotation chamber 111a , a transfer chamber 112 , and a rotation chamber. 111b, a plurality of deposition chambers 110b, a mask separation chamber 113, a substrate separation chamber 114 (inversion chamber), a substrate input chamber 117 (substrate attachment and inversion chamber), a transfer chamber 118, It is conveyed through the inside of each chamber in order of the conveyance chamber 115, and is returned to the alignment chamber 100 again. In this way, the substrate carrier 9 is circulated and conveyed along a predetermined conveyance path (circulation conveyance path). On the other hand, the manufacturing system 300 in this embodiment has the mask input chamber 90 and the mask conveyance chamber 116 further. Hereinafter, the function of each chamber will be described.

In contrast to the substrate carrier 9 being circulated through the circulating transport path, the mask 6 is fed into the circulating transport path from the mask input chamber 90 and taken out from the mask transport chamber 116 . Further, after the unformed substrate 5 is put into the circulation transport path from the substrate input chamber 117 serving as the substrate attaching chamber, and is formed while being held by the substrate carrier 9, the film-formed substrate 5 is transferred to the substrate. It is carried out from the separation chamber 114 . The unfilmed substrate 5 carried into the substrate loading chamber 117 is held by the substrate carrier 9 in the substrate loading chamber 117 , and is passed through the transfer chamber 118 and the transfer chamber 115 to the alignment chamber. It is brought into (110).

In the substrate input chamber 117 and the substrate separation chamber 114 , a reversing mechanism (reversing mechanism) for reversing the orientation of the holding surface of the substrate carrier 9 from a vertical direction upward to a vertical direction downward, or from a vertical direction downward to a vertical direction upward direction A mechanism 120. A reversing mechanism provided in the substrate separation chamber 114 is not shown). As the reversing mechanism 120 as the reversing means, a conventionally known mechanism capable of changing the posture (orientation) by gripping the substrate carrier 9 or the like may be appropriately employed, and description of the specific configuration is omitted. The substrate 5 is loaded into the substrate input chamber 117 in which the substrate carrier 9 is arranged with the holding surface facing up in the vertical direction, with the surface to be film formed facing up in the vertical direction, the substrate carrier It is placed on the holding surface of (9) and held by the substrate carrier (9). Thereafter, the substrate carrier 9 holding the substrate 5 is inverted by the inversion mechanism 120 so that the film-forming surface of the substrate 5 faces downward in the vertical direction. On the other hand, when the substrate carrier 9 is loaded into the substrate separation chamber 114 from the mask separation chamber 113 , the substrate 5 is loaded in a state in which the film-forming surface of the substrate 5 faces downward in the vertical direction. After carrying in, the substrate carrier 9 holding the substrate 5 is inverted by an inversion mechanism (not shown), so that the film-forming surface of the substrate 5 faces upward in the vertical direction. Thereafter, the substrate 5 is unloaded from the substrate separation chamber 114 with the film-forming surface facing upward in the vertical direction.

When the substrate carrier 9 inverted by holding the substrate 5 loaded in the substrate input chamber 117 is loaded into the alignment chamber 100 , the mask 6 is moved from the mask input chamber 90 to the alignment chamber accordingly. (100) is brought in. In the alignment chamber 100 (mask attaching chamber), the alignment device 1 is mounted, and the substrate 5 and the mask 6 loaded on the substrate carrier 9 according to the present embodiment are precisely aligned and masked. It is set as the state which mounted the board|substrate carrier 9 (board|substrate 5) in (6), and it transmits to the conveyance roller 15 (conveyance means) after that, and starts conveyance toward the next process. The substrate 5 , the mask 6 , and the substrate carrier 9 are transported along the transport path without changing their orientation, respectively. That is, even if the direction in which the conveyance path extends is changed, the respective orientation is not changed and only the traveling direction is changed. A plurality of conveying rollers 15 as conveying means are arranged along the conveying direction on both sides of the conveying path, and respectively rotate by the driving force of an AC servo motor (not shown) to convey the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 . is composed of In a conveyance path, according to the conveyance direction, pair 15Aa, 15Ab of conveyance roller 15A as a 1st conveyance rotation body for conveying in a 1st direction, and a 2nd conveyance rotation body for conveying in a 2nd direction Either or both of the pairs 15Ba and 15Bb of the conveying rollers 15B are provided.

In FIG. 3 , in the film formation chamber 110a at the front stage of the conveyance path, the substrate 5 adsorbed on the loaded substrate carrier 9 passes over the evaporation source 7 , so that the On the film-forming surface, the surface other than the position covered by the mask 6 is formed into a film. The substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 change the advancing direction in the rotation chamber 111a to a direction orthogonal to the advancing direction up to that time (rotation by 90°), pass through the transfer chamber 112, and rotate It passes through the chamber 11b (and rotates 90 degrees in the advancing direction), and is injected|thrown-in to the film-forming chamber 110b at the rear end of a conveyance path. In each rotation chamber 111, pair 15Aa, 15Ab of conveyance roller 15A as a 1st conveyance rotation body for conveying the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 in a 1st direction, and a 2nd direction A pair 15Ba, 15Bb of a conveying roller 15B as a second conveying rotary body for conveying to the By varying the heights of the first and second conveying rotors, the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are transferred and mounted, and the orientation of the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 is not changed, and the advancing direction It is configured to change only. Specifically, in a state in which the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are supported by the first conveying rotation body, the second conveying rotation body rises from the bottom up and moves to a position higher than the first conveying rotation body, whereby the substrate By setting the carrier 9 and the mask 6 as a state supported by the second conveyance rotating body, the transfer and actual machine can be realized. After completion of the film formation, the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 reach the mask separation chamber 113 , and the substrate carrier 9 is conveyed to the substrate separation chamber 114 , and in the substrate separation chamber 114 , the film formation The completed substrate 5 is separated from the substrate carrier 9 and recovered from the inside of the circulation conveyance path. On the other hand, the mask 6 single-piece|unit isolate|separated from the board|substrate carrier 9 goes straight as it is, and is conveyed to the mask carrying-out chamber 116. As shown in FIG. A new substrate 5 is put into the substrate carrier 9 in the substrate input chamber 117 , adsorbed, and inverted, and the substrate carrier 9 is circulated and transported by the substrate carrier 9 alone on which the substrate 5 is mounted. The inside of a path|route is conveyed, and it is aligned and mounted on the mask 6 conveyed from the injection|throwing-in chamber 90 in the alignment chamber 100 again. On the other hand, in the transfer chamber 118 , a pair of transfer rollers having different (orthogonal) transfer directions are provided in two upper and lower stages. A plurality of pairs of lower conveying rollers arranged in a row in the first direction are used when the mask 6 separated in the mask separation chamber 113 is conveyed from the mask separation chamber 113 to the mask conveyance chamber 116 . A plurality of pairs of upper conveying rollers arranged in a line in the second direction are used when conveying the substrate carrier 9 carried in from the substrate input chamber 117 to the conveyance chamber 115 .

As described above, in the substrate input chamber 117 and the substrate separation chamber 114, the substrate carrier 9 is inverted by the inversion mechanism. When the substrate carrier 9 is inverted by the inversion mechanism, the The amount of deflection dcc is vertically inverted. That is, the central suction part A in which the arrangement of the chuck members 32 intersects vertically and horizontally receives a maximum displacement (height direction) of 2xdcc. At this time, a load is applied to the adsorption part by inversion, but the amount of deflection (dcc) is reduced because the rigidity of the central reinforcing rib 80 is reduced, and the load change falls within the threshold value of peeling, and at the time of inversion, the substrate 5 There is no case of peeling from the carrier face plate 30 .

4 shows a substrate carrier 9 according to the present embodiment. Fig. 4(a) is a plan view of the substrate carrier portion 9 viewed from above, showing the back surface of the carrier surface plate 30 (the surface opposite to the substrate holding surface). The central reinforcing rib 80 is arranged so as to extend in the width direction from one end in the width direction to the other end at the center in the conveyance direction of the substrate carrier 9 . This is a layout in which the boundary portions for delimiting the film formation region of the mask foil 6b of the mask 6 are symmetrical in a cross shape, left and right, up and down, and is an example corresponding to the configuration in which four medium-sized displays are formed simultaneously. In this case, the vertical and horizontal arrangement of the chuck members 32 intersect at the center, and the change in the amount of deflection at the time of inversion in the central suction portion A is small. Accordingly, by securing rigidity by the central reinforcing rib 80 , the change in sagging at the time of inversion at the intersection of the arrangement of the chuck members 32 is reduced, and the substrate 5 is peeled from the carrier face plate 30 . can prevent

In this embodiment, the arrangement of the central reinforcing rib 80 on the carrier face plate 30 can be arbitrarily changed. Another embodiment to which the present invention is applied is shown in Fig. 4B. The substrate carrier 9a according to another embodiment is a substrate carrier corresponding to a mask for simultaneously forming two large displays and four small displays. In this configuration, the central reinforcing rib 80 is disposed at a position where the central mask portion of the large substrate and the mask of the small substrate intersect. In this configuration, the change in deflection at the time of inversion in the central intersection A is small. As described above, by securing rigidity by the central reinforcing rib 80 according to the layout of the mask portion of the mask 6 (the boundary portion for partitioning the film-forming portion included in the mask foil 6b), the arrangement of the chuck member 32 is reduced. The sag change at the time of inversion in the intersection part can be reduced, and peeling of a board|substrate can be prevented.

