A vacuum chamber structure

Abstract

The present invention discloses a vacuum cavity structure, including: a mother cavity and a sub-cavity; the sub-cavity is located on one side of the mother cavity and is placed on the side wall of the mother cavity; the mother cavity includes: a mother cavity vacuum pipeline; the mother cavity vacuum pipeline is connected to the mother cavity; the sub-cavity includes: a sealing door, a visual door, a carrier, a crucible heating device and a sub-cavity vacuum pipeline; the carrier is placed in the sub-cavity, and the crucible heating device is above the carrier for heating the crucible; the sub-cavity vacuum pipeline is connected to the sub-cavity; the visual door is movably arranged on the cavity wall shared by the sub-cavity and the mother cavity; the sealing door is movably arranged on the top of the sub-cavity. When an abnormality occurs, the sub-cavity and the mother cavity can be broken into vacuum and opened for processing separately, reducing downtime. In this way, the evaporation quality is improved, and the production capacity of the evaporation machine is increased.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of OLED vacuum evaporation, and in particular to a vacuum cavity structure. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, with the rapid development of OLED technology, more and more liquid crystal display panels have been replaced by OLED panels. OLED screens have absolute advantages in color gamut and contrast, and evaporation is one of the core processes of OLED. At present, vacuum evaporation is used to prepare OLED devices. Vacuum evaporation is a process in which the material to be filmed (evaporation material) is placed in a high vacuum for evaporation or sublimation, so that it is precipitated on the surface of the workpiece or substrate. Film formation under high vacuum is because the organic film and metal film of the OLED device will immediately oxidize after encountering water or air, causing the device performance to decline rapidly, and in a non-vacuum state, it is difficult to form a uniform and continuous film due to the collision and obstruction of air molecules (the lower the vacuum pressure, the longer the average free path of the material molecules or atoms, and the material molecules or atoms can better find the lowest position to stay, and a better film-forming effect can be obtained), so it is very necessary to maintain a vacuum environment in the cavity. The existing evaporation cavity inevitably needs to be opened regularly for actions such as crucible feeding, crystal oscillator replacement, anti-fog plate, and angle plate replacement. Frequent opening and closing of the cavity will have a great impact on the environment in the cavity, and it takes a long time for a large cavity to be pumped from the atmospheric state to a high vacuum, thus affecting production capacity. Summary of the invention

[0003] To this end, it is necessary to provide a vacuum chamber structure to improve the evaporation quality and increase the production capacity.

[0004] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present application provides a vacuum chamber structure, comprising: a mother chamber and a sub-chamber; the sub-chamber is located on one side of the mother chamber and is placed on the side wall of the mother chamber;

[0005] The mother cavity comprises: a mother cavity vacuum pipeline; the mother cavity vacuum pipeline is connected to the mother cavity;

[0006] The sub-cavity includes: a sealed door, a visible door, a carrier, a crucible heating device and a sub-cavity vacuum pipeline; the carrier is placed in the sub-cavity, and the crucible heating device is above the carrier for heating the crucible; the sub-cavity vacuum pipeline is connected to the sub-cavity; the visible door is movably arranged on the cavity wall shared by the sub-cavity and the mother cavity; the sealed door is movably arranged at the top of the sub-cavity.

[0007] Furthermore, the sub-chamber further comprises: a pressure sensor, which is arranged on the carrier and located on one side of the crucible heating device.

[0008] Furthermore, the sub-cavity also includes: multiple cooling systems; one of the cooling systems is located between the carrier and the crucible heating device, one of the cooling systems is located on the side of the carrier away from the crucible heating device; one of the cooling systems is located on the inner wall of the sub-cavity.

[0009] Furthermore, the cooling system is a cooling circulating water system.

[0010] Furthermore, filters are provided at the connection between the mother cavity vacuum pipeline and the mother cavity and at the connection between the sub-cavity vacuum pipeline and the sub-cavity, respectively, and the filters are used to prevent debris from entering the mother cavity and the sub-cavity.

[0011] Furthermore, the sub-cavity also includes: a robotic arm; one end of the robotic arm is connected to the carrier, and the other end is connected to the bottom of the sub-cavity, and the robotic arm is used to move the carrier.

[0012] Furthermore, the sealed door is a DV door.

[0013] Furthermore, it also includes: a cryogenic pump, which is respectively placed in the mother cavity and the sub-cavity, and the cryogenic pump is respectively connected to the vacuum pipeline of the mother cavity and the vacuum pipeline of the sub-cavity.

[0014] Furthermore, it also includes: a main shutter; the main shutter is located in the mother cavity and is arranged above the sub-cavity, and the opening of the main shutter is arranged in the direction of the sub-cavity.

