TW202043508A - Method for cleaning a vacuum system, method for vacuum processing a substrate, and apparatus for vacuum processing a substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for cleaning a vacuum chamber, particularly a vacuum chamber used in the manufacture of OLED devices, is described, The method includes igniting a UV source within the vacuum chamber; and adjusting a pressure in the vacuum chamber to a vacuum condition providing a mixture of ozone and active radicals from a process gas in the vacuum chamber.

Description

Method for cleaning vacuum system, method for vacuum processing substrate, and equipment for vacuum processing substrate

The embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a method for cleaning a vacuum system, a method for vacuum processing a substrate, and an apparatus for vacuum processing a substrate. The embodiments of the present disclosure particularly relate to methods and devices for manufacturing organic light emitting diode (OLED) devices.

Techniques for layer deposition on a substrate include, for example, thermal evaporation, physical vapor deposition (PVD), and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The coated substrate can be used in a variety of applications and a variety of technical fields. For example, the coated substrate can be used in the field of organic light emitting diode (OLED) devices. Organic light-emitting diodes can be used to make TV screens, computer monitors, mobile phones, and other handheld devices to display information. An organic light emitting diode device such as an organic light emitting diode display may include one or more layers of organic materials between two electrodes deposited on a substrate.

The organic light emitting diode device may include a stack of several organic materials, which are, for example, evaporated in the vacuum chamber of the processing equipment. The vacuum conditions in the vacuum chamber and the contaminants in the vacuum chamber will affect the quality of the deposited material layers and the organic light emitting diode devices manufactured using these material layers.

For example, the lifetime of OLED devices may be affected by organic pollution. Contamination may originate from parts and materials used inside the vacuum and/or cross-contamination during maintenance. Cleaning (ie, removing contaminants) before or during the manufacturing process can produce the organic light emitting diode device stably and with high quality.

The duration or time of proper cleaning to achieve a pollution level suitable for manufacturing (preventive maintenance (PM) recovery) is a key resource. For owners of manufacturing systems, tool downtime per minute is very costly. Therefore, improving cleaning efficiency and reducing cleaning time can reduce manufacturing costs.

Remote ozone generators (remote ozone generators) can be used for cleaning, such as cleaning large-volume chambers used in display manufacturing. Due to the long service life of ozone, remote sources (that is, sources that do not generate ozone near the surface to be cleaned) can be used.

Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus that can improve the vacuum condition inside the vacuum chamber and clean the vacuum chamber. The purpose of this disclosure is particularly to reduce pollution, so that the quality of the organic material layer deposited on the substrate can be improved.

In view of the foregoing, a method for cleaning a vacuum chamber, a cleaning vacuum system (especially a method for manufacturing an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) device, a method for vacuum processing a substrate, and an apparatus for vacuum processing a substrate are provided. Other aspects, advantages and features disclosed are clearly visible in the scope of patent application, description and drawings.

According to an embodiment, there is provided a method for cleaning a vacuum chamber (especially for manufacturing an organic light emitting diode device). The method includes: igniting an ultraviolet source in the vacuum chamber; and igniting the vacuum chamber A pressure in the chamber is adjusted to a vacuum state, thereby providing a mixture of ozone and a plurality of active radicals from a processing gas in the vacuum chamber.

According to an embodiment, there is provided a method for vacuum processing a substrate to manufacture an organic light emitting diode device. Methods include cleaning methods according to any of the embodiments described herein, and depositing one or more layers of organic materials on the substrate.

According to an embodiment, an apparatus for vacuum processing a substrate (especially for manufacturing an organic light emitting diode device) is provided. The equipment includes a vacuum chamber; an ultraviolet source located in the vacuum chamber; a vacuum pump for evacuating the vacuum chamber; and a controller for adjusting a pressure to a vacuum state, thereby removing from the vacuum chamber A mixture of ozone and a plurality of active free radicals is provided in one of the processing gases.

Now referring to the various embodiments of the present disclosure in detail, one or more examples of the embodiments are shown in the drawings. In the following description of the drawings, the same reference numerals refer to the same components. Generally speaking, only the differences regarding the respective embodiments are described. Each example has an explanation of the disclosure, and is not meant to limit the disclosure. In addition, the features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used in other embodiments or used in combination with other embodiments to produce yet another embodiment. Representative of this department, the narrative department includes such modifications and changes.