Each embodiment shown in FIG. 4 extends in a direction orthogonal (intersecting) to the central reinforcing rib 80 and the peripheral reinforcing rib 81, and a plurality of auxiliary reinforcing ribs 83 provided to connect them. is provided The auxiliary reinforcing ribs 83 are reinforcing ribs narrower in width (smaller in cross-sectional area) than the central reinforcing ribs 80 and the peripheral reinforcing ribs 81 , and are appropriately arranged according to the layout of the mask portion of the mask 6 . Since the characteristic sag control of the mask 6 in this embodiment is mainly controlled by the central reinforcing rib 80 and the peripheral reinforcing rib 81, the auxiliary reinforcing ribs 83 are used depending on the layout of the mask part. You can do it in a configuration that is not installed.

On the other hand, the chuck member 32 is preferably disposed outside the active area of the display. This is because there is a fear that the stress caused by the suction by the chuck member 32 distorts the substrate 5 or causes a temperature distribution during film formation, so that the substrate 5 is attracted by the chuck member 32 . The holding area is as small as possible and the number of holding units is preferably as small as possible. In addition, it is preferable to arrange|position the chuck member 32 on the back surface of a mask part for the said reason for film-forming.

Fig. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the entire configuration in the alignment mechanism portion of the in-line vapor deposition apparatus of the present embodiment.

The vapor deposition apparatus schematically includes a chamber 4 and an alignment apparatus 1 that holds a substrate 5 held by a substrate carrier 9 and a mask 6 to perform relative alignment. The chamber 4 can adjust a real pressure (pressure inside a chamber) by the real pressure control part (not shown) provided with a vacuum pump or a real pressure gauge, and inside the chamber 4, vapor deposition material An evaporation source 7 (film-forming source) containing 71 (film-forming material) can be arranged, whereby the depressurized film-forming space 2 is formed inside the chamber. In the film-forming space 2, the vapor deposition material flies from the evaporation source 7 toward the board|substrate 5, and a film|membrane is formed on the board|substrate.

In the illustrated example, the configuration of deposition up in which the film formation surface (film formation surface) of the substrate 5 faces downward in the gravitational direction at the time of film formation will be described. However, a configuration of deposition down may be employed in which the film formation surface of the substrate 5 is directed upward in the gravitational direction at the time of film formation. Moreover, the structure of the side deposition (Side Deposition) may be sufficient as the board|substrate 5 is erected vertically and film-forming is performed in the state which the film-forming surface is substantially parallel to the direction of gravity. That is, in the present invention, when the substrate 5 and the mask 6 held by the substrate carrier 9 are relatively brought close to each other, at least one member of the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 is extended. It can be preferably used when high-precision alignment is required in a state in which disengagement or sagging occurs.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, the mask 6 has the structure by which the mask foil 6b of thickness of about several micrometers - several tens of micrometers was welded and fixed to the mask frame 6a of a frame shape. The mask frame 6a supports the mask foil 6b in the pulled state in the surface direction (X direction and Y direction mentioned later) so that the mask foil 6b may not sag. The mask foil 6b includes a boundary portion for partitioning a film formation region of the substrate. The boundary part which the mask foil 6b has is closely_contact|adhered to the board|substrate 5, when the mask 6 is attached|attached to the board|substrate 5, and shields a film-forming material. On the other hand, the mask 6 may be an open mask in which the mask foil 6b has only a boundary portion, or a fine opening corresponding to a pixel or a sub-pixel is formed in a portion other than the boundary portion, that is, a portion corresponding to a film formation region of the substrate. It may be a mask. When using a glass substrate or a substrate in which a resin film such as polyimide is formed on the glass substrate as the substrate 5, an iron alloy can be used as the main material for the mask frame 6a and the mask foil 6b, , it is preferable to use an iron alloy containing nickel. Specific examples of the iron alloy containing nickel include an invar material containing 34 mass % or more and 38 mass % or less of nickel, and a super invar material containing 30 mass % or more and 34 mass % or less of nickel and further containing cobalt. invar) material, and a low thermal expansion Fe-Ni-based plating alloy containing nickel in an amount of 38 mass% or more and 54 mass% or less.

The chamber 4 has an upper partition 4a (top plate), a side wall 4b, and a bottom wall 4c. The inside of the chamber may be maintained in a vacuum atmosphere or an inert gas atmosphere such as nitrogen gas in addition to the above-described reduced pressure atmosphere. On the other hand, "vacuum" in the present specification refers to a state in a space filled with a gas having a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure, and typically refers to a state in a space filled with a gas having a pressure lower than 1 atm (1013 hPa).

The evaporation source 7 may be provided with heating means, such as a material accommodating part, such as a crucible which accommodates a vapor deposition material, and a sheath heater, which heats a vapor deposition material, for example. Furthermore, by providing a mechanism for moving the material accommodating portion or the entire evaporation source 7 in a plane substantially parallel to the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6, the position of the ejection orifice for injecting the vapor deposition material into the chamber (4) You may make it displace relatively with respect to the board|substrate 5 in the inside, and the film-forming on the board|substrate 5 may be uniform.

The alignment apparatus 1 includes a positioning mechanism 60 that is mounted on the upper partition wall 4a of the chamber 4 and drives the substrate carrier 9 to relatively align the position with the mask 6 . The alignment apparatus 1 includes a carrier support part 8 (substrate carrier support part) that holds a substrate carrier 9, a mask stand 16 (mask support part) that holds the mask 6, and a conveying roller ( 15) (transport means).

The positioning mechanism 60 is provided outside the chamber 4, and changes or stably holds the relative positional relationship between the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 so as to realize a desired precision at the time of deposition. support or do The positioning mechanism 60 schematically includes a rotational translation mechanism 11 (in-plane moving means), a Z elevation base 13 , and a Z elevation slider 10 .

The rotational translation mechanism 11 is connected to the upper partition 4a of the chamber 4, and drives the Z lifting base 13 in the XYθ direction. The Z lifting base 13 is connected to the rotational translation mechanism 11 and serves as a base when the substrate carrier 9 moves in the Z direction. The Z raising/lowering slider 10 is a member movable in the Z direction along the Z guide 18 . The Z raising/lowering slider is connected to the substrate carrier support 8 via the substrate holding shaft 12 .

In this configuration, during XYθ driving in a plane substantially parallel to the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 by the rotational translation mechanism 11, the Z elevation base 13, the Z elevation slider 10 and The substrate holding shaft 12 moves integrally, and transmits a driving force to the carrier support 8 . Then, the substrate 5 is moved within a plane substantially parallel to the substrate 5 and the mask 6 . On the other hand, although the mask 6 and the board|substrate 5 are sagged by gravity as mentioned later, the board|substrate in an ideal state which does not sag with the plane substantially parallel to the board|substrate 5 and the mask 6 here. (5) and a plane approximately parallel to the mask 6 are indicated. For example, in a configuration in which the substrate 5 and the mask 6 are horizontally arranged, such as upward vapor deposition or downward vapor deposition, the rotational translation mechanism 11 moves the substrate 5 in a horizontal plane. Further, when the Z-elevating slider 10 is driven in the Z-direction with respect to the Z-elevating base 13 by the Z guide 18, the driving force is applied to the substrate holding shaft 12 (in this embodiment, four substrates are held). It has support shafts 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d On the other hand, in Fig. 7, the shaft 12d is hidden by the substrate 5 and the mask 6 and is connected to the carrier support 8 through the substrate 5 and the mask 6 (not shown). is transmitted Then, the distance of the substrate 5 with respect to the mask 6 is changed (separated or approached). That is, the Z elevation base 13, the Z elevation base 13 and the Z guide 18 function as distance changing means of the positioning means.

As in the illustrated example, by arranging the alignment mechanism 60 including a large number of movable parts outside the film forming space, it is possible to suppress the generation of dust in the film forming space or in the space where alignment is performed. Thereby, it can suppress that a mask or a board|substrate is contaminated by dust generation|occurrence|production and the film-forming precision falls. In addition, in this embodiment, although the structure in which the alignment mechanism 60 moves the board|substrate 5 in the XYθ direction and the Z direction has been described, it is not limited to this, and the alignment mechanism 60 moves the mask 6 It may be moved, and both the board|substrate 5 and the mask 6 may be moved. That is, the alignment mechanism 60 is a mechanism for moving at least one of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 , and thereby the relative positions of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 can be aligned.

The substrate carrier 9 includes a carrier face plate 30 (a face plate member), a seating block 31 (a seating member), and a chuck member 32 .

The carrier face plate 30 is a plate-like member made of metal or the like, and is a member constituting a holding surface for holding the substrate 5 . The carrier face plate 30 has a certain degree of rigidity (at least higher than that of the substrate 5 ), and by holding the substrate 5 along the holding surface, sagging of the substrate 5 can be suppressed.

A plurality of seating blocks 31 are disposed outside the substrate holding area of the holding surface of the carrier face plate 30 so as to protrude from the holding surface. The seating block 31 is provided so that the board|substrate 5 may protrude toward the mask 6 side rather than the board|substrate 5 in the state hold|maintained by the board|substrate carrier 9. As shown in FIG. The substrate carrier 9 is seated on the outer peripheral frame of the mask frame 6a through the seating block 31 through an alignment operation.

The substrate carrier 9 further has a magnetic attraction means (not shown) for magnetically attracting the mask 6 through the held substrate 5 . As the magnetic attraction means, a permanent magnet, an electromagnet, or a magnet plate provided with an electromagnet can be used. In addition, the magnetic adsorption means may be provided so as to be movable relative to the carrier face plate 30 . More specifically, the magnetic adsorption means may be provided so that the distance between it and the carrier face plate 30 can be changed.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of the mask and carrier holder, which is used to explain the details. The substrate carrier 9 is positionable with respect to the mask 6 via the carrier support 8 . The carrier support portion 8 is composed of a carrier receiving finger 42 and a carrier receiving surface 41, and is formed on the carrier receiving surface 41 in the vicinity of the side of the substrate carrier 9 (two sides facing in the width direction) By placing the periphery), the entire substrate carrier 9 is supported and an alignment operation is performed with respect to the mask 6 .

