Evaporation mask and display panel

Abstract

The embodiment of the present application provides a kind of evaporation mask and display panel, it is related to display technical field, it can solve the problem that spacer in the evaporation substrate is scratched by evaporation mask, the evaporation mask is set between evaporation source and the evaporation substrate;The side of the evaporation substrate close to the evaporation source has at least one spacer;The evaporation mask includes: mask version body, the mask version body includes a plurality of evaporation openings and the shielding portion located in the evaporation opening periphery;The shielding portion has the first surface away from the evaporation source;The evaporation mask further includes a plurality of support portions, the plurality of support portions are set on the first surface, at least two support portions form the accommodation cavity for accommodating the spacer with the first surface;The support portion is used to contact with the evaporation substrate, and the mask version body is supported, so that the first surface has gap with the spacer.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of display, in particular to a vapor deposition mask and a display panel. BACKGROUND

[0002] At present, electroluminescent display panel is widely used in mobile phones, televisions, notebook computers and other intelligent products due to its advantages of self-luminescence, low power consumption, wide viewing angle, fast response speed and high contrast ratio. In addition, the electroluminescent display panel has the characteristics of light weight, thin thickness and bending resistance, so it has become the research focus of many scholars at home and abroad. SUMMARY

[0003] Embodiments of the present application provide a vapor deposition mask and a display panel, which can solve the problem of damage to the spacers in the to-be-vapor-deposited substrate caused by the vapor deposition mask.

[0004] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the embodiments of the present application adopt the following technical solutions:

[0005] In one aspect, a vapor deposition mask is provided, which is arranged between a vapor deposition source and a to-be-vapor-deposited substrate; the side of the to-be-vapor-deposited substrate close to the vapor deposition source has at least one spacer; the vapor deposition mask comprises: a mask version body, the mask version body comprises a plurality of vapor deposition openings and a shielding portion located at the periphery of the vapor deposition opening; the shielding portion has a first surface away from the vapor deposition source; the vapor deposition mask further comprises a plurality of support portions, the plurality of support portions are arranged on the first surface, and at least two support portions form a containing cavity for containing the spacer with the first surface; the support portion is used to contact the to-be-vapor-deposited substrate and support the mask version body, so that there is a gap between the first surface and the spacer.

[0006] In some embodiments, one of the support portions is arranged around the periphery of one of the vapor deposition openings.

[0007] In some embodiments, the support portion comprises a plurality of first support strips; the first support strips are protruded away from the first surface; the plurality of first support strips are sequentially connected in a frame structure.

[0008] In some embodiments, the vapor deposition opening comprises a plurality of opening side walls; in the support portion at the periphery of the vapor deposition opening, one of the first support strips is located on one side of one of the opening side walls of the vapor deposition opening and parallel to the opening side wall.

[0009] In some embodiments, the mask further comprises a plurality of second support strips, the second support strips are arranged on the first surface and used to connect adjacent two of the support portions.

[0010] In some embodiments, the first support strip has the same height as the second support strip; and the first support strip has the same wall thickness as the second support strip.

[0011] In some embodiments, each support portion includes a plurality of support blocks arranged at intervals.

[0012] In some embodiments, the height H of the support portion ranges from 2um to 5um.

[0013] In another aspect, a display panel is provided, which includes a TFT backplane and a pixel definition layer disposed on the TFT backplane; the pixel definition layer includes a plurality of opening portions and a barrier wall located around the opening portions; the display panel further includes an organic functional layer disposed in the opening portions and a spacer disposed on a side surface of the barrier wall away from the TFT backplane; at least a portion of the organic functional layer is evaporated using the evaporation mask provided above; the display panel further includes a metal layer disposed between the barrier wall and the spacer and covering the barrier wall; a side surface of the metal layer away from the TFT backplane is in contact with a support portion.

[0014] In some embodiments, the thickness of the metal layer ranges from 0.2um to 0.5um.

[0015] The evaporation mask and the display panel provided in the embodiments of the present application can prevent the evaporation mask from scratching the spacer, causing burrs or warping on the surface of the spacer, and thus ensure the packaging effect after evaporation, improve product yield, and effectively reduce the occurrence of dark spots and other undesirable displays.

[0016] In addition, since there is a gap between the mask version body and the spacer, the mask version body will not be tightly attached to the to-be-evaporated substrate, and thus electrostatic adsorption damage to the evaporation mask plate will not occur. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0017] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments or prior art description will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings in the following description only constitute some embodiments of the present application, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can also be obtained without creative labor.