The vacuum conditions in the vacuum chamber and the amount of pollutants, especially organic pollutants, can greatly affect the quality of the material layer deposited on the substrate. In particular, for mass production of organic light-emitting diodes, the cleanliness of vacuum components greatly affects the life of the manufactured devices. Even electro-polished surfaces may still be too dirty for the manufacture of organic light emitting diode (OLED) devices. Some embodiments of the present disclosure use ozone to clean the vacuum chamber and/or components in the vacuum chamber. For example, the vacuum cleaning can be performed after the pre-cleaning process, such as the final cleaning process of the vacuum system. The embodiment of the present disclosure relates to ultra-clean vacuum (UCV) cleaning.

As mentioned above, remote ozone generators can be used to clean large-volume chambers. Due to the long service life of ozone, ozone can be generated at a distance (that is, away from the surface to be cleaned). The inventors of the present disclosure have discovered that if ozone cleaning and ultraviolet light are combined for direct cleaning (ie in situ ozone creation), a synergistic effect can be achieved. By adjusting the process parameters, a mixture of ozone and active free radicals (such as oxygen free radicals) can be generated to improve cleaning efficiency.

Compared to conventional cleaning strategies used in the organic light-emitting diode industry, such as "bake-out under vacuum", the embodiments of the present disclosure are not based on increased temperature to reduce and/or remove Organic contaminants in the vacuum chamber. Especially when there are temperature-sensitive components (such as electronic devices) inside the system, baking is not a beneficial option. In addition, compared to the conventional strategy, the use of the combination of ozone, active groups (such as oxygen radicals) and ultraviolet light according to the embodiments of the present disclosure shows improved cleaning efficiency, and in particular does not have a baking process .

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for cleaning a vacuum chamber, in particular, a method for cleaning a vacuum chamber for manufacturing an organic light emitting diode device. The method includes igniting at least one ultraviolet source, such as an ultraviolet lamp, in a vacuum chamber, and adjusting a pressure in the vacuum chamber to a vacuum state, thereby providing ozone and a plurality of activities from a processing gas in the vacuum chamber A mixture of active radicals.

The cleanliness of the chamber or the surface can be determined by contact angle measurement, for example. For example, performing an ozone cleaning process at atmospheric pressure may result in a reduction in contact angle of 5° to 10°, a cleaning time of about one hour or less, and exposure to pre-contaminated wafers that have been cleaned. Take measurements. Combining in-situ ozone cleaning (i.e. generating ozone in a vacuum chamber) with decompression in the vacuum chamber and/or ultraviolet rays within a specific wavelength range can produce ozone cleaning and ozone generation One of the active substances or free radicals acts synergistically. Therefore, the reduction in contact angle can be significantly improved, for example, by two or more times.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, active free radicals can be generated from ozone or oxygen. According to some embodiments, an ultraviolet source or an ultraviolet lamp may emit radiation (ultraviolet rays) of a specific wavelength or wavelength range. For example, an ultraviolet source or ultraviolet lamp can emit radiation at a wavelength of 170 nm to 200 nm, for example, a wavelength of about 182 nm to 185 nm. Radiation at this wavelength may generate ozone from oxygen. According to additional or alternative modifications, the ultraviolet source or ultraviolet lamp can emit radiation at a wavelength of 230 nm to 270 nm, for example, a wavelength of about 250 nm to 253 nm. Radiation at this wavelength may trigger the decomposition of ozone into oxygen and active substances.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure can be further described according to the distribution strategy of active species in the vacuum chamber to be cleaned. Contrary to the strategy of industry standard cleaning procedures based on maximizing the number of active substances in the cleaning process, the embodiments of the present disclosure reduce the number of active substances participating in the cleaning process. However, by changing the distribution of the active material in the vacuum chamber and/or by changing the mixture of ozone and active free radicals, the efficiency of the active material can be improved. The ozone generated in the vacuum chamber (ie, enclosed space) generates ozone and active free radicals, such as oxygen free radicals near the ultraviolet lamp. The high concentration of ozone generated at the source can immediately absorb the radiation used to generate oxygen free radicals. Therefore, the arrival of ultraviolet light in the vacuum chamber can be restricted, especially the arrival of ultraviolet light in a large vacuum chamber used for processing large-area substrates for display manufacturing. According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the pressure in the vacuum chamber is reduced to reduce the density of available oxygen to generate ozone. As a result, the arrival of ultraviolet light (ie, mean free path) is increased, which results in improved cleaning efficiency.

