TWI686312B - Method of fabricating thin-film layers of electronic products - Google Patents

Abstract

A droplet measurement system (DMS) is used in concern with an industrial printer used to fabricate a thin film layer of a flat panel electronic device. A clear tape serves as a printing substrate to receive droplets from hundreds of nozzles simultaneously, while an optics system photographs the deposited droplets through the tape (i.e., through a side opposite the printhead). This permits immediate image analysis of deposited droplets, for parameters such as per-nozzle volume, landing position and other characteristics, without having to substantially reposition the DMS or printhead. The tape can then be advanced and used for a new measurement. By providing such a high degree of concurrency, the described system permits rapid measurement and update of droplet parameters for printers that use hundreds or thousands of nozzles, to provide a real-time understanding of per-nozzle expected droplet parameters, in a manner that can be factored into print planning.

Description

Method for manufacturing thin film stack of electronic products

The invention relates to the rapid measurement of droplet parameters in industrial printing systems.

More and more industrial processes are turning to printing systems for manufacturing product stacks. These printing systems deposit a fluid, which is then cured or hardened to form a permanent laminate of a particular product. These processes are particularly useful for microelectronic products or products with quasi-electronic structure arrays. For example, these printing processes are increasingly used to manufacture thin film electronic displays and solar panels with a wide variety of applications. In addition to the type of fluid ("ink") used, the aforementioned printing system is typically characterized by the use of tens of thousands of printing nozzles on one or more printing heads, these nozzles are designed to be placed close to micrometer resolution The ability of individual, approximately uniform size droplets. This precise control of both the volume and position of the deposited droplets contributes to the high quality of the end product as well as high resolution, small size products and reduced manufacturing costs. For example, in one application, meaning the manufacture of organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, the ability to deposit ink accurately helps produce smaller and thinner at lower cost And better resolution monitors. Note that when the term "ink" is used to refer to a deposition fluid, the deposition fluid is essentially colorless and is deposited into a structure that will "build" a thickness of one of the permanent stacks of a device, meaning That is, the color of the fluid itself is usually not important in terms of the ink used in traditional graphic printing applications.

Unsurprisingly, in these applications, quality control depends on the uniformity of the deposited ink droplets, in terms of size (droplet volume) and precise location, or at least it is understood that For permanent stacking that consistently meets quality standards in stack alignment accuracy and/or stack homogeneity, variations in these characteristics are important. Please note that in an industrial printing system, the droplet uniformity of any particular nozzle also has the potential to change with time, whether it is due to statistical variation, changes in nozzle age, clogging, ink viscosity or composition variation, temperature, Or other factors may happen.

What is needed is a droplet measurement system that is tuned to work with an industrial printing process. Ideally, it works with a printing system used by an industrial production facility on site. Ideally, this droplet measurement system will provide swift measurement of one or more droplet parameters, is easy to maintain, and provides input that can be used to adjust printing, thereby facilitating accurate quality control for use in industrial product processes Among. The present invention addresses these needs and provides other related advantages.

According to one aspect of the invention, a system for measuring a parameter associated with droplets ejected from a plurality of nozzles of a printing head is disclosed. The system includes: a film having a first side and a second side, the first side will be positioned near the print head to provide a substrate to receive ink droplets from the plurality of nozzles; an image capture subsystem, Is positioned to capture an image through the second side of the film, the image representing ink droplets received from nozzles located at various positions of the nozzle, the image capture subsystem is used to generate an output signal to convey the captured image To an image processing system; and a mechanism for advancing the film to locate a completely new part of the film for a subsequent image capture process, wherein droplets from the plural nozzles of the print head are received by the first of the film Above the surface, the advancement of the film does not require repositioning of the print head or the image capture subsystem.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a droplet parameter measurement method measures a parameter that is related to a droplet ejected from a plurality of nozzles of a printing head. The method includes: providing a film having a first side and a second side, and positioning the first side near the printing head to provide a substrate to receive ink droplets from the plurality of nozzles; using an image capture device Through the second side of the film An image representing the ink droplets received from nozzles located at various positions of the nozzle and correspondingly generating an output signal to deliver the captured image to an image processing system; and advancing the film to capture a subsequent image The program locates a brand new part of the film, where the droplets from the plurality of nozzles of the print head are received on the first face of the film in a way that does not require repositioning of the print head or the image capture device .

According to one aspect of the present invention, an apparatus includes: a printing machine for receiving a first substrate, the printing machine having a printing head, the printing head containing a plurality of nozzles, the plurality of nozzles for ejecting an ink in On the first substrate, the ink contains a liquid that will be hardened on the first substrate to form a permanent stack of an electronic device thereon, the permanent stack of the electronic device having A thickness; and a system for measuring a parameter related to the droplets ejected by the plural nozzles of the printing head. The system includes: a film having a first side and a second side, the first side will be positioned near the print head to provide a second substrate to receive ink droplets from the plurality of nozzles; an image capture The system is positioned to capture an image through the second side of the film, the image representing ink droplets received from nozzles located at various positions of the nozzle, the image capture subsystem is used to generate an output signal to capture the image The image is delivered to an image processing system; and a mechanism for advancing the film to locate a completely new part of the film for a subsequent image capture process, wherein droplets from a plurality of nozzles of the print head are received by the film Above the first side, the film advancement does not require repositioning of the print head or the image capture subsystem.

101: Flow chart

103-123: steps

201: droplet measurement system

203: Measurement window

205: Arrow

207: reel

209: Vacuum port

211: Winch

213: Chassis

301: droplet measurement system

303: Inspector window

305: Optical components

307: Camera

309: Light source

311: Stepper motor

313: Direction indicator arrow

315: Winch

317: UV curing rod

319: Interface and control board

321: Film winding motor

323: Film winding motor

403: Vacuum port

405: Film supply roll

407: film tape storage reel

409: Frame and optical chamber

411: direction indicator arrow

412: direction indicator arrow

415: direction indicator arrow

501: Method of performing droplet measurement

503-533: Steps and related items

551: sample image

571: Sample image

601: Different implementation classes

603: Non-transitory machine-readable media

605: Computer

607: Storage media

609: Manufacturing device

611: Semi-finished flat device array

613: Portable digital device

615: TV display screen

617: Solar Panel

621: Multi-chamber manufacturing equipment

623: Conveying module

625: Printing module

627: Processing module

629: Input load lock

631: Delivery chamber

633: Environmental buffer chamber

635: gas mask

636: Delivery chamber

637: Output load lock

639: Nitrogen stack buffer

641: curing chamber

701: droplet measurement system

703: Print head assembly

705A: Print head

705B: Print head

707: Nozzle

708: Three-dimensional coordinate system

709: Chassis

711A: Mobile system

711B: Optical recovery under the plane

711C: Under-plane light source supply

713: Dimensional plane

715: Measuring area

717: Light source

719: Optical delivery optics

721: Light sensor

723: Reply optics

725: focusing lens

727: Non-imaging device

731: Droplet measurement process

733-753: Steps and related items

781: Method

783-797: Steps and related items

801: Typical configuration in industrial manufacturing equipment

803: Printing closed chamber

805: Second closed environment

807: Print head assembly

809: Arrow

811: Slide lever

813: substrate

815: Floating platform

817: droplet measurement system

819: parking position

821: Arrow

823: Dimensional Reference

825: Y axis

857: Transfer direction

865: Nozzle

867: Nozzle spacing

901: chart

1001: Flowchart

1003-1013: Steps and related items

Figure 1 is a flow chart illustrating a technique for measuring a droplet parameter.

Figure 2 is a close-up perspective view of a droplet measurement system.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of a droplet measurement system.

4A is another perspective view of a droplet measurement system.

4B is a perspective view of the 4A droplet measurement system taken from the commanding height of arrow B-B of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5A is a flowchart related to the image processing technique used in an embodiment.

FIG. 5B represents a sample image of a sample of droplets deposited on a medium, followed by gray-scale conversion.

FIG. 5C is to filter the captured image of FIG. 5B (for example, gradient processing).

FIG. 6A is an exemplary schematic diagram showing the production hierarchy of associated product manufacturing; the technology disclosed herein may, but is not limited to, be implemented at any level in the depicted hierarchy.

Fig. 6B shows a manufacturing device in one of the plan views.

7A is an exemplary depiction of the use of a droplet measurement system.

FIG. 7B is a flowchart of droplet measurement.

Figure 7C is a flow chart regarding droplet verification.

8A is a cross-sectional depiction of components in an industrial printing press located inside a printing chamber.

8B is a cross-sectional view of the industrial printer of FIG. 8A taken along line B-B in FIG. 8A.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the comparison of the measured droplet position with respect to one of the respective expected positions.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart of droplet volume calculation.

The subject matter defined by the enumerated claims for patent scope can be better understood by referring to the following detailed descriptions, and the review of such descriptions should be carried out in accordance with the attached drawings. The description of these one or more specific embodiments is set out below to enable people to construct and use the various embodiments of the technology listed in the patent application request, but not to limit the listed patent application scope, But to elaborate on its application. Without being limited to the foregoing, the present disclosure provides some different examples of a droplet measurement system that optically measures or images a plurality of droplets on a medium and uses image processing to identify the use in industrial manufacturing One is the parameter value of various nozzles of the printing head. These various technologies can be implemented as a droplet measurement system, a printing machine or manufacturing equipment, or software for performing the technology, in the form of a computer, printer, or other device running the software, or by Made by these technologies A form of electronic or other device (for example, a tablet device or other consumer terminal device). Although it presents specific examples, the principles described herein can also be applied to other methods, devices, and systems.

In one embodiment, a droplet measurement system receives ink droplets from various nozzles of one or more printheads, and then uses optical analysis to measure various printhead nozzles that associate various droplets and/or generate such droplets One value of one parameter. More specifically, as will be described below, some embodiments use a deposition tape located in the printer's service carriage for test printing of ink from various nozzles simultaneously. In an advantageous embodiment, this tape can be any medium capable of receiving ink droplets, and in the notable examples described below, it contains a transparent film that has been specially treated to fix the wet ink droplets. Much like photographic paper. Moreover, in one embodiment, this system is applied to an industrial manufacturing facility, where the droplets to be deposited are themselves transparent or translucent (for example, representing a material that will be deposited and cured to form a panel An encapsulation layer of a device (such as a display or solar panel), or a light-emitting element of such a device). This transparency makes it possible to take images of groups of one or more droplets for a set of multiple nozzles; in alternative embodiments, droplet deposition can be combined with both the film and the imaging nozzle location (located behind the film) Separated from each other to provide extremely fast measurements of droplet position offset (relative to ideal droplet position) and/or volume and/or timing errors associated with droplet deposition.

In one embodiment, for measurement, one or more print heads are parked at a service station, for example, when a substrate is loaded or unloaded into the printing press (so it is in the printing press/manufacturing When the equipment is used for other purposes). When the print head is parked, it is incorporated into the droplet measurement system in a manner aligned with a specific position relative to one or more print heads to bring the deposition medium (eg, the transparent film described above) into the one or more Adjacent to a printing head. It then causes nozzles from one or more print heads (eg, a window or sub-array containing a subset of all nozzles) to emit a droplet or a series of droplets (eg, 2, 5, 10, etc.), The droplets are caused to land on the medium near one of the expected positions of the specific nozzle. here During or after this period, the film is imaged from the opposite side of the film to the print head, effectively passing through the transparent film; in other words, the film is precisely positioned at a normal deposition distance relative to the nozzle being measured (e.g. , <1.0 mm), and by simultaneously firing multiple nozzles to measure these nozzles simultaneously (or shortly afterwards), and then by shooting an image through the other side of the film, the resulting shot image is then subjected to image processing And get the droplet parameter value.

