KR20210146173A - Large-area substrate deposition system for high resolution - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a system wherein a separate carrier inputs and discharges a substrate into and from an evaporator and contributes to a loading process to prevent a substrate from being bent or sagging, thereby enabling horizontal deposition on a large-area substrate. According to the present invention, RGB pixel deposition having an FMM applied thereto can be performed on a large-area substrate while maintaining horizontality without bending or sagging of the substrate. An auxiliary support installed on a substrate carrier of the present invention is installed to correspond to the region of an auxiliary support installed on the FMM to support a large-area substrate also in a middle part without intruding a material deposition region, thereby enabling stable transportation of a substrate. A gap for exerting an electrostatic force between a substrate and an electrostatic chuck is ensured by the compensation for substrate sagging, so a substrate can be fixed by an electrostatic chuck to provide an environment enabling high-precision alignment even on a large-area substrate, thereby enabling high-resolution pixels to be formed.

Description

Large-area substrate deposition system for high resolution

The present invention relates to an apparatus for depositing organic or inorganic materials in a vacuum, and in particular, to a horizontal deposition system necessary for manufacturing a device for high resolution on a large-area substrate.

Small and medium-sized mobile displays are devices made up of high-resolution pixels, and are manufactured by vacuum deposition using a fine metal mask (FMM) and a substrate required to form RGB pixels. Currently, it is being applied in mass production by using a substrate that is half the size of the 6th generation. Substrates of generations above are due to difficulties in FMM manufacturing technology, mask and substrate handling methods in vacuum, and substrate handling technology for high-precision alignment. not applicable. Various attempts including vertical deposition have been proposed to increase the productivity of mobile displays and to produce ultra-high-resolution large-area displays, but a solution is still needed.

Registered Patent No. 10-2100376 discloses a separate carrier on the back side of an electrostatic chuck chucking a large-area substrate to solve the above problems, and a reinforcing rib, but does not support the substrate, but sags due to the carrier's own weight. It does not contribute to the deflection of the substrate as it is to prevent it.

The present invention provides a substrate transfer and handling method so that a large-area substrate can be applied from a horizontal deposition method to an RGB pixel formation deposition method using FMM, thereby securing higher productivity than before and enabling the production of displays of various sizes.

In the present invention, an object of the present invention is to provide a system capable of horizontal deposition even on a large-area substrate by contributing to a loading process in which a separate carrier inputs and discharges a substrate to the evaporator and prevents the substrate from being bent or sagged.

According to the above object, the present invention

In the substrate carrier fixed to the substrate and carried in and out of the chamber,

a carrier frame for supporting an edge of the substrate so that the substrate is mounted; and

Includes; auxiliary support for supporting the surface of the substrate in addition to the edge of the substrate;

The auxiliary support provides a substrate carrier, characterized in that installed in the opening formed in the carrier frame.

In the above, the auxiliary support provides a substrate carrier, characterized in that installed on the area on the substrate is not deposited material.

In the above, the substrate is bonded to a fine metal mask (FMM), and the FMM includes an auxiliary support for FMM where there is no fine metal masking area for pixel formation, and the auxiliary support is installed with the auxiliary support for the FMM. It provides a substrate carrier, characterized in that installed in a position corresponding to the area.

The present invention is

the carrier for mounting the substrate;

a carrier conveying unit for loading and unloading the carrier;

an electrostatic chuck disposed on the carrier to chuck the substrate;

a magnet array plate disposed on the electrostatic chuck and having magnets arranged to pull the FMM bonded to the substrate toward the substrate by magnetic force;

a mask transfer unit for loading and unloading the FMM bonded to the substrate;

a driving unit connected to the electrostatic chuck to align the substrate with the FMM;

a deposition source disposed under the substrate and the FMM composite to evaporate a material for forming a pixel on the substrate; and

It provides a horizontal deposition system comprising a scan unit that scans and transports the deposition source to form a pixel on the substrate.

In the above, there is provided a horizontal deposition system characterized in that the substrate supported by the carrier is chucked by the electrostatic chuck descending.

In the above, there is provided a horizontal deposition system comprising a carrier centering unit and a mask centering unit to fix or align positions of the carrier and the mask, respectively.

In the above, there is provided a horizontal deposition system, characterized in that the carrier conveying unit and the mask conveying unit are composed of the same empty conveying unit, and the carrier and the mask are conveyed by the same conveying unit with a time difference.

In the above, the deposition source provides a horizontal deposition system, characterized in that the linear deposition source or a plurality of point deposition sources are arranged in a line in a vertical direction with respect to the scan direction of the deposition source.

