WO2011013939A2

WO2011013939A2 - Roll-to-roll sputter apparatus for carrying out continuous sputtering, and continuous sputtering method

Info

Publication number: WO2011013939A2
Application number: PCT/KR2010/004759
Authority: WO
Inventors: 김한기; 이원영; 박용석; 한기룡
Original assignee: 지.텍(주)
Priority date: 2009-07-30
Filing date: 2010-07-21
Publication date: 2011-02-03
Also published as: WO2011013939A3; KR20110012182A

Abstract

The technical features of the present invention are intended for a roll-to-roll sputter apparatus for carrying out continuous sputtering, in which a flexible substrate (211a) wound on an unwinder roll (210a) is unwound and transferred to a working area of a drum (220), and transferred to a winder roll (210b) after working, wherein the sputter apparatus comprises: a first sputter (230a) arranged on a first side around the drum (220) to sputter a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) material onto the flexible substrate (211a); a second sputter (230b) arranged on a second side around the drum (220) to sputter a metal material onto the flexible substrate (211a) and to thus form a permeation layer; and a third sputter (230c) arranged on a third side around the drum (220) to sputter a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) material onto the flexible substrate (211a).

Description

Roll-to-Roll Sputter Apparatus and Continuous Sputtering Method for Continuous Sputtering

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a roll-to-roll sputter device, and more particularly, a plurality of sputters are installed around the drum to allow silver (Ag) to pass between the transparent electrode material and the transparent and conductive layers. It relates to a roll-to-roll sputter apparatus for depositing with.

In general, flexible displays have the flexibility to fold and unfold by replacing the glass substrates surrounding liquid crystals with plastic films in liquid crystal displays, organic EL displays, and E-inks, and are not only light and impact resistant, but also flexible and flexible. Since it can be produced in a form, the research has been actively conducted in recent years.

FIG. 1 illustrates a multilayer thin film when silicon oxide (SiO 2) is used as a transmission layer between a conventional flexible substrate and a transparent electrode material.

Referring to FIG. 1, PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) 110 was used as a flexible substrate, silicon oxide (SiO 2) was deposited as a transparent layer on the PET 110, and a transparent electrode (SiO 2) was used. A multi-layered thin film on which Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) 130 is deposited is formed as a TCO material.

However, in the case of using a structure in which silicon oxide (SiO 2) is used as a transmission layer under the conventional ITO (ITO) 130, silicon oxide (SiO 2) is an insulating material, and since ITO (130) is amorphous, sheet resistance Since (Sheet Resistance) has a large value of about 50 to 100 Ohm / square, there is a problem that the conductivity is inadequate for use as a display.

On the other hand, in order to lower the sheet resistance, the sputtering process should be performed after raising the process temperature of ITO 130 or more than 300 degrees. However, considering the deformation temperature of the flexible substrate, most flexible displays are manufactured at room temperature. The situation is using an amorphous Ithio electrode.

In particular, the flexible organic light emitting display is a current injection type that requires a very low sheet resistance (Sheet Resistance) of 10 Ohm / square or less, there was a difficult problem in manufacturing a transparent electrode that meets this.

In addition, flexibility of substrate bending is required in order to utilize the Ithio electrode as a transparent electrode for a flexible display, and an oxide electrode is weak to external impact, and cracks are easily generated and propagated against bending, making it difficult to apply a flexible display electrode. There was a problem.

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is a small sheet resistance of the transparent electrode material-silver (Ag) -transparent electrode material through the continuous film forming process of a plurality of roll-to-roll sputtering apparatus installed in one chamber, An excellent transparent electrode for a flexible display is provided.

The roll-to-roll sputtering device for implementing the continuous sputtering according to the present invention for achieving the above technical problem, by unwinding the flexible substrate 211a wound on the unwinder roll (210a) to transfer to the working area of the drum 220, In the roll-to-roll sputtering apparatus for transporting in the direction of the winder roll (210b) after completion, the roll-to-roll sputtering apparatus is installed on the first side around the drum (250) to sputter a transparent electrode (TCO) material on the flexible substrate 211a First sputter 230a; A second sputter (230b) disposed on a second side around the drum (250) to form a transmission layer by sputtering a metal material on the flexible substrate (211a); And a third sputter 230c installed at a third side around the drum 250 to sputter transparent electrode (TCO) material on the flexible substrate 211a.