According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the radiation wavelength is provided in the vacuum chamber to allow ozone generation and to generate active substances or radicals separately from the generated ozone. The mean free path length of the ultraviolet rays is suitable for the geometry of the chamber and/or the size of the chamber, so that the ultraviolet rays can reach the surface of the vacuum chamber, thereby providing an additional cleaning effect.

For example, if ultraviolet rays (such as light with a wavelength of about 251 nm) that generate active materials reach the surface to be cleaned, the generation of active materials (such as oxygen radicals) from ozone is triggered near the contaminated surface. The active substance may react with contaminants on the surface before reconstitution. In addition, the reduced pressure reduces the absorption of high-energy ultraviolet radiation, which may further cause the molecules attached to the surface to be cleaned to dissociate.

According to the embodiments described herein, a combination of ozone, active free radicals and ultraviolet rays reaching the surface to be cleaned can be provided. Therefore, the ultraviolet source in the vacuum chamber can provide a synergistic effect of multiple effects, in which reduced pressure is provided during cleaning.

For organic light-emitting diode chambers, an average wall-to-wall distance of 3 m can be provided. Therefore, the mean free path length of the active material can be less than 3m to ensure the beneficial mean free path length of ultraviolet light, which can provide a pressure of 5x10 ^-4 mbar to 2x10 ^-2 mbar. For example, the average wall-to-wall distance or the average distance of the walls can be defined as follows. The vacuum chamber system usually includes a bottom wall and a top wall with a vertical distance. In addition, the vacuum chamber usually includes two opposite side walls with a first horizontal distance and two other opposite side walls with a second horizontal distance. For example, the average distance of the wall may be the average of the vertical distance, the first horizontal distance, and the second horizontal distance. The above exemplary description refers to a vacuum chamber in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped. For cylindrical chambers or chambers with a trapezoidal cross section, the average distance can be calculated in a similar manner.

According to some embodiments that can be combined with other embodiments described herein, there is provided a method for cleaning a vacuum chamber, in particular, a method for cleaning a vacuum chamber for manufacturing an OLED device. Embodiments of the present disclosure may further include determining an average distance of the walls of the vacuum chamber, wherein the pressure is adjusted according to the average distance.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method 100 for cleaning a vacuum chamber, which is used in, for example, manufacturing OLED devices according to the embodiments described herein. Cleaning may be related to the surface of the vacuum chamber, particularly the inner surface of the vacuum chamber and the surface of the components in the vacuum chamber.

The method 100 includes igniting an ultraviolet source in a vacuum chamber (block 110). In addition, the pressure in the vacuum chamber is adjusted (block 120) to a pressure so as to provide a mixture of ozone and a plurality of active radicals from a processing gas in the vacuum chamber. According to some embodiments that may be combined with other embodiments described herein, the process gas includes oxygen or may be oxygen. Before operating the vacuum system, cleaning such as ultraviolet rays, ozone, and active materials can be the final cleaning process, such as depositing one or more layers of organic materials on the substrate. The word "final" should be understood to mean that no further cleaning procedures are performed after plasma cleaning.

The pre-cleaning for cleaning at least part of the vacuum system and the plasma cleaning system for cleaning at least part of the vacuum chamber using, for example, an ultraviolet source can be used for various parts of the vacuum system. In some embodiments, the pre-cleaning and ultraviolet/ozone cleaning systems respectively include cleaning of the vacuum chamber. For example, cleaning includes cleaning one or more inner walls of the vacuum chamber, respectively. Additionally or alternatively, cleaning may include cleaning one or more components within the vacuum chamber of the vacuum system. One or more parts may be selected from the group consisting of mechanical parts, movable parts, actuators, valves, and any combination thereof. For example, the mechanical part may be any part inside the vacuum chamber, such as a movable part used to operate the vacuum system. Exemplary movable components include, but are not limited to, valves, such as gate valves. The driver may include a driver for transporting the substrate and/or carrier in the vacuum system, a driver or actuator for aligning the substrate and/or mask, and a gate valve for separating adjacent vacuum areas or chambers. Valve driver, etc.