[0018] Figure 1 A structural schematic diagram of a display device provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0019] Figure 2 A region division schematic diagram of a display panel provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0020] Figure 3 Structural schematic diagrams of some electroluminescent display panels provided by an embodiment of the present application are shown in the figures.

[0021] Figure 4 A structural schematic diagram of a display substrate provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0022] Figure 5 A structural schematic diagram of an evaporation mask plate provided by the related art is shown in the figure.

[0023] Figure 6 A structural schematic diagram of an evaporation mask plate provided by the related art when evaporating a to-be-evaporated substrate is shown in the figure.

[0024] Figure 7 A structural schematic diagram of an evaporation mask plate provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0025] Figure 8 A structural schematic diagram of an evaporation mask plate provided by an embodiment of the present application when evaporating a to-be-evaporated substrate is shown in the figure.

[0026] Figure 9 A structural schematic diagram of a support provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0027] Figure 10 A structural schematic diagram of another support provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0028] Figure 11 A structural schematic diagram of still another support provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0029] Figure 12 A structural schematic diagram of another evaporation mask plate provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0030] Figure 13 Another evaporation mask provided by the present application is shown in a structural schematic diagram when evaporating a to-be-evaporated substrate;

[0031] Figure 14 A flowchart of a preparation method of an evaporation mask provided by the related art is shown.

[0032] Figure 15 A flowchart of a preparation method of an evaporation mask provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, but not all the embodiments of the present application. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative work fall within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0034] Hereinafter, the terms “first”, “second”, and the like are only used for descriptive purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined with “first”, “second”, and the like can explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified, the meaning of “a plurality of” is two or more.

[0035] In addition, in the present application, the orientation terms such as “up”, “down”, “left”, “right”, and the like can include but are not limited to the orientation defined by the relative position of the components in the drawings. It should be understood that these directional terms can be relative concepts, which are used for relative description and clarification, and can be changed accordingly according to the change of the position of the components in the drawings.

[0036] In the present application, unless otherwise specified and limited, the term “connection” should be understood broadly, for example, “connection” can be fixed connection, or detachable connection, or integral; can be directly connected, or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium.

[0037] The display device provided by the embodiments of the present application can be any product or component with display function, such as display, television, digital camera, mobile phone, tablet computer, electronic photo frame, navigator, etc., which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

[0038] The display device provided by the embodiment of the present application is an electroluminescent display device, which can be an organic electroluminescent display device (OLED) or a quantum dot electroluminescent display device (QLED). Taking the organic electroluminescent display device as an example, the organic electroluminescent display device can be one of a PMOLED (Passive Matrix OLED) and an AMOLED (Active Matrix OLED).

[0039] As shown in Figure 1 , the main structure of the display device includes a frame 1, a cover plate 2, a display panel 3, a circuit board 4 and other accessories. Here, the display panel 3 can be a flexible display panel or a rigid display panel. In the case of a flexible display panel, the display device is a flexible display device.

[0040] Among them, the longitudinal section of the frame 1 is U-shaped, the display panel 3, the circuit board 4 and other accessories are all arranged in the frame 1, the circuit board 4 is placed below the display panel 3 (i.e. the back, the side away from the display surface of the display panel 3), and the cover plate 2 is arranged on the side of the display panel 3 away from the circuit board 4.

[0041] It should be noted that the circuit board 4 is electrically connected to the display panel 3, and the circuit board 4 generally includes a flexible printed circuit board (FPC), a driving chip (IC) and a printed circuit board (PCB), a connection substrate, etc.; the function of the circuit board 4 is to provide various display information to the display panel 3 after being powered on.

[0042] The embodiment of the present application provides a display panel 3, which can be applied to the display device described above. As shown in Figure 2 , the display panel 3 is divided into a display area A1 (Active Area, referred to as AA area) and a peripheral area A2 located on at least one side of the display area A1, and the peripheral area A2 is used for wiring, in addition, a gate drive circuit can also be arranged in the peripheral area A2. Figure 2 Taking the display area A1 surrounded by the peripheral area A2 as an example. The display area A1 includes a plurality of sub-pixels P. The peripheral area A2 is used for wiring, in addition, a gate drive circuit can also be arranged in the peripheral area A2.

[0043] As shown in Figure 3As shown, the display panel 3 includes a display substrate 31 and an encapsulation layer 32 for encapsulating the display substrate 31. Here, the encapsulation layer 32 can be an encapsulation film or an encapsulation substrate. When the encapsulation layer 32 is an encapsulation film, the number of encapsulation film layers included in the encapsulation layer 32 is not limited; the encapsulation layer 32 may include one encapsulation film, or it may include two or more encapsulation films stacked together. In some embodiments, the encapsulation layer 32 includes three encapsulation films stacked sequentially.

