TWI398535B - A vapor deposition apparatus, a vapor deposition apparatus, and a vapor deposition apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Switching method of evaporation device, vapor deposition device and evaporation device

The present invention relates to a vapor deposition device capable of depositing a predetermined material on a substrate disposed in a vacuum container, an evaporation device capable of evaporating a predetermined material, and a method of switching an evaporation device used in the vapor deposition device.

In an evaporation apparatus in which a predetermined material is deposited on a surface of a substrate placed under vacuum to form a thin film on the surface of the substrate, the evaporation source of the material disposed under vacuum is heated to evaporate the material. The evaporated evaporation material is attached to the surface of the substrate placed under the same vacuum to thereby form a film on the surface of the substrate.

However, in a vacuum chamber, that is, a vapor deposition device in which a substrate and an evaporation source are disposed in a vacuum container, when the evaporation source is to be added or exchanged, it is necessary to return the vacuum container to the atmosphere, and then the vacuum container can be vacuumed again. A waste of time.

There is a known vapor deposition apparatus which can eliminate the waste of time (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-297565).

In the vapor deposition device, two material discharge ports of an organic EL material each provided with a vacuum valve are disposed in a lower portion of the vacuum container, and an evaporation chamber in which a material evaporation source is disposed is connected to each discharge port.

With this configuration, for example, it is performed to form a thin film from an evaporation material from one evaporation chamber. For example, when the material is to be exchanged, the evaporation chamber of the other evaporation chamber is arranged to be heated, and then the evaporation chamber is placed in a vacuum state to stand by, and when exchange is to be performed, the evaporation is performed on the off side. After the vacuum valve on the chamber side, the vacuum valve on the other side of the evaporation chamber is opened to guide the evaporation material to the vacuum vessel, thereby avoiding waste of work time during material exchange.

However, according to the configuration of the vapor deposition device described above, there is no problem until the evaporation source is two (two-times), but when vapor deposition is continuously performed, the following configuration is required.

That is, when two evaporation sources are provided, it is necessary to separately provide an introduction line for evaporating the evaporation material to be introduced into each evaporation source, and to introduce a switch in the middle of each introduction line. In the valve, when the evaporation material is introduced from one of the evaporation sources, the on-off valve of the other side of the e-line is first closed, and the other evaporation source is exchanged in this state (for example, refer to Japanese Patent No. 2912756) ).

However, as described above, when two evaporation sources are provided, two evaporation chambers are connected to one vacuum container, that is, the discharge pipe of the evaporation material is set to two systems, and the connection position in the vacuum container is different. Therefore, for example, when the material (evaporation source) has been exchanged, especially when the material is broken during the film formation, and the evaporation material is introduced from the other evaporation chamber to start the vapor deposition again, the previous evaporation conditions and the current evaporation conditions will be There will be problems in that the quality of the film formed on the surface of the substrate may be uneven.

In addition, in a system that requires such a high degree of vacuum, it is difficult to completely seal, and in any case, there is a slight intrusion of outside air, and the specified degree of vacuum cannot be maintained, and the heating of the container or the like causes the inside of the constituent material to be generated. For non-gas components, vacuum pumping requires frequent operation. For example, in the configuration disclosed in the above patent specification, a part of the evaporation material may be discharged to the outside through a vacuum pump before being introduced into the evaporation chamber, resulting in a decrease in material use efficiency. The problem.

In addition, although there is a recovery tray that can recover a part of the material, the reuse of the material after one heating and cooling is not necessarily the same as the quality of the material of the initial heating and cooling, so the condition at the time of use is used. There are sometimes material restrictions, and heating devices are required for the recovery tray, which also increases the attached equipment.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an evaporation apparatus capable of preventing a decrease in the use efficiency of a material to be vapor-deposited, and the use of the evaporation apparatus does not cause a change in vapor deposition conditions when the evaporation material is introduced into the vapor deposition chamber from a plurality of points. The vapor deposition device and the switching method of the evaporation device of the vapor deposition device are for the purpose.

