Annealing apparatus, method of detecting same, annealing plant, and annealing process method

Abstract

The application discloses an annealing device, a detection method thereof, an annealing equipment and an annealing process method. The annealing device of one embodiment is applied to an excimer laser annealing equipment. The annealing device comprises a bearing table used for bearing and moving a display substrate to be processed, wherein the bearing table comprises a carrier table with a long side and a short side; an annealing chamber with a cavity is arranged above the carrier table, the annealing chamber comprises a bottom wall close to one side of the carrier table and a top wall arranged opposite to the bottom wall and away from the carrier table, a slit is arranged on the bottom wall, and the slit is parallel to the long side in the extension direction of the orthographic projection of the carrier table; an optical lens group is arranged on the top wall away from the cavity and is used for transmitting a laser beam emitted by a laser emitter; and a shielding piece is arranged in the cavity and above the slit, and the orthographic projection of the bottom wall and the orthographic projection of the slit on the bottom wall form partial overlap or complete overlap.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of display technology. More specifically, it relates to an annealing apparatus, its detection method, annealing equipment, and an annealing process. Background Technology

[0002] Excimer laser annealing (ELA) is a relatively complex annealing process. ELA equipment uses an excimer laser beam to briefly irradiate an amorphous silicon film on a display substrate, causing it to melt and recrystallize into a polycrystalline silicon (P-Si, P-silicon) thin film. Display substrates processed using ELA equipment are prone to issues such as… Figure 1 The image shows uneven distribution of defects. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of this invention is to provide an annealing apparatus, its detection method, annealing equipment, and annealing process to solve at least one of the problems existing in the prior art.

[0004] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention adopts the following technical solution:

[0005] The first aspect of this invention provides an annealing apparatus for use in excimer laser annealing equipment, the annealing apparatus comprising:

[0006] A support platform for supporting and moving a display substrate to be processed, the support platform including a stage with a long side and a short side;

[0007] An annealing chamber with a cavity is disposed above the stage. The annealing chamber includes a bottom wall near the stage and a top wall opposite the bottom wall away from the stage. A slit is provided on the bottom wall, and the extension direction of the slit in the orthographic projection of the stage is parallel to the long side.

[0008] An optical mirror assembly disposed on the side of the top wall away from the cavity is used to transmit the laser beam emitted from the laser emitter; and

[0009] A shielding element disposed within the cavity above the slit, the shielding element having transmittance.

[0010] Furthermore, the shielding member includes:

[0011] The first surface near the side of the slit; and

[0012] The second surface near the side of the top wall,

[0013] Both the first surface and the second surface are parallel to the light-emitting surface of the optical lens assembly.

[0014] Furthermore, the shielding member also includes a shielding surface facing the stage side, the shielding surface being located at least in a portion of the first surface, and the orthographic projection of the shielding surface on the bottom wall covering the orthographic projection of the slit on the bottom wall.

[0015] Furthermore, the number of the shielding surfaces is multiple.

[0016] The annealing device also includes a first displacement mechanism for moving different shielding surfaces above the slit.

[0017] Furthermore, the shielding member also includes at least one third surface connecting the first surface and the second surface, and multiple shielding surfaces are respectively disposed on one or more of the first surface, the second surface, and the third surface.

[0018] The first displacement mechanism includes a rotation shaft extending parallel to the long side.

[0019] The first displacement mechanism is used to drive the blocking member to rotate around the rotation axis as the rotation center, so as to rotate different blocking surfaces above the slit.

[0020] Furthermore, multiple shielding surfaces are disposed on the second surface and arranged sequentially along the extension direction of the short side;

[0021] The first displacement mechanism is used to drive the blocking member to move along the extension direction of the short side, so as to move different blocking surfaces above the slit.

[0022] Furthermore, the material of the shielding component is the same as the lens material of the optical lens group.

[0023] Furthermore, the annealing apparatus also includes:

[0024] An energy scanner is used to scan the energy of a laser beam emitted from the slit and generate scan data; and

[0025] The second displacement mechanism is used to move the energy scanner in the extension direction of the short side of the stage, and the moving distance of the second displacement mechanism is greater than the boundary distance between two adjacent display substrates in the extension direction of the short side.

[0026] Furthermore, the support platform also includes a third displacement mechanism for moving the platform along the extension direction of the long side and along the extension direction of the short side.