[0044] In the case where the encapsulation layer 32 comprises three encapsulation films stacked sequentially, optionally, the encapsulation film located in the middle layer is made of an organic material, and the encapsulation films located on both sides are made of an inorganic material.

[0045] Here, there is no limitation on organic materials, such as PMMA (Polymethylmethacrylate). There is also no limitation on inorganic materials; for example, inorganic materials can be one or more of SiNx (silicon nitride), SiOx (silicon oxide), or SiOxNy (silicon oxynitride).

[0046] Based on this, an encapsulation film located in the middle layer can be fabricated using inkjet printing (IJP). Additionally, encapsulation films located on both sides can be fabricated using chemical vapor deposition (CVD).

[0047] like Figure 3 and Figure 4 As shown, the display substrate 31 includes a TFT backplate 310 and light-emitting devices disposed on the TFT backplate 310 and arranged in an array.

[0048] The light-emitting device includes an anode 311, an organic functional layer 312, and a cathode 313. The display substrate 31 also includes a pixel defining layer 314 disposed on the TFT backplane 310. The pixel defining layer 314 includes a plurality of openings 314a and a barrier wall 314b located around the openings 314a; a light-emitting device is disposed in one opening 314a.

[0049] like Figure 4 As shown, the display substrate 31 also includes a spacer 315 disposed on the surface of the barrier 314b away from the TFT backplate 310.

[0050] The display substrate 31 provided in this embodiment of the invention can be a top-emitting type, in which case the anode 341 is opaque and the cathode 343 is transparent. The display substrate 31 can also be a bottom-emitting type, in which case the anode 341 is transparent and the cathode 343 is opaque. The display substrate 31 can also be a double-sided emitting type, in which case both the anode 341 and the cathode 343 are transparent.

[0051] like Figure 4 As shown, the TFT backplane 310 includes a substrate 3100 and a driving circuit disposed on the substrate 3100. One driving circuit is electrically connected to an anode 311. The driving circuit includes a plurality of thin-film transistors 3101, and the drain of the thin-film transistor 3101 that serves as the driving transistor is electrically connected to the anode 311.

[0052] In some embodiments, the organic functional layer 312 includes a light-emitting layer. In other embodiments, in addition to the light-emitting layer, the organic functional layer 312 includes one or more of an electron transport layer (ETL), an electron injection layer (EIL), a hole transport layer (HTL), and a hole injection layer (HIL).

[0053] Here, the electron injection layer, electron transport layer, hole injection layer, and hole transport layer may be located only within the opening 314a of the pixel defining layer 314; or the electron injection layer, electron transport layer, hole injection layer, and hole transport layer may not only be located within the opening 314a of the pixel defining layer 314, but also cover the surface of the pixel defining layer 314 away from the TFT backplane 310 (covering the barrier 314b), that is, the electron injection layer, electron transport layer, hole injection layer, and hole transport layer are a single layer.

[0054] It should be understood that one light-emitting device corresponds to one sub-pixel P. For example, sub-pixels P include red sub-pixels, green sub-pixels, and blue sub-pixels. Based on this, such as... Figure 4 As shown, the light-emitting layer includes a red light-emitting pattern 312a located in the red subpixel, a green light-emitting pattern 312b located in the green subpixel, and a blue light-emitting pattern 312c located in the blue subpixel.

[0055] In some embodiments, the electroluminescent display panel is manufactured primarily by forming the organic functional layer 312 using an evaporation deposition method. During the evaporation process, a mask is used to deposit films such as red, green, and blue emitting patterns to ensure that the organic material is deposited at the specified locations. For example, a fine metal mask (FMM) can be used to form the red emitting pattern 312a, green emitting pattern 312b, and blue emitting pattern 312c, respectively.

[0056] like Figure 5 and Figure 6 As shown, Figure 5 A vapor deposition mask 10 is provided for related technologies, consisting of... Figure 5 It can be seen that the vapor deposition mask 10 only includes the vapor deposition opening 120. Furthermore, Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of an organic functional layer 312 deposited using a vapor deposition mask 10 and a vapor deposition source 20, provided by relevant technology. It should be noted here that... Figure 6 The following is an illustration of a red luminescent pattern 312a formed by vapor deposition.