In the following, some advantages of the features of the various embodiments described so far are noted. First, the optical processing of the deposited droplets through the transparent film is particularly suitable for very large print heads with hundreds to thousands of nozzles, which means that the optical processing can be performed immediately without additional printing Head, droplet measurement system or other components. Second, the droplet measurement system can be configured to measure droplets from multiple nozzles simultaneously; for example, it is possible to eject droplets from hundreds of nozzles and perform measurements simultaneously. When compared to systems that optically image individual droplets in flight (eg, one drop at a time), such simultaneity can greatly facilitate thousands of printhead nozzles (eg, as used in some industrial manufacturing Drop measurement between applications). For systems that rely on the dynamic updating of droplet parameters for measurement, in order to incorporate droplets in a way that mitigates variation or compensates for variations that produce accurate target volumes, this simultaneity may be of importance because it does not require time or manufacturing time There was a significant disruption in output. For a droplet measurement system connected to one or more parked print heads located in a service station, this provides easy access to any of the thousands of printing nozzles that can be used in some industrial processes And accurate access. Moreover, the deposited film strip or its treatment can be specially tailored to match the chemical properties of a particular ink to be tested (that is, its properties can be more conveniently and accurately determined by optical mechanisms). It should be obvious that the technology provides enhanced accuracy and lower cost for the manufacture of products, for example, especially for price sensitive consumer products such as flat panel high-definition televisions ("HDTV").

In at least one design described below, the droplet measurement system described above uses a roll-to-roll mechanism to load a transparent film that allows the film to be on an imaging area like the same roll of film tape Advancement allows intermittent replacement of the film roll for measurement. In addition, the droplet measurement system can also advantageously use a vacuum system that closely adheres to the portion of the film strip being deposited, forming a flat and precise positional relationship with each other, simulating a deposition surface used online. The droplet measurement system can also optionally include a curing station to cure/air-dry the ink, so that after the measurement, additional ink is prohibited from spreading to any other part of the system; please note that this is not true in some embodiments Necessary, for example, the film can also be selected or processed to possess properties that allow the ink droplets to be fixed as soon as they are deposited. In addition, as previously mentioned, the droplet measurement system can be selectively loaded on a three-dimensional movable carrier, in other words, to engage a parked printing head from below along a vertical (V) axis, and Move along the x (and optionally y) axis as needed to reach different nozzles and different print heads. This allows a "large" printhead assembly (for example, with thousands of nozzles) to be attached to a printing plane (for example, in an inspection carriage) under the aforementioned droplet measurement system and used It is fixed when measuring the parameters of different groups of nozzles. An envisaged deposition process advances a roll of film tape so that an unused film tape window is adjacent to the selected print head. These print heads are then controlled so that all nozzles eject a specific amount of ink, which is then fixed to the Above the film strip; at the same time, a coaxial camera from below (for example, located within a housing or case of the droplet measurement system) and the image sensor image all deposited droplets in parallel (again, by passing through the The filming of the film on the opposite side of the film makes it almost unnecessary for the film and droplet measurement system to be moved or repositioned for analysis). If necessary, the camera (or image capturing optics) can be set to move relative to the droplet measurement system, for example, to provide scanning activity between a range of nozzles, focus adjustment, or other required assistance .

The output of an image processing system then provides droplet parameter data suitable for verifying nozzles or otherwise planning printing. Immediately after any specific measurement iteration step, the film tape and droplet measurement system are pushed into place, the film tape used is cured and/or rolled up, and then the process is repeated immediately as needed, or at a later time Point repeat. In designs where the film tape cannot be reused once it has been printed, a used film tape roll (or a film tape cassette with new and used film tape Used reels and winches) can be periodically recovered or replaced based on the module. Note that in an envisaged application, one of the manufacturing facilities is used continuously (for example, to print a stack of OLED TV screens, or to otherwise manufacture a stack of one or more flat panel devices), when a previous The substrate is unloaded, the print head is parked to accept the aforementioned droplet measurement, and as long as a new subsequent substrate is ready, the measurement progress is stored, the print head returns to the active printing job, and so on; when the subsequent substrate is completed Then, the print head returns to the inspection station again (when a new substrate is loaded) to start the measurement where the system was previously stopped. In this way, repeated measurements can be collected for the nozzles and used on a rolling basis to establish a statistical distribution for each printed nozzle or combination of nozzle waveforms through many measurements (eg, as in patent applications in priority claims As mentioned, these patent applications are incorporated herein by reference), using a moving measurement window, which advances cyclically, through all the printing nozzle sets, to continuously update the measurement data.

Note that all the process steps listed above (and below) can be implemented in various ways. For example, in one embodiment, by special-purpose hardware or by general-purpose hardware that is configured to operate as a special-purpose machine, these steps consist of one or more computers or other types of machines (such as A printing press or one or more manufacturing devices). For example, in an envisaged design, one or more operations can be performed by one or more of these machines, such as firmware or firmware stored on a non-transitory machine-readable medium. Action under the control of software commands. These instructions are written or designed in such a way that they have a specific structure (structural features) so that when these instructions are finally executed, they result in the performance of one or more general-purpose machines (eg, processors, computers, or other machines) Just like the same special-purpose machine, it has the structure necessary to perform the described tasks located on the input operands to take action or otherwise produce output. "Non-transitory machine-readable medium" means any tangible (meaning physical) storage medium, no matter how the data is stored on it, including but not limited to, random access memory, hard disk memory, optical Memory, floppy disks or CDs, server storage devices, volatile memory, and other tangible mechanisms where commands can be retrieved later by a machine. The machine-readable medium can be in a stand-alone form (for example, a program disc) or implemented as part of a larger mechanism, for example, a laptop, A portable device, server, network, printer, or other device set consisting of one or more devices. These instructions can be implemented in different formats, for example, into metadata that effectively invokes a specific action when called, into Java code or script, and into code written in a specific programming language (For example, implemented as C++ code), implemented as a specific processor instruction set, or implemented in some other form; these instructions may also be executed by the same processor or different processors, depending on the embodiment. Throughout this disclosure, various processes will be described, any of which can basically be implemented as instructions stored on non-transitory machine-readable media, and any of which can use a 3D "Print" or other printing procedures to manufacture products. Depending on the product design, these products can be manufactured in a form that can be sold, or as a preliminary step for other printing, curing, manufacturing, or other processing steps, which will eventually produce finished products for sale, distribution, and export Or import. Depending on the implementation, instructions located on non-transitory machine-readable media can be executed by a single computer, while in other cases, they can be stored and/or executed on a decentralized basis, for example, using a Multiple servers, network client devices, or specific application devices. Each of the functions described can be implemented as part of a combined program or as a separate module, stored together on a single media form (eg, a single floppy disk), or on multiple separate storage devices .

In addition, it should be noted that the word "transparent", when used with a film or film tape, is a relative term, meaning that it means that it is shot through the second side of the film tape and deposited on the first side of the film tape The image of the droplet above. Strictly speaking, this does not mean that the film strip must be colorless, or for this problem, it can penetrate visible light. In one embodiment, the film strip is colorless and has a very high visible light transmittance, and visible light is used to capture images of droplets from various nozzles, where the droplets are deposited in such a way that The droplets are arranged in an array on the first surface of the film strip (that is, at various positions associated with the respective nozzles). In another embodiment, the film strip has a certain degree of color, for example, is optimized to a specific ink to enhance the image capturing properties of the ink. In yet another embodiment, it uses radiation instead of visible light to photograph droplet properties.

From the description herein, various other features will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art. Having introduced the features of some embodiments, the following disclosure will turn to provide further details about the selected embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows a flowchart 101 illustrating some of the techniques described herein. As shown above, it is necessary to measure the droplet parameter values of the droplets produced by many nozzles at the same time. In order to perform this action as quickly as possible, the embodiments disclosed herein rely on the image capture of the deposition surface receiving one of these droplets (that is, the rapid capture of droplets that collectively represent the multiple nozzles), as well as from this image Calculate image processing with respect to one or more required parameters of the plurality of nozzles, respectively. As indicated by reference number 103, the one or more print heads undergoing analysis cause a range of nozzles or an array of nozzles to fire, thereby depositing one or more droplets each. For example, it may be the case that a hypothetical print head has two thousand nozzles, and these nozzles are scheduled to be measured simultaneously in groups of one hundred nozzles. For each measurement iteration step, the print head and/or droplet measurement system is aligned, and the window or cluster of one hundred nozzles to be measured is identified and caused to emit a controlled amount of ink at approximately the same time ; In one embodiment, the above deposition may be a single droplet per nozzle, while in other embodiments, each nozzle can be controlled to eject a larger number of droplets, for example, 2, 5, 10, 12, 20 or other numbers of droplets. Note that in some envisaged designs (for example, OLED applications), the droplet size is usually quite small, including picoliter (pL) size droplets, with a diameter factor of ten microns or less to approximate micron precision Sediment.

As described in the patent application incorporated by reference in the priority statement, depending on the application, it may be necessary to measure the position of the deposited droplet, the droplet velocity, the droplet volume, the nozzle warpage, or one of each nozzle Or multiple other parameters. In short, in one embodiment, for each deposited droplet, it can be expected that the quality of the droplets of each nozzle is of importance; that is, if a nozzle is compared to others If it is in the stop position (nozzle warpage) or a droplet trajectory deviates from the normal or an inaccurate droplet volume is generated, then this may cause unevenness in a deposited film. This unevenness may cause quality defects on precision products such as display devices. Learn about this deficiency one by one for the nozzle The trap makes it possible to achieve: nozzle pass/fail: it can identify nozzles that are inoperable or have other bad characteristics and save their screens to printing operations, in which the printing method of software planning can use a different nozzle to deposit a liquid Drop in a predetermined area; Emission time mitigation: Position defects in the scanning direction can be corrected by changing the nozzle drive pulses related to timing or voltage, for example, to make the nozzle fire earlier or later, or to use a larger Or at a lower velocity; in addition, it may also use alternating drive pulse shapes, as disclosed in the patent application incorporated by reference in the priority statement.

Planned drop combination: The difference between the detected nozzles can be accepted and used deliberately to calculate the drop combination according to each desired value to achieve an accurate result, for example, falling within a specific tolerance; For example, if a nozzle is measured and determined to produce the expected 9.89 picoliter (pL) droplets, a second nozzle is measured and determined to produce the expected 10.11 pL droplets, and it wishes to produce a total If the volume of 20.00pL of ink is at a specific target location, the two nozzles can be specifically designated and printed to deposit this particular droplet combination; please note that the results that can be obtained are different from a simple averaging of the differences without considering Systems with specific filling amounts or filling tolerances (eg, target volume ±0.50%); and pre-screening of drive waveforms: as shown in the patent application incorporated by reference in the priority statement, it is possible to pre-screen each nozzle’s Programmable drive waveforms (e.g., selection from sixteen pre-selected drive waveforms) for inventory use during printing, which select each waveform to achieve a specific deposition characteristic, accuracy, and expected result.