In order to solve the above problems, the evaporation device of the present invention is an evaporation device that evaporates a predetermined material at a predetermined degree of vacuum, and includes an evaporation container and a mounting table, and the evaporation container is connected to the exhaust device. The material discharge hole is capable of discharging the evaporated evaporation material in the upper portion, and the mounting table is provided in the evaporation container so as to be movable up and down by the lifting device, and can store the material storage container in which the material is stored; a cylindrical bulkhead member for suppressing evaporation of the evaporation material toward the evaporation container when the material storage container is raised through the mounting table and is formed to surround the material discharge opening; The bulkhead member includes a heating device for heating the material storage container, and is provided on the mounting table side when the mounting table is raised by the lifting device, and is capable of abutting against the lower end portion of the bulkhead member to block the An abutment portion of the evaporative material discharged from the bulkhead member.

Further, the vapor deposition device of the present invention includes at least two evaporation apparatuses according to the invention described above, and one vapor deposition container in which an evaporation material is vapor-deposited on a vapor deposition member at a predetermined degree of vacuum; Forming a material conveying pipe between the vapor deposition container and the material discharge hole of each of the evaporation devices; one end side of the material conveying pipe is connected to the vapor deposition container side and the other end side is formed to be different The material discharge holes are not connected to the evaporation devices; and the on-off valves are disposed in the middle of the respective material delivery pipes that form the divergence.

In addition, the method of switching the evaporation device of the vapor deposition device of the present invention is a vapor deposition device according to the above invention in which at least two evaporation devices are used to supply the evaporation material to one vapor deposition container for vapor deposition. The method for switching the evaporation device used in the present invention includes the step of preliminarily heating the material storage container of the other evaporation device into the bulkhead member before the material of one of the evaporation devices becomes insufficient. The heating device is heated to a predetermined temperature lower than the evaporation temperature of the material; the impurity discharging step is to lower the material storage container heated to a predetermined temperature from the bulkhead member, and vaporize the material storage container by the exhaust device. The impurity is discharged to the outside; the formal heating step is to elevate the material storage container to the evaporation temperature of the material storage container to the material in the bulkhead member after the impurity is discharged; and the material conveying pipe switching step is set in the pair Opening and closing at the same time as the on-off valve on the material conveying pipe of the above-mentioned one evaporation device is closed The other evaporated material conveying apparatus off valve on the pipe.

According to the above-described evaporation device, the inside of the evaporation container is kept clean by the exhaust device. The material storage container is raised to the bulkhead member through which the material discharge hole is communicated to be heated by the heating device, so that almost all of the evaporation material can be guided to the material discharge hole, so that the discharge of the evaporation material by the exhaust device can be minimized. Ability to use materials efficiently. That is, it is possible to prevent a decrease in material use efficiency.

Further, according to the vapor deposition apparatus described above, when at least two evaporation apparatuses are alternately used for continuous vapor deposition, the evaporation material is guided from each evaporation apparatus to the vapor deposition chamber side of the material delivery pipe of the evaporation container. Since there is one place, the vapor deposition conditions do not change, and thus unevenness in the quality of the film to be formed on the vapor-deposited member can be prevented.

In addition, according to the above switching method, the material storage container and the material contained in the material are vaporized at the stage of preliminary heating, and the material storage container is evacuated by the exhaust device when it is lowered from the bulkhead member. Since this impurity is discharged to the outside, it is possible to prevent the quality of the film formed on the vapor-deposited member from deteriorating due to the switching of at least two evaporation apparatuses used in the continuous vapor deposition.

[Best Embodiment of the Invention]

Hereinafter, an evaporation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, a vapor deposition apparatus using the evaporation apparatus, and a switching method of the evaporation apparatus of the vapor deposition apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6 .

First, the vapor deposition device which is configured as a whole will be described.