[0057] During vapor deposition, the vapor deposition mask 10 is bonded to the display substrate 31. At this time, the spacers 315 included in the display substrate 31 serve to support the vapor deposition mask 10. However, during the vapor deposition process, because the spacers 315 are made of organic materials with low hardness, they are easily scratched, producing burrs or lifting when pressed or rubbed by the vapor deposition mask 10. Furthermore, when encapsulating the display substrate 31 after vapor deposition, the burrs or lifting of the spacers 315 can puncture the encapsulation layer 32, leading to poor encapsulation and allowing external moisture to enter the light-emitting device of the display substrate 31. Based on this, after being corroded by external moisture, the film layer within the light-emitting device (e.g., the light-emitting layer fails) will fail, resulting in non-light-emitting areas in the display area A1, i.e., dark spots appear on the display. Therefore, this embodiment of the invention provides a vapor deposition mask 10, which can be used to vapor deposit the organic functional layer 312 within the display substrate 31.

[0058] like Figure 7 and Figure 8 As shown, the vapor deposition mask 10 is disposed between the vapor deposition source 20 and the substrate 11 to be vapor deposited; the substrate 11 to be vapor deposited has at least one spacer 315 on the side near the vapor deposition source 20; the vapor deposition mask 10 includes a mask body 12 and a plurality of support portions 13.

[0059] The to-be-evaporated substrate 11 can be the display substrate 31 in the above embodiment. The side of the to-be-evaporated substrate 11 close to the evaporation source 20 has at least one spacer 315. The side of the to-be-evaporated substrate 11 close to the evaporation source 20 can have one spacer 315. Alternatively, the side of the to-be-evaporated substrate 11 close to the evaporation source 20 can have two or more spacers 315.

[0060] The mask version body 12 includes a plurality of evaporation openings 120 and a shielding portion 121 surrounding the evaporation openings 120. The shielding portion 121 has a first surface 1211 away from the evaporation source 20.

[0061] The shape of the evaporation opening 120 is not limited. The shape of the evaporation opening 120 is the same as the shape of the opening portion 314a of the pixel defining layer 314, i.e., the shape of the sub-pixel P. For example, the shape of the opening portion 314a of the pixel defining layer 314 is hexagonal, and the shape of the evaporation opening 120 is also hexagonal. Alternatively, the shape of the opening portion 314a of the pixel defining layer 314 can be rectangular, and the shape of the evaporation opening 120 is also rectangular. In the embodiment, the shape of the evaporation opening 120 is hexagonal.

[0062] It should be understood that the shielding portion 121 has a first surface 1211 and a second surface 1212 arranged oppositely. When the first surface 1211 is the surface away from the evaporation source 20, the second surface 1212 is the surface close to the evaporation source 20. In other words, during evaporation, the first surface 1211 is the surface close to the to-be-evaporated substrate 11 (the display substrate 31), and the second surface 1212 is the surface away from the to-be-evaporated substrate 11 (the display substrate 31).

[0063] On this basis, as shown in FIG. 1C, a plurality of support portions 13 are arranged on the first surface 1211. At least two support portions 13 and the first surface 1211 form a receiving cavity 122 for receiving the spacer 315. The support portion 13 is used to contact the to-be-evaporated substrate 11 and support the mask version body 12, so that there is a gap between the first surface 1211 and the spacer 315. Figure 8 Here, the at least two support portions 13 and the first surface 1211 form the receiving cavity 122 for receiving the spacer 315. The at least two support portions 13 and the first surface 1211 can form the receiving cavity 122 for receiving the spacer 315. Alternatively, two or more support portions 13 and the first surface 1211 can form the receiving cavity 122 for receiving the spacer 315.

[0064] Referring to FIG. 1C,

[0065] Figure 7 ​As shown, at least two support portions 13 are disposed between two adjacent vapor deposition openings 120 and are close to each other.

[0066] At least two support portions 13 and the first surface 1211 form a receiving cavity 122 for accommodating the spacer 315. That is, during the vapor deposition process, the spacer 315 is placed in the receiving cavity 122, and the vertical projection of the support portion 13 on the substrate 11 to be vapor deposited and the vertical projection of the spacer 315 on the substrate 11 to be vapor deposited do not overlap.

[0067] When the substrate 11 to be vapor-deposited is the display substrate 31 in the above embodiment, that is, the organic functional layer 312 in the display substrate 31 is vapor-deposited using the vapor deposition mask 10, the support portion 13 comes into contact with the barrier 314b in the pixel defining layer 314 in the display substrate 31.