According to some embodiments that can be combined with other embodiments described herein, the cleaning method (such as method 100) can be performed after the maintenance procedure of the vacuum system or part of the vacuum system, and/or avoid recontamination during operation. In particular, pre-cleaning after maintenance (such as wet cleaning) may not be sufficient to achieve the proper cleanliness required for mass production of organic light-emitting diodes. The cleaning process (ie, UV/ozone cleaning after pre-cleaning) can ensure a cleanliness level that can improve the quality of the organic material layer deposited during the deposition process (eg, thermal evaporation process). Ultraviolet/ozone cleaning can also be used to control re-contamination due to outgassing of polymers (O-rings, cables, etc.) during production or system idle periods.

The term "maintenance program" can be understood as not operating the vacuum system to be able to perform various tasks, such as maintenance and/or initial installation of the vacuum system or a part of the vacuum system. The maintenance program may be executed periodically, for example, at predetermined maintenance intervals.

In some embodiments, the cleaning is performed in one or more (vacuum) chambers of the vacuum system, and the vacuum chamber is selected from a load lock chamber, a cleaning chamber, a vacuum deposition chamber, a vacuum processing chamber, A group consisting of transfer chambers, routing modules and any combination thereof.

As described above, the embodiments of the present disclosure are related to a low-pressure cleaning procedure, and in particular, it is suitable for a low-pressure one of the size and geometry of the vacuum chamber to be cleaned. Display manufacturing such as organic light emitting diode display manufacturing is performed on a large-area substrate. For example, the size of the substrate may be 0.67 m ² or more, such as 1 m ² or more.

The system described herein can be used for evaporation on large-area substrates, for example in the manufacture of OLED displays. Specifically, the substrate used in the system according to the embodiments described herein is a large area substrate. For example, a large-area substrate or carrier can be GEN 4.5 equivalent to a surface area of about 0.67m² (0.73 x 0.92m), GEN 5 equivalent to a surface area of about 1.4m² (1.1 mx 1.3 m), equivalent to about GEN 6 of 2.7m² (1.5 mx 1.8 m) is equivalent to GEN 7.5 with a surface area of about 4.29m² (1.95 mx 2.2 m), equivalent to GEN 8.5 of about 5.7 m² (2.2 mx 2.5 m), or even 8.7 m² (2.85) mx 3.05 m) of GEN 10. Even larger generations such as GEN 11 and GEN 12 and corresponding surface areas can be implemented similarly. In the manufacture of organic light-emitting diode displays, one-and-a-half sizes of the GEN generation can also be provided.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, an improved pressure level for cleaning by active materials and ultraviolet-assisted ozone can be provided according to the size of the chamber. Therefore, lower pressures can be advantageously used for larger chambers. For smaller chambers, the pressure may be higher, corresponding to a shorter mean free path length.

According to other embodiments that can be combined with other embodiments described herein, the inventor's findings can be similarly applied to vacuum chambers in the semiconductor industry, such as wafer processing or wafer inspection. Since the chamber is usually smaller, the pressure may be higher. The specific embodiment involving optimizing the mean free path length based on the average chamber wall distance is suitable for smaller vacuum chambers. In addition, additionally or alternatively, other cleaning parameters can be further improved or optimized for semiconductor manufacturing.

Especially for the manufacture of organic light emitting diode devices, the vacuum quality in the vacuum chamber and the contamination in the vacuum chamber strongly affect the performance of the device. In particular, the life of the manufacturing device may be greatly reduced due to contamination. Therefore, the surface inside the vacuum chamber needs to be cleaned frequently. The processing chamber, manufacturing chamber, transfer chamber, transport chamber, storage chamber and assembly chamber are sensitive to contamination. The interaction between people and the inner surface of such a chamber introduces organic and non-organic pollutants, and this organic and non-organic pollutant is absorbed by the surface of the chamber and/or the surface of the components.