[0015] Furthermore, it also includes: a mask plate; the mask plate window is located in the mother cavity and is placed above the main shutter.

[0016] Different from the prior art, the above technical solution can control the vacuum environment in the mother cavity and the sub-cavity respectively through the setting of the mother cavity and the sub-cavity, and can control the mother cavity or the sub-cavity to break the vacuum when necessary, and then evacuate the vacuum through the vacuum pumps connected respectively. The sealed door is opened and closed as needed, so that the mother cavity and the sub-cavity are in a state of being independent or connected to each other. The present invention is to reduce the time used for high vacuuming of the two cavities, reduce the water and oxygen content in the cavity caused by opening the cavity, and improve the life of the device, and can reduce the PM duration and abnormal or broken fragment processing time, and reduce downtime. The sub-cavity space is small, the high vacuum rate is faster, and the operations of frequent cavity opening such as crucible feeding and crystal oscillator replacement can be completed in the sub-cavity. The mother cavity can still maintain a high vacuum to reduce the water vapor in the cavity. When the mother cavity is abnormal (such as: foreign matter stuck or broken fragments of the main shutter), the sub-cavity does not need to be cooled (saving cooling time), and the mother cavity can be broken and opened separately to reduce downtime. This will improve the quality of evaporation and at the same time increase the production capacity of the evaporation machine. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] Figure 1 A structural diagram of a vacuum chamber structure.

[0018] Description of reference numerals:

[0019] 1. Mother cavity; 2. Mask plate; 3. Sealing door; 4. Sub-cavity; 5. Pressure sensor; 6. Crucible; 7. Crucible heating device; 8. Carrier; 9. Cooling system; 10. Sub-cavity vacuum pipeline; 11. Filter; 12. Robotic arm; 13. Mother cavity vacuum pipeline; 14. Main shutter; 15. Visual door. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] In order to explain the technical content, structural features, achieved objectives and effects of the technical solution in detail, the following is a detailed description in conjunction with specific embodiments and accompanying drawings.

[0021] See also Figure 1This embodiment provides a vacuum chamber structure, characterized in that it includes: a mother chamber 1, a sub-chamber 4; the sub-chamber 4 is located on one side of the mother chamber 1 and is placed on the side wall of the mother chamber 1; the mother chamber 1 includes: a main shutter 14, a mother chamber vacuum pipeline 13, and a mask plate 2; in some embodiments, the main shutter 14 and the mask plate 2 can be omitted. The main shutter 14 is located in the mother cavity 1 and is arranged above the sub-cavity 4, and the opening of the main shutter 14 is arranged in the direction of the sub-cavity 4; the mask plate 2 window is located in the mother cavity 1 and is placed above the main shutter 14, and the mother cavity vacuum pipeline 13 is connected to the mother cavity 1; the sub-cavity 4 includes: a sealed door 3, a visible door 15, a carrier 8, a crucible heating device 7, and a sub-cavity vacuum pipeline 10; the carrier 8 is placed in the sub-cavity 4, and the crucible heating device 7 is above the carrier 8 for heating the crucible 6; the sub-cavity vacuum pipeline 10 is connected to the sub-cavity 4; the visible door 15 is movably arranged on the cavity wall shared by the sub-cavity 4 and the mother cavity 1; a guide rail is also arranged on the top of the sub-cavity 4, and the sealed door 3 is movably arranged on the guide rail. It should be noted that the crucible heating device 7 can be an electric heating wire heating device, that is, the electric heating wire is spirally wound on the side wall of the crucible 6 and is spaced apart from the crucible 6; of course, the crucible heating device 7 can also be a graphene crucible heating device 7, etc. The visual door 15 is located on the cavity wall shared by the sub-cavity 4 and the mother cavity 1; that is, after the visual door 15 is opened, the sub-cavity 4 is connected to the outside world. The operator can add evaporation materials to the sub-cavity 4 or repair the equipment in the sub-cavity 4 through the visual door 15; when the visual door 15 is in a closed state, the internal situation of the sub-cavity 4 can also be viewed through the visual door 15; the visual door 15 is made of transparent material. The sealing door 3 is used to control the independence and connection between the sub-cavity 4 and the mother cavity 1; that is, when a certain cavity needs to be opened separately, the sealing door 3 can be closed; in this embodiment, a guide rail is also provided on the top of the sub-cavity 4, and the sealing door 3 is slidably provided on the guide rail; of course, the sealing door 3 can be rotatably provided on the top of the sub-cavity 4 through a rotating shaft. In some embodiments, the sealing door 3 is a DV door, and a bidirectional sealing ring is used to prevent the DV door from being damaged by excessive air pressure in one direction; the sub-cavity 4 is made into a sealed environment through the cavity wall and the DV door, and a vacuum pipeline is installed in the sub-cavity 4 for vacuuming by a cryogenic pump. When the whole chamber is vacuuming or breaking the vacuum, the DV door of the sub-cavity 4 is opened, and the mother cavity 1 and the sub-cavity 4 are interconnected, and the vacuuming or breaking rate is faster and the pressure difference is reduced. When the sub-cavity 4 is operated alone, the DV door is closed, and the sub-cavity 4 is vacuumed or broken alone, and the same is true when the mother cavity 1 is operated alone.The opening of the main shutter 14 is located above the sub-cavity 4 or the opening direction is set toward the sub-cavity 4, that is, when the sealing door 3 is opened, the evaporation material can pass through the opening of the main shutter 14 to the plate to be evaporated. The above technical solution can control the vacuum environment in the mother cavity 1 and the sub-cavity 4 respectively through the setting of the mother cavity 1 and the sub-cavity 4, and can control the mother cavity 1 or the sub-cavity 4 to break the vacuum when necessary, and then evacuate the vacuum through the vacuum pumps connected respectively. The sealing door 3 is opened and closed as needed, so that the mother cavity 1 and the sub-cavity 4 are in a state of mutual independence or interconnection; the sealing door 3 at the top of the sub-chamber must be operated when the pressure difference between the sub-chamber and the mother chamber is similar (for example: both are in high vacuum or atmospheric state) to prevent damage to the sensor and the cryopump. In this embodiment, the sub-cavity 4 also includes: a pressure sensor 5, which is arranged on the carrier 8 and is located on one side of the crucible heating device 7. The present invention is to reduce the time taken for high vacuum pumping of the two cavities, reduce the water and oxygen content in the cavity caused by opening the cavity, and increase the life of the device, and can reduce the PM duration and abnormal or broken fragment processing time, and reduce downtime. The sub-cavity 4 has a smaller space, and the high vacuum pumping rate is faster. Frequent cavity opening operations such as crucible 6 feeding, crystal oscillator replacement and other actions can be completed in the sub-cavity 4. The mother cavity 1 can still maintain a high vacuum to reduce the water vapor in the cavity. When the mother cavity is abnormal (such as: the main shutter 14 is stuck or broken, etc.), the sub-cavity 4 does not need to be cooled (saving cooling time), and the mother cavity 1 can break the vacuum and open the cavity for processing alone, reducing downtime. In this way, the quality of evaporation is improved, and the production capacity of the evaporation machine is improved.