[0068] It should be noted that when the electron injection layer, electron transport layer, hole injection layer, and hole transport layer in the organic functional layer 312 are located only within the opening 314a of the pixel defining layer 314, the electron injection layer, electron transport layer, hole injection layer, and hole transport layer can be deposited using the evaporation mask 10 provided in this embodiment of the invention. In other words, the evaporation mask 10 provided in this embodiment of the invention can be used to deposit the light-emitting layer, and can also be used to deposit the electron injection layer, electron transport layer, hole injection layer, and hole transport layer.

[0069] Based on this, since the support portion 13 creates a gap between the first surface 1211 and the spacer 315, the height of the support portion 13 is greater than the height of the spacer 315.

[0070] For example, the height of the spacer 315 is 1.5um to 2um; the height H of the support 13 is in the range of 2um < H ≤ 5um.

[0071] For example, the height H of the support part 13 can be 2.1um, 2.5um, 3um, 4um, or 5um.

[0072] Based on the above, when the evaporation mask 10 provided by the embodiment of the present application is used for evaporation, the evaporation mask 10 is arranged between the evaporation source 20 and the to-be-evaporated substrate 11, the side of the to-be-evaporated substrate 11 close to the evaporation source 20 has at least one spacer 315, the evaporation mask 10 includes a mask body 12 and a plurality of support portions 13; the mask body 12 includes a plurality of evaporation openings 120 and a shielding portion 121 located at the periphery of the evaporation opening 120; the shielding portion 121 has a first surface 1211 away from the evaporation source 20; since the plurality of support portions 13 are arranged on the first surface 1211, the first surface 1211 is the surface away from the evaporation source 20, that is, during evaporation, the plurality of support portions 13 are located on the surface close to the to-be-evaporated substrate 11, and at least two support portions 13 and the first surface 1211 form a containing cavity for containing the spacer 315, that is, the vertical projection of the support portion 13 on the to-be-evaporated substrate 11 and the vertical projection of the spacer 315 on the to-be-evaporated substrate 11 do not overlap; in this case, the support portion 13 is used to contact the to-be-evaporated substrate 11 and support the mask body 12, so that there is a gap between the first surface 1211 and the spacer 315, so the mask body 12 can be supported by the support portion 13 without the spacer 315 supporting the mask body 12, thereby preventing the mask body 12 from scratching the spacer 315, causing burrs or warping on the surface of the spacer 315, and further ensuring the packaging effect after evaporation, improving product yield, and effectively reducing the occurrence of dark spots and other display defects.

[0073] In addition, since there is a gap between the mask body 12 and the spacer 315, the evaporation mask 10 will not be damaged by electrostatic adsorption due to the close contact between the mask body 12 and the to-be-evaporated substrate 11.

[0074] In some embodiments, as shown in Figure 9 and Figure 10 , one support portion 13 is arranged around the periphery of one evaporation opening 120.

[0075] It should be noted that, in order to make the drawings clearer and easier to understand, the Figure 9 and Figure 10 in the embodiments of the present application are only taken as an example of one evaporation opening 120 and one support portion 13 for illustration, and those skilled in the art should understand that when the mask 10 includes a plurality of evaporation openings 120 and a plurality of support portions 13, the arrangement manner is the same as that in Figure 9 and Figure 10 .

[0076] Optionally, as shown in Figure 9 , the support portion 13 includes a plurality of first support bars 131, the first support bars 131 are protruded in a direction away from the first surface 1211; and the first support bars 131 are sequentially connected in a frame structure.

[0077] The number of the first support bars 131 is not limited. Here, the "plurality" of the first support bars 131 is at least two. For example, the support part 13 includes only two first support bars 131, and the two first support bars 131 are sequentially connected end to end to form a frame structure. For another example, the support part 13 includes four first support bars 131, and the four first support bars 131 are sequentially connected end to end to form a frame structure. It should be understood that the support part 13 in the embodiments of the present application includes but is not limited to the above-mentioned two or four first support bars 131, and can also include other numbers of first support bars 131, which are not listed one by one here. Figure 9 Taking the case that the support part 13 includes six first support bars 131, and the six first support bars 131 are sequentially connected end to end to form a frame structure as an example for illustration.

[0078] It should be understood that when the first support bars 131 protrude in a direction away from the first surface 1211, at this time, the receiving cavities 122 formed by the at least two support parts 13 and the first surface 121 are in a concave state relative to the first support bars 131. On this basis, in some embodiments, the support part 13 and the mask version body 12 can be independent parts, and the support part 13 and the mask version body 12 can be connected, for example, can be welded together. In other embodiments, the support part 13 and the mask version body 12 are an integral structure. The integral structure here means that the support part 13 and the mask version body 12 are made by the same patterning process.