Please note that the droplet parameters may change from day to day, and even vary from deposit to deposit, for example, depending on ink quality, temperature, nozzle age (eg, clogging), and other factors. In order to ensure printing accuracy, therefore, in some embodiments, it may be necessary to re-measure these values from time to time. It should also be noted that each deposited droplet may be slightly different, even from a single nozzle; therefore, in an embodiment, each nozzle (or nozzle waveform combination or pairing) is measured more than once, Instead, multiple times to accumulate the total number of measurements, and an average value or other statistical parameters (eg, a spread measure) can be calculated therefrom to provide a high confidence for the relevant expected value of the droplet parameters degree. For example, it can measure "24" droplets from each nozzle-waveform pair to find the average of volume, velocity, warpage (position orthogonal to the scanning direction), etc. (and thus obtain these items One of the expected values), where the number of measurements n (n=24) helps reduce the uncertainty due to measurement errors or statistical variation. It can be based on a scrolling basis (for example, all measurements are stored, and the 6 newest measurements for each nozzle replace the 6 oldest measurements every two hours) or on a one-time basis (for example, during startup Re-measure all nozzles at a time) Update the total number of specific measurements. Those skilled in the relevant art will envision many variations. For example, a nozzle can be measured to determine a desired value, and if the measured (expected) value is outside the ±5% zone of an ideal value, the nozzle is lost Eligibility for use; many permutations and variations are clearly possible.

However, it should be obvious that in a printing system that uses thousands of nozzles (for example, tens of thousands or more nozzles, each of which may have multiple available "pre-screened" drive waveforms), each The measurement of the expected droplet parameters of a nozzle can take a lot of time; in an industrial manufacturing environment, this is usually unacceptable, in other words, if it is to be commercially feasible, the manufacturing output and cost required for product production Must be at an acceptable consumer price point, and this usually means that the printing process produces as much product as possible, as high accuracy as possible (and less product waste), and as little as possible Downtime. The technology disclosed in this article makes far quicker measurements, making more feasible measurements possible.

Returning to FIG. 1, in order to achieve this effect, the droplet measurement technique proposed by the present disclosure also shoots droplets from many nozzles at a time, reference numeral 105. In other words, in contrast to a system that images droplets in flight "one at a time", the embodiments presented in this disclosure rely on simultaneity to measure as many nozzles as possible simultaneously. Therefore, image capture can be used to efficiently obtain an image containing many droplets from a large nozzle array, for example, droplets deposited in multiple rows and columns, which are quickly processed by an image processing system in software. In one embodiment, a captured image may represent from dozens of nozzles, and perhaps The droplets of hundreds of nozzles (or more) are all measured simultaneously. Figure 1 shows the various options that can promote this goal in the dotted box. For example, (a) shooting images through the deposition surface on the opposite side of the print head (107), which helps speed measurement, (b) a Simultaneously shooting both droplets and nozzles (109) in the shooting image, this assists the measurement of the positional offset, warpage, or speed of droplets from the respective nozzles, (c) ) The droplets of the nozzle are photographed (111), for example, forty or more nozzles are actually measured at a time, and (d) not one droplet is shot per nozzle, but one containing multiple (eg , 5 or more) a collection of droplets. Please note that in the latter case, the image processing software can detect a collection of deposited volumes (eg, volume), or a range of droplet positions near an expected position, and can identify individual droplets from a single shot image, Average value, or other statistical parameters such as distribution (degree of dispersion). Please note that depending on the embodiment, this may need to be pre-measured and stored in the system; for example, when ink droplets are fixed in the deposition medium (i.e., film tape), it may be difficult to detect Measure the volume of droplets; this determination can be based on the processing of droplet diameter, the color (or gray scale) value of a deposited droplet, or the method of using it, and use these values to compare with a calibration standard to produce accurate Numerical estimates.

As indicated by reference numerals 115 and 117, the system (for example, using an image processor running appropriate software) then calculates the measured values and stores them in memory (for example, such as in an accessible hard drive Random access memory). In one embodiment, these values are stored individually (that is, each measurement of each parameter to be measured for each nozzle is stored once), while in another embodiment, it can be It is stored in a manner that represents a mixed distribution (for example, as an average value of a specific parameter of a specific nozzle, the total number of measurements, standard deviation, etc.). Reference numerals 119, 121, and 123. As previously described, the measured values can be selectively used to calculate a statistical distribution, to perform nozzle qualification/verification, and to perform "smart combination", among which The scan is planned to match the droplets with the desired characteristics in some desired way.

2 to 4B are used to describe an embodiment of a modular droplet measurement system.

FIG. 2 shows a close-up view of a first such system 201. This view depicts a measurement window 203 (for example, a glass-covered inspection window) through which images are taken along a vector marked by reference numeral 205. An optical detector, such as a video camera, is located within the system 201 and takes a picture through the window 203 in the direction of arrow 205. During operation, a transparent film strip from the reel 207 is pushed over this window, and is tightly attached to the window by a set of vacuum ports 209. Immediately after each measurement, the film strip can be pushed in the direction of the winch 211 and accumulated in a waste reel (not shown) held in a cabinet 213 of one of the droplet measurement systems. Please note that the depicted system is modular and moves in the form of a unit, for example, to position the measurement window 203 (and the related measurement area defined by this window) immediately adjacent to any print head nozzle to be measured , A "standard deposition depth" relative to the nozzle plate of one of the print heads. In an alternative embodiment, the droplet measurement system 201 can be connected in three dimensions, so that the system can be placed adjacent to other groups of nozzles, and the deposition height can be changed as needed.

FIG. 3 shows an internal cross-sectional view of one of the droplet measurement systems 301. The system similarly includes a viewing window 303 through which images are captured, and an optical system including an optical component 305, a camera 307, and a light source 309. A stepper motor 311 selectively advances the optical assembly 305 linearly with respect to the viewing window 303, that is, back and forth in the direction indicated by arrow 313. Please note that in this specification, "camera" can selectively represent any type of light sensor, meaning that it is possible to use a simple line sensor containing individual optical sensors, and for example , “Scan” the line sensor back and forth to use the stepper motor 311 to image the entire viewing window 303. In other embodiments, the camera uses any conventional mechanism, for example, using a commercial photosensitive camera, charge couple device array, ultraviolet or other invisible light radiation shooting device, or using other methods to capture the representative inspection An image of a pixel array in a region. Please note that camera movement (meaning, scanning movement) is not necessary for all embodiments. In the depicted embodiment, the optical assembly 305 also includes a beam splitter internally, which allows light from the light source to pass (eg, upward to the viewing window 303), but uses a The mirror turns the returned (reflected) light. Its should Obviously, the light from the light source passes through the inspection window, through the transparent film strip, is reflected from the print head (not shown in FIG. 3), returns to pass through the transparent film strip again, and accepts any focusing or other optical action, is photographed and processed to For analysis. A captured image therefore provides a visual indication of the position of each measured nozzle (for example, this image is taken from the reflection of the nozzle plate) and also shows the stack of any deposited droplets (which are transparent but distinguishable from the film) cover. In other words, in the envisaged process (especially for the manufacture of OLED displays, for example, for an encapsulation layer), the deposited material is translucent, and therefore does not block the imaging of the nozzle plate. FIG. 3 also shows a winch 315 for the transport of transparent film tape, and a UV curing rod 317 for curing any deposited ink to prevent the deposited ink from being transferred to any other system components. Figure 3 also shows an interface and control board 319 for controlling various system components and for image shooting control; this interface and control board 319 also controls the transport of the thin film film strip, for example, by controlling the Film winding motors 321 and 323 used for film storage and supply reels (which are not separately indicated in the figure). Depending on the embodiment, image processing may be performed locally on the interface and control board 319, or, alternatively, in a manufacturing facility or a processor located on a remote computer.

4A and 4B show perspective views of the droplet measurement system 301 of FIG. 3. FIG. 4B represents a perspective view relative to the back side of the unit of FIG. 4A, that is, a view from the vantage point provided by arrows B-B of FIG. 4A. More specifically, these diagrams show the inspection window 303, vacuum port 403, UV curing rod 317, a film supply roll 405 and storage roll 407, and a frame and optical chamber 409 (this housing Interface and control board 319, as previously described). During operation, it supplies unused film tape in the direction indicated by arrow 411, and closely adheres to the viewing window 303, as previously mentioned. From this point on, the film is pushed down the arrow 412 towards the UV curing rod 317 on the winch 315 for the previously described use. The operation of the aforementioned UV curing rod is controlled by the interface and the control board 319, using on-board firmware or software stored in a non-transitory machine-readable medium. Finally, after curing, the film is advanced to the storage reel 407 substantially as indicated by arrow 415. It should be obvious that the entire unit is modular, providing ease of removal and maintenance. For example, removing the storage drum 407, which is one of the transparent deposition film strips, and replacing the supply The reel 405 should have a completely new feed.

FIG. 5A presents a flowchart associated with an embodiment 501 of a method of performing droplet measurement. As previously mentioned, it may be necessary to perform on-site measurements, meaning that measurements are taken directly within a manufacturing facility to dynamically update the value of one or more droplet parameters for process, age, temperature, or other factors. For this purpose, it advantageously performs measurements in a service station of a printing press, for example, when a new substrate is being loaded, unloaded, cured after deposition, or other idle periods relative to actual printing. Referring to reference numeral 503, one or more print heads (eg, loaded onto a common print head assembly) are advanced to the service station and are "parked" for inspection actions. This maintenance action may include various calibrations, print head replacement, nozzle cleaning or other quality processing, droplet measurement as contemplated by the present disclosure, or other uses. As will be explained more fully below, for OLED display manufacturing applications (and the manufacturing of certain other devices, such as solar panels), it may be desirable to perform printing in a controlled environment; therefore, in many applications In this, the "parking" position will be located in a second controlled environment chamber, for example, in a place that can be operated externally (for example, for print head replacement) without having to connect the entire manufacturing facility or printing press. Among locations in an uncontrolled environment. That is to say, in a preferred embodiment, this second chamber is manufactured to have a small size relative to any printing enclosed space, for example, occupying two percent or less of the volume of the entire printing chamber Space to minimize leakage (if any). Once the print head is parked, it is sealed in this second controlled environment, and the aforementioned droplet measurement system ("DMU", stands for droplet measurement unit) is selectively engaged to perform measurements (505). As noted in the optional process block 507, if the printing is to move the window for one of the nozzles (for example, where different nozzle sets are printed between rounds as described previously when the substrate is loaded or unloaded) Measurement or re-measurement) is performed on an intermittent basis, then the system retrieves the initial address to locate the DMU and shoots the selected nozzle subset. Please note that this process can use an alignment procedure to identify the corner nozzles of each print head (eg, update when a print head is replaced so that the system is calibrated to "know" the approximate position of each nozzle). This alignment procedure can be imaged by connecting the DMU (and its camera) described above, And thereby find the corner nozzles of each array, and use an approximate location addressing and search procedure (eg, spiral search algorithm) to perform, for example, as previously cited US Patent No. 14/340403 As stated in the application. The system is very accurate in controlling the position of the throwing position, for example, to a precision of about one micrometer, and usually the print head is not necessary to recalibrate the positioning of the droplet measurement system unless a system component is manually replaced (e.g. , DMU or a print head is removed or repaired). When a transparent film strip (that is, the droplet deposition surface for testing) is positioned, reference numeral 509, the system controls the print head nozzle under inspection to deposit a controlled number of droplets (fast and continuous, if every Each nozzle is scheduled to measure multiple droplets). At the same time, the image shooting system in the DMU images the deposited ink and the position of the nozzle (for example, through the transparent film tape and ink, shooting the light reflected by the print head). Please note that as indicated by reference numeral 511, in one embodiment, the image capture is performed in color to be able to identify the ink concentration in any deposited ink droplets (eg, when translucent, it will depend on the material or thickness Give subtle color properties). As indicated by reference numeral 511, a captured image can be filtered (eg, for color, intensity, gamma, or one or more other required parameters) to produce a filtered image; immediately After this filtering operation (or as part of this filtering operation), the captured image is converted to grayscale, reference numeral 513. Please note that multiple images can also be generated from this process based on individual filters. For example, a first image representing a nozzle and a second image representing a deposited droplet; obviously, there are many variations. The image processing software then uses the grayscale image(s) to output nozzles, ink droplets, position differences between nozzles and ink droplets, droplet volume, droplet diameter, droplet shape, and/or any Other required parameters (515/517). It should be obvious that measuring all the above items is not necessary in all embodiments. For example, in a system that calculates the volume of a droplet, it may not need to image the nozzle itself, or analyze the shape or position of the droplet. On the contrary, in this embodiment (if analyzing the diffusion range of multiple droplets), it is important to determine the amount of deviation of the droplet position or perform color analysis to correctly calculate the volume. The measured parameters will basically depend on the implementation and the desired results. As indicated by reference number 517, no matter what parameters are measured, the system calculates One or more measurement values, or a parameter offset, for example, uses a selective criterion 519, as previously described. This offset or value of a parameter can be calculated for droplet or nozzle position, droplet timing, or droplet volume, or any combination of these items, as indicated by reference numeral 521. The system then updates one of the stored information repositories (523) located at the local or remote end of the DMU, and it then stores the position for the next measurement iteration step and advances the membrane tape, referring to the selective process 525. The process is thus completed, ready for another measurement iteration step (which can be executed immediately, or at a later point in time, for example, following a subsequent round of substrate operations).