The mask frame 6a is supported by the mask pedestal 16 through the mask pads 33 constituting the mask receiving surface. On the other hand, it is preferable that this mask pad 33 has a high friction coefficient so that a mask position may not shift|deviate by the vibration which generate|occur|produces during alignment. For example, it is conceivable to make the surface into an emboss shape by contacting metals.

Thus, in this embodiment, the square-shaped board|substrate carrier 9 and the square-shaped mask 6 convey the conveyance roller 15 by the carrier support part 8 and the mask support part (mask stand 16). They are supported along each direction. That is, as for the substrate carrier 9, one set of sides among the two sets of opposing sides is arranged substantially parallel to the conveying direction of the conveying roller 15, and the periphery of the substrate carrier 9 corresponding to the one set of sides. The part is supported by the carrier support part 8 arrange|positioned opposing this. In addition, the mask 6 has one set of sides of the two sets of opposing sides arranged substantially parallel to the conveying direction of the conveying roller 15, and the periphery of the mask 6 corresponding to the one set of sides; The mask support part arrange|positioned opposing this is supported. In addition, each long side may be sufficient as the opposing side supported in the board|substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6, and the short side may be sufficient as it. Moreover, even when the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are square, it is good if it is a structure which supports the periphery of the edge of one set of two sets of sides.

It is a perspective view which shows one form of an alignment mechanism. The mask pedestal 16 is guided (elevated) up and down along the elevator guide 34 mounted on the mask stand base 19 . Moreover, the conveyance roller 15 is mounted in the side lower part of the conveyance direction of the mask 6, and the mask 6 is transmitted to the conveyance roller 15 when the mask base 16 descend|falls.

The substrate holding shaft 12 is provided over the outside and the inside of the chamber 4 through a through hole provided in the upper partition 4a of the chamber 4 . In the film-forming space, the carrier support part 8 is provided in the lower part of the board|substrate holding shaft 12, and the board|substrate 5 which is a film-forming object can be hold|maintained via the board|substrate carrier 9. As shown in FIG.

The through hole is designed to be large enough for the outer diameter of the substrate holding shaft 12 so that the substrate holding shaft 12 and the upper partition wall 4a do not interfere. In addition, the section from the through hole to the fixed portion of the substrate holding shaft 12 to the Z lifting slider 10 (the portion above the through hole) is fixed to the Z lifting slider 10 and the upper partition 4a. covered by a bellows (40). Thereby, since the substrate holding shaft 12 is covered by the closed space communicating with the chamber 4 , the entire substrate holding shaft 12 is placed in the same state as the film forming space 2 (eg, in a vacuum state). ) can be maintained. As the bellows 40, one having flexibility also in the Z direction and the XY direction may be used. Thereby, the resistance force generated when the bellows 40 is displaced by the operation of the alignment device 1 can be sufficiently reduced, and the load at the time of position adjustment can be reduced.

The mask support part is provided in the surface of the film-forming space 2 side of the upper partition 4a inside the chamber 4, and the support of the mask 6 is enabled. For example, in the mask used for manufacturing an organic EL panel, a mask foil 6b having an opening according to a film formation pattern is attached to a mask frame 6a of high rigidity. It has a fixed configuration. By this structure, the mask receiving part can be hold|maintained in the state which reduced the sag of the mask foil 6b.

Various operations by the alignment device 1 (alignment by a rotary translation mechanism, lifting and lowering of the Z-elevating slider 10 by a distance changing means, holding the substrate by the carrier support 8, vapor deposition by the evaporation source 7 etc.) is controlled by the control unit 70 . The control unit 70 can be configured by, for example, a computer having a processor, memory, storage, I/O, and the like. In this case, the function of the control unit 70 is realized when the processor executes the program stored in the memory or storage. As the computer, a general-purpose personal computer may be used, an embedded computer or a programmable logic controller (PLC) may be used. Alternatively, some or all of the functions of the control unit 70 may be configured by circuits such as ASICs or FPGAs. In addition, the control part 70 may be provided for every vapor deposition apparatus, and one control part 70 may control a some vapor deposition apparatus.

Next, the detailed content of the alignment mechanism 60 of the alignment apparatus 1 is demonstrated with reference to FIG. 7 : is a perspective view which shows one form of an alignment mechanism. The guide for guiding the Z-elevating slider 10 in the vertical Z direction includes a plurality of (four in this case) Z-guides 18a to 18d, and is fixed to the side surface of the Z-elevating base 13 . A ball screw 27 for transmitting driving force is disposed in the center of the Z lifting slider, and the power transmitted from the motor 26 fixed to the Z lifting base 13 is transmitted through the ball screw 27 to the Z lifting slider 10 ) is transmitted to

The motor 26 has a built-in rotary encoder (not shown), and the Z-direction position of the Z raising/lowering slider 10 can be measured indirectly according to the rotation speed of the encoder. By controlling the drive of the motor 26 by an external controller, precise positioning of the Z raising/lowering slider 10 in the Z direction is possible. In addition, the raising/lowering mechanism of the Z raising/lowering slider 10 is not limited to the ball screw 27 and a rotary encoder, Arbitrary mechanisms, such as a combination of a linear motor and a linear encoder, are employable.

In the configuration of FIG. 10 , the rotational translation mechanism 11 has a plurality of drive units 21a, 21b, 21c, and 21d at four corners of the base. Each of the drive units 21a to 21d is disposed by rotating the drive units disposed at adjacent corners by 90 degrees around the Z-axis so that the direction of generating the driving force is different by 90 degrees for each of the four corners.

Each drive unit 21 is provided with a drive unit motor 25 which generates a drive force. Each drive unit 21 also has a first guide 22 that slides in a first direction when the force of the drive unit motor 25 is transmitted through the drive unit ball screw 46, and a first direction in the XY plane. and a second guide 23 sliding in a second direction orthogonal to . Furthermore, a rotary bearing 24 rotatable about the Z-axis is provided. For example, in the case of the drive unit 21d, it has a first guide 22 sliding in the X direction, a second guide 23 sliding in the Y direction orthogonal to the X direction, and a rotary bearing 24, , the force of the drive unit motor 25 is transmitted to the first guide 22 through the drive unit ball screw 46 . The other drive units 21a, 21b, and 21c also have a configuration similar to that of the drive unit 21d, except that their arrangement orientations differ from each other by 90 degrees.

The drive unit motor 25 incorporates a rotary encoder (not shown), so that the displacement amount of the first guide 22 can be measured. In each drive unit 21 , by controlling the drive of the drive unit motor 25 by the control unit 70 , it is possible to precisely control the position of the Z lifting base 13 in the XYθz direction.

For example, when the Z lifting base 13 is moved in the +X direction, the driving unit motor 25 applies a sliding force in the +X direction in each of the drive unit 21a and the drive unit 21d to the drive unit motor 25 . It can be generated by this, and what is necessary is just to transmit the force to the Z-elevating base 13 . In addition, when moving in the +Y direction, the drive unit motor 25 generates a sliding force in the +Y direction in each of the drive unit 21b and the drive unit 21c, and the Z lifting base 13 ) to transmit that power.

When the Z lifting base 13 is rotated +θ (clockwise rotation θz in the clockwise direction) around the rotation axis parallel to the Z axis, the drive units 21a and 21d arranged diagonally are used to rotate +θz around the Z axis. What is necessary is to generate a force necessary for rotation and transmit the force to the Z-elevating base 13 . Alternatively, a force required for rotation may be transmitted to the Z-elevating base 13 using the drive unit 21b and the drive unit 21c.

Next, in order to detect the position of the board|substrate 5 and the mask 6, the imaging apparatus for measuring the position of each alignment mark simultaneously is demonstrated. 5 and 7, on the surface of the outer side of the upper partition wall 4a, the alignment mark (mask mark) on the mask 6 and the alignment mark (substrate mark) on the substrate 5 are obtained. An imaging device 14 (14a, 14b, 14c, 14d) serving as a position acquisition means is disposed. A through hole for imaging is provided in the upper partition 4a on the camera optical axis so that the position of the alignment mark arrange|positioned inside the chamber 4 can be measured with the imaging device 14. Window glass 17 (17a, 17b, 17c, 17d) etc. are provided in the through-hole for imaging in order to maintain the atmospheric pressure inside a chamber. Furthermore, by providing an illumination (not shown) inside or in the vicinity of the imaging device 14 and irradiating light to the vicinity of the alignment mark of the substrate and the mask, accurate measurement of the mark image is possible. In addition, in FIG. 5, the imaging device 14d and the window glass 17c, 17d are covered by another member, and are not shown in figure.

The method of measuring the position of the board|substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 38 using the imaging device 14 with reference to FIG.11(a) - FIG.11(c) is demonstrated.

11A is a view from above of the substrate 5 on the carrier face plate 30 in a state held by the carrier support 8 . For purposes of illustration, the carrier faceplate 30 is shown as transmissive, with dashed lines. On the board|substrate 5, the board|substrate marks 37a, 37b, 37c, 37d which can be measured by the imaging device 14 are formed in the four corners of the board|substrate 5. As shown in FIG. The substrate marks 37a to 37d are simultaneously measured by the four imaging devices 14a to 14d, and the translation amount and rotation of the substrate 5 from the positional relationship of the four center positions of the respective substrate marks 37a to 37d. By calculating the total quantity, the positional information of the board|substrate 5 can be acquired. On the other hand, a through hole is opened in the carrier face plate 30, and it is possible to measure the position of the substrate mark 37 by the imaging device 14 from the upper part.