As shown in Fig. 1, the vapor deposition apparatus is mainly configured such that the glass substrate 1 as the vapor deposition member can be inserted in the horizontal direction so that the vapor deposition surface is below and the holder 2 is held. In addition, although the inside of the container is a vapor deposition chamber 3a, the inside of the container is not shown, but the side wall portion of the container is provided with an opening for inserting and receiving the glass substrate. There is a venting device such as a vacuum pumping device 3; and a predetermined material (in the case of an organic EL screen, an organic material is used) to form an evaporation under the vapor deposition container 3 (hereinafter, the specified material (raw material) is It is called a vapor deposition material (A), the evaporated material is two evaporation apparatuses 4 (4A, 4B) called an evaporation material (B), and the evaporation apparatus 4 and the vapor deposition container 3 are connected. It is constituted by a material conveying pipe 5 for conveying the evaporation material to the material conveying pipe for the vapor deposition chamber 3a.

Each of the evaporation devices 4 includes an evaporation container 11 having an evaporation chamber 11a therein, and a wall portion connected to the evaporation container 11 to form a predetermined degree of vacuum in the evaporation chamber 11a (for example, 1 × 10 ^-4 Pa). At the same time, the vacuum pump 12 for maintaining the vacuum of the exhaust device is provided; and the lifting cylinder device 13 connected to the lifting device in the same evaporation chamber 11a is installed to be lifted and lowered while being loadable. The vapor deposition material is placed and the upper surface is formed by a disk-shaped mounting table 15 which forms an open cylindrical material storage container (also referred to as a crucible) 14.

In the side surface of the evaporation container 11, the opening/receiving opening portion 11b for loading and unloading the material storage container 14 and the opening and closing door panel 16 for opening and closing the opening/closing opening portion 11b are provided.

Further, a material discharge hole 17 for evaporating material is formed in the upper wall portion 11c of the evaporation container 11, and a material discharge hole is provided to be opened and closed in the middle of the hole of the material discharge hole 17. 17 or an on-off valve 18 that can adjust its opening area.

Further, as shown in Fig. 2, on the lower surface of the material discharge hole 17 of the upper wall portion 11c of the evaporation container 11, the periphery of the material storage container 14 which is covered with the transmission mounting table 15 is suspended. This is to reduce (suppress) the tubular bulkhead member 19 which is to be moved from the material storage container 14 toward the evaporation chamber 11a, and at the same time, when the mounting table 15 is raised, at least the upper peripheral portion thereof is in contact with The lower end portion of the bulkhead member 19 is formed as an annular abutting portion (adjacent portion) 15a having no gap. Further, in terms of size, the gap between the bulkhead member 19 and the material storage container 14 is as small as possible.

Then, in order to heat the vapor deposition material (A) in the evaporation container 11 to a predetermined temperature, heating devices 20 and 21 such as electric heaters are provided on the outer circumferential surfaces of the mounting table 15 and the bulkhead member 19.

In the above-described material conveying pipe 5, two evaporation apparatuses 5 are connected to one vapor deposition container 3, and the upper end portion 5a is connected (connected) to the bottom wall portion 3b of the vapor deposition container 3, and the other. The lower end side is divided into two Y-shaped pipes, and the respective lower end portions 5b and 5c are connected to (connected) the material discharge holes 17 of the respective evaporation containers 11.

Further, although not shown, all of the moving paths of the evaporation material are provided with heating means such as an electric heater to maintain the evaporation temperature. Further, the material delivery pipe is constituted by the material discharge holes 17 provided on the material conveying pipe 5 and the evaporation container 11 side.

Next, the vapor deposition method of the vapor deposition device described above will be described in particular with respect to the evaporation operation of the evaporation device and the operation at the time of switching between the two evaporation devices.

First, the state of evaporating material vapor deposition on the surface of the glass substrate 1 held in the vapor deposition container 3 by one (one) evaporation device 4A will be briefly described.