Please note that as indicated by reference numbers 529 to 533, the calculation of parameters and/or any positional offsets can be selectively performed by one or more processors running appropriate software (instructions stored on the processor-readable medium) Execution, and these processors usually store image data in the processor-accessible memory, isolate the individual image data for each nozzle, calculate parameters from the individual image data, and also store each nozzle parameter for processing The device can access the memory.

5B and 5C show sample images 551 and 571, respectively. The first of these, image 551, represents a photo taken from a subset of a print head consisting of approximately 40 nozzles. Note how the nozzles are slightly staggered from column to column to provide a choice of close pitch variations within a crossed scan axis (for example, a droplet that is intended to be sprayed at a specific substrate position can be selected from any The printing of the nozzle row provides superiority in some embodiments, meaning less than, twenty micron deposition accuracy). Fig. 5B represents a color image, which can be filtered and/or converted into a grayscale format as appropriate, and is also a grayscale image after this filtering or conversion action (because patent applications usually do not use or allow color Schema). Please note that in this embodiment, the nozzles are not separately imaged or depicted, although this may be the case in other embodiments. The second image 571 (FIG. 5C) represents the image of FIG. 5B after filtering and gradient processing to identify the droplet diameter. In other words, FIG. 5C shows a white circle corresponding to the diameter of the droplet, with a clearly discernible droplet boundary. Image processing calculates a center of gravity (for example, by calculating the horizontal maximum diameter and vertical maximum diameter of these "circles" and by taking the middle rectangular coordinate point along each diameter (medial Cartesian coordinate point), so that each droplet contacts a specific xy rectangular coordinate position). This position can then be compared with the nozzle position to determine the offset, and the system recognizes the offset variation between the nozzles for printing planning. These photos can also represent droplet volume processing; for example, image processing software can calculate the diameter and/or area of each droplet and/or the associated color, and compare this with a factory-defined standard or a field-defined standard Compare to calculate the size and density, and thus the volume. Almost any required droplet parameters can be measured in this way.

The above describes a specific droplet measurement system, and the following will describe the application for manufacturing and for an industrial manufacturing equipment/printing machine. In the following description, an exemplary system for performing this printing will be described, more specifically, applied to the manufacturing of solar panels and/or display devices that can be used in electronic devices (eg, smartphones) , Smart watches, tablets, computers, TVs, monitors, or other forms of display). The manufacturing technology provided by the present disclosure is not limited to this specific range, for example, it can be applied to any 3D printing application and to a wide range of other forms of products.

FIG. 6A depicts some different implementation hierarchies, collectively labeled reference number 601; each of these hierarchies represents a possible independent implementation of the technology described herein. First, the technology as described in this disclosure can take the form of instructions stored in non-transitory machine-readable media, as represented by graphic 603 (for example, to control the execution of a computer or a printing press Instructions or software). For example, the disclosed technology can be implemented as software that is configured to enable a manufacturing facility (or embedded printer) to measure one or more droplet parameters using the optical measurement techniques disclosed herein. Second, based on the computer icon 605, these technologies can also be selectively implemented as part of a computer or network, for example, within a company that designs or manufactures components for sale or use in other products. Third, as with the example of using a storage media graphic 607, the previously introduced technology can take the form of a storage printer control command, for example, when activated, will cause a printer to rely on a drop measurement and related planning (For example, scan path planning or nozzle qualification verification, as described in this article) One or more laminates in a component. Please note that printing press commands can be sent directly to a printing press, for example, via a LAN or WAN; in this context, the depicted storage media graphics can represent (but not limited to) internal RAM, or a servo Devices, portable devices, laptop computers, other forms of computers or a printer accessible RAM, or portable media such as flash drives. Fourth, as indicated by the same manufacturing device icon 609, the technique described above can be implemented as part of a manufacturing facility or machine, or present such facility or machine (eg, as a droplet measurement system based on the techniques disclosed herein , As a manufacturing method, as software for controlling a droplet measurement system, etc.) in the form of a printing machine inside. It should be noted that the specially depicted representative of the manufacturing device 609 will be an exemplary printing press device described below in conjunction with FIGS. 6B, 7A and 7B. The technique described above can also be implemented as a complete or partially complete manufacturing component or a component of the manufacturing component (for example, manufactured according to a patented process); for example, in FIG. 6A, some such components are depicted In the form of an array 611, which is a semi-finished flat panel device, it will be separated and sold for inclusion in end consumer products. The depicted device may have, for example, one or more encapsulation stacks or other stacks manufactured by means of the methods described above. The technology introduced above can also be implemented in the form of end consumer products as described above, for example, in the form of a portable digital device 613 (for example, such as an electronic tablet device or a smartphone), a TV display screen 615 (for example, OLED TV ), solar panel 617, or other types of devices.

FIG. 6B shows a conceived multi-chamber manufacturing device 621 that can be used to apply the techniques disclosed herein. In summary, the depicted device 621 includes some general modules or subsystems, including a conveying module 623, a printing module 625, and a processing module 627. Each module maintains a controlled environment, for example, so that printing can be performed by the printing module 625 in a first controlled environment, and other processes, such as other deposition procedures such as the deposition of an inorganic encapsulation layer Or a curing process (for example, for printed materials) can be performed in a second controlled environment. The device 621 uses one or more mechanical loaders to move a substrate between modules without exposing the substrate to an uncontrolled environment. Within any specific module, it is possible to use other substrate handling systems and/or specific devices and control systems, Adapt the processing that the module is scheduled to be executed.

Various embodiments of the transport module 623 may include an input loadlock 629 (that is, a chamber that provides buffering between different environments while maintaining a controlled environment), a transport chamber 631 (also has A loader to transport a substrate), and an environmental buffer chamber 633. Within the printing module 625, it is possible to use other substrate loading and unloading mechanisms, such as a floatation table, for stable support of a substrate during a printing process. In addition, an xyz transfer system, such as a separation axis or overhead transfer system, can be used for the precise positioning of at least one print head relative to the substrate, and provides a y-axis transfer system for the substrate to be transported through the printing module 625. It is also possible to use multiple inks for printing in the printing chamber, for example, the use of separate print head assemblies so that, for example, two different types of deposition processes can be performed in a printing module located in a controlled environment . The printing module 625 may include a gas hood 635 containing an inkjet printing system, equipped with a device for introducing an inert gas environment (for example, nitrogen), and controlled in other ways for environmental regulation (for example, temperature and pressure) Gas environment, gas composition and dust content.

Various embodiments of a processing module 627 may include, for example, a transport chamber 636; the transport chamber also includes a loader for transporting a substrate. In addition, the processing module may also include an output loading lock 637, a nitrogen stack buffer 639, and a curing chamber 641. In some applications, the curing chamber can be used to cure, bake or dry a single film into a uniform polymer film; for example, two specially conceived procedures include a heating procedure and a UV radiation curing procedure .

In one application, the device 621 is configured for mass production of liquid crystal display screens or OLED display screens. For example, on a single large substrate, an array including (for example) eight screens is manufactured at a time. These screens can be used in televisions and as display screens for other forms of electronic devices. In a second application, the device can be used for mass production of solar panels in almost the same way.

The printing module 625 can be advantageously used in such applications where the organic encapsulation stack is deposited Among them, these organic encapsulation stacks help to protect the sensitive elements of the OLED display device. For example, the depicted device 621 can be loaded into a substrate and can be controlled to move the substrate back and forth between chambers in a manner that is not interrupted by exposure to an uncontrolled environment during the encapsulation process . The substrate can be loaded via the input load lock 629. A loader located in the transport module 623 can move the substrate from the input loading lock 629 to the printing module 625, and, immediately after a printing process is completed, the substrate can be moved to the processing module 627 for curing. Through the repeated deposition of subsequent stacks, each of the controlled thickness, the encapsulation encapsulation, or the thickness of the other stacks can be individually built to suit any desired application. Also, please note that the above technology is not limited to the encapsulation process or OLED manufacturing, and it can use many different types of tools. For example, the configuration of the device 621 can be changed to place the modules 623, 625, and 627 in different parallel positions; in addition, it can also use more, fewer, or different modules.

Although FIG. 6B provides an example of a set of joining chambers or manufacturing components, many other possibilities clearly exist. The technique described above can be used with the device depicted in FIG. 6B, or even to control a process performed by any other type of deposition equipment.

7A to 7C are used to generally introduce techniques and structures for nozzle-by-nozzle droplet measurement and verification.