[0027] A second embodiment of the present invention provides an excimer laser annealing apparatus, the excimer laser annealing apparatus comprising:

[0028] A laser emitter, used to emit a laser beam;

[0029] An optical decomposition device is used to adjust the size of the laser beam and transmit the adjusted laser beam to an annealing device as described in the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0030] The third embodiment of the present invention provides a method for detecting the annealing apparatus of the first embodiment of the present invention, the method comprising:

[0031] The slit will emit the laser beam from the laser emitter;

[0032] The second displacement mechanism moves in the direction of the extension of the short side of the support platform;

[0033] The energy scanner scans the energy of the laser beam emitted from the slit at different locations and generates scan data;

[0034] The uniformity parameters of the laser beam are determined based on the scanning data.

[0035] The fourth embodiment of the present invention proposes a process method for annealing a display substrate, characterized in that the process method includes:

[0036] Before the initial annealing process of the display substrate to be processed, the uniformity parameters of the laser beam are determined using the detection method described in the third embodiment of the present invention.

[0037] If the uniformity parameters meet the processing data, the laser emitter is controlled to emit a laser beam, and the display substrate to be processed is annealed; the processed display substrate and the new display substrate to be processed are then replaced.

[0038] The uniformity parameters of the laser beam are determined using the detection method described in the third embodiment of the present invention;

[0039] If the uniformity parameters meet the processing data, the laser emitter is controlled to emit a laser beam, and the display substrate to be processed is subjected to annealing.

[0040] Furthermore, the number of shielding surfaces is multiple, and the annealing device also includes a first displacement mechanism for moving different shielding surfaces above the slit;

[0041] The process method further includes:

[0042] If the uniformity parameters do not meet the processing data, the first displacement mechanism will be used to move different blocking surfaces of the blocking member to the slit.

[0043] The uniformity parameters of the laser beam are then determined again using the detection method described in the third embodiment until the uniformity parameters meet the processing data.

[0044] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows:

[0045] The present invention further designs the structure at the slit by setting a shield above the slit to prevent the film material of the substrate on the stage from entering the cavity through the slit, thereby avoiding cavity contamination and improving the stability of the gas in the cavity. This further ensures the energy stability of the laser transmitted by the optical lens group and improves the problem of poor uniformity of the display substrate when using ELA (excimer laser annealing) equipment to fabricate the display substrate. Attached Figure Description

[0046] The specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0047] Figure 1 A schematic diagram illustrating a Mura defect in a display substrate of a related technology;

[0048] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the process for annealing multiple display substrates using an ELA device is shown.

[0049] Figure 3 This diagram illustrates a parallel characteristic of Mura defects on the left and right display substrates.

[0050] Figure 4 This shows an energy scan of the laser beam used in the relevant technology test;

[0051] Figure 5 A schematic diagram showing the abnormal crystallization of the P-Si (P-silicon) film in the Mura defect region;

[0052] Figure 6 A cross-sectional schematic diagram of an annealing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0053] Figure 7 This diagram illustrates a state of the stage in an embodiment of the present invention, viewed from above, to prevent multiple display substrates from being in the same position.

[0054] Figure 8 and Figure 9 The diagram shows different structural schematics of the shielding member according to embodiments of the present invention;

[0055] Figure 10 A schematic diagram showing the positions of the stage and energy scanner during laser beam energy detection in related technologies;

[0056] Figure 11 This diagram illustrates the position of the energy scanner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0057] Figure 12This diagram shows the energy scan of a laser beam obtained by an energy scanner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0058] Figure 13 This diagram illustrates a crystallographic schematic of optimized P-Si (P-silicon) film crystallization of a display substrate fabricated using an annealing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0059] Figure 14 This diagram illustrates the structure of the excimer laser annealing device proposed in the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0060] Figure 15 A schematic diagram of the structure of the optical decomposition device according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0061] Figure 16 This diagram illustrates the steps of the detection method according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

[0062] Figure 17 This diagram illustrates the process steps of an annealing process for a display substrate according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0063] To more clearly illustrate the present invention, the following description, in conjunction with embodiments and accompanying drawings, further explains the invention. Similar components in the drawings are indicated by the same reference numerals. Those skilled in the art should understand that the specific description below is illustrative rather than restrictive and should not be construed as limiting the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0064] like Figure 1 As shown, when the display substrate is illuminated after the annealing process, there may be poor low grayscale lateral uniformity (Mura), which manifests as bright lines or bands parallel to the short side of the display panel.

[0065] Through extensive research, experimentation, and process simulation, the inventors discovered that Mura defects formed on multiple display substrates during a single ELA process exhibit a translational relationship. Specifically, Figure 2 The diagram shows a process for annealing multiple display substrates 10 using an ELA device. Multiple display substrates 10 to be processed are arranged in an array on a stage 610, with each display substrate arranged in parallel.