[0079] Optionally, as shown in Figure 10 each support part 13 includes a plurality of support blocks 130 arranged at intervals.

[0080] The number of the support blocks 130 is not limited, and can be determined according to the arrangement of the support part 13 around the periphery of the evaporation opening 120. In addition, the shapes and sizes of the plurality of support blocks 130 included in each support part 13 can be the same or different. In the case that the shapes and sizes of the plurality of support blocks 130 included in each support part 13 are completely the same, the support force of the periphery of the evaporation opening 120 can be the same, thereby improving the support effect of the support part 13 supporting the mask version body 12.

[0081] In the case that the support part 13 includes a plurality of first support bars 131, the first support bars 131 protrude in a direction away from the first surface 1211, and the first support bars 131 are sequentially connected end to end to form a frame structure, in some embodiments, as shown in Figure 9 the evaporation opening 120 includes a plurality of opening side walls, and in the support part 13 around the periphery of the evaporation opening 120, one first support bar 131 is located on one side of one opening side wall of the evaporation opening 120 and parallel to the opening side wall.

[0082] It should be understood that the number of opening sidewalls of the evaporation opening 120 corresponds to the shape of the evaporation opening 120. For example, when the shape of the evaporation opening 120 is a quadrilateral, the evaporation opening 120 includes four opening sidewalls; when the shape of the evaporation opening 120 is a hexagon, the evaporation opening 120 includes six opening sidewalls. On this basis, since one first support strip 131 is located on one side of one opening sidewall of the evaporation opening 120 and is parallel to the opening sidewall, the number of the first support strips 131 is the same as the number of the opening sidewalls. Referring to Figure 9 Figure 9 It is shown that the six first support strips 131 are connected end to end to form a hexagonal ring structure, and the hexagonal ring structure surrounds the evaporation opening 120, that is, the boundary of the inner sidewall of the first support strip 131 in the support part 13 of the hexagonal ring structure coincides with the boundary of the opening sidewall of the evaporation opening 120.

[0083] Based on the above, since in the support part 13 around the evaporation opening 120, one first support strip 131 is located on one side of one opening sidewall of the evaporation opening 120 and is parallel to the opening sidewall, that is, the boundary of the inner sidewall of the first support strip 131 coincides with the boundary of the opening sidewall, the first support strip 131 can have a good supporting effect at the plurality of opening sidewalls of the evaporation opening 120.

[0084] In some embodiments, as Figure 11 shown, the mask 10 further includes a plurality of second support strips 132, and the second support strips 132 are arranged on the first surface 1211 and are used to connect two adjacent support parts 13.

[0085] Optionally, the second support strips 132 can be arranged between each of the two adjacent support parts 13, and the second support strips 132 connect all the two adjacent support parts 13 together; or the second support strips 132 can be arranged between any several of the two adjacent support parts 13, and the second support strips 132 connect part of the two adjacent support parts 13 together; the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0086] Since the evaporation mask 10 provided by the embodiments of the present application further includes a plurality of second support strips 132, and the second support strips 132 are arranged on the first surface 1211 and are used to connect two adjacent support parts 13, the first support strips 131 and the second support strips 132 can both support the mask body 12, and the support force of the support part 13 supporting the mask body 12 can be further increased, so that a good evaporation effect can be ensured during evaporation.

[0087] ​Optionally, the height of the first support strip 131 is the same as the height of the second support strip 132, and the wall thickness of the first support strip 131 is the same as the wall thickness of the second support strip 132.

[0088] Here, the height direction of the first support strip 131 and the height direction of the second support strip 132 are perpendicular to the first surface 1211, and the wall thickness direction of the first support strip 131 and the wall thickness direction of the second support strip 132 are parallel to the first surface 1211.

[0089] In the embodiment of the present application, since the height of the first support strip 131 is the same as the height of the second support strip 132, and the wall thickness of the first support strip 131 is the same as the wall thickness of the second support strip 132, when the mask version body 12 is supported by the first support strip 131 and the second support strip 132, the first support strip 131 and the second support strip 132 have uniform support force in each direction, thereby improving the support effect, and further ensuring good evaporation effect during evaporation.

[0090] It should be noted that the display panel 3 has a display area A1 and a non-display area A2. When the evaporation mask 10 in the embodiment of the present application is used for evaporation, the area corresponding to the display area A1 in the evaporation mask 10 can be referred to as an evaporation area, and the area corresponding to the non-display area A2 can be referred to as a non-evaporation area. On this basis, the structure and arrangement mode of the support part 13 in the foregoing embodiment are exemplarily described for the case that the support part 13 is located in the evaporation area. The support part 13 can be present or absent in the non-evaporation area, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0091] In the case that the support part 13 is present in the non-evaporation area, since the evaporation mask 10 is relatively thin and is prone to be concave, the support part 13 located in the non-evaporation area can have a good support effect on the edge of the evaporation mask 10, thereby further improving the evaporation effect during evaporation.