Although the wet cleaning procedure of the inner surface performed by the operator may be time-consuming and laborious, the wet cleaning is beneficial for removing microscopic contamination (such as solvent usage, particles, etc.). In addition, the operator may introduce additional organic pollutants into the system, and the operator may not be able to effectively obtain certain services.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, a wet cleaning process can be introduced to remove microscopic pollution. According to the embodiments described herein, the in-situ cleaning process can be provided after the wet cleaning process or another pre-cleaning process.

FIG. 3 shows a part of a processing system 300 used for vacuum deposition on a substrate, for example, to manufacture an organic light emitting diode device according to the embodiments described herein.

In Figure 3, the processing module 310 is connected to a routing module 320. The maintenance module 340 can be coupled to the processing module. The transportation module 330 provides a path along the transmission direction from the first routing module to the second routing module (not shown). Each module can have one or more vacuum chambers. In addition, the transportation module may provide two or more tracks, such as four transportation tracks 352, in which a carrier can be removed from one of these routing modules. As shown in Figure 3, the transmission direction along the routing module and/or the transportation module can be a first direction. Another routing module can be connected to another processing module (not shown). As shown in Figure 3, these gate valves 305 can be respectively arranged between adjacent modules or vacuum chambers along the first direction, such as between the transportation module and the adjacent routing module and along a line. The second direction. The gate valve 305 can be closed or opened to provide a vacuum seal between the vacuum chambers. The existence of the gate valve may depend on the application of the processing system, for example, on the type, number and/or order of the organic material layer deposited on the substrate. Therefore, one or more gate valves can be provided between the transfer chambers.

According to a typical embodiment, the first transfer track 352 and the second transfer track 352 are configured for non-contact transfer of substrate carriers and/or mask carriers to reduce contamination in the vacuum chamber. In particular, the first transfer track and the second transfer track may include a holding assembly and a driving structure, which are configured for non-contact displacement of the substrate carrier and/or the mask carrier.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the first routing module 320, two substrates 301 are rotated. The two transport tracks (on which the substrate is located) are rotated to align in the first direction. Therefore, the two substrates on the transport track are set at the positions to be transported to the transport module and another adjacent routing module.

According to some embodiments that can be combined with other embodiments described herein, the transport track of the transport track configuration can extend from the vacuum processing chamber to the vacuum routing chamber, that is, it can be oriented in a second direction, which is different from the first direction. One direction. Therefore, one or more substrates can be transferred from the vacuum processing chamber to the adjacent vacuum routing chamber. In addition, as exemplarily shown in Figure 3, a gate valve 305 may be provided between the processing module and the routing module, and the gate valve 305 may be opened to transfer one or more substrates. Therefore, it should be understood that the substrate can be transferred from a first processing module to a first routing module, from a first routing module to another routing module, and from another routing module to another processing module . Therefore, there are several procedures (such as the deposition of various layers of organic materials on the substrate) that can be performed without exposing the substrate to an undesirable environment (such as an atmospheric environment or a non-vacuum environment).

FIG. 3 further shows the mask 303 and the substrate 301 in the processing module 310. The deposition source 309 may be separately disposed between the mask and/or the substrate.

Each vacuum chamber of the module shown in FIG. 3 includes an ultraviolet source 350. For example, the ultraviolet source can be arranged in the corresponding vacuum chamber. Even though the processing system 300 shows a vacuum chamber with an ultraviolet source at each chamber, the processing system may include at least one ultraviolet source 350. In particular, the processing system 300 may include a first vacuum chamber with a first ultraviolet source 350 and a second vacuum chamber with a second ultraviolet source 350.

The ultraviolet source 350 (for example, the ultraviolet source 350 of the processing module 310) is connected to the vacuum chamber. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the controller connected to the ultraviolet source is configured to perform ultraviolet/ozone cleaning. In particular, the controller may be configured to implement a method of cleaning a vacuum system or a vacuum chamber used in the manufacture of, for example, the organic light emitting diode device of the present invention. Figure 4 describes in more detail an exemplary vacuum chamber with an ultraviolet source.