In addition, the method of using a roll-to-roll sputtering apparatus for implementing continuous sputtering according to the present invention for achieving the above technical problem, (a) to transfer the flexible substrate 211a from the unwinder roll (210a) to the drum 220 step; (b) sputtering a transparent electrode (TCO) material on the flexible substrate (211a) by a first sputter (230a); (c) after the step (b), sputtering a metal material on the flexible substrate (211a) by a second sputter (230b) to form a transmission layer; (d) after the step (c), sputtering a transparent electrode (TCO) material on the flexible substrate (211a) by a third sputter (230c); And (e) transferring the flexible substrate 211a on which the deposition is completed, to the winder roll 210b.

The roll-to-roll sputtering device implementing the continuous sputtering of the present invention improves transmittance by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) by forming a transmission layer by continuously depositing silver (Ag) between transparent electrode materials. This has the advantage of having a significant reduction in sheet resistance and high electrical conductivity.

Figure 2 illustrates a roll-to-roll sputter device implementing the continuous sputtering of the present invention.

3 is a graph showing the relationship between the power applied to silver (Ag) and the sheet resistance.

4 is a graph showing the change in transmittance of the ITO-Ag-ITO electrode according to the visible light wavelength band of 400 nm to 800 nm when each silver (Ag) having various thicknesses is inserted between the upper and lower transparent electrodes. .

5 illustrates a sputtering process implemented by each of the first, second, and third sputters of the present invention.

Figure 6 illustrates one embodiment of a multilayer thin film implemented by the present invention.

7 is a flowchart illustrating a series of sputtering processes for implementing the multilayer thin film of the present invention.

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

Referring to FIG. 2, a roll-to-roll sputtering apparatus 200 implementing continuous sputtering of the present invention is an unwinder roll 210a winder roll 210b. ), A plurality of

guide rollers

215a and 215b, drums 220, and first, second and

third sputters

230a, 230b and 230c.

The unwinder roll 200a and the winder roll 200b unwind or wind the

flexible substrates

211a and 211b by mutual rotational movements. The plurality of

guide rollers

215a and 215b are arranged at regular intervals to facilitate tension control when the

flexible substrates

211a and 211b are rolled. The

flexible substrates

211a and 211b each have a corresponding working area such as a drum 250 by mutual mechanical operation of the unwinder roll 200a, the winder roll 200b and the plurality of

guide rollers

215a and 215b. It is conveyed continuously to (225a, 225b, 225c).

When the flexible substrate 211a is transferred to the drum 250, the first sputters 230a are provided at left, center, and right sides of the drum 220, respectively, in correspondence with the transfer order of the flexible substrate 211a. The second sputter 230b and the third sputter 230c each independently perform a sputtering process in sequence.

The first sputter 230a, the second sputter 230b, and the third sputter 230c may be installed in one chamber to continuously and sputter each deposition material.

The first sputter 230a is disposed on one side of the left side of the drum 220 and is an indium tin oxide (ITO) and a direct current (DC), which is a kind of transparent electrode material used as a target 231a material. It is provided with a first cathode (Cathode 1, 233a) for receiving a current to adjust the thickness deposited according to the strength of the current.

The second sputter 230b is disposed on one side of the center of the drum 220 and is deposited according to the strength of the current by receiving silver (Ag) and direct current (DC) currents used as target 231b materials. The second cathode (Cathode 2, 233b) for controlling the.

The third sputter 230c is disposed on one right side of the drum 220 and is an indium tin oxide (ITO) and a direct current (DC) current, which is a kind of transparent electrode material used as the target 231c. It is provided with a third cathode (Cathode 3, 233c) is applied to adjust the thickness deposited according to the strength of the current.

In producing the flexible multilayer transparent electrode of the present invention, the specifications that can be used are as follows.

The working pressure of the chamber is 0.1 mTorr ~ 100 mTorr, the direct current (DC) power applied to the first cathodes (

Cathode

1, 233a) of the upper layer ITO is 100W ~ 10kW, the second cathode (Ag) DC power applied to the 2, 233b) is 100W ~ 10kW, DC power applied to the third cathode (

Cathode

3, 233c) of the lower layer ITO is 100W ~ 10kW, gas flow rate of argon (Ar) flow ratio) can be used within the range of 1 sccm to 1000 sccm.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described.

Example 1

The base pressure of the chamber is 5 × 10 ^-6 torr, the working pressure is 3 mTorr, the roller's rolling speed is 0.3cm / sec, and the Ar / O2 gas flow ratio is DC power applied to an ion gun for 30/1 sccm, PET surface treatment was 200W.