Fig. 11B is a view of the mask frame 6a viewed from the top. Mask marks 38a, 38b, 38c, and 38d that can be measured by an imaging device are formed in the four corners. This mask mark 38a-38d is simultaneously measured by the four imaging devices 14a, 14b, 14c, 14d, and the mask 6 from the positional relationship of each center position of 4 points of each mask mark 38a-38d. ), a translation amount, a rotation amount, etc. can be calculated, and the positional information of the mask 6 can be acquired.

Fig. 11(c) schematically shows a field of view 44 of a captured image when one set out of four sets of the mask mark 38 and the substrate mark 37 is measured by the imaging device 14 . the drawing shown. In this example, within the visual field 44 of the imaging device 14, since the board|substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 38 are measured simultaneously, it is possible to measure the relative position of mark centers. Mark center coordinates can be calculated|required using the image processing apparatus (not shown) based on the image obtained by the measurement of the imaging device 14. As shown in FIG. In addition, although the thing of a square or circular shape was shown as the mask mark 38 and the board|substrate mark 37, the shape of a mark is not limited to this. For example, it is preferable to use a shape having symmetry, such as an X mark or a cross, so that the center position can be easily calculated.

When high-precision alignment is required, a high magnification CCD camera having a high resolution of about several micrometers is used as the imaging device 14 . In such a high magnification CCD camera, since the diameter of the field of view is as narrow as several mm, if the position shift when the substrate carrier 9 is placed on the carrier receiving finger 41 is large, the substrate mark 37 will deviate from the field of view, and measurement it becomes impossible Accordingly, as the imaging device 14, it is preferable to provide a high magnification CCD camera and a low magnification CCD camera having a wide field of view in parallel. In that case, coarse alignment (rough alignment) is performed using a low magnification CCD camera so that the mask mark 38 and the substrate mark 37 enter the field of view of the high magnification CCD camera at the same time, and then the mask mark is performed using a high magnification CCD camera. Position measurement of (38) and the board|substrate mark 37 is performed, and high-precision alignment (fine alignment) is performed.

By using a high magnification CCD camera as the imaging device 14, the relative position of the mask frame 6a and the substrate 5 can be adjusted with precision within a few micrometers of error. However, the imaging device 14 is not limited to a CCD camera, For example, a digital camera provided with a CMOS sensor as an imaging element may be sufficient. In addition, even if the high magnification camera and the low magnification camera are not separately installed, high magnification and low magnification measurement may be possible with a single camera by using a camera or a zoom lens in which a high magnification lens and a low magnification lens can be exchanged.

From the positional information of the mask frame 6a and the positional information of the board|substrate 5 acquired by the imaging device 14, the relative positional information of the mask frame 6a and the board|substrate 5 can be acquired. This relative position information is fed back to the control part 70 of an alignment apparatus, and the drive amount of each drive part, such as the raising/lowering slider 10, the rotation translation mechanism 11, and the carrier support part 8, is controlled.

(Carrier sagging during alignment)

The drooping shape and structure at the time of alignment of the board|substrate carrier 9 of this embodiment, and the board|substrate carrier suitable for applying this invention are demonstrated using FIG.8, FIG.9. 8 : has shown the schematic diagram which looked at the state which held the board|substrate carrier 9b using the rib 82 of the reference example by the alignment mechanism at the time of alignment, seen from the apparatus front (viewed in the conveyance direction). The substrate carrier 9b is aligned with respect to the mask 6 while supported on the carrier receiving surface 41 . The amount of deflection in the cross section of the side (end in the carrying direction) perpendicular to the carrying direction is dce', which is smaller than the amount of deflection dm of the mask (dce' < dm). As a result, even after alignment is completed and the substrate carrier 9b is placed on the mask 6, a gap (gap) ds is formed between the substrate carrier 9b and the mask frame 6a.

When the substrate carrier 9b is placed on the mask 6 after alignment with the mask 6, when the substrate carrier 9b is seated on the mask frame 6a, the carrier of the substrate carrier 9b is received first. The area|region extending along the part supported by the finger 42 and the area|region extending along the part supported by the mask support part of the mask 6 come into contact with each other. When the sides are in contact with each other, if the two sides in contact are of the same shape, and in an ideal state in which the two sides approach and contact while maintaining parallel, the entire sides will come into contact at once, but in reality, the Contact starts with some. And in this case, the contact start position is affected by various disturbances and changes every time, it is not determined in one place, but the contact start position is randomly determined. In addition, not only the contact start position in one side is determined randomly, but which of the two opposing sides starts the contact first is not constant due to the influence of various disturbances. As a result, the reproducibility at the time of seating of the substrate carrier 9b and the mask 6 falls. In addition, when either one of the two opposing sides starts contacting first, since an unbalanced load is applied to the side that started contacting first, a reaction force at the time of seating of the substrate carrier 9b is applied through the carrier receiving surface 41 . It is transmitted to the positioning mechanism 60 side, and disturbances such as posture fluctuations or positional deviations of the mechanism may be further generated.

In this regard, a more preferred example using the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 9 . As shown to Fig.9 (a), compared with the center reinforcing rib 80 at the front and rear both ends of the back surface of the carrier faceplate 30 of the substrate carrier 9 which concerns on this embodiment in the conveyance direction, it is orthogonal to the film-forming direction. A peripheral reinforcing rib 81 having a relatively small cross section in the in-direction and a large deformation in its own weight is fixed. If the amount of deflection dce in the cross section where the peripheral reinforcing rib 81 is fixed is the amount of deflection equal to or greater than the mask frame 6a, the position where the contact starts when the substrate carrier 9a is placed on the mask 6 after alignment is the central portion , and the contact start position becomes the same position every time, so that stable seating can be performed. Moreover, since the amount of lateral shift|offset|difference of the board|substrate carrier 9a at the time of seating is also reduced, alignment precision improves. Further, since the contact advances symmetrically outward from the center of the substrate carrier 9a so that the load is equally applied to the left and right sides of the carrier receiving surface 41, a change in the posture of the alignment mechanism 60 due to an unbalanced load Position shift is reduced.

In addition, if a sagging state as shown in Fig. 9A can be formed in the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6, the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 start to come into close contact with each other at the time of seating. Therefore, voids ds as shown in Fig. 8 hardly occur. And finally, as shown in FIG.9(b), the board|substrate carrier 9 is transferred from the carrier receiving finger 42 (carrier support part 8) onto the mask 6, and the mask 6 is carried out. It is brought into the state supported by the conveyance roller 15 through the passage, and is conveyed in a state where there is no gap between the mask 6 and the mask 6, and is subjected to a film forming step. Thereby, it becomes possible to prevent the entrainment of the organic material at the time of film-forming, and it can improve the yield of organic electroluminescent panel production.

Here, the sag of the substrate carrier 9 supported by the carrier support 8 and the mask 6 supported by the mask support part is again examined. As described above, the substrate carrier 9 (holding the substrate 5) supported by the carrier support 8 is a parabola convex in the direction of gravity downward in a cross section perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveying roller 15. The shape becomes a sagging shape. Moreover, in the cross section perpendicular|vertical to the conveyance direction of the conveyance roller 15, the mask 6 supported by the mask support part also becomes the shape which drooped in the convex parabolic shape downward in the gravity direction. In this specification, as the amounts for quantitatively handling the degree of deflection of the substrate carrier 9 and the degree of deflection of the mask 6, the carrier self-weight deflection amount dc and the mask self-weight deflection amount dm are defined as follows. .

In this specification, the carrier weight deflection amount dc is the height along the plane (the height of the virtual plane) when the substrate carrier 9 is supported along a certain plane (virtual plane) by the carrier support part 8 . ), indicates the difference (absolute value) between the reference height and the height of the part drooping by its own weight. For example, when it is going to support the substrate carrier 9 horizontally by the carrier support part 8, the height of the upper surface (upper end) of the edge part supported by the carrier receiving surface 41 in the substrate carrier 9 is a reference|standard. Thus, the reference height and the height of the lower surface of the substrate carrier 9 (typically opposite carriers) of the largest drooping portion (the portion having the largest change in height from the height of the virtual plane) of the substrate carrier 9 . The difference (absolute value) with the height of the lower surface (lower end) of the substrate carrier 9 corresponding to the intermediate part between the support parts 8 turns into carrier self-weight deflection amount dc. That is, as shown in Fig. 9(a), in the upper surface of the substrate carrier 9 supported by the carrier support 8, the height of the end portion with the smallest change in height is the height of the imaginary plane, The difference (absolute value) from the height of this virtual plane to the height of the lower surface (lower end) of the central part with the largest change in height is made into carrier self-weight deflection amount dc. Furthermore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1B, the amount of sag in the conveyance direction of the substrate carrier 9 has a different structure, and the carrier at both ends of the conveyance direction in which the amount of deflection becomes the largest in comparison in the conveyance direction. The self-weight deflection amount is dce, and the carrier self-weight deflection amount at the center portion in the conveying direction where the deflection amount is the smallest is dcc. In addition, you may make it acquire the height of the said virtual plane based on the height of the carrier receiving surface 41, and the thickness (height) of the board|substrate carrier 9. As shown in FIG. That is, paying attention to the portion in contact with the carrier receiving surface 41 of the substrate carrier 9, even if the value obtained by adding the thickness of the substrate carrier 9 to the height of the carrier receiving surface 41 is the height of the imaginary plane do.