More specifically, FIG. 7A provides an exemplary view depicting a droplet measurement system 701 and a relatively large print head assembly 703; the print head assembly has multiple print heads (705A/705B), each with numerous individual nozzles ( For example, 707), where there are thousands of nozzles. An ink supply (not shown in the figure) is fluidly connected to each nozzle (for example, nozzle 707), and a piezoelectric sensor (also not shown in the figure) is used under the control of a nozzle-by-nozzle electric control signal Ink droplets are ejected. The design of the nozzle maintains a slightly negative ink pressure at each nozzle (for example, nozzle 707) to avoid the nozzle plate from being flooded. The electrical signal of a specific nozzle is used to activate the corresponding piezoelectric sensor. The specific nozzle pressurizes and thereby ejects liquid droplets from the specific nozzle. In one embodiment, the control signal for each nozzle is normal The bottom is at zero volts, and a positive pulse or signal level for a specific nozzle at a specific voltage is used to eject the droplets of the nozzle (one drop per pulse); in another embodiment, after cutting Different pulses (or other more complex waveforms) can be used between nozzles. However, in conjunction with the example provided in FIG. 7A, it should be assumed that it needs to measure a droplet volume generated by a particular nozzle or a particular nozzle set (e.g., nozzle 707), where one droplet carries a deposit from the print head A casing 709 of one of the thin films is ejected downward (that is, in a direction "h" representing the height of the z-axis with respect to a three-dimensional coordinate system 708). As mentioned earlier, for embodiments using existing droplet deposition from many nozzles, a target surface is advantageously fixed at a known position relative to the print head (eg, so that it knows which deposited droplets belong to Which nozzle). The size of the above "h" is usually on the order of one millimeter or less, and there are thousands of nozzles (for example, 10,000 Nozzles), where the deposition surface is incrementally changed or pushed to multiple windows where many droplets (eg, tens to hundreds) will be imaged and measured simultaneously. Therefore, in order to accurately measure droplets optically from each nozzle, it uses specific techniques in the disclosed embodiments to properly position the droplet measurement system 701, the print head assembly 703, or both relative to each other. Components for optical measurement.

In one embodiment, these techniques use a combination of the following items: (a) at least part of the optical system's xy movement system (711A) (eg, within the dimension plane 713) to accurately locate a measurement area 715, which The measurement area 715 is provided by any nozzle or nozzle set system that generates droplets immediately adjacent for optical calibration/measurement, and (b) under-plane optical recovery (711B) (e.g., allowing close proximity to any nozzle The measurement area is easy to deploy, even under a large print head surface area). Therefore, in an exemplary environment with approximately 10,000 or more printing nozzles, the mobile system can be located at (for example) approximately 10,000 discrete locations near the discharge path of each individual nozzle in the print head assembly In positioning at least part of the optical system. The optics are usually adjusted for positioning so that precise focus is maintained on the measurement area to photograph the deposited droplets on a transparent film or other deposition medium, as described above. Please note that the diameter of a typical droplet can be on the order of microns, so optical placement is usually It is quite precise and challenging in terms of the relative positioning of the print head assembly and the measurement optics/measurement area. In some embodiments, to assist in this positioning, optics (reflectors, prisms, etc.) are used to adjust the orientation of one of the light capture paths that is sensed below the dimensional plane 713 originating from the measurement area 715 , So that the measurement optics can be placed close to the measurement area without disturbing the relative positioning between the optical system and the print head. This allows it to perform effective position control in a manner that is not limited to the deposition height h of the order of millimeters for depositing and imaging each droplet or the large x and y widths occupied by an inspection print head. Alternatively, different light beams incident from different angles can be used to image a thin film or deposition surface from below, or it can also use a coaxial image capture system with a beam splitter. It can also use other optical measurement techniques. Among the selective features of these systems, the mobile system 711A is selectively and advantageously manufactured as an xyz transport system, which allows the droplet measurement system to be able to selectively under the unmoved print head assembly during droplet measurement Join and disengage. In short, it is conceived in an industrial manufacturing plant with one or more large print head assemblies. In order to maximize the normal operating time of production, each print head assembly will be "parked" from time to time. The maintenance station performs one or more inspection functions; considering the huge scale of the number of print heads and nozzles, it may be desirable to perform multiple inspection functions on different parts of the print head at one time. To this end, in this embodiment, it may be advantageous to move the measurement/calibration device around the print head instead of moving the print head around such devices. [This also allows other non-optical inspection procedures to be added, for example, if necessary, for other nozzles. ] In order to facilitate these actions, the print head assembly can be selectively "parked", as described above, in conjunction with the system to designate a specific group or range of nozzles, which is intended to be the protagonist of optical calibration. Once the print head assembly or a particular print head is stationary, a moving system 711A is added to move at least part of the optical system relative to the "parked" print head assembly and accurately position the measurement area 715 in a suitable detection The position of the droplets ejected from a group of individual nozzles; the use of a z-axis movement enables it to selectively engage light recovery optics from quite below the print head plane, instead of or in addition to contributing to optical calibration Other maintenance actions. Perhaps in other words, using an xyz movement system makes the droplet measurement system selective Ground bonding is independent of other tests or test devices used in a service station environment. For example, in this system, one or more print heads in a print head assembly can also be selectively replaced when the print head is parked. Please note that this structure is not necessary for all embodiments; other alternatives are also possible, such as where only the print head assembly moves (or one of the print heads moves) while the measurement assembly is stationary, or where the print head does not need to be parked Component owner.

In summary, the optical device used for droplet measurement will include a light source 717, a selective set of light delivery optics 719 (this directs light from the light source 717 to the measurement area 715 as needed), one or more lights A sensor 721, and a set of recovery optics 723 that direct light used to measure the droplet(s) from the measurement area 715 to the one or more light sensors 721. The moving system 711A selectively moves any one or more of these components together with the chassis 709 (e.g., moves with the imaging area) in a manner that allows light from the rear droplet measurement to be directed from the measurement area 715 to a position below a plane ). In one embodiment, the light delivery optics 719 and/or the light recovery optics 723 use mirrors that are guided back and forth between the measurement areas 715 along a vertical dimension parallel to the direction of droplet travel Light, and the moving system that moves each element 709, 717, 719, 721, and 723 become an integrated system during droplet measurement; this arrangement has the advantage that focusing does not require recalibration relative to the measurement area 715. As indicated by reference numeral 711C, the light delivery optics are also selectively used to supply source light from a position below the dimension plane 713 of the measurement area, for example, the light source 717 and the light sensor(s) Both 721 guide/collect light from below the measurement area, summarized as illustrated in the figure. As noted by reference numerals 725 and 727, this optical system may optionally include a lens for focusing purposes, and a light detector (for example, for non-imaging techniques that do not rely on processing a multi-pixel "image"). Also note that at any point during the period when the print head assembly is "parked", the selective use of z movement control for the chassis allows the optical system to be selectively engaged and disengaged, and facilitates the measurement area near any group of nozzles 715 precise positioning. Such parking of the print head assembly 703 and xyz movement of the optical system 701 are not necessary for all embodiments. Other permutations and combinations are also possible.

FIG. 7B provides a flow of a procedure associated with droplet measurement in some embodiments. This program flow is generally indicated as reference numeral 731 in FIG. 7B. More specifically, as shown in reference number 733, in this particular procedure, the print head assembly is first parked, for example, at a maintenance station of a printing press or deposition equipment (not shown) in. A droplet measurement device then engages (735) the print head assembly, for example, by selective engagement of part or the entirety of a droplet measurement system, by moving from below a deposition plane into one of the droplet measurement systems An optical system can simultaneously measure the position of droplets from many nozzles. Referring to reference numeral 737, this movement with respect to one or more optical system components relative to a parked print head can be selectively performed in the x, y, and z dimensions.

As described in the patent application incorporated by reference in the priority statement, even a single nozzle and related nozzles emit drive waveforms (that is, pulse(s) or signal level used to eject a droplet ) Can also produce slightly different droplet volumes, trajectories, and velocities between droplets. According to the teachings herein, in one embodiment, the aforementioned droplet measurement system, as indicated by reference numeral 739, selectively obtains n measurements per droplet for a desired parameter to derive the expected properties of the parameter Statistical credibility. In one embodiment, the measured parameter may be volume, but for other embodiments, the measured parameter may be flight speed, flight trajectory, nozzle position error (eg, nozzle warpage) or other parameters, or multiple One of these parameters is combined. In one embodiment, "n" may vary with each nozzle, but in another embodiment, "n" may be a fixed number of measurements (eg, "24") that each nozzle is scheduled to perform; In yet another embodiment, "n" represents a minimum number of measurements, so that more measurements can be performed to dynamically adjust the statistical properties of the measurement of the parameters or to increase the credibility. Obviously, there may be many variations. With the previously described system, a total number of measurements can be established immediately (that is, by performing multiple droplet measurements on a particular nozzle array during a single measurement iteration step, in other words, the droplet measurement system is not moved to a Different nozzle sets), or by taking a single measurement and establishing a total number of measurements through later measurements (for example, when measurements are continuously made over a circular range of nozzles over time).

For the example provided in FIG. 7B, it should be assumed that the droplet volume is being measured to obtain an accurate average value representing one of the expected droplet volumes from a specific nozzle and a compact confidence interval. This facilitates selective planning of droplet combinations (using multiple nozzles and/or driving waveforms) while reliably maintaining the distribution of mixed ink fill in a target area near an expected target (i.e., relative to the droplet average Hybrid). As noted in the optional process blocks 741 and 743, the conceived optical measurement process ideally facilitates the one-time real-time or near real-time measurement and calculation of the volume (or other required parameters) of many nozzles, for example, using a transparent film And shooting below the deposition plane (meaning, from the opposite side of the film used for deposition); with this rapid measurement, it becomes possible to update the volume measurement frequently and dynamically, for example, to compensate for ink properties (including viscosity and constituent materials) , Temperature, nozzle clogging or aging and other factors change with time. Based on this, for example, for a print head assembly containing 10,000 nozzles, it is expected that the huge total number of measurements for each of the tens of thousands of nozzles can be obtained within a few minutes, enabling it to be frequently and dynamically executed Drop measurement. As mentioned earlier, in an alternative embodiment, droplet measurement (or measurement of other parameters such as trajectory and/or velocity) can be performed as a periodic intermittent process, depending on the schedule or between substrates Between (for example, when the substrate is being loaded or unloaded) placed in the droplet measurement system, or stacked under other components and/or other print head maintenance procedures to effectively collect many data in many measurement intervals Points (and thereby establish one statistical distribution representing each nozzle). Please note that for embodiments that allow alternate nozzle drive waveforms to be used in a manner specific to each nozzle, this rapid measurement system facilitates scan path adjustment, nozzle pass/fail verification, and various nozzle waveform pairings The planned droplet combination of the droplets is slightly mentioned as mentioned in the patent application incorporated by reference in the previous content and priority declaration of this article. Referring to reference numerals 745 and 747, by measuring the expected droplet volume to an accuracy of better than 0.01 pL, it becomes possible to plan very precise droplet usage, in which the usage of droplets can also be planned (in ideal Case) to 0.01pL resolution, and the measurement error in one embodiment is effectively reduced to provide 3σ (or other statistical values such as 4σ , 5σ , 6σ , relative to the allowable droplet volume) Etc.). The same holds true for droplet position and/or velocity and/or nozzle warpage. For example, by measuring the expected position to an accuracy better than one micrometer (or another distance measure), it becomes possible to provide very accurate deposition; the expected position can be measured to a specific right-angle coordinate point and standard Within a certain range of the difference (or, for example, 4σ , 5σ , 6σ degrees near this point). Once sufficient measurements have been made for various droplets, the filling involving the combination of these droplets can be evaluated and used to plan printing in the most efficient manner possible (748). As shown by dividing line 749, the execution of droplet measurement can be intermittently switched back and forth between the current "online" printing procedure and the "offline" measurement and calibration procedure; please note that in order to minimize manufacturing system downtime, these The measurement is usually performed when, for example, the printer during loading and unloading of the substrate is assigned to another program. Referring to reference 751, in one embodiment, the transparent film or film strip can be specially selected (or processed) to optimize the droplet properties of the particular ink under analysis (that is, the specific chemical or fluid properties of the ink ) For capture and/or analysis of auxiliary images. For example, in some applications, the ink will later be cured by an ultraviolet light curing process to be converted into a polymer of a monomer (monomer); in order to assist in the collection of droplet properties, the transparent film It can be selected to have physical, color, absorption, fixation, curing, or other properties to enhance the predictive conditions for analyzing this material using an image capture system. Finally, referring to reference numeral 753, the film (film strip) or the entire droplet measurement system (or both) can be designed for modular replacement to minimize the downtime of the measurement system and printing system.