As shown in Fig. 1, after the material storage container 14 in which the vapor deposition material (A) is stored is placed on the mounting table 15 in the evaporation container 11, the vacuum pump 12 is started to form a predetermined degree of vacuum while maintaining the predetermined degree of vacuum. The degree of vacuum. In the vapor deposition process, the vacuum pump 12 is continuously operated in order to discharge, for example, air that has entered from the connection portion of each of the concept machines of the evaporation device 4A and impurities (which are non-gas components) that are emitted from the device body.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3, in a state where the material storage container 14 has been raised (moved) into the bulkhead member 19, the material storage container 14 is heated to the temperature of the finger by the respective heating devices 20, 21. The vapor deposition material (A) of the material storage container 14 starts to evaporate. Next, the needle valve 18 is opened, and the evaporated evaporation material (B) is introduced from the material discharge hole 17 into the vapor deposition chamber 3 of the vapor deposition container 3 through the material transfer tube 5, and then adhered to the surface of the glass substrate 1 to form a film. . Of course, during the discharge of the evaporating material, the material delivery tube is heated to prevent the evaporating material from adhering to its surface.

Next, when the vapor deposition material in the material storage container 14 of one of the evaporation devices 4A gradually decreases, preparation is made to switch to supply (import) of the evaporation material by the other evaporation device 4B.

When the switching is performed, the other evaporation device 4B discharges impurities such as moisture (in a gas component state) while performing preliminary heating, and then performs the original evaporation temperature heating (hereinafter referred to as "main heating"). For example, when the evaporation temperature (official heating temperature) is 200 ° C, the temperature at which the material does not form evaporation, that is, the preliminary heating temperature, is lower than 200 ° C, for example, 150 ° C, and the preliminary heating temperature can be arbitrarily set. The formal heating temperature is also in the range of a few degrees to a few 10 degrees. In addition, the preheating temperature can be shortened to the time of evaporation if it is close to the evaporation temperature of the material.

Hereinafter, a method of switching the evaporation device 4 will be described in detail.

In other words, as shown in Fig. 3, during the supply of the evaporation material (B) by one of the evaporation devices 4A, the material storage container 14 placed on the mounting table 15 of the other evaporation device 4B is lifted and lowered. When the cylinder device 13 is raised into the bulkhead member 19, the heating means 20, 21 provided on the outer periphery of the mounting table 15 and the bulkhead member 19 are heated to a predetermined temperature lower than the evaporation temperature of the vapor deposition material. At the time of the preliminary heating, the vacuum pump 12 is also used for exhausting (preheating step).

Next, when the material storage container 14 is heated to a predetermined temperature, as shown in FIG. 4, once the table 15 is lowered by the lifting cylinder device 13, the material storage container 14 is taken out from the bulkhead member 19.

As a result, impurities such as moisture present in the bulkhead member 19 are discharged to the outside through the evaporation chamber 11a by the vacuum pump 12 (impurity discharging step).

When the discharge of the impurities is completed, as shown in Fig. 5, the mounting table 15 is again raised, and the material storage container 14 is raised (moved) into the bulkhead member 19. At this time, since the annular abutting portion 15a provided on the mounting table 15 side abuts against the lower end portion of the bulkhead member 19, the evaporated material (B) evaporated in the bulkhead member 19 is not drawn out and discharged to the outside. That is, since the evaporation pump 12 is prevented from being discharged to the outside by the vacuum pump 12 for discharging the impurities, it is possible to prevent the use efficiency of the evaporation material from being lowered.

Next, the material storage container 14 is heated by the heating devices 20 and 21 to evaporate to evaporate (the main heating step), and as shown in Fig. 6, the needle valve 18 provided on one of the evaporation devices 4A is closed. Further, the needle valve 18 provided on the other evaporation device 4B is opened, and the evaporation material (B) evaporated in the other evaporation device 4B is introduced into the vapor deposition chamber 3a via the material delivery pipe 5, followed by steaming of the evaporation material. The plating is applied to the glass substrate 1 to form a film. After that, the material storage container 14 of the evaporation device 4A is lowered, and the material storage container 14 is opened by opening and closing the door panel 16 and replaced with a new material storage container 14. Further, if the main heating by the other evaporation device 4B can be started at an appropriate timing according to the material use condition of the evaporation device 4A, the switching time can be shortened to a few minutes.

Here, when the switching method of the above-described evaporation apparatus is represented by a step, it is as follows.