In addition, in this specification, the mask self weight deflection amount (dm) is the height along the plane (the height of this virtual plane) when it is going to support the mask 6 along a certain plane (virtual plane) by the mask support part. As a reference, it indicates the difference (absolute value) between the reference height and the height of the part drooping by its own weight. For example, when it is going to support the mask 6 horizontally by the mask support part, on the basis of the height of the upper surface of the part which is in contact with the mask receiving surface 33 of the mask 6, a reference height and a mask The mask corresponding to the height of the upper surface of the mask 6 (typically, the middle part between the mask support parts disposed oppositely) of the largest drooping part (the part where the change in height from the height of the virtual plane is greatest) among (6) The difference (absolute value) with the height of the upper surface of (6) becomes the mask self-weight deflection amount (dm). That is, as shown in Fig. 9(a), on the upper surface of the mask 6 supported by the mask support part, the height of the end portion with the smallest change in height is the height of the virtual plane, and the height of the virtual plane is The difference (absolute value) from the height to the height of the central portion having the largest change in height is defined as the mask self-weight deflection amount (dm). On the other hand, in this embodiment, it is comprised so that the amount of sagging of the mask 6 in the conveyance direction of the substrate carrier 9 may become constant at dm. That is, as described above, the carrier weight deflection amount dc of the substrate carrier 9 changes to form a hyperbola shape as shown in FIG. 1B in the conveyance direction, but the mask weight deflection amount dm of the mask 6 is is constant and does not change. In addition, you may make it acquire the height of the said virtual plane based on the height of the mask receiving surface 33, and the thickness (height) of the mask 6 . That is, the inclination at the end of the mask 6 at the time of sagging is made negligibly small, and it may be assumed that the height at the end of the mask 6 is approximately equal to the thickness of the mask 6 . In addition, it is not the upper surface of the mask 6, but on the basis of the lower surface, the mask self-weight deflection amount dm may be prescribed|regulated, and in this case, it is good also considering the height of the mask receiving surface 33 as reference height.

Here, since the substrate carrier 9 is for suppressing the sag of the substrate 5 and facilitating the transport, from that purpose, the rigidity of the substrate carrier 9 is made as high as possible so that it does not sag as much as possible. desirable. On the other hand, since the mask 6 uses the mask frame 6b with high rigidity so that the mask foil 6a does not sag as mentioned above, it is hard to sag compared with the board|substrate 5 etc. Conventionally, since the length of one side of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 was about 1.5 m at most, the sagging of the mask 6 was negligible. In the case of using the substrate 5 and the mask 6 that greatly exceed Further, as in the present embodiment, when the rectangular mask 6 and the substrate carrier 9 are supported not on all four sides but only on a pair of opposing sides, the sagging of the mask 6 gradually increases. get bigger That is, when the substrate carrier 9 is designed as in the conventional idea, the mask 6 is more likely to sag than the substrate carrier 9 .

As a result of earnest examination by the present inventors, it was found that, in such a case, when the rigidity of the substrate carrier 9 is made as high as possible so as not to sag as in the conventional idea, several problems arise. Hereinafter, by making the rigidity of the substrate carrier 9 as high as possible, the problem occurring when the carrier self-weight sag dc is smaller than the mask self-weight sag dm (that is, when dc < dm) will be described.

In the case of dc < dm, first, the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are brought into contact, and the substrate carrier 9 is placed on the mask 6 to mount the mask 6 on the substrate 5 . At this time, when the sag of the mask 6 is too large than the sag of the substrate carrier 9 , a large gap will arise between the mask foil 6a and the substrate 5 . A state in which a large gap is formed between the mask 6 and the substrate 5 is shown in FIG. 8 . When a large gap is formed between the mask foil 6a and the substrate 5, the mask 6 is adsorbed from the back side with the substrate 5 and the substrate carrier 9 interposed therebetween by a magnetic attraction means such as a magnet. Even if it is going to make the mask foil 6a closely_contact|adherent to the board|substrate 5, a clearance gap may remain. In this way, a gap ds is created between the substrate 5 held by the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6, and when transported and formed into a film in this state, the film formation material is used as a mask during film formation. It returns through the gap between the foil 6a and the substrate 5, and is in a state in which film blurring occurs. As a result, film-forming nonuniformity arises, and there exists a possibility of causing the quality fall by the brightness|luminance nonuniformity of a display.

In the case of dc < dm, secondly, when the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are brought into contact, the contact occurs from a region extending along the long side which is a portion supported by the respective supports (carrier support, mask support). It begins. Since the long sides of the substrate carrier 9 are supported by the carrier receiving fingers 42 so that they are all at the same height, and the long sides of the mask 6 are all supported by the mask support so that they are all at the same height, the contact starts is generated between sides (long sides or regions extending along the long sides). When the sides come into contact with each other, if the two sides are in the same shape and the two sides approach and contact each other while maintaining parallel, then the entire sides will come into contact at once. Some of them start contact. And in this case, the contact start position is affected by various disturbances and changes every time, it is not determined at one place, but the contact start position is randomly determined. As a result, the reproducibility at the time of seating of the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 falls. For example, during alignment, the Z-elevating slider 10 is guided by the Z-guide 18 and descends, and the process in which the substrate carrier 9 descends according to the straightness of the Z-guide or the reproducibility of the posture. Since the paths and postures are different, it is difficult to make the contact start position constant. For this reason, since the reaction force that the substrate carrier 9 receives from the mask frame 6a changes when the contact start position is changed, the substrate carrier 9 (or the substrate 5 held by the substrate carrier 9) and the mask 6 ) after the alignment is completed, there is a fear that the shifting method at the time of seating the substrate carrier 9 on the mask 6 varies greatly each time. On the other hand, even in the case of dc = dm, as in the case of dc < dm, the behavior at the time of seating is not stable, so it is not very preferable from the viewpoint of realizing a stable seating.

Therefore, the present inventors solved the above-mentioned subject by adjusting the sag of the substrate carrier 9 and the sag of the mask 6 without daringly making the rigidity of the substrate carrier 9 too high. In this embodiment, the central reinforcing rib 80 and the peripheral reinforcing rib 81 of the substrate carrier 9 so that the relationship between the carrier self-weight deflection amount dc and the mask self-weight deflection amount dm becomes dc(dcc, dce) > dm ) to adjust the stiffness. When dc(dcc, dce) > dm, as shown in FIG. 9A , the substrate carrier 9 sags larger than the mask 6 . On the other hand, since the substrate 5 is held by the substrate carrier 9 along the holding surface of the substrate carrier 9, the amount of deflection of the substrate 5 can also be regarded as equal to the amount of deflection of the carrier's own weight dc. . On the other hand, in the present embodiment, it is preferable that both the carrier self-weight sag dcc and the carrier self-weight sag dce are larger than the mask self-weight sag dm. What is necessary is to configure so that the carrier self-weight deflection dce of is larger than the mask self-weight deflection dm.

When the substrate carrier 9 is placed on the mask 6 in this state, the substrate carrier 9 will be placed along the mask 6, so after placement, the substrate carrier 9 as shown in Fig. 9(b). and the deflection of the mask 6 can be matched. Therefore, the clearance gap between the mask foil 6a and the board|substrate 5 can be made small enough, and it becomes possible to suppress the film|membrane blurring at the time of film-forming.

In addition, when the substrate 5 held by the substrate carrier 9 is brought into contact with the mask 6 by setting dc>dm, the contact starts from the most drooping portion on the short side of the substrate 5 . In this embodiment, a plurality of seating blocks 31 are arranged outside the area holding the substrate 5 of the substrate carrier 9, and the seating blocks 31 are provided so as to protrude from the substrate 5, have. In addition, some of the some seating blocks 31 are arrange|positioned in the center of the short side side of the board|substrate carrier 9, ie, the part which hangs the most. Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the substrate carrier 9 is brought into contact with the mask 6, the contact can be started from the seating block 31 arranged in the center of the short side side of the substrate carrier 9, It is possible to increase the reproducibility of seating. Moreover, the seating block 31 which comes into contact first can be used as a reference|standard of positioning, and it becomes also possible to improve the reproducibility of the position by seating.

(How to place the board)

Hereinafter, the substrate 5 is set on the substrate carrier 9, the substrate 5 and the mask 6 on the substrate carrier 9 are aligned, and the substrate carrier 9 (substrate 5) is applied to the mask ( A series of operation|movement of a vapor deposition apparatus until it mounts on 6) is demonstrated.

It is a flowchart which shows the operation sequence of the vapor deposition apparatus of embodiment.

First, in step S101, a substrate carrier 9 mounted on a roller conveying mechanism (not shown) is loaded into the chamber 4 through a gate valve, and is placed on the carrier receiving fingers 42 on both sides of the carrier support 8 . is witty on A plurality of carrier receiving fingers 42a are arranged at predetermined intervals along one side of the substrate 5 (substrate carrier 9), and in the vicinity of one side of the substrate 5, the substrate carrier 9 of the periphery (in this embodiment, the rail 51 is provided on the periphery (FIG. 6, etc.)). A plurality of other carrier receiving fingers 42b are arranged at predetermined intervals along a second side opposite to the first side of the substrate 5, and the substrate carrier 9 is disposed in the vicinity of the second side of the substrate 5. ) to support the periphery of

Next, in step S103, the board|substrate carrier 9 is lowered and set to the height imaged with the low magnification CCD camera. Next, in step S104, the substrate mark 37 provided on the substrate 5 is imaged with a low magnification CCD camera. The control part 70 acquires the positional information of the board|substrate 5 based on the captured image, and stores it in memory.

Step S105 is executed following step S104, or when the determination in step S109 or S113 is &quot;NO&quot;

In step S105 performed subsequent to step S104, the substrate carrier 9 is lowered and set at the alignment operation height, and the position of the substrate 5 is adjusted based on the positional information obtained in step S104. .