[0092] Here, reference can be made to FIG. 1. Figure 12 As shown in FIG. 1, the outer side edges of the evaporation opening 120 and the accommodation cavity 122 are non-evaporation areas. Figure 12 It is shown that the non-evaporation area also has the support part 13, and the support part 13 in the non-evaporation area and the support part 13 in the evaporation area are connected together, for example, can be an integral structure. In this way, the support part 13 in the non-evaporation area and the support part 13 in the evaporation area can be formed at the same time by using the same patterning process, thereby facilitating the simplification of the manufacturing process.

[0093] In view of the problem that the support portion 13 of the evaporation mask 10 provided by the embodiment of the present application is in contact with the barrier wall 314b in the pixel defining layer 314 of the display substrate 31 during the evaporation of the display substrate 31, and the material of the pixel defining layer 314 is organic material and has small hardness, the pixel defining layer 314 is pressed by the support portion 13. Based on this, in some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 4, the display substrate 31 further comprises a metal layer 316 disposed between the barrier wall 314b and the spacer 315 and covering the barrier wall 314b, and the side surface of the metal layer 316 away from the TFT back plate 310 is used to be in contact with the support portion 13. Figure 13

[0094] The material of the metal layer 316 is not limited, and the metal layer 316 has large hardness. For example, the material of the metal layer 316 can be aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), titanium (Ti), molybdenum (Mo) or other suitable materials.

[0095] In the embodiment of the present application, the metal layer 316 is disposed above the pixel defining layer 314, the metal layer 316 covers the barrier wall 314b, and the metal layer 316 has large hardness, so that the pixel defining layer 314 is protected from being pressed by the support portion 13, and the encapsulation effect after evaporation is further ensured.

[0096] In some embodiments, the thickness of the metal layer 316 ranges from 0.2 um to 0.5 um. For example, the thickness of the metal layer 316 is 0.2 um, 0.3 um or 0.5 um.

[0097] It should be noted that if the thickness of the metal layer 316 is too thin, the pixel defining layer 314 cannot be protected from being pressed by the support portion 13; if the thickness of the metal layer 316 is too thick, when the hole transport layer, the hole injection layer, the electron transport layer and the electron injection layer in the organic functional layer 312 are an integral layer, the hole transport layer, the hole injection layer, the electron transport layer and the electron injection layer can be broken at the corner of the opening portion 314a of the pixel defining layer 314. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the thickness of the metal layer 316 ranges from 0.2 um to 0.5 um, which can protect the pixel defining layer 314 from being pressed by the support portion 13, and can ensure that the hole transport layer, the hole injection layer, the electron transport layer and the electron injection layer are not broken at the corner of the opening portion 314a of the pixel defining layer 314.

[0098] ​It should be noted that, since the embodiment of the present application adds a metal layer 316 in the display substrate 31, the metal layer 316 may reflect the external ambient light, thereby affecting the display effect, and therefore a circular polarizer can be arranged on the light-emitting side of the display substrate 31, which can prevent the external ambient light from entering the display substrate 31 and then being reflected out, thereby improving the display effect.

[0099] The related art provides a preparation method of an evaporation mask 10, as shown in the figure, the preparation method comprises: Figure 14 Coating photoresist 201 (also referred to as PR glue) on the upper and lower surfaces of the evaporation mask substrate 200, i.e. coating photoresist 201 on the top and bottom of the evaporation mask substrate 200, etching the top of the evaporation mask substrate 200 by using a half-etching process, and then etching the bottom of the evaporation mask substrate 200, to finally form a plurality of evaporation openings 120, i.e. to form the evaporation mask 10.

[0100] The embodiment of the present application provides a preparation method of an evaporation mask 10, which is used to prepare the evaporation mask 10 described above. As shown in the figure, Figure 15 The preparation method comprises:

[0101] S100, providing an evaporation mask substrate 200, the evaporation mask substrate 200 has a first surface 200a and a second surface 200b arranged oppositely. For example, during evaporation, the first surface 200a is the surface away from the substrate 11 to be evaporated.

[0102] S101, coating photoresist 201 on the first surface 200a, and forming a plurality of grooves 202 on the first surface 200a in the direction close to the second surface 200b by using a half-etching process. The groove 202 is used to form the evaporation opening 120.