According to the present invention, even on a large-area substrate, RGB pixel deposition using FMM can be performed while maintaining a horizontal substrate without bending or sagging of the substrate.

That is, the auxiliary support installed in the substrate carrier of the present invention is installed in accordance with the area of the auxiliary support installed in the FMM to support the large-area substrate in the center without encroaching on the material deposition area to enable stable transfer of the substrate, By compensating for possible substrate sag, an appropriate gap between the substrate and the electrostatic chuck is ensured for the electrostatic force to act. Accordingly, it is possible to chuck a large-area substrate by an electrostatic chuck, and ultimately, it provides an environment in which high-precision alignment is possible even on a large-area substrate, enabling high-resolution pixel formation.

1 is a rear view and a cross-sectional view of a carrier for fixing and transporting a substrate according to the present invention.
2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating that a substrate, a substrate carrier, a carrier transfer unit, an electrostatic chuck, a magnet array plate, a mask, a mask transfer unit, a centering unit, an evaporation source, and a scanning device are positioned in the deposition chamber according to the present invention.
3 to 5 are flowcharts sequentially illustrating an alignment process between a substrate and a mask.
6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating that the deposition source is scanned after bonding of the substrate and the mask.

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

High-resolution small and medium-sized mobile organic OLED displays are manufactured by sequentially depositing RGB organic materials using each FMM to form RGB pixels. At this time, the fine metal mask (FMM) manufactured by the etching method is the largest size applied in production, which is half the size of the 6th generation substrate. In addition to the edges of the frame to which the mask is welded, there may be areas that can serve as auxiliary supports.

That is, there is a region in which the organic material is not deposited in some regions including the center other than the edge of the substrate. In other words, the auxiliary support is installed where there is no fine metal masking area for pixel formation in the entire FMM.

1 is a schematic example of a carrier 10 for fixing and transporting the substrate 1, the carrier frame 11 has clamps 13 for fixing the substrate are formed here and there, and overlaps with the position of the auxiliary support of the FMM. It shows that the auxiliary support 12 is formed in the same area. The substrate 10 is placed and supported on the carrier frame 11 in the form of a picture frame constituting the carrier, and there are one or more clamps (three each in FIG. 1) on each side of the square frame, so that the substrate is stably clamped. Fix it. It may be difficult to maintain the flatness of a large-area substrate only by supporting the edge of the substrate by the frame, so in the present invention, one or more auxiliary supports are installed inside the carrier frame, that is, at the opening formed by the frame in which the substrate is present.

A method for stably fixing the substrate by minimizing the sagging of the substrate by utilizing a portion of the substrate on which the material is not deposited is proposed.

That is, the auxiliary support 12 is also installed in the substrate carrier 10 for the area corresponding to the dead zone in which the material is not deposited on the substrate due to the auxiliary support formed in the FMM to prevent the large-area substrate from sagging. . The auxiliary support 12 may be installed in an area that is close to or smaller than the substrate dead zone (where there is no fine metal masking area for pixel formation in the FMM). The dead zone also exists in the center of the board in addition to the edge, and it corresponds to the sagging or bending part of the large-area board. By maintaining a certain distance, it is possible to stably chuck a large-area substrate by an electrostatic chuck.

At this time, the loading pin hole 121 for loading the substrate from the robot is formed in the auxiliary support 12 of the carrier 10 to be inserted. Of course, the auxiliary support 12 is not limited to the example illustrated in FIG. 1 according to the FMM manufacturing method and may be configured in various shapes, and thus the position of the auxiliary support 12 of the carrier 10 is also changed.

A loading pin hole 121 through which the loading pin can pass is formed in the auxiliary support.

2 shows a situation in which a substrate is loaded into the deposition chamber for deposition. Substrate 1 , substrate carrier 10 , carrier transfer unit 51 , electrostatic chuck 30 , magnet array plate 40 , FMM mask 20 , mask transfer unit 52 , centering units 54 , 55 . ), the deposition source 200 and the scanning device 202 are located.

The carrier 10 is conveyed by a carrier conveying unit 51 disposed below the carrier, and the FMM mask 20 is conveyed by a mask conveying unit 52 disposed below it. They each move through the opening 101 for entering and leaving the carrier and the opening 102 for entering the mask.

An electrostatic chuck 30 for fixing the substrate 1 is disposed on the upper portion of the transfer unit. The substrate 1 is chucked by the electrostatic chuck 30 , aligned with the FMM mask 20 , and then bonded. A magnet array plate 40 that strongly pulls and fixes the FMM mask 20 toward the substrate 1 is disposed on the electrostatic chuck 30 .