The ITO power of the upper and lower layers is 800W, the ITO thickness of the upper and lower layers is 40 nm, and the power applied to silver (Ag) is 100W, 200W, 300W, 400W, 500W, 600W, respectively. Ag) thicknesses of 6 nm, 8 nm, 10 nm, 12 nm, 14 nm and 16 nm were used.

Referring to FIG. 3, it can be seen that the sheet resistance tends to decrease gradually as the power applied to silver Ag increases.

Table 1 shows the relationship between the sheet resistance and the power applied to the silver (Ag) inserted between the ITO of the upper and lower layers.

Table 1

Referring to [Table 1], it can be seen that the sheet resistance decreases rapidly as the size of the power applied to silver (Ag) is made larger and the thickness of silver (Ag) is increased.

The present invention implements a transparent electrode having a sheet resistance of 3 to 5 Ohm / square by depositing silver (Ag) between transparent electrode materials with a thickness of 10 nm to 20 nm. This can be seen that the sheet resistance (Sheet Resistance) of the transparent electrode is significantly reduced when there is no silver (Ag) between the previous transparent electrode material compared to 50 ~ 100 Ohm / square value.

That is, although the present invention is a room temperature process, silver (Ag) is deposited between the flexible transparent electrodes using a roll-to-roll sputtering device to implement a transparent electrode having a sheet resistance of very small size.

Referring to FIG. 4, when silver (Ag) is inserted into the metal material, the transmittance of the ITO-Ag-ITO electrode is improved compared to the case where there is no metal between the ITOs in the visible wavelength range of 400 nm to 600 nm. have.

Here, although silver (Ag), gold (Au), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), and the like may be used as the metal material, in the present invention, the transmittance of the ITO-Ag-ITO electrode by inserting silver (Ag) This is due to the antireflection effect of the ITO / Ag / ITO structure and the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect at the Ag / ITO interface.

In other words, the surface plasmon refers to the collective vibration of electrons occurring on the surface of the metal thin film, and the surface plasmon waves generated form the surface electromagnetic waves propagating along the interface between the metal and the dielectric. In addition, the energy of the incident wave incident on the metal thin film Ag, which is the transmissive layer, is absorbed by the metal thin film so that the reflected wave disappears. The distribution of the electric field in the direction perpendicular to the interface is exponentially largest and the metal thin film Surface plasmon resonance, which rapidly decreases into the body, occurs.

The surface plasmon resonance causes the transmission wave due to strong resonance while radiating in the metal thin film made of silver (Ag) forming the transmission layer. The permeability is improved.

Silver (Ag) is preferably formed into a thin metal thin film of 10 nm to 20 nm, which takes into account the property of transmitting visible light at a thickness of approximately 5 nm to 20 nm.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 5, a continuous sputtering process implemented by the first sputter 230a, the second sputter 230b, and the third sputter 230c will be described in detail.

When the flexible substrate 211a wound on the unwinder roll 210a is transferred to the first working region 225a located on the left side of the drum 220, the first sputter 230a may be formed on the flexible substrate 211a. A first deposition step of sputtering is performed by using the target 320 as a target.

When the first deposition step is completed, the first and second flexible substrates 211a continuously deposited are transferred to the second working region 225b located at the center of the drum 220, and the second sputter 230b is first deposited. A second deposition step of sputtering with silver (Ag) as a target on the flexible substrate 211a is performed.

When the second deposition step is completed, the second and second consecutively deposited flexible substrates 211a are transferred to the third working region 225c located on the right side of the drum 220, and the third sputter 230c is transferred to the flexible substrates 211a. A third deposition step of sputtering is performed by using the transparent electrode material 320 as a target.

The flexible substrate used in the present invention may be selected from any one of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyether sulfate (PES), polyimide (PI), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polylatelate (PC), and polycarbonate (PC). have.

As the transparent conductive oxide (TCO) material of the present invention, indium tin oxide (ITO), SnO 2, ZnO, CdSnO 4, indium zinc oxide (IZO), and the like may be used. It has a good visible light transmittance, and uses ITO (ITO).

Referring to FIG. 6, PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate, 410) was used as a flexible substrate, and first deposition of ITO (420) using a transparent electrode (TCO) material by the first sputter 230a. Secondary deposition of silver (Ag) by the second sputter (230b), and third deposition of ITO (ITO, 430) of the transparent electrode (TCO) material by the third sputter (230a) It can be seen that a thin film is formed.