[0022] See also Figure 1In this embodiment, the sub-cavity 4 further includes: a plurality of cooling systems 9; one of the cooling systems 9 is located between the carrier 8 and the crucible heating device 7, one of the cooling systems 9 is located on the side of the carrier 8 away from the crucible heating device 7; one of the cooling systems 9 is located on the inner wall of the sub-cavity 4. It should be noted that when heating the crucible 6, the cooling system 9 located on the inner wall of the sub-cavity 4 and on the side of the carrier 8 away from the crucible heating device 7 is turned on, and the cooling system 9 located between the carrier 8 and the crucible heating device 7 is turned off. The two turned-on cooling systems 9 control the heat source near the crucible heating device 7 to prevent the sub-cavity 4 from overheating and damaging the circuit. If the main shutter 14 is stuck or broken during the process, there is no need to cool down. After closing the sealing door 3, the mother cavity 1 can directly break the vacuum, and the wall temperature of the sub-cavity 4 can be controlled below 40°C, and no scalding accidents will occur. During the cooling process of the crucible 6, the cooling system 9 above the carrier 8 can accelerate the cooling of the bottom of the crucible 6 so that the temperature of the nozzle of the crucible 6 is higher than that of the bottom to prevent plugging. In this embodiment, the cooling system 9 is a cooling circulating water system. The cooling system 9 is provided on both the upper and lower sides of the carrier 8 to protect the circuits in the sub-cavity 4 and the high temperature is controlled near the crucible 6 to prevent scalding. The cooling system 9 is also provided on the wall of the sub-cavity 4 to prevent the high temperature from spreading and prevent scalding. The sub-cavity 4 also includes: a robotic arm 12; one end of the robotic arm 12 is connected to the carrier 8, and the other end is connected to the bottom of the sub-cavity 4, and the robotic arm 12 is used to move the carrier 8. Specifically, the robot arm 12 can carry the carrier 8 to move the carrier 8, the crucible 6, the crucible heating device 7, etc. to the edge or outside of the cavity, which is convenient for personnel to operate, and personnel do not need to enter the cavity to prevent safety accidents and reduce contamination in the cavity. This robot arm 12 can also be converted into a scanning device for film formation of the line source crucible 6. Filters 11 are respectively provided at the connection between the mother cavity vacuum pipeline 13 and the mother cavity 1 and at the connection between the sub-cavity vacuum pipeline 10 and the sub-cavity 4. The filter 11 is used to prevent debris from entering the mother cavity 1 and the sub-cavity 4.