In addition, a vision unit for aligning the substrate 10 and the mask 20 and a stage driving mechanism are connected to the electrostatic chuck (not shown).

The deposition source 200 placed in the waiting box 201 and the scanning unit 202 for transferring the deposition source in a scan type are configured below the deposition chamber to scan the deposition source in parallel to the fixed substrate (not shown).

In addition, separate centering units 54 and 55 for fixing or aligning the carrier 10 and the mask 20, respectively, may be additionally configured. Here, the centering unit is a mechanism for moving and fixing the carrier or the mask to a predetermined position.

The opening/closing unit 15 is a mechanism for opening and closing the clamp 13 in the carrier 10 .

Next, a method for stably fixing the substrate by introducing the substrate 1 into the deposition chamber 100 and enabling high-precision alignment will be described (see FIG. 3 ).

The carrier on which the substrate is fixed is carried in by the transfer unit 51 through the carrier entry/exit opening 101 that is an opening connecting the deposition chamber and other chambers (a).

After the carriers are aligned by the operation of the centering unit 54 for aligning the positions of the carriers 10, the opening/closing units 15 from above each clamp position to open the clamps 13 fixing the substrate to the edge of the carrier. This lowering opens the clamp 13 (b).

In order to further align the position or posture of the substrate 10 according to circumstances, the centering unit 54 may operate through the edge of the substrate.

Thereafter, the electrostatic chuck 30 on the upper part descends and comes into contact with the substrate, and then power is applied to chuck the substrate 1 in the electrostatic chuck 30 (c). In the present invention, it is possible to secure a distance between the electrostatic chuck 30 capable of generating an electrostatic force on the substrate and the substrate 1 by supplementing the substrate sag by the auxiliary support 12 of the carrier. In this case, the electrostatic chuck is manufactured to have high-precision flatness, so that the substrate can be maintained in a flat state without bending or sagging.

As the electrostatic chuck 30 rises, the substrate 1 on the carrier 10 is attached to the electrostatic chuck 30 and rises together (d), and then the opening/closing unit 15 holding the clamp 13 is opened. As it rises again, the clamp 13 is closed (e).

When the carrier 10 is discharged to the outside through the opening 101 for entering and exiting the carrier (f), the electrostatic chuck 30 descends again to be accessible to a distance very close to the mask 20 (g),

Precise alignment is performed between the substrate and the mask by identifying each recognition mark (alignment mark) marked on the substrate 1 and the mask 20 . The vision unit is equipped with a high-resolution CCD camera to identify the mark for recognition. Alignment may be performed by moving the electrostatic chuck and the substrate or by moving a mask by the driving unit.

When the alignment is completed, the electrostatic chuck 30 is further lowered by a distance between the substrate 1 and the mask 20 so that the substrate 1 is bonded to the mask 20 (h),

The magnet array plate 40 on the electrostatic chuck 30 descends to pull the mask 20 toward the substrate to attach it to the substrate (i).

At this time, a groove (not shown) is formed in the upper part of the electrostatic chuck so that the magnet array plate 40 can be inserted into the electrostatic chuck 30 , so that the magnet array plate 40 can reduce the gap with the metal mask 20 , Accordingly, a strong magnetic force may be applied to the metal mask 20 .

After the alignment process is completed, the material is deposited on the substrate while the deposition source 200 at a position where the material is not deposited on the substrate moves around the substrate through the scanning device (see FIG. 4 ).

When the deposition process is completed, the unloading process starts in the reverse order by ascending from the magnet array plate 40 on the upper part, and the carrier 10 is carried in to transport the substrate to the next process chamber to transfer the substrate 1 to the carrier 10. delivered to and returned to

That is, the magnet array plate 40 is lifted separately from the electrostatic chuck 30 , so that the mask 20 does not receive a force toward the substrate, and the electrostatic chuck 30 is further raised so that the carrier 10 is placed under the substrate. Allow space for input. Then, when the carrier 10 is put through the carrier transfer unit 51, the position of the carrier is aligned by the operation of the centering unit 54. Next, the opening/closing unit 15 descends from the top to open the clamp 13 installed on the carrier 10 to open the clamp 13 . Thereafter, the electrostatic chuck 30 is lowered to a position where the substrate is in contact with the upper surface of the carrier, the power connected to the electrostatic chuck 30 is turned off to separate the electrostatic chuck from the substrate, and the substrate is mounted on the carrier 10 and clamped (13) is closed, the board|substrate is fixed to a carrier, and the carrier conveyance part 51 carries out through the opening part 101 for carrier entry and exit.