Referring to FIG. 7, the first step S10 transfers the flexible substrate 211a that is not deposited in the direction of the drum 220 from the unwinder roll 210a.

The second step S20 has a step of sputtering a transparent electrode (TCO) material on the flexible substrate 211a by the first sputter 230a.

The third step S30 has a step of sputtering silver (Ag) on the flexible substrate 211a primarily deposited by the second sputter 230b.

The fourth step S40 has a step of sputtering a transparent electrode (TCO) material on the flexible substrate 211a secondly deposited by the third sputter 230c.

The fifth step S50 includes transferring the flexible substrate 211b on which the deposition is completed, to the winder roll 210b.

In the above description, the technical idea of the present invention has been described with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present invention by way of example and do not limit the present invention. In addition, it is apparent that any person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention belongs may make various modifications and imitations without departing from the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

Claims

In the roll-to-roll sputtering apparatus for unwinding the flexible substrate wound on the unwinder roll to transfer to the working area of the drum, and after the operation is completed, the roll-to-roll sputtering device,

A first sputter disposed on a first side of the drum to sputter a transparent electrode (TCO) material on the flexible substrate;

A second sputter disposed on a second side of the drum to form a transmission layer by sputtering a metal material on the flexible substrate; And

And a third sputter disposed on a third side of the drum and sputtering a transparent electrode (TCO) material on the flexible substrate.
The roll-to-roll sputter device of claim 1, wherein the first sputter, the second sputter, and the third sputter are installed in one chamber.
The method of claim 1, wherein the first sputter, the second sputter 230b and the third sputter,

Roll-to-roll sputtering apparatus for implementing a continuous sputtering, characterized in that each installed in the order in the left, center, right direction around the drum corresponding to the order in which the flexible substrate is transported around the drum.
The method of claim 1, wherein the first sputter, the second sputter and the third sputter,

Continuous sputtering is characterized in that it comprises a first cathode, a second cathode and a third cathode, each of which is applied with a direct current (DC) current to adjust the thickness of each deposited material according to the strength of the current. Roll-to-roll sputter device.
The method of claim 4, wherein the direct current (DC) power applied to the first cathode, the second cathode and the third cathode is 100 W ~ 10 kW, roll-to-roll to implement a continuous sputtering, characterized in that Sputter device.
The method of claim 1, wherein the flexible substrate,

Roll-to-roll sputters that implement continuous sputtering using any one of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyether sulfate (PES), polyimide (PI), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polylate (PAR), and polycarbonate (PC) Device.
The method of claim 1, wherein the metal material,

A roll-to-roll sputter device for implementing continuous sputtering, comprising: forming a transmission layer using any one of silver (Ag), gold (Au), aluminum (Al), and copper (Cu).
The method of claim 7, wherein the thickness of the transmission layer,

A roll-to-roll sputtering device implementing continuous sputtering, characterized in that from 10nm to 20nm.
The method of claim 1, wherein the transparent electrode material,

A roll-to-roll sputter device for implementing continuous sputtering, characterized in that any one of indium tin oxide (ITO), SnO2, ZnO, CdSnO4, Indium zinc oxide (IZO).
(a) transferring the flexible substrate from the unwinder roll to the drum;

(b) sputtering a transparent electrode (TCO) material over said flexible substrate by a first sputter;

(c) after step (b), forming a transmission layer by sputtering a metal material on the flexible substrate by a second sputter;

(d) after step (c), sputtering a transparent electrode (TCO) material on the flexible substrate by a third sputter; And

(e) transferring the flexible substrate having completed deposition to a winder roll.
The method of claim 10, wherein the flexible substrate,

PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate), PES (Polyether Sulfone), PI (Polyimide), PEN (Polyethylene Naphthalate), PAR (Polyarylate), PC (polycarbonate) continuous sputtering method characterized by using any one.
The method of claim 10, wherein the transparent electrode material,

Continuous sputtering method, characterized in that any one of indium tin oxide (ITO), SnO2, ZnO, CdSnO4, Indium zinc oxide (IZO).
The method of claim 10, wherein the metal material,

A continuous sputtering method, wherein the transmission layer is formed using any one of silver (Ag), gold (Au), aluminum (Al), and copper (Cu).
The method of claim 13, wherein the thickness of the transmission layer,

Continuous sputtering method, characterized in that the continuous sputtering, characterized in that 10nm ~ 20nm.