[0023] Through the present application, the number of times the cavity is opened as a whole can be reduced, thereby achieving the purpose of reducing water and oxygen in the cavity and improving device performance, and can also reduce abnormal processing and PM time, thereby achieving the purpose of reducing downtime and thus improving production capacity. The linearly moving robotic arm in the sub-cavity 4 can reduce the number of times the operator enters the cavity, thereby achieving the purpose of preventing safety hazards and protecting the cavity environment.

[0024] In some embodiments, it also includes: a cryogenic pump, which is respectively placed in the mother cavity 1 and the sub-cavity 4, and the cryogenic pump is respectively connected to the mother cavity vacuum pipeline 13 and the sub-cavity vacuum pipeline 10. In this embodiment, the cryogenic pump is connected to the mother cavity vacuum pipeline 13 and the sub-cavity vacuum pipeline 10 through a pipeline, and the cryogenic pump is used for vacuuming. Of course, in some embodiments, an ordinary vacuum pump can also be used. The ordinary vacuum pump is arranged outside the mother cavity 1 and the sub-cavity 4, and is respectively connected to the mother cavity 1 and the sub-cavity 4 pipelines through the mother cavity vacuum pipeline 13 and the sub-cavity vacuum pipeline 10; at the same time, two ordinary vacuum pumps can also be started separately to vacuum the mother cavity 1 and the sub-cavity 4 respectively.

[0025] It should be noted that, although the above embodiments have been described in this article, the scope of patent protection of the present invention is not limited thereby. Therefore, based on the innovative concept of the present invention, changes and modifications made to the embodiments described herein, or equivalent structures or equivalent process changes made using the contents of the present specification and drawings, directly or indirectly applying the above technical solutions to other related technical fields are all included in the scope of protection of the patent of the present invention.

Claims

1. A vacuum chamber structure, characterized in that: include: Mother cavity and daughter cavity; The sub-cavity is located inside one side of the mother cavity and is placed on the side wall of the mother cavity; The mother cavity comprises: a mother cavity vacuum pipeline; the mother cavity vacuum pipeline is connected to the mother cavity; The sub-cavity includes: a sealed door, a visible door, a carrier, a crucible heating device and a sub-cavity vacuum pipeline; the carrier is placed in the sub-cavity, and the crucible heating device is above the carrier for heating the crucible; the sub-cavity vacuum pipeline is connected to the sub-cavity; the visible door is movably arranged on the cavity wall shared by the sub-cavity and the mother cavity; the sealed door is movably arranged at the top of the sub-cavity.

2. A vacuum chamber structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The sub-chamber further includes: a pressure sensor, which is arranged on the carrier and located on one side of the crucible heating device.

3. A vacuum chamber structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The sub-cavity also includes: a plurality of cooling systems; one of the cooling systems is located between the carrier and the crucible heating device, one of the cooling systems is located on the side of the carrier away from the crucible heating device; and one of the cooling systems is located on the inner wall of the sub-cavity.

4. A vacuum chamber structure according to claim 3, characterized in that: The temperature reduction system is a cooling circulating water system.

5. The vacuum chamber structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: Filters are respectively arranged at the connection between the mother cavity vacuum pipeline and the mother cavity and at the connection between the sub-cavity vacuum pipeline and the sub-cavity, and the filters are used to prevent debris from entering the mother cavity and the sub-cavity.

6. A vacuum chamber structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The sub-cavity also includes: a mechanical arm; one end of the mechanical arm is connected to the carrier, and the other end is connected to the bottom of the sub-cavity, and the mechanical arm is used to move the carrier.

7. The vacuum chamber structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The sealed door is a DV door.

8. The vacuum chamber structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: A cryopump is disposed in the mother cavity and the sub-cavity respectively, and the cryopump is connected to a vacuum pipeline of the mother cavity and a vacuum pipeline of the sub-cavity respectively.

9. The vacuum chamber structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: Main shutter; the main shutter is located in the mother cavity and is arranged above the sub-cavity, and the opening of the main shutter is arranged in the direction of the sub-cavity.

10. A vacuum chamber structure according to claim 9, characterized in that: Also includes: Mask plate; the mask plate window is located in the mother cavity and is placed above the main shutter.

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