First, speaking of the height of the substrate carrier 9, the distance between the carrier receiving surface 41 (the upper surface of the carrier receiving finger 42) and the mask 6 is changed to a lower height than in step S104 . However, at this time, the position of the carrier receiving surface 41 is set to a height at which the substrate 5 on the substrate carrier 9 drooping by its own weight does not contact the mask 6 . On the other hand, depending on the case, step S105 and step S104 may be performed at the same height.

In the alignment operation in step S105 performed subsequent to step S104, the control unit 70, based on the positional information of the substrate 5 acquired in step S104, the alignment apparatus 1 has The positioning mechanism 60 is driven. That is, the control part 70 adjusts the position of the board|substrate 5 so that the board|substrate mark 37 of the board|substrate 5 may fall within the visual field of a high magnification CCD camera. On the other hand, with respect to the mask 6, the relative position of the mask 6 and the high magnification CCD camera is adjusted in advance so that the mask mark 38 falls within the field of view (preferably the center of the field of view) of the high magnification CCD camera. have. For this reason, by the alignment operation|movement in step S105 performed following step S104, it adjusts so that both the board|substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 38 may come in the field of a high magnification CCD camera. However, at this point in time, from the relationship of the depth of field, there is a possibility that the substrate mark 37 cannot be imaged with a high magnification CCD camera. On the other hand, in the alignment operation, although the substrate 5 is moved in the XYθz direction, the substrate 5 drooping by its own weight as described above moves to a height at which it does not contact the mask 6, so the surface of the substrate 5 , or the film pattern already formed on the surface of the substrate 5 slides with the mask 6 and is not damaged.

Next, in step S106, the substrate carrier 9 is lowered, and the substrate 5 is set at a height imaged with a high magnification CCD camera.

Here, since a high magnification CCD camera with a shallow depth of field is focused on both the substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 36 to take pictures, at least a part of the substrate 5 (sagging part) comes into contact with the mask 6 . The substrate 5 is brought close to the mask 6 until a substrate mask contact is made.

Next, in step S108, the substrate mark 37 of the substrate 5 and the mask mark 38 of the mask 6 are simultaneously imaged by the high magnification CCD camera. The control part 70 acquires relative positional information of the board|substrate 5 and the mask 6 based on the captured image. The relative position information here is specifically, information regarding the distance between the center positions of the substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 38, and the direction of a position shift. Step S108 is a measurement process (measurement process) of acquiring relative position information (relative position shift amount) between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 and measuring the position shift amount between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 . )am.

Next, in step S109 , the control unit 70 determines whether the amount of positional shift between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 measured in step S108 is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value. The predetermined threshold value is a value set in advance so that the amount of position shift between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 falls within a range in which there is no problem even when film formation is performed. The threshold value is set so as to achieve the required alignment accuracy of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 . The threshold value is, for example, such that the error is within several micrometers.

If it is determined in step S109 that the amount of position shift between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 exceeds a predetermined threshold (step S109: NO), the flow returns to step S105 and the alignment operation is executed. and the processing after step S106 is continued.

In step S105, which is executed when the determination in step S109 is NO, the substrate carrier 9 is raised and set to the alignment operation height, and the substrate 5 is based on the relative position information obtained in step S108. ) to adjust the position.

In the alignment operation performed when the determination in step S109 is NO, the control unit 70 controls the alignment apparatus 1 based on the relative position information between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 acquired in step S108. ) drives the positioning mechanism provided. That is, the control unit 70 moves the substrate 5 in the XYθz direction so that the substrate mark 37 of the substrate 5 and the mask mark 38 of the mask 6 are closer to each other to position the position. Adjust.

In the alignment operation, the substrate 5 is moved in the XYθz direction, but as described above, since the substrate 5 drooping by its own weight is moved at a height not in contact with the mask 6, the surface of the substrate 5, Alternatively, the film pattern already formed on the surface of the substrate 5 slides with the mask 6 and is not damaged.

Step S105 is an alignment process (alignment process) in which the substrate 5 is moved so that the amount of misalignment between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 is reduced, and fine alignment is performed when the determination in step S109 is NO. is done

When the determination in step S109 is YES, in step S110, the substrate carrier 9 is further lowered so that the entire substrate carrier 9 is placed on the mask frame 6a. That is, the support of the substrate carrier 9 by the carrier support 8 is released, and the substrate carrier 9 (substrate 5) and the mask frame 6a (mask 6) on which it is mounted are together, the mask It will be in the state supported by the pedestal 16 (mask support part). And in step S112, the board|substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 36 are imaged with a high magnification CCD camera, and the relative positional information of the board|substrate 5 and the mask 6 is acquired.

Next, in step S113 , the control unit 70 controls the amount of position shift between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 based on the relative position information between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 obtained in the step S112 . It is determined whether or not it is below a predetermined threshold. The predetermined threshold value is set in advance under the condition that it is within a range in which there is no problem even if film formation is performed as long as it is within the threshold value.

When it is determined in step S113 that the displacement amount between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 exceeds a predetermined threshold (step S113: NO), the carrier receiving finger 42 is moved to the substrate 5 The substrate carrier 9 is supported by raising it to a height of . On the other hand, such NO determination may occur, for example, when a position shift occurs due to external vibration between steps S109 to S114.

Then, the flow returns to step S105 to execute the alignment operation. After that, the processing after step S106 is continued.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S113 that the displacement amount between the substrate 5 and the mask 6a is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value (step S113: YES), the flow advances to step S114, and the mask lifting platform (16) is lowered and transferred to the conveying roller (15). Thereby, the alignment sequence is completed (END).

The substrate carrier 9 according to the present embodiment is provided on the back surface of the carrier face plate 30 as a plate-shaped member having a holding surface for adsorbing the substrate 5 (on the surface opposite to the holding surface); The central reinforcing rib 80 as a temporary rib is fixed. On the substrate holding surface of the carrier face plate 30 , a plurality of chuck members 32 as adhesive members are disposed at positions corresponding to the boundary portions of the mask foil 6b of the mask 6 . The mask foil 6b has a boundary part which divides the to-be-film-formed area|region in the to-be-film-formed surface of the board|substrate 5, and is attached to the mask frame 6a in various arrangement|positioning suitably according to the target product. The chuck member 32 holds the carrier face plate 30 more reliably in the portion corresponding to the mask foil 6b in the substrate 5 in order to ensure the masking effect by the mask foil 6b more reliably. It is arranged in plurality along the direction in which the boundary part which the mask foil 6b has so that it may be adsorbed and held by the surface. That is, as for the plurality of chuck members 32 (adhesive members), the plurality of chuck members 32 are arranged so as to reach the other from one of the opposing edges included in the periphery of the surface (second surface) opposite to the holding surface. and an arranged first group of chuck members (a group of first adhesive members). The first chuck member group is attached to the substrate carrier 9 so that when the mask 6 is attached to the substrate 5, the boundary portion of the mask foil 6b of the substrate 5 is located on the back surface of the portion in close contact. is placed. The first rib, the central reinforcing rib 80 , in the carrier face plate 30 , in particular, in order to improve (reinforce) the rigidity in the portion where the chuck member 32 is arranged, is It is installed so as to extend along the arrangement direction. More specifically, from one edge of the opposing edge parallel to the conveyance direction of the substrate carrier 9 among the two pairs of opposing edges of the periphery on the back surface of the carrier face plate 30 to the arrangement of the chuck member 32 It is being fixed to the back surface of the carrier face plate 30 so that it may reach the other edge along the corresponding position (so that it may span from one of the opposing edges to the other). That is, the first rib (the central reinforcing rib 80 ) is fixedly disposed on the back side of the portion of the substrate carrier 9 where the first chuck member group is disposed. A region in which the central reinforcing rib 80, which is the first rib, is vertically projected onto the holding surface (first surface) is each chuck surface ( The adhesive surface) overlaps each of the areas perpendicularly projected onto the holding surface (the first surface).

In the arrangement of the chuck members 32 , a plurality of arrays in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the substrate carrier 9 (first array) and a plurality of arrays in a direction parallel to the transport direction (second array) are included. Included. The central reinforcing rib 80 is preferably fixed so as to pass through at least a position corresponding to the chuck member 32 disposed at the connecting position of the first arrangement and the second arrangement. In addition, in the configuration in which the substrate carrier 9 supports the opposite edge of the carrier face plate 30 , the central reinforcing rib 80 has an opposite edge orthogonal to the opposite edge, that is, in the transport direction of the substrate carrier 9 . It is preferable that it is fixed so that it may extend in the opposing direction (direction orthogonal to the said conveyance direction) of an opposing edge part at the position away from the both ends in this.

In this way, the rigidity (hardness of sagging) in the portion where the chuck member 32 is disposed in the carrier face plate 30 is locally increased by the central reinforcing rib 80, so that the substrate carrier 9 is the carrier face plate. It becomes possible to locally suppress the amount of deformation (amount of deflection) at the arrangement position of the chuck member 32 when the carrier face plate 30 is deformed by sagging when supported only at the opposite edges of ( 30 ). As a result, the substrate 5 is detached from the holding surface of the carrier face plate 30 , in particular, the posture of the substrate carrier 9b is changed from a first posture in which the substrate holding surface faces upward to a second posture in which the substrate holding surface faces downward. When it inverts in an attitude|position, it can suppress that the board|substrate 5 falls off from the board|substrate carrier 9 .