During printing, nozzle (and nozzle waveform) measurements can be made on a rolling basis, advancing through a range of nozzles, and each interruption occurs between substrate printing actions. Regardless of whether it is engaged to re-measure all nozzles, or based on this scrolling basis, the same basic procedure of FIG. 7B can be used for measurement. To achieve this, when a droplet measurement device is added for a new measurement (immediately after a previous measurement or immediately after a substrate printing action), the system software loads an indicator that indicates the next measurement to be measured Nozzle set (for example, for a second print head, "the nozzle window at the upper left corner at nozzle 2,312"). In the case of initial measurement (for example, in response to the installation of a new print head, or a recent start-up, or a periodic procedure such as a daily measurement procedure), the above The indicator will point to one of the first nozzles of a print head, for example, "Nozzle 2,001". This nozzle is accessed with a specific imaging grid or searched from memory. The system uses the provided address to advance the droplet measurement system (eg, the measurement area previously described) to a position corresponding to the intended nozzle position. Please note that in a typical system, the mechanical throwing position associated with this movement is quite precise, in other words, it reaches a resolution of about micrometers. At this time, the system selectively searches for the nozzle position near the expected micrometer resolution position, and finds the center of the nozzle and its position within a micrometer distance from the estimated grid position based on the image analysis of the print head. For example, a zigzag, spiral, or other search pattern can be used to search for a desired position for a nozzle or reference point that has a specific positional relationship with respect to the desired set. A typical pitch distance between nozzles can be on the order of 250 microns, while the nozzle diameter can be on the order of 10 to 20 microns.

7C provides a flow chart regarding nozzle qualification verification. In one embodiment, droplet measurements are performed to generate a statistical model for each nozzle and each waveform applied to any particular nozzle for any and/or each of the droplet volume, velocity, and trajectory (For example, distribution profile and average value). Therefore, for example, if there are two waveforms for the twelve nozzles, there are up to 24 waveform-nozzle combinations or pairs; in one embodiment, for each nozzle or waveform-nozzle pair The number of measurements of each parameter (eg, volume) performed is sufficient to develop a robust statistical model. Please note that despite the planning, a specific nozzle or nozzle-waveform pair may conceptually produce an unusually broad distribution, or an average value that is too far off track and should be specially handled. This applied special process is conceptually depicted in FIG. 7C in one embodiment.

More specifically, it uses reference number 781 to indicate a method in general. The data generated by the droplet measuring device is stored in the memory 785 for later use. During application method 781, this data is recalled from memory, and the data for each nozzle or nozzle-waveform pair is extracted and processed individually (783). In one embodiment, it establishes a normal random distribution for each variable subject to qualification verification, which is defined by an average value, standard deviation, and the number (n) of measured droplets, or uses equivalent magnitudes. Please note that it can use other distribution formats (for example, Student's-T distribution, Poisson, etc.). The measurement parameters are compared with one or more ranges (787) to determine whether the relevant droplet can be actually used. In one embodiment, at least one range is applied to disqualify the droplet from being used (for example, if the droplet has an excessively large or too small volume relative to the desired target, the nozzle or nozzle-waveform pairing can be excluded Short-term use). An example is provided. If a droplet of 10.00 pL is required, nozzles or nozzle-waveform pairs linked to an average value of droplets exceeding this target, for example, 1.5% (eg, <9.85 pL or >10.15 pL) can be excluded. It can also use or alternatively use ranges, standard deviations, variances, or other outliers. For example, if you want a statistical model of droplets with a narrow square cloth (for example, an average value of 3σ<1.005%), droplets whose measured values do not meet this criterion can be excluded. It is also possible to use a set of sophisticated/complex standards that take into account multiple factors. For example, an abnormal average value combined with a very narrow degree of deviation may be acceptable. For example, if the degree of deviation (eg, 3 σ) deviates from the measured (eg, abnormal) average value μ within 1.005%, it can be used A related droplet. For example, if you want to use droplets with a volume of 3 σ within 10.00 pL±0.1 pL, you can exclude the creation of a nozzle-waveform pair with an average value of 9.96 pL, which is a ±0.8 pL 3 σ value, but produces A nozzle-waveform pair with a mean value of ±0.3 pL 3 σ of 9.93 pL may be acceptable. Obviously, there are many possibilities according to any required rejection/abnormal criteria (789). Please note that this same type of processing can be applied to the flight angle and velocity of each droplet, which means that it is expected that the flight angle and velocity of each nozzle-waveform pair will show statistical distribution, and depends on the derivation from the droplet measurement With the measurement and statistical model of the device, some droplets can be excluded. For example, a droplet whose average speed or flight trajectory deviates from the normal value by more than 5%, or the speed variation is outside a specific target, can be assumed to be excluded. Different ranges and/or evaluation criteria can be applied to each droplet parameter 785 measured and provided by the reservoir.

Please note that depending on the rejection/abnormal criteria 789, droplets (and nozzle-waveform combinations) can be treated and treated in different ways. For example, it can reject a feature that does not meet a required standard Don't drop (791), as described above. Or, it may be possible to selectively perform more measurements for the next measurement iteration step of a particular nozzle-waveform pair; for example, if a statistical distribution is too wide, it may be specifically for that particular nozzle-waveform pair Perform more measurements to improve the closeness of this statistical distribution through more measurements (for example, the number of variances and standard deviation depends on the number of data points measured). Reference numeral 793, it is also possible to adjust a nozzle driving waveform, for example, using a higher or lower voltage level (eg, to provide a greater or lesser speed or a more consistent flight angle), or to reshape Adjust the nozzle-waveform pair to generate a waveform that meets one of the specified criteria. Referring to reference numeral 794, the timing of the waveform can also be adjusted (for example, to compensate for the abnormal mean velocity associated with a particular nozzle-waveform pair). For example (slightly mentioned earlier), a slow droplet can be ejected at an earlier time relative to other nozzles, and a fast droplet can be ejected slower in time to compensate for the faster flight time . Many such alternatives are possible. Finally, referring to reference numeral 795, any adjusted parameters (eg, eruption time, waveform voltage level or shape) can be stored, and, optionally, the adjusted parameters can be applied to re-measurement if desired One or more associated droplets. After each nozzle-waveform pair (modified or otherwise processed) is qualified (passed or failed), the method then proceeds to the next nozzle-waveform pair, reference numeral 797.

The aforementioned mechanism can also be used to measure the warpage of the nozzle (and of course verify the conformity of the nozzle on this basis). In other words, for example, if it is assumed that a group of deposited droplets originate from a single common precise nozzle position, but are clustered off-center in a direction orthogonal to the scanning movement of the print head substrate, the nozzles involved may be located at The nozzles in the column or the same row are offset. Such abnormal deviations may lead to deviations in ideal droplet ejection, which can be taken into account when planning the precise combination of droplets. In other words, any such "warpage" or individual nozzle deviations are stored and used Verify the pass/fail of the nozzles or as part of the printing scan plan, as described previously, let the printing system use the differences of each individual nozzle in a planned way instead of trying to average out the differences . In a selective variation, the same technique can be used to determine the scanning direction along the print head (meaning, Irregular nozzle spacing, although for the depicted embodiment, any such error is classified as a correction for droplet velocity deviation (for example, any such spacing error can be corrected by the nozzle velocity The correction is adjusted, for example, because of a slight change to a drive waveform for that particular nozzle). In order to determine the warpage across the scanning axis of one nozzle that produces a cluster of droplets, the individual orbits are actually drawn in reverse (or otherwise mathematically transformed) relative to other measurement orbits of the same nozzle and used to identify One of the specific nozzles is positioned across the scan axis on average. This position may deviate from one of the expected positions of this nozzle, which may be evidence of nozzle warpage.

As mentioned above and as the meaning implies in this description, an embodiment establishes a statistical distribution of each nozzle for each measured parameter, for example, for volume, speed, trajectory, nozzle warpage, and possibly other parameters . As part of such statistical procedures, individual measurements can be discarded or used to identify errors. Here are some examples. If a droplet measurement is found to have a value that has been removed from other measurements in the same nozzle so far, the measurement may represent an eruption or measurement error; in one embodiment, if it deviates To a point that exceeds a statistical error parameter, the system discards this measurement. If no droplets are seen at all, this may be evidence that the droplet measurement system is located in the wrong nozzle (wrong position), or there is an error in the ejection waveform or a nozzle failure under inspection. It can use an error handling procedure to make appropriate adjustments, including taking any new or further measurements as needed.

Please note that although Figures 7A to 7C are not individually invoked, they basically perform the described measurement procedure for each available alternative waveform used with each nozzle. For example, if each nozzle has four different piezoelectric driving waveforms to choose from, the measurement procedure may generally be repeated 4 times for each group of nozzles; if a specific implementation requires The 24 droplets of the waveform establish a statistical distribution, and a nozzle can have 96 such measurements (24 of each of the four waveforms), where each measurement is used to find the droplet velocity, trajectory and volume. One, and a statistical average value and an off-metric value for estimating the nozzle position (for example, for evaluating nozzle warpage). In a contemplated embodiment, any A number of waveforms can be shaped or otherwise generated, and the system measures the droplet parameters associated with one or more preselected waveforms and thereby stores these parameters for subsequent use in printing and/or printing planning. These parameters can also be used to decide whether to maintain (and store) the waveform for printing (for example, as part of a set of pre-selected allowable waveforms), or to select a different waveform and measure multiple of the waveform parameter.

Through the use of precise mechanical systems and droplet measurement techniques, the disclosed method allows extremely high accuracy measurements of individual nozzle characteristics, including the average of each of the aforementioned parameters (eg, volume, velocity, trajectory, nozzle position, and other parameters) Droplet measurement. It should be appreciated that the technology described promotes a high degree of consistency in the manufacturing process, especially the OLED device manufacturing process, and thus enhances reliability. By providing control efficiency, especially regarding the speed of droplet measurement and stacking these measurements in other system programs in a manner that is calculated to reduce overall system downtime, the teachings presented above help provide a more Fast and less expensive manufacturing process, designed to provide flexibility and accuracy in the manufacturing process.