One or more vacuum pumps (such as turbo pumps and/or cryogenic pumps) may be connected to the vacuum chamber, for example, by one or more tubes (such as bellows) to generate a technical vacuum in the vacuum chamber. The controller may also be configured to control one or more vacuum pumps to reduce the pressure in the vacuum chamber, for example, before the plasma cleaning procedure.

The term "vacuum" used throughout this disclosure can be understood as a technical vacuum having a vacuum pressure of less than, for example, 10 mbar. The pressure in the vacuum chamber can range from 5 x 10 ^-4 mbar to 2 x 10 ^-2 mbar.

As shown in Figure 3, the vacuum processing system 300 may have a plurality of different modules. Each module can have at least one vacuum chamber. The size and geometry of the vacuum chamber can be different. As described above, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure that can be combined with other embodiments described herein, the active material and ultraviolet rays can be improved by adapting the mean free path length of ultraviolet light to the size and geometry of the vacuum chamber. The cleaning efficiency of light cleaning. A good balance can be achieved between ozone cleaning, active material cleaning and ultraviolet cleaning.

The embodiment exemplarily described in Figure 4 below allows a highly efficient cleaning program to experience a short interruption or idle time. Therefore, the re-pollution and total pollution levels can be controlled during the production process. Constant high-quality organic light-emitting diode device system can be ensured. Therefore, since the idle time during the short interruption is available for cleaning, the embodiments described herein also allow for effective cleaning of contaminants.

The ultraviolet source may include one or more ultraviolet lamps, for example four or more ultraviolet lamps. For example, the ultraviolet lamp may have a quartz glass housing. Quartz glass can reduce the absorption of ultraviolet radiation (ie, short-wavelength radiation). In addition, according to additional or alternative modifications, one or more of the ultraviolet lamps may be mercury lamps. Ozone may be generated in situ in the processing gas (for example, oxygen) in the vacuum chamber 410. By operating the vacuum pump 420 to reduce the pressure, the mean free path length of the ultraviolet rays is increased. Therefore, the production of active materials can be provided near the surface to be cleaned. Further ultraviolet rays may reach the surface to be cleaned to assist the cleaning process. Therefore, a mixture of ozone cleaning and active material cleaning can be provided. Compared to ozone cleaning, which is used to achieve higher ozone density, the synergistic effect of the combined cleaning process improves the cleaning efficiency.

In view of the foregoing, according to an embodiment, an apparatus for vacuum processing a substrate is provided, particularly an apparatus for manufacturing an organic light emitting diode device. This equipment includes a vacuum chamber; at least one ultraviolet source located in the vacuum chamber; a vacuum pump for evacuating the vacuum chamber; and a controller for adjusting the pressure to a vacuum state, thereby removing The processing gas in the chamber provides a mixture of ozone and a plurality of active free radicals.

Figure 4 shows a controller 490. The controller 490 is connected to the vacuum pump 420 and the ultraviolet source 350. The controller 490 may include a central processing unit (CPU), a memory, and, for example, a supporting circuit. In order to facilitate the control of the equipment for processing the substrate, the CPU may be one of any form of general-purpose computer processors that can be used to control various chambers and sub-processors in an industrial environment. The memory system is coupled to the CPU. The memory or computer-readable medium may be one or more easily available storage devices, such as random access memory, read only memory, software (floppy disk), and hardware ( hard disk) or any other form of digital storage locally or remotely. The support circuit may be coupled to the CPU to support the processor in a conventional manner. These circuits include caches, power supplies, clock circuits, input/output circuits and related subsystems. Inspection processing instructions and/or instructions for generating notches in the electronic equipment provided on the substrate are usually stored in a memory as a software routine (commonly referred to as a recipe). This software routine can also be stored and/or executed by a second CPU (not shown) which is remote from the hardware controlled by the CPU. When executed by the CPU, the software routine converts a general-purpose computer into a dedicated computer (controller), which controls the operation of the device, such as the vacuum pump 420 and the ultraviolet source 350. Although this disclosure is discussed as being implemented as software routines, some of the method steps disclosed therein can be executed in hardware and by a software controller. In this way, the embodiments can be implemented by software executed on a computer system, and hardware implemented as an application specific integrated circuit or other types of hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. The controller may execute or execute a method for cleaning the vacuum chamber and/or processing the substrate, for example, for display manufacturing according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

According to the embodiments described herein, computer programs, software, computer software products, and related controllers can be used to perform the method for vacuum processing of substrates. The computer programs, software, computer software products, and related controllers can be With CPU, memory, user interface and input and output. The output device communicates with the corresponding components of the device.