In this embodiment, in addition to the central reinforcing rib 80, peripheral ribs 81 as peripheral ribs are provided along the periphery (periphery corresponding to the four sides of the rectangle) on the rear surface of the carrier face plate 30 . Four peripheral ribs 81 are provided corresponding to two pairs of opposing edges. On the substrate holding surface of the carrier face plate 30 , close contact between the mask foil 6b and the substrate 5 in the periphery of the central portion (the central portion in the transport direction and the central portion in the width direction orthogonal to the transport direction) is the substrate 5 . It becomes important for more reliably partitioning the area to be formed. On the other hand, providing a plurality of ribs leads to an increase in the weight of the substrate carrier 9 . Accordingly, it is preferable to configure the central reinforcing rib 80 to have a higher rigidity than that of the peripheral rib 81 , that is, to make the central reinforcing rib 80 more difficult to sag than the peripheral rib 81 . By suppressing the deflection of the central portion relatively rather than the deflection of the peripheral portion, while suppressing an increase in the weight of the substrate carrier 9 due to the provision of the ribs, the central reinforcing ribs 80 , particularly around the central portion, of the carrier face plate 30 . The sag suppression effect can be locally enhanced, and the peeling of the mask foil 6b and the board|substrate 5 with a large influence on film-forming can be suppressed effectively.

For example, the cross-sectional area of the cross-section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the central reinforcing rib 80 is made larger than the cross-sectional area of the cross-section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the peripheral rib 81, or the material constituting the central reinforcing rib 80 is What is necessary is just to configure so that the Young's modulus may be larger than the Young's modulus of the material constituting the peripheral ribs 81 . On the other hand, as a method of varying the degree of sagging between the central reinforcing rib 80 and the peripheral rib 81, it is not limited to a specific method, and a conventionally known method may be appropriately used.

In addition, the central reinforcing rib 80 is preferably configured to be easily attached to and detached from the carrier face plate 30 . As a structure which attaches and detaches easily, the structure which fixes the center reinforcing rib 80 with fasteners, such as a bolt, is mentioned, for example. That is, for example, on the carrier face plate 30, a configuration in which bolt holes are evenly arranged like an optical breadboard, and an arbitrary arrangement can be selected to fix the central reinforcing rib 80 can be considered. have. According to this configuration, it is possible to easily change and fix the arrangement of the central reinforcing rib 80 according to the layout of the mask. Moreover, the structure which adsorb|sucks and fixes the center reinforcement rib 80 with a magnet may be sufficient, for example. That is, for example, it is conceivable to configure the central reinforcing rib 80 with a magnetic material, and to embed a magnet for attracting the central reinforcing rib 80 in the carrier face plate 30 . According to this structure, the center reinforcing rib 80 can be adsorbed and fixed in arbitrary arrangement|positioning. The arrangement of the central reinforcing rib 80 can be arbitrarily changed according to the arrangement of the mask foil 6b so as to be detachable with respect to the carrier face plate 30, whereby the arrangement of the mask foil 6b is replaced with a different mask 6 When done, it becomes possible to use the same substrate carrier 9 again.

In addition, in the case where only the opposite side is supported by the central reinforcing rib 80 being less likely to sag than the peripheral rib 81, in other words, the side of the peripheral rib 81 being more likely to sag than the central reinforcing rib 80. The degree of protrusion deformation becoming convex downward increases at both ends of the substrate carrier 9 in the conveyance direction. That is, the sagging state in which the outline of the lower end part in the cross section of the conveyance direction of the carrier face plate 30 becomes a hyperbola shape is formed. By such a sagging deformation|transformation, at the time of alignment, the board|substrate carrier 9 becomes a mounting aspect which starts a contact from the both ends of the conveyance direction with respect to the mask 6.

That is, in the present embodiment, as a supporting step, as a pair of peripheral regions (opposite edges) in the periphery of the substrate carrier 9 , corresponding to a pair of opposing sides among the four sides constituting the periphery of the substrate 5 . The opposing periphery of one substrate carrier 9 is supported by the substrate carrier support 8 so that the opposing periphery follows a predetermined direction. Moreover, as a pair of periphery regions in the periphery of the mask 6, opposing of the mask 6 (mask frame 6a) corresponding to a pair of opposing sides among the four sides which make up the periphery of the mask 6 . The periphery is supported by the mask support part (mask pedestal 16) so that the said opposing periphery may follow a predetermined direction. In addition, in this embodiment, although the predetermined direction (1st direction) is made into the Y-axis direction, the 2nd direction is made into the X-axis direction, and the 3rd direction is made into the Z-axis direction, it is not limited to this. In addition, although the rectangular substrate 5 and the rectangular mask 6 were respectively illustrated in this embodiment, the shape of the substrate and mask is not limited to a rectangular shape, and a predetermined direction among a plurality of sides forming the periphery of the substrate or mask. It can be set as the structure which supports a pair of peripheral regions corresponding to a pair of opposing sides arrange|positioned along the. Therefore, depending on the shape of the substrate or the mask, the intersection between the first direction and the second direction is not limited to orthogonal.

And, as an attaching process, the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are attached from a position where the substrate carrier 9 is separated upwardly from the mask 6 , the substrate carrier 9 is placed on the mask 6 . The substrate carrier support 8 is lowered to move it into position (transition from the disengaged state to the attached state). In this embodiment, it is descended along the Z-axis direction as the third direction, but it may be a direction with some angle with respect to the Z-axis direction within a range that can realize the desired placement operation of the present invention. In addition, the mask support part may be moved without moving the substrate carrier support part 8, and both may be moved.

At this time, the substrate carrier 9 supported only by the substrate carrier support 8 and the mask 6 supported only by the mask support part satisfy the relationship of dc > dm (... Equation (1)) as described above. They are each supported so as to do so. Accordingly, the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 have the largest sag in the third direction in the substrate carrier 9 when moving from the separation position to the attachment position, and in the mask 6 , Contact is started from the portion where the deflection is greatest in the third direction.

On the other hand, when the substrate carrier 9 comes into contact with the mask 6 in the movement from the separation position to the attachment position, in a direction orthogonal to the third direction, the degree of sliding with respect to the mask 6 is higher than that of the substrate carrier 9 . It is preferable if it is supported by the board|substrate carrier support part 8 so that the degree of slidability with respect to the board|substrate carrier support part 8 (carrier receiving surface 41) may become large. That is, the substrate carrier 9 undergoes deformation such that the positions of both ends in the second direction are displaced in the second direction along with the resolution of the sagging state. . Thereby, the position shift of the plane direction when the board|substrate carrier 9 is mounted on the mask 6 is suppressed effectively.

Various methods may be used for the control of the magnitude of the slippery degree described above. For example, while the seating member 31 of the substrate carrier 9 is made of a metal member such as iron similar to the mask 6 (mask frame 6a), at least the contact portion of the two is a polished surface. or a grinding surface, and the contact area in the contact portion is appropriately set. On the other hand, on the carrier receiving surface 41, the frictional force to the extent that the substrate carrier 9 does not slip off when supported alone is ensured, and the substrate carrier 9 rather than between the seating member 31 and the mask 6 is provided. You may apply various coating films so that it may become easy to slide with respect to it. The portion in contact with the substrate carrier 9 on the carrier receiving surface 41 is, for example, an inorganic material, fluorine, DLC, or an inorganic ceramic coating as a base material (inorganic material, fluorine-based coat, ceramic-based coat, DLC coat) may be carried out. In addition, you may use methods other than the method demonstrated in this embodiment suitably.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when forming a film with a substrate carrier and a mask inline in a vapor deposition apparatus, after adsorbing and fixing the substrate to the carrier, the substrate is removed when film formation is performed in a state of downward vapor deposition by inverting the carrier. It becomes possible to prevent falling and damage. Further, according to this embodiment, when aligning the substrate carrier and the mask in the vapor deposition apparatus, it becomes possible to accurately position the substrate to the mask, and the gap between the substrate and the mask is made sufficiently small to mount the mask on the substrate. thing becomes possible Therefore, it becomes possible to reduce film-forming nonuniformity, and it becomes possible to aim at the improvement of film-forming precision.

[Embodiment 2]

<Method for manufacturing electronic device>

A method for manufacturing an electronic device using the substrate processing apparatus will be described. Here, as an example of an electronic device, the case of organic electroluminescent element used for display apparatuses, such as an organic electroluminescent display apparatus, etc. is demonstrated as an example. In addition, the electronic device which concerns on this invention is not limited to this, A thin film solar cell and organic CMOS image sensor may be sufficient. In this embodiment, there is a step of forming an organic film on the substrate 5 using the above film forming method. Moreover, after forming an organic film on the board|substrate 5, it has the process of forming a metal film or a metal oxide film. The structure of the organic electroluminescence display 600 obtained by such a process is demonstrated below.

Fig. 13A is an overall view of the organic EL display device 600, and Fig. 13B shows a cross-sectional structure of one pixel. As shown in FIG. 13A , in the display area 61 of the organic EL display device 600 , a plurality of pixels 62 including a plurality of light emitting elements are arranged in a matrix shape. Each of the light emitting elements has a structure including an organic layer sandwiched between a pair of electrodes. In addition, the pixel here refers to the minimum unit which enables display of a desired color in the display area 61 . In the case of the organic EL display device of this figure, the pixel 62 is constituted by a combination of a first light emitting element 62R, a second light emitting element 62G, and a third light emitting element 62B that emit light different from each other. . The pixel 62 is often composed of a combination of a red light-emitting element, a green light-emitting element, and a blue light-emitting element, but may be a combination of a yellow light-emitting element, a cyan light-emitting element, and a white light-emitting element. does not Moreover, each light emitting element may be comprised by laminating|stacking a some light emitting layer.