FIG. 8A shows a cross-sectional view of a typical configuration within an industrial manufacturing facility (eg, associated with a printing press in this facility) 801. More specifically, it can be seen that printing is performed within a closed printing chamber 803, so that the surrounding environment can be controlled ("controlled environment"); this control is usually performed to exclude unacceptable dust particles, Or printing is performed in the presence of a specific gas composition (eg, nitrogen, inert gas, etc.) in other ways. In summary, a substrate 813 is generally introduced into a printer using an environmental buffer chamber (not shown) and transported to a floating support table 815 using a mechanical loader, which also passes through one or more of the substrates The detection of fiducial points (these fiducial points used to detect the precise substrate position and a camera or other optical detector are not shown in FIG. 8A) properly aligns the substrate for printing. The printing is performed using a print head assembly 807, which moves back and forth along a traveler 811 in the direction of a "slow print axis" (as depicted by arrow 809). The print head assembly 807 is depicted as a single object, but it can be a complex assembly that carries multiple print heads (eg, 6, 10, or other numbers), each with hundreds to thousands of print nozzles (eg, Each has two thousand nozzles). The print head assembly 807 deposits a liquid ink to a precise thickness on a precise position on the substrate 813, where the ink contains a material, This material will form a permanent stack of one or more products intended to be manufactured on the substrate 813. For example, this material may be an organic or inorganic material, a conductor or insulator, a plastic, a metal, or some other type of material. In a typical application, the substrate 813 is more than one meter wide and several meters long, and is used to simultaneously manufacture multiple OLED displays arranged in an array on the substrate; each stack is deposited across all such "Panel" (meaning, across such displays in multiple manufacturing) is part of an integrated printing process where individual displays are finally cut from the substrate through other processes. Each printing process can deposit a different ink to a specific thickness, for example, conductors, insulators, light emitting elements, semiconductor materials, encapsulation, etc., using printing instructions specific to a particular stack. In an assembly line process, there may be multiple printers, configured at different locations or used in successive different deposition processes. For OLED materials, an ink is deposited for a particular stack, and after deposition, the substrate is removed from the chamber and pushed into a curing chamber (not shown in the figure), where the deposited ink can be cured and dried , Heated or otherwise treated to add durability to the deposited material. Please note that the depicted configuration represents a "separating shaft" printing machine, meaning that the floating table 815 and the associated loader (not shown) follow one of the dimensions seen at the reference 823 at a dimension near the lower right corner of the figure In the direction of Y-axis 825, push the substrate into and out of the schematic page.

To perform droplet measurement, the print head assembly 807 is selectively advanced outside a normal printing area to a point where it can be parked in a service station, generally associated with a second Closed environment 805. This second environment is selective, but is conducive to allowing inspection, print head replacement, and other forms of maintenance, without the need to add ventilation holes to the printing closed chamber 803. In order to park the print head assembly 807, the assembly is moved to a position that appears to be generally on the left side of the figure, and is then advanced vertically to seal the print head assembly 807 in a chamber that serves as the second closed environment , As depicted by dotted line position 819. In this "parking" position, the droplet measurement system 817 can be controlled (eg, in three dimensions) to selectively move a measurement area, simulating a substrate deposition height adjacent to any desired nozzle area.

Please note that as mentioned above, in a typical application, it wants to keep the manufacturing equipment 801 "online" and in use as much as possible. To achieve this, it does not perform droplet measurement when the device 801 can be used for printing (but for product manufacturing). In one embodiment, measurement and printing are "ping-pong-style alternated", meaning that every The next time the substrate (eg, 813) is loaded or unloaded, within a time interval of the printing action, the print head assembly 807 is advanced to the service station and is locally calibrated (eg, for the printing nozzle and/or printing nozzle One of the waveforms is a rolling subset) to establish a robust set of measurements for each nozzle in a manner that accumulates the total number of statistical measurements, update to the latest state, and perform maintenance, as previously described. Please note that any of these features can be considered selective and not necessarily necessary to reveal the implementation of the technology.

8B provides a plan view of the substrate and the printer taken along line B-B of FIG. 8A during the deposition process. The printed closed chamber is likewise indicated by the reference number 803, and the second closed environment for droplet measurement is indicated by the reference number 805. In the printing closed chamber, the substrate to be printed on is similarly indicated by the reference numeral 813, and the supporting table for transporting the substrate is indicated by the reference numeral 815. In summary, any xy coordinates of the substrate are reached by a combination of movements, including movement of the substrate in the x and y dimensions of the support table (for example, with floating support, as indicated by reference number 857), and using The "slow axis" movement of the one or more print heads 807 of the slide bar 811 in the x-dimension, as outlined by arrow 809. As mentioned earlier, the floating table and substrate handling infrastructure are used to move the substrate along one or more "rapid axes" during printing as needed. It can be seen that the print head has a plurality of nozzles 865, and each nozzle is controlled by a spray pattern guided from one of the printed images (for example, when the print head moves from left to right and right to right along the "slow axis" When moving to the left, the printing of the row corresponding to the grid point of the printing press is incurred; please note that although only a few printing nozzles are depicted in the figure, in fact it contains hundreds to thousands of such nozzles, configured as Many rows and columns. With the relative movement between one or more print heads and the substrate provided in the direction of the fast axis (that is, the y-axis), the printing basically presents a strip area of one of a plurality of individual columns following the grid points of the printer. It can also selectively rotate or otherwise adjust the print head set To change the effective nozzle interval, refer to reference 867. Please note that multiple such print heads can be used together and adjust the x-, y-, and/or z-dimension relative to each other as needed (see the axis legend in Figure 8B). The printing action continues until the entire target area (and any boundary area) has been printed with ink as required, where the vertical component of the transfer direction 857 depicted represents the relative movement of the print head assembly/substrate. After the deposition of the necessary amount of ink, the substrate is completed, such as through the use of ultraviolet (UV) or other curing or hardening procedures that form a permanent stack from liquid ink. As mentioned earlier, when the substrate is loaded or unloaded for printing, the print head is advanced to a maintenance station and sealed to a second enclosed environment 805. In practice, this second closed environment is set as a subset of the printing closed chamber 803 as described above, so that it can replace a printing head without having to add ventilation holes for the printing closed chamber at all. Within the second enclosed environment 805, the droplet measurement system 817 (visible in the dashed line below the slide bar 811) is selectively engaged (again, it is advantageous to utilize the entirety of the droplet measurement system such as one of the chassis 3D link) for measurement as described earlier.

Fig. 9 provides a graph illustrating the measured droplet position relative to the expected position of the droplet for each of many nozzles. More specifically, the graph is generally indicated by reference numeral 901, and shows a group of approximately 40 nozzles. It should be assumed that the chart 901 represents image data. For example, it is processed as described above with reference to FIGS. 6A to 6C to obtain a measurement droplet position (meaning a position corresponding to a corresponding expected position (i.e., such as position 904) That is, such as location 903). Relative to FIG. 9, it should pay attention to some features. First, the nozzles appear to be configured as nozzle rows that are slightly staggered in position, as shown by icon 905; this feature allows extremely precise droplet spacing, for example, when manufacturing tolerances allow the nozzles to be positioned across a span of hundreds of microns The slight staggering between columns in the scanning direction allows the use of alternating nozzles (eg, the nozzles corresponding to the position 906 relative to the nozzles corresponding to the position 907), which allows extremely close droplet placement, for example, in Within 20 microns or less of any predetermined location on a substrate. Second, chart 901 indirectly emphasizes the benefits provided by the calibration of the position of the droplet measurement system relative to a print head. For example, the system knows exactly which nozzle corresponds to position 903 and the expected position 904 shows its importance. Able to measure any The quantity data (and any nozzle qualification or adjustment) are matched to the correct nozzle. Through image processing, it can determine the precise position offset of each nozzle, and it is included in the nozzle qualification verification and printing planning influencing factors. Finally, please note again that the use of a transparent film allows not only the imaging of the deposited droplets, but also the imaging of the nozzle (for example, the shooting through the transparent film), which helps the performance of distance analysis by the software. This is not necessary for all embodiments. For example, through the understanding of how the captured image of the film corresponds to the position of the nozzle plate, the software can also easily infer the nozzle position relative to the captured image, and calculate the position offset based on this . In the context of FIG. 9, reference numeral 904 represents the image nozzle position in an embodiment, where any deviation between the measurement position 903 and the position 904 represents the droplet velocity and/or warpage. Also, although Figure 9 represents the droplet position offset relative to the desired droplet position, a similar analysis can also be used to measure the droplet volume, for example, by changing the droplet color (eg, grayscale value ), the diameter of the droplet, or other characteristics of the captured image are compared with a standard, and then the droplet volume is calculated from it. Through the repeated additional measurement of each nozzle or nozzle-waveform pair, the system can easily establish the distribution of any required droplet parameters based on the per-nozzle or per-nozzle waveform basis.

FIG. 10 shows a flowchart 1001 relating to determining the droplet volume from a captured image. Reference numeral 1003 represents that a shooting image of one of the droplets generated by a nozzle array is first extracted from the memory. This image is then filtered as appropriate to segment exactly the droplets of interest (for example, with different color intensities depending on the thickness or concentration of ink on the deposition medium), reference numeral 1005. Please note that these filtered images can be one of the first, second, third, or other examples of the filtering action performed to measure a specific parameter from a single image (eg, other examples can be used to target the droplet velocity , Position, nozzle position, etc. calculate distance, position, offset, etc.). Referring to reference number 1007, any color hue is then processed to correlate the hue with the ink thickness or density; for example, if the deposited ink has a slightly reddish color, a "redder" part of the image will usually represent a larger thickness . Please note that for an embodiment where multiple droplets are deposited from each nozzle at one time, there may be multiple visible droplets overlapping, and the thickness processing 1007 is In the preferred embodiment, this is taken into consideration, and any individual droplets are segmented; but this is not necessary for all examples. For example, if it knows that, for example, five droplets have been deposited, then the overall volume is calculated. Dividing by five possibilities is enough. Referring to reference number 1009, the droplet radius is then calculated (or pooled ink coverage) as described earlier and used in conjunction with the derived thickness magnitude to calculate the total deposited ink. Importantly, the transparent film used as a deposition surface ideally holds the deposition ink and may therefore be different from one of the actual deposition surfaces used in actual printing (eg, a glass substrate); therefore, as indicated by reference numeral 1008 Depicted, one of the storage standards specific to the deposited material is retrieved and used in conjunction with thickness processing, volume calculation 1011, or both to obtain the correct droplet volume estimate. Finally, the measurement data is stored, reference numeral 1013, and any calculated distribution (eg, average and deviation) per nozzle or per nozzle waveform is updated for use in printing or scanning planning. Please note that similar comparisons for a standard and raw value (or offset) calculation can be applied to many other parameters besides volume, depending on suitability for particular applications.

Realizing from the aforementioned various technologies and considerations, a process can be executed to rapidly mass-produce products and have low system costs. By providing fast and repeatable printing technology, it is believed that printing can be substantially improved, for example, by reducing the layer-by-layer printing time to a fraction of the time required before the aforementioned technology is not adopted. Returning to the example of a large HD TV display again, Xianxin can accurately and reliably print each color component stack on a large substrate (for example, 8.5 generation substrate, approximately 220cm x 250cm) in 180 seconds or Within a shorter time, or even within ninety seconds or less, represents substantial process improvement. Improving the efficiency and quality of printing paves the way for the huge cost reduction in the production of large HD TV displays, thereby achieving lower end consumer costs. As mentioned earlier, display manufacturing (especially OLED manufacturing) is an application of the technologies described in this article. These technologies can be applied to numerous processes, computers, printers, software, manufacturing equipment, and terminal devices. Limited to the display panel.

In the foregoing description and attached drawings, specific terms and graphical symbols are used to provide Fully understand one of the disclosed embodiments. In some examples, these terms and symbols may contain specific details that are not necessary when these examples are put into practice. The terms "exemplary" and "embodiment" are used to indicate an example, not a preference or required item.

As shown above, it can make various modifications and changes to the embodiments proposed herein without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the present disclosure. For example, the features or features of any embodiment can be applied in combination with any other embodiment, at least as far as is practically possible, or replace their equivalent features or features. Therefore, for example, not all features are shown in each drawing, for example, a feature or technique shown according to an embodiment of a drawing should be assumed to be selectively adopted as any other drawing An element in the formula or embodiment, or a combination thereof, even if it is not specifically indicated in the specification. Therefore, the description and drawings should be interpreted as illustrative rather than limiting.