In other words, in the switching method, a method of switching the evaporation device used when at least two evaporation devices are used to supply the evaporation material to one vapor deposition container for vapor deposition is provided, and the method includes the following steps: In the heating step, the material storage container of the other evaporation device is raised into the bulkhead member in one of the evaporation devices before the material becomes insufficient, and the heating device is heated to a specified temperature lower than the evaporation temperature of the material. The impurity discharging step is a material storage container that is heated to a predetermined temperature from the bulkhead member, and vacuum-pumps the impurities vaporized in the material storage container to the outside; the main heating step is performed after the impurities are discharged. The material storage container is raised to an evaporation temperature in which the material storage container is heated into a material in the bulkhead member; and the material conveying pipe switching step is to close the needle valve in the middle of the hole provided in the material discharge hole of the one evaporation device. At the same time, the needle valve is disposed in the middle of the hole of the material discharge hole of the evaporation device of the other side.

As described above, the two evaporation devices 4 are connected to the vapor deposition container 3 through the material transfer pipe 5, and the evaporation device 4 used for vapor deposition is switched by the switch of the needle valve 18, so that continuous operation can be performed. At the same time as the vapor deposition, the supply (introduction) of the material supply to the vapor deposition chamber 3a is one. Therefore, for example, two evaporation devices are connected by separate material delivery pipes (different from the supply). In the case of the plating container, since the vapor deposition conditions do not change after the switching of the evaporation device is formed, unevenness in the quality of the film to be formed on the glass substrate 1 can be prevented.

Further, in the preliminary heating stage, the impurities contained in the vapor deposition material adhered to the material storage container 14 and the material storage container 14 is evacuated from the bulkhead member 19 to the outside, and the impurities are supplied by the vacuum pump. Since the discharge 18 is discharged to the outside, it is possible to prevent the deterioration of the quality of the film formed on the surface of the glass substrate 1 by switching between the two evaporation devices used in the continuous vapor deposition.

In addition, at the stage of the main heating, the material storage container 14 is almost in a sealed state by the mounting table while being raised in the bulkhead member 19, so that the device is discharged from the evaporation device 4 immediately. When the vacuum pump 12 is driven by intrusion of air, impurities, or the like, it is possible to prevent (suppress) the evaporation material discharged from the material storage container 14 from being discharged to the outside, and thus it is possible to prevent the use efficiency of the evaporation material from being lowered.

However, in the above-described embodiment, the annular abutting portion 15a which is also the position regulating portion of the material storage container 14 is provided on the outer periphery of the mounting table 15, but as shown in Fig. 7, for example, An annular projecting portion (another example of the position restricting portion) 15b is formed at a position inside the bulkhead member 19 of the abutting portion 15a of the table 15, whereby the material storage container 14 can be accurately moved (guided) into the bulkhead member 19 . In this case as well, the gap between the bulkhead member 19 and the material storage container 14 is as small as possible.

Further, when the closing of the needle valve 18 is insufficient, the switching valve such as a needle valve may be further provided at the branch lower end portions 5b and 5c of the material conveying pipe 5.

Further, in the above embodiment, the description has been made by providing two evaporation apparatuses, but three or more evaporation apparatuses may be provided.

[Industrial availability]

According to the present invention, as described above, when a plurality of evaporation devices are provided, the evaporation material continuity or the switching material type to be evaporated by the evaporation devices is introduced into the vapor deposition chamber, and is transmitted through the material conveying pipe. By operating the on-off valve, vapor deposition can be performed without wasting the evaporation material and the vapor deposition conditions are not changed. Therefore, it is most suitable for use in a vapor deposition operation in which an organic EL material is to be vapor-deposited on a substrate. Of course, in addition to this, it is also possible to effectively utilize the vapor deposition work of various vapor deposition materials.