[0103] The groove 202 is defined as a part of the area of the evaporation mask substrate 200 having a certain depth in the thickness direction of the evaporation mask substrate 200, and having a certain thickness close to the second surface 200b.

[0104] It should be understood that, in the case of negative photoresist, the reserved area (the area which does not need to form the evaporation opening 120) on the first surface 200a is coated with photoresist 201; in the case of positive photoresist, the non-reserved area (the area which needs to form the evaporation opening 120) on the first surface 200a is coated with photoresist 201.

[0105] S102, coating photoresist 201 on the second surface 200b, and performing mask exposure, development and etching process on the evaporation mask substrate 200 formed with the groove 202, to form Figure 15The plurality of evaporation openings 120 and the plurality of support portions 13 shown in step S103, i.e. the evaporation mask 10 in the embodiments of the present application are formed.

[0106] It should be understood that, in the case of a negative photoresist, the reserved area on the second surface 200b (the area where the support portion 13 needs to be formed) is coated with the photoresist 201; in the case of a positive photoresist, the non-reserved area on the second surface 200b (the area where the support portion 13 does not need to be formed) is coated with the photoresist 201, i.e. the area where the accommodation cavity 122 is formed and the area where the evaporation opening 120 is formed are coated with the photoresist 201.

[0107] The embodiments of the present application are all taken as an example of the photoresist 201 being a negative photoresist.

[0108] In summary, the preparation method of the evaporation mask 10 provided by the embodiments of the present application has only a change in the process of coating the photoresist 201 on the bottom, i.e. when the photoresist 201 is coated on the bottom, only the photoresist 201 of the area where the support portion 13 needs to be formed is reserved, and after etching, the support portion 13 is formed on the first surface 1211 of the shielding portion 121 of the evaporation mask 10; the preparation method does not need to increase additional process flow, does not need to make equipment investment, does not increase production cost, has low modification difficulty, and can be manufactured on the existing manufacturing equipment.

[0109] The above is only a specific implementation manner of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited to this, any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or replacements within the technical range disclosed by the present application, which should be covered in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A vapor deposition mask, characterized in that, It is positioned between the vapor deposition source and the substrate to be vaporized; The substrate to be deposited has at least one spacer on the side near the evaporation source; the evaporation mask includes: The mask version includes a plurality of vapor deposition openings and a shielding portion located around the vapor deposition openings; the shielding portion has a first surface away from the vapor deposition source; Multiple support portions are disposed on the first surface, and at least two support portions form a receiving cavity with the first surface for accommodating the spacer; the height of the support portion is greater than the height of the spacer, the support portion is used to contact the substrate to be vapor-deposited and to support the mask body, such that there is a gap between the first surface and the spacer to prevent the mask body from scratching the spacer; the height H of the support portion is in the range of 2um < H ≤ 5um.

2. The photomask according to claim 1, characterized in that, One of the support portions is arranged around the periphery of one of the vapor deposition openings.

3. The photomask according to claim 2, characterized in that, The support portion includes a plurality of first support bars; the first support bars protrude in a direction away from the first surface; the plurality of first support bars are connected end to end in sequence to form a frame structure.

4. The photomask according to claim 3, characterized in that, The vapor deposition opening includes multiple opening sidewalls; In the support portion surrounding the vapor deposition opening, one of the first support bars is located on one side of one opening sidewall of the vapor deposition opening and is parallel to the opening sidewall.

5. The photomask according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that, The mask also includes a plurality of second support strips, which are disposed on the first surface and are used to connect two adjacent support portions.

6. The photomask according to claim 5, characterized in that, The height of the first support bar is the same as the height of the second support bar; the wall thickness of the first support bar is the same as the wall thickness of the second support bar.

7. The photomask according to claim 2, characterized in that, Each of the support components includes a plurality of support blocks spaced apart.

8. A display panel, characterized in that, It includes a TFT backplane and a pixel defining layer disposed on the TFT backplane; wherein the pixel defining layer includes a plurality of openings and a barrier wall located around the openings; The display panel further includes an organic functional layer disposed within the opening, and a spacer disposed on the surface of the barrier away from the TFT backplate; at least a portion of the organic functional layer is vapor-deposited using a vapor deposition mask as described in any one of claims 1-7; The display panel further includes a metal layer disposed between the barrier and the spacer, and covering the barrier; the side surface of the metal layer away from the TFT backplate is in contact with the support portion.

9. The display panel according to claim 8, characterized in that, The thickness of the metal layer ranges from 0.2 μm to 0.5 μm.

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