In addition, the pixel 62 is constituted by a plurality of light emitting elements that emit the same light emission, and a color filter in which a plurality of different color conversion elements are arranged in a pattern to correspond to each light emitting element is used, so that one pixel is a display area In (61), display of a desired color may be enabled. For example, the pixel 62 may be constituted by at least three white light emitting elements, and a color filter in which each of red, green, and blue color conversion elements is arranged to correspond to each light emitting element may be used. Alternatively, a color filter may be used in which the pixel 62 is composed of at least three blue light emitting elements, and each color conversion element of red, green, and colorless is arranged so as to correspond to each light emitting element. In the latter case, by using a quantum dot color filter (QD-CF) using a quantum dot (QD) material as a material constituting the color filter, the display color is higher than that of a normal organic EL display device that does not use a quantum dot color filter. area can be widened.

Fig. 13(b) is a schematic partial cross-sectional view taken along line A-B of Fig. 13(a). The pixel 62 includes, on a substrate 5 , a first electrode (anode) 64 , a hole transport layer 65 , any of the light emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B, an electron transport layer 67 , It has an organic electroluminescent element provided with the 2nd electrode (cathode) 68. Among these, the hole transport layer 65, the light emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B, and the electron transport layer 67 correspond to the organic layer. In this embodiment, the light emitting layer 66R is an organic EL layer emitting red light, the light emitting layer 66G is an organic EL layer emitting green color, and the light emitting layer 66B is an organic EL layer emitting blue color. On the other hand, when a color filter or quantum dot color filter is used as described above, a color filter or quantum dot color filter is disposed on the light emitting side of each light emitting layer, that is, on the upper or lower part of FIG. omit

The light-emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B are formed in patterns corresponding to light-emitting elements (which may be described as organic EL elements) emitting red, green, and blue, respectively. In addition, the first electrode 64 is formed separately for each light emitting element. The hole transport layer 65 , the electron transport layer 67 , and the second electrode 68 may be formed in common with the plurality of light emitting elements 62R, 62G, and 62B, or may be formed for each light emitting element. On the other hand, in order to prevent the first electrode 64 and the second electrode 68 from being short-circuited by foreign substances, an insulating layer 69 is provided between the first electrodes 64 . Furthermore, since the organic EL layer is deteriorated by moisture or oxygen, a protective layer P for protecting the organic EL element from moisture or oxygen is provided.

Next, the example of the manufacturing method of the organic electroluminescent display as an electronic device is demonstrated concretely. First, a substrate 5 on which a circuit (not shown) for driving an organic EL display device and a first electrode 64 are formed is prepared.

Next, on the substrate 5 on which the first electrode 64 is formed, a resin layer such as an acrylic resin or polyimide is formed by spin coating, and the resin layer is formed by a lithography method on the portion where the first electrode 64 is formed. The insulating layer 69 is formed by patterning so as to form an opening therein. This opening corresponds to the light emitting region in which the light emitting element actually emits light.

Next, the substrate 5 on which the insulating layer 69 is patterned is loaded into the first film forming apparatus, the substrate is held in the substrate holding unit, and the hole transport layer 65 is applied to the first electrode 64 of the display area. ) as a common layer on top. The hole transport layer 65 is formed by vacuum deposition. In reality, since the hole transport layer 65 is formed in a size larger than that of the display area 61, a very fine (high-definition) mask is unnecessary. Here, the film-forming apparatus used in the film-forming in this step and the film-forming of each following layer is the film-forming apparatus in any one of said each embodiment.

Next, the substrate 5 formed up to the hole transport layer 65 is loaded into the second film forming apparatus, and is held by the substrate holding unit. The substrate and the mask are aligned, the substrate is placed on the mask, and the red light emitting layer 66R is formed on the portion of the substrate 5 where the red light emitting element is disposed. According to this example, a mask and a board|substrate can be laminated|stacked favorably, and high-precision film formation can be performed.

Similar to the film formation of the light emitting layer 66R, the light emitting layer 66G emitting green light is formed by the third film forming apparatus, and further, the light emitting layer 66B which emits blue light is formed by the fourth film forming apparatus. After the formation of the light emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B is completed, the electron transporting layer 67 is formed over the entire display area 61 by the fifth film forming apparatus. Each of the light-emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B may be a single layer or a layer in which a plurality of different layers are laminated. The electron transport layer 65 is formed as a layer common to the light emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B of the three colors. In this embodiment, the electron transport layer 67 and the light emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B are formed by vacuum deposition.

Next, the second electrode 68 is formed on the electron transport layer 67 . The second electrode may be formed by vacuum vapor deposition or may be formed by sputtering. Thereafter, the substrate on which the second electrode 68 is formed is moved to an encapsulation device to form a protective layer P by plasma CVD (sealing step), and the organic EL display device 600 is completed. In addition, although it was assumed here that the protective layer P was formed by the CVD method, it is not limited to this, You may form by the ALD method or the inkjet method.

When the substrate 5 on which the insulating layer 69 is patterned is brought into the film forming apparatus and then exposed to an atmosphere containing moisture or oxygen until the film formation of the protective layer P is completed, the light emitting layer made of the organic EL material is It may be deteriorated by moisture or oxygen. Therefore, in this example, carrying in and carrying out of the board|substrate between film-forming apparatuses is performed in a vacuum atmosphere or inert gas atmosphere.

100: alignment room
1: alignment device
8: substrate carrier support
9: Substrate carrier
60: positioning mechanism
11: Rotational translation mechanism
10: Z lift slider
13: Z lift base
18: Z guide
70: control unit
5: Substrate
6: Mask
6a: mask frame
31: seating block

Claims (20)

a plate-shaped member having a first surface for holding the substrate and a second surface which is a surface opposite to the first surface;
a plurality of adhesive members disposed on the first surface side and each having an adhesive surface for holding the substrate;
and a first rib disposed on the second surface side,
The plurality of adhesive members includes a first group of adhesive members arranged in a row along the first surface,
and a region in which the adhesive surface of each of the first adhesive member groups is vertically projected onto the first surface overlaps a region in which the first rib is vertically projected onto the first surface. According to claim 1,
In the second surface, the substrate carrier further has a second rib disposed along the periphery of the plate-shaped member. 3. The method of claim 2,
The plurality of adhesive members includes a second group of adhesive members arranged along the periphery of the plate-shaped member,
and a region in which each of the adhesive surfaces of the second group of adhesive members is vertically projected onto the first surface overlaps a region in which the second rib is vertically projected onto the first surface. 3. The method of claim 2,
and a stiffness of the first rib is higher than a stiffness of the second rib. 3. The method of claim 2,
A cross-sectional area of a cross-section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the first rib is larger than a cross-sectional area of a cross-section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the second rib. 3. The method of claim 2,
A Young's modulus of a material constituting the first rib is larger than a Young's modulus of a material constituting the second rib. According to claim 1,
The plurality of adhesive members includes a second group of adhesive members arranged along the periphery of the plate-shaped member. 8. The method of claim 7,
In a direction in which the first group of adhesive members are arranged, two of the group of second adhesive members are disposed on both sides of the group of first adhesive members;
and a region in which the two adhesive surfaces in the second group of adhesive members are vertically projected onto the first surface overlaps a region in which the first rib is vertically projected onto the first surface. According to claim 1,
The first rib is disposed at the center of the plate-shaped member in a direction intersecting the direction in which the first group of adhesive members are arranged. According to claim 1,
and the first rib is detachably disposed with respect to the plate-shaped member. According to claim 1,
The plurality of adhesive members are detachably disposed with respect to the plate-shaped member. According to claim 1,
The first rib is detachably disposed with respect to the plate-shaped member,
and the plurality of adhesive members are detachably disposed with respect to the plate-shaped member. According to claim 1,
A substrate carrier used for holding and transporting the substrate in a film forming apparatus for forming a film on the substrate using a mask provided with a boundary portion for dividing a region to be filmed on the substrate, the substrate carrier comprising:
The substrate carrier, characterized in that the plurality of adhesive members are disposed corresponding to the boundary portion of the mask. According to claim 1,
The first rib extends in a direction crossing the conveyance direction of the substrate carrier. The substrate carrier according to any one of claims 1 to 14;
film-forming means for forming a film through a mask on the film-forming surface of the substrate held by the substrate carrier;
and conveying means for conveying the substrate carrier. 16. The method of claim 15,
and reversing means for inverting the substrate carrier from a state in which the substrate is held above the plate-shaped member to a state in which the substrate is held below the plate-shaped member. . 15. A film formation method in which a film is formed on a film formation surface of the substrate held by the substrate carrier according to any one of claims 1 to 14 through a mask having a boundary portion for partitioning a film formation region of the substrate. ,
a holding step of holding the substrate on the substrate carrier;
a mounting step of placing the substrate carrier on the mask so that the first adhesive member group overlaps the boundary portion of the mask;
A film-forming method comprising a film-forming step of forming a film on the film-forming surface through the mask after the placing step. 18. The method of claim 17,
After the holding step and before the mounting step, the substrate carrier is inverted from a state in which the substrate is held above the plate-shaped member to a state in which the substrate is held below the plate-shaped member. A film-forming method further comprising an inversion process to: a film forming means for forming a film through a mask on the film forming surface of the substrate held by the substrate carrier;
A film forming apparatus comprising a conveying means for conveying the substrate carrier,
The substrate carrier,
a plate-shaped member having a first surface for holding the substrate and a second surface which is a surface opposite to the first surface;
a plurality of adhesive members disposed on the first surface side and each having an adhesive surface for holding the substrate;
and a first rib disposed on the second surface side,
The transport means transports the substrate carrier in a direction crossing the substrate carrier with the longitudinal direction of the first rib. 20. The method of claim 19,
The plurality of adhesive members includes a first group of adhesive members arranged in a row along the first surface,
and a region in which the adhesive surface of each of the first adhesive member groups is projected vertically onto the first surface overlaps a region in which the first rib is vertically projected onto the first surface.

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