Although the foregoing content is directed to the embodiments of the disclosure, other and further embodiments of the disclosure can be designed without departing from the basic scope of the disclosure, and the scope of the disclosure is determined by the scope of the attached patent application.

100: method 110, 120: block 200: method 210: Cube 300: processing system 301: Substrate 303: Mask 305: Gate Valve 309: Sediment Source 310: Processing module 320: routing module 330: Transport module 340: Maintenance Module 350: UV source 352: Transmission Track 400: Equipment for cleaning the vacuum chamber 410: vacuum chamber 420: vacuum pump 490: Controller

In order to understand the above-mentioned features of the present disclosure in detail, the present disclosure may be described in more detail by referring to embodiments, and the above-mentioned content can be briefly summarized. The attached drawings are related to the embodiments of the disclosure, and are described as follows: FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for cleaning a vacuum system used in the manufacture of organic light emitting diode (OLED) devices according to embodiments described herein; FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for vacuum processing a substrate to manufacture an organic light emitting diode device according to the embodiment described herein; FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a system for vacuum processing a substrate to manufacture an organic light emitting diode device according to the embodiment described herein; and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the equipment for cleaning the vacuum chamber according to the embodiment described herein.

350: UV source

400: Equipment

410: vacuum chamber

420: vacuum pump

490: Controller

Claims (20)

A method for cleaning a vacuum chamber includes: Igniting an ultraviolet source in the vacuum chamber; and A pressure in the vacuum chamber is adjusted to a vacuum state, thereby providing a mixture of ozone and a plurality of active radicals from a processing gas in the vacuum chamber. The method according to claim 1, wherein the active free radicals are generated by ozone. The method according to claim 1, wherein the ultraviolet source emits radiation at a wavelength of 170 nm to 200 nm. The method according to claim 1, wherein the ultraviolet source emits radiation at a wavelength of 230 nm to 270 nm. The method according to claim 1, wherein the ultraviolet source includes a mercury lamp. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pressure is adjusted to be within a range of 5x10 ^-4 mbar to 2x10 ^-2 mbar. The method according to claim 1, wherein one of the processing gas includes oxygen. The method described in claim 1 further includes: An average distance between the walls of the vacuum chamber is determined, and the pressure is adjusted according to the average distance. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is used for cleaning a vacuum chamber for manufacturing an organic light emitting diode (OLED) device. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 9, wherein the active free radicals are generated by ozone. The method according to any one of claims 2 and 4 to 9, wherein the ultraviolet source emits radiation at a wavelength of 170 nm to 200 nm. The method of any one of 3 and 5 to 9, wherein the ultraviolet source emits radiation at a wavelength of 230 nm to 270 nm. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4 and 6 to 9, wherein the ultraviolet source includes a mercury lamp. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5 and 7 to 9, wherein the pressure is adjusted to be within a range of 5x10 ^-4 mbar to 2x10 ^-2 mbar. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 6 and 8 to 9, wherein one processing gas includes oxygen. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 7 and 9, further comprising: An average distance between the walls of the vacuum chamber is determined, and the pressure is adjusted according to the average distance. A method for vacuum processing a substrate to manufacture an organic light emitting diode device includes: The cleaning method according to any one of claims 1 to 9; and One or more layers of organic materials are deposited on the substrate. A device for vacuum processing a substrate, including: A vacuum chamber; An ultraviolet source located in the vacuum chamber; A vacuum pump for evacuating the vacuum chamber; and A controller is used to adjust a pressure to a vacuum state so as to provide a mixture of ozone and a plurality of active radicals from a processing gas in the vacuum chamber. The device according to claim 18, wherein the controller further includes: A processor and a memory storing instructions. When the processor executes the instructions, the device executes the method described in any one of claim items 1 to 8. The device according to claim 18, wherein the device is used to manufacture organic light emitting diode devices.

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