1. . . glass substrate

2. . . Holder

3. . . Vapor deposition container

3a. . . Evaporation chamber

3b. . . Bottom wall

4 (4A, 4B). . . Evaporation device

5. . . Material delivery tube

5a. . . Upper end

5b, 5c. . . Dividing the lower end

11. . . Evaporation container

11a. . . Evaporation chamber

11c. . . Upper wall

11b. . . Moving in and out

12. . . Vacuum pump

13. . . Lifting cylinder device

14. . . Material storage container

15. . . Mounting table

15a. . . Annular abutment

15b. . . Annular projection

16. . . Opening and closing door panel

17. . . Material discharge hole

18. . . Needle valve

19. . . Bulkhead member

20, 23. . . heating equipment

A. . . Evaporating material

B. . . Evaporation material

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a vapor deposition device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part of an evaporation apparatus of a vapor deposition device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a vapor deposition operation of the vapor deposition device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a vapor deposition operation of the vapor deposition device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a vapor deposition operation of the vapor deposition device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a vapor deposition operation of the vapor deposition device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part showing a modification of the evaporation apparatus of the vapor deposition device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

1. . . glass substrate

2. . . Holder

3. . . Vapor deposition container

3a. . . Evaporation chamber

3b. . . Bottom wall

4 (4A, 4B). . . Evaporation device

5. . . Material delivery tube

5a. . . Upper end

5b, 5c. . . Dividing the lower end

11. . . Evaporation container

11a. . . Evaporation chamber

11c. . . Upper wall

11b. . . Moving in and out

12. . . Vacuum pump

13. . . Lifting cylinder device

14. . . Material storage container

15. . . Mounting table

15a. . . Annular abutment

15b. . . Annular projection

16. . . Opening and closing door panel

17. . . Material discharge hole

18. . . Needle valve

19. . . Bulkhead member

20, 23. . . heating equipment

A. . . Evaporating material

B. . . Evaporation material

Claims (3)

An evaporation device is an evaporation device that evaporates a predetermined material at a specified degree of vacuum, and is characterized in that: an evaporation container and a mounting table are provided, and the evaporation container is connected to the exhaust device and has a material discharge hole The evaporating material is discharged to the upper portion, and the mounting table is provided in the evaporating container so as to be movable up and down by the elevating device, and the material storage container in which the material is stored can be placed; and the material of the evaporating container is discharged. a cylindrical bulkhead member for suppressing evaporation of the evaporation material toward the evaporation container when the material storage container is raised through the mounting table and is formed around the hole; the mounting table and the bulkhead are provided on the periphery of the hole The member includes a heating device that heats the material storage container, and further, when the mounting table is raised by the lifting device on the mounting table side, the member can be abutted against the lower end portion of the bulkhead member to block the inside of the bulkhead member. The abutting portion of the evaporation material is discharged. A vapor deposition apparatus comprising: at least two evaporation apparatuses as described in claim 1; wherein the evaporation material is vapor-deposited in one vapor deposition container on the vapor deposition member at a predetermined degree of vacuum; And a material conveying pipe formed to be formed between the vapor deposition container and the material discharge hole of each of the evaporation devices, wherein one end side of the material conveying pipe is connected to the vapor deposition container side and The other end side is a material discharge hole which is formed to be connected to each of the evaporation devices; Further, an on-off valve is disposed in each of the above-described diverging material conveying pipes. A method for switching an evaporation device of a vapor deposition device, which is characterized in that at least two evaporation devices are used to supply an evaporation material to one vapor deposition container for vapor deposition, in the vapor deposition device according to the second aspect of the invention. A method of switching between the evaporating devices to be used is characterized in that the preliminary heating step is performed to raise the material storage container of the other evaporating device to the bulkhead before the material of one of the evaporating devices becomes insufficient. In the member, the heating device is heated to a specified temperature lower than the evaporation temperature of the material; the impurity discharging step is to lower the material storage container heated to a specified temperature from the bulkhead member, and to store the material in the container by the exhaust device. The impurity after the discharge is discharged to the outside; the formal heating step is to elevate the material storage container to the evaporation temperature of the material storage container to the material in the bulkhead member after the impurity is discharged; and the material conveying pipe switching step is in the opposite Opening and closing of the on-off valve provided on the material conveying pipe of the evaporation device of the above one side is set at The other of said evaporation material delivery device off valve on the pipe.