101: Flow chart

103-123: steps

Claims (24)

A method for manufacturing a thin film stack of an electronic product, the method comprising: receiving a substrate into a manufacturing system; when the substrate is in a printing area of the manufacturing system, from one or more of the manufacturing system A plurality of nozzles of the print head print a droplet of a liquid onto the substrate, the liquid carries a film-forming material, and there are at least five hundred of the nozzles; coalescing the liquid to form a liquid coating on the substrate Treating the liquid coating to solidify the film-forming material to form the thin film stack; and removing the substrate from the manufacturing system; wherein the method further includes in-situ targeting droplet volume and droplet size within the manufacturing system , At least one of the drop shape or the drop landing position, correct the drop generated by each of the plurality of nozzles, by mechanically transporting the one or more print heads to the manufacturing system At a position inside and outside the printing area, when the one or more print heads are at that position, a droplet measurement system is used to jointly image the nozzles in a subset of the plurality of nozzles The generated droplets, and the common imaging based on the droplets generated by the nozzles in the subset, to calculate for the droplets generated by each nozzle of the nozzles in the subset The at least one value of droplet volume, droplet shape, droplet size, or drop landing position, and the use of the droplet measurement system are repeated to jointly image droplets and calculate the at least one value in order to Each of the plurality of nozzles carried by the one or more printing heads, calculating the at least one value, and mechanically transporting the one or more printing heads from the position to the printing area for the printing , The manufacturing system performs the printing in a manner that depends on the measurement of the at least one of the droplet volume, droplet shape, droplet size, or droplet landing position for the plurality of nozzles. The method as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the droplet measurement system provides a translucent film strip having a first surface, and the droplets generated by the subset are deposited on the translucent film strip At various locations on the first surface, and where the translucent film strip has a second surface, the common imaging of the droplets is captured by the imaging camera system through the second surface. The method as described in item 2 of the patent application scope, wherein the droplet measurement system includes a case carrying a film roll including a translucent film tape, and the case carrying a camera and a film advance system, Wherein the chassis defines a window, and wherein the film strip advancement system advances the translucent film strip relative to the window, such that the first face of the translucent film strip is received by the nozzles in the subset The droplets, and the camera is through the window and through the second face of the translucent film strip to image the droplets deposited on the first face of the translucent film strip, and Wherein the method further includes mechanically transporting the droplet measurement system without moving the one or more printing heads and advancing the translucent relative to the window when the one or more printing heads are in the position Membrane tape in order to perform this repetition. The method as described in item 2 of the patent application range, wherein the at least one value is one of a droplet size or a droplet volume for each of the plurality of nozzles, and wherein the imaging processing system is used by identifying occupancy An area of each droplet in the imaging of the first face of the translucent film strip, and by calculating the at least one value for a corresponding nozzle in the subset depending on the identification area, the liquid is calculated The one of drop size or drop volume. The method as described in item 1 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the manufacturing system prints the liquid of the liquid by selectively distributing the nozzles of the plurality of nozzles in a manner that depends on the measurements Each of the droplets goes onto the substrate, and the printing is performed. The method as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the manufacturing system depends on the In this method of measurement, the printing is performed by selectively cancelling the nozzles of the plurality of nozzles depending on the eligibility of the printing of the droplets of the liquid onto the substrate. The method as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the droplet measurement system includes a transport system that is configured to be in at least two dimensions when the one or more print heads are stationary at the position An imaging camera system of the droplet measurement system is moved to mechanically reposition the imaging camera system to image droplets produced by different subsets of the nozzles without intervening the one or more The relative movement between the print head and the manufacturing system. The method as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the manufacturing system includes an air hood to maintain a controlled environment, and wherein the printing of the liquid droplets onto the substrate and the liquid droplets use the liquid Each of the corrections of the drop measurement system is performed in the hood and in the controlled environment. The method as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the manufacturing system includes at least one of a curing system or a baking system, and wherein the treatment of the liquid coating includes using the curing system or the baking system The at least one solidifies or bake the liquid coating so as to solidify the film forming material relative to the liquid. The method as described in item 9 of the patent application range, wherein the processing of the liquid coating includes transporting the substrate from the printing area to a processing area where the curing or baking is performed, and wherein when the substrate is in the processing area At this time, the repeat is performed at least partially. The method as described in item 9 of the patent application range, wherein the electronic product includes a light-emitting device, and wherein the film stack includes a light-generating stack of the light-emitting device. A method for manufacturing a thin film stack of an electronic product, the method comprising: for each substrate in a series of substrates, receiving the substrate into a manufacturing system; when the substrate is in a printing area of the manufacturing system , Printing droplets of a liquid onto the substrate from a plurality of nozzles of one or more printing heads of the manufacturing system, the liquid carrying a film Forming material, wherein at least five hundred of the nozzles are carried by the one or more print heads; coalescing the liquid to form a liquid coating on the substrate; processing the liquid coating to solidify the film Forming a material to form the thin film stack; and unloading the substrate from the manufacturing system; wherein the method further includes in situ targeting droplet volume, droplet size, droplet shape, or droplet landing location within the manufacturing system At least one, correct the droplets generated by each of the plurality of nozzles by mechanically transporting the one or more printing heads to the manufacturing system, outside the printing area, in the medium At a position between printings on each of the substrates in the series, when the one or more print heads are at that position, a droplet measurement system is used to jointly image the plurality of nozzles The droplets generated by the nozzles in a subset of, and the common imaging based on the droplets generated by the nozzles in the subset, so as to target each of the nozzles in the subset Droplets generated by the nozzle, calculating the at least one value of droplet volume, droplet shape, droplet size, or drop landing position, and mechanically transporting the one or more printing heads from the position to the The printing area of the printing; wherein the method further includes repeating the use of the droplet measurement system, co-imaging the droplet in a manner and calculating the at least one value for the carried by the one or more printing heads For each nozzle of the plurality of nozzles, the at least one value is calculated, and for different consecutive pairs of the substrates in the series, the nozzles in the subset are changed in a manner such that the droplet The measurement system incrementally measures the droplet volume, droplet shape, droplet size or between each of the nozzles between the droplets to the paired prints on the substrates in the series At least one of the droplet landing positions; and For each of the substrates, the manufacturing system depends on a measurement of the at least one of the droplet volume, droplet shape, droplet size, or droplet landing position of the plurality of nozzles Way to execute the printing. The method as described in item 12 of the patent application range, wherein the droplet measurement system provides a translucent film strip having a first surface, and the droplets generated by the subset are deposited on the translucent film strip At various locations on the first surface, and where the translucent film strip has a second surface, the common imaging of the droplets is captured by the imaging camera system through the second surface. The method as described in item 13 of the patent application range, wherein the droplet measurement system includes a case carrying a film tape roll, the film tape roll providing the translucent film tape, the case carrying a camera and a film tape An advancement system, wherein the chassis defines a window, and wherein the film advancement system advances the translucent film strip relative to the window, such that the first side of the translucent film strip receives the ones that are in the subset The droplets generated by the nozzles separately, and the camera passes through the window and through the second face of the translucent film strip, to the liquid deposited on the first face of the translucent film strip Imaging of droplets, and wherein the method further includes mechanically transporting the droplet measurement system without moving the one or more printing heads when the one or more printing heads are in the position, and relative to the The window advances the translucent film strip in order to perform the repetition. The method as described in item 14 of the patent application range, wherein the at least one value is one of a droplet size or a droplet volume for each of the plurality of nozzles, and wherein the imaging processing system is used by identifying occupancy An area of each droplet in the imaging of the first face of the translucent film strip, and by calculating the at least one value for a corresponding nozzle in the subset depending on the identification area, the liquid is calculated The one of drop size or drop volume. The method as described in item 12 of the patent application range, wherein the manufacturing system prints the liquids of the liquid by selectively distributing the nozzles of the plurality of nozzles in a manner that depends on the measurements Each of the droplets goes onto the substrate, and the printing is performed. The method as described in item 12 of the patent application scope, wherein the manufacturing system is in a manner that depends on the measurements, by selectively canceling the nozzles of the plurality of nozzles that depend on the measurements of the liquid The use qualification of the printing dropped on the substrate is to execute the printing. The method as described in item 12 of the patent application scope, wherein the droplet measurement system includes a transport system that is configured to be in at least two dimensions when the one or more print heads are stationary at the position An imaging camera system of the droplet measurement system is moved to mechanically reposition the imaging camera system to image droplets produced by different subsets of the nozzles without intervening the one or more The relative movement between the print head and the manufacturing system. The method as described in item 12 of the patent application range, wherein the manufacturing system includes an air hood to maintain a controlled environment, and wherein the printing of the liquid droplets onto the substrate and the liquid droplets use the liquid Each of the corrections of the drop measurement system is performed in the hood and in the controlled environment. The method as described in item 12 of the patent application scope, wherein the manufacturing system includes at least one of a curing system or a baking system, and wherein the treatment of the liquid coating includes using the curing system or the baking system The at least one solidifies or bake the liquid coating so as to solidify the film forming material relative to the liquid. The method of claim 20, wherein the processing of the liquid coating includes transporting the substrate from the printing area to a processing area where the curing or baking is performed, and wherein when the substrate is in the processing area At this time, the repeat is performed at least partially. The method of claim 20, wherein the electronic product includes a light emitting device, and wherein the thin film stack includes a light generating stack of the light emitting device. The method as described in item 12 of the patent application range, wherein the film laminate is an encapsulation laminate, and the encapsulation laminate is an electrically active member encapsulating the electronic product. A method for manufacturing a thin film laminate of an electronic product having one of light-emitting elements, the method comprising: Receiving a substrate into a manufacturing system; when the substrate is in a printing area of the manufacturing system and in a gaseous environment, printing a liquid liquid from a plurality of nozzles of one or more printing heads of the manufacturing system Drops onto the substrate, the droplets of the liquid coalesce to form a liquid coating on the substrate, the liquid carries a film-forming material, and at least five hundred of the nozzles are used by the one or more Carried by a printing head; processing the liquid coating to solidify the film-forming material so as to form the thin-film stack therefrom; and removing the substrate from the manufacturing system; wherein the method further includes in-situ targeting within the manufacturing system At least one of the droplet volume, droplet size, droplet shape, or droplet landing position, to correct the droplets produced by each of the plurality of nozzles, by: mechanically transporting the one or more droplets The printing head to a position within the manufacturing system and outside the printing area, when the one or more printing heads are at the position, a droplet measurement system is used to jointly image a plurality of individual nozzles The droplets generated by the nozzles in the subset and the common imaging based on the droplets generated by the nozzles in the subset to target each of the nozzles in the subset Droplets produced by the nozzle, calculating the at least one value of droplet volume, droplet shape, droplet size or droplet landing position, and repeating the use of the droplet measurement system to image droplets and Calculating the at least one value, so as to calculate the at least one value for each nozzle of the plurality of nozzles carried by the one or more print heads, to mechanically transport the one or more print heads from the position for use In the printing area of the printing; wherein the manufacturing system is in a manner that depends on the measurements of the at least one of droplet volume, droplet shape, droplet size or droplet landing position for the plurality of nozzles, Execute the printing; and The film stack includes at least one of an encapsulation stack or an electrically active stack for each of the light emitting elements.

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