The mask 20 can be carried in and out in the same manner as the carrier through another opening, which is the opening 102 for entering and leaving the mask.

On the other hand, it is also possible to configure a mechanism that utilizes the transfer unit 51 for a substrate carrier together without separately configuring the transfer unit 52 for the mask. That is, the opening 101 for carrier entry and exit 102 and the opening 102 for mask entry are integrated into one opening, and the transport unit is also configured as one, so that the substrate carrier and the mask can be sequentially loaded and unloaded.

In this case, the carrier and the mask input and discharge processes are performed through one opening, so that it is possible to reduce the cost of the additionally configured transport unit and the large gate valve. Detailed diagramming is omitted.

The deposition source 200 placed under the deposition chamber is a linear deposition source configured parallel to the substrate (linearly extending in a direction perpendicular to the scan direction) or a plurality of point deposition sources are arranged in a line perpendicular to the scan direction to apply to a large-area substrate. It is configured to enable material deposition with a uniformly distributed thickness.

On the other hand, in the conventional electrostatic chuck, the substrate is loaded and directly put into the inline deposition line, and the substrate is aligned and attached to the electrostatic chuck and linearly transferred to the deposition area, and the deposition process must be performed after alignment again at the deposition position. Since the electrostatic chuck, which continuously consumes electrical energy, travels a long distance, it includes various problems such as battery capacity check, substrate separation due to capacity exhaustion, increase in stress applied to the substrate, and increased possibility of mura.

In contrast, the electrostatic chuck of the present invention is fixed inside the deposition chamber and a separate carrier for transferring the substrate is applied. can also play a secondary role to ensure that the substrate is chucked by the electrostatic chuck in the face down state, thus obtaining several benefits from the carrier application.

As described above, RGB pixel deposition using FMM can be performed while maintaining the horizontal without sagging of the large-area substrate.

The right of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but is defined by the claims, and a person of ordinary skill in the art can make various modifications and adaptations within the scope of the claims. it is self-evident

100: deposition chamber
1: substrate
10 : carrier
11: carrier frame
12: auxiliary support
121: loading pin hole
13 : clamp
15: opening and closing unit
20: fine metal mask (FMM)
30: electrostatic chuck
40: magnet array plate
51: carrier transfer unit
52: mask transfer unit
54: carrier centering unit
55: mask centering unit
60: board
101: opening for carrier entry
102: opening for mask entry
200: evaporation source
201 : Standby (ATM) box
202: scan unit

Claims (8)

In the substrate carrier fixed to the substrate and carried in and out of the chamber,
a carrier frame supporting an edge of the substrate to be mounted thereon; and
Includes; auxiliary support for supporting the surface of the substrate in addition to the edge of the substrate;
The auxiliary support is a substrate carrier, characterized in that installed in the opening formed in the carrier frame. The substrate carrier according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary support is installed in an area where no material is deposited on the substrate. The method of claim 2, wherein the substrate is bonded to a fine metal mask (FMM), the FMM includes an auxiliary support for FMM where there is no fine metal masking area for pixel formation, and the auxiliary support is the auxiliary support for the FMM. A substrate carrier, characterized in that installed at a position corresponding to the installed area. The carrier of claim 1 for mounting the substrate;
a carrier conveying unit for loading and unloading the carrier;
an electrostatic chuck disposed on the carrier to chuck the substrate;
a magnet array plate disposed on the electrostatic chuck and having magnets arranged to pull the FMM bonded to the substrate toward the substrate by magnetic force;
a mask transfer unit for loading and unloading the FMM bonded to the substrate;
a driving unit connected to the electrostatic chuck to align the substrate with the FMM;
a deposition source disposed under the substrate and the FMM composite to evaporate a material for forming a pixel on the substrate; and
and a scanning unit configured to scan and transfer the deposition source to form pixels on the substrate. 5. The horizontal deposition system of claim 4, wherein the electrostatic chuck lowers the substrate supported by the carrier to chuck the substrate. 5. The horizontal deposition system of claim 4, further comprising a carrier centering unit and a mask centering unit for fixing or aligning positions of the carrier and the mask, respectively. 5. The horizontal deposition system according to claim 4, wherein the carrier conveying unit and the mask conveying unit are composed of the same single empty conveying unit, and the carrier and the mask are conveyed by the same conveying unit with a time difference. 5. The horizontal deposition system of claim 4, wherein the deposition source is a linear deposition source or a plurality of point deposition sources arranged in a line in a vertical direction with respect to a scan direction of the deposition source.

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