[0066] During the processing, the ELA process is completed in two laser irradiations. After the entire display substrate 10 is irradiated by the laser from top to bottom, a strip-shaped mura defect parallel to the scanning direction will appear, such as... Figure 1 As shown, corresponding to a display substrate 10, this defect manifests as a dark line or dark band parallel to the short side of the display substrate 10, such as... Figure 3As shown, the display substrate on the left side is the result of the first irradiation process, and the display substrate on the right side is the result of the second irradiation process. The Mura defects on the left display substrate and the Mura defects on the right display substrate have parallel characteristics.

[0067] Based on the above characteristics Figure 4 An energy scan diagram of the laser beam is shown, such as... Figure 4 As shown, the energy density of the Mura defect area is worse than that of other areas in terms of homogeneity. When the laser is applied to the a-Si (a-silicon) of the display substrate, the energy density of the Mura defect area is lower than that of other areas, resulting in microscopically disordered crystallization or even an amorphous state, such as... Figure 5 As shown. Macroscopically, it manifests as follows: Figure 1 The dark bands or dark lines perpendicular to the long side shown are defects. The p-Si crystallization abnormalities in the Mura defect region will reduce the electron mobility in the region and affect the electrical performance of the thin-film driven transistor.

[0068] Based on the above research, the inventors discovered that the causes of Mura defects are as follows: there may be air bubbles between the film layers in the display substrate. During the ELA annealing process, laser irradiation will cause the air bubbles in the film layer to rupture. The ruptured film layer material may enter the gas chamber in the annealing chamber, causing chamber contamination, which further affects the energy uniformity of the laser beam in the long axis direction, resulting in Mura defects in the display substrate made using ELA equipment.

[0069] In view of this, embodiments of the present invention provide an annealing apparatus, its detection method, annealing equipment, and annealing process to solve the above problems.

[0070] like Figure 6 and Figure 7 As shown, the first embodiment of the present invention provides an annealing apparatus 60, which is applied to an excimer laser annealing device. The annealing apparatus 60 includes:

[0071] The support platform 61 is used to support and move the display substrate 10 to be processed. The support platform 61 includes a stage 610 having a long side 6101 and a short side 6102.

[0072] An annealing chamber 62 with a cavity is disposed above the stage 610. The annealing chamber 62 includes a bottom wall 621 near the stage 610 and a top wall 621 opposite the bottom wall 621 away from the stage 610. A slit 623 is provided on the bottom wall 621. The extension direction of the slit 623 in the orthographic projection of the stage 610 is parallel to the long side 6101.

[0073] An optical mirror group 63 disposed on the side of the top wall 622 away from the cavity is used to transmit the laser beam emitted from the laser emitter; and

[0074] A shielding member 64 is disposed in the cavity above the slit 623. The orthographic projection of the shielding member 64 onto the bottom wall 621 and the orthographic projection of the slit 623 onto the bottom wall 621 partially or completely overlap.

[0075] In this embodiment, Figure 7 A top-view diagram shows the state of the stage 610 preventing multiple display substrates 10 from being processed. The display substrates 10 are arranged in an array on the stage 610. The long side 6101 of the stage 610 extends in the horizontal direction D1, and the short side 6102 extends in the vertical direction D2. In the top view, the slit 623 is a strip structure extending in the direction parallel to the long side 6101 in the D1 direction. That is, the length (major axis) of the slit 623 is the distance in the direction of the long side 6101, and the width (minor axis) of the slit 623 is the distance in the direction of the short side 6102. In this embodiment, the slit 623 is used to emit the laser beam transmitted by the optical lens group 63 to process the display substrates 10 located on the stage 610 below the slit 623. The slit 623 has a certain length and width, thereby enabling simultaneous processing of the display substrates 10 along the D1 direction.

[0076] like Figure 7 As shown, in the manufacturing process based on ELA annealing, the substrate to be processed is annealed from top to bottom. The left half of the substrate to be processed is processed first, and then the right half of the substrate to be processed is processed, thereby realizing the processing of all the substrates to be processed on the entire surface of the stage 610.

[0077] Based on the above description of the annealing process of the annealing apparatus 60, when the laser beam emitted from the slit 623 irradiates the display substrate 10, bubbles may rupture between the film layers of the display substrate 10 due to the manufacturing process. Since the distance between the surface of the display substrate 10 away from the stage 610 and the slit 623 is relatively short, film material from the display substrate 10 may be sputtered into the cavity of the annealing chamber 62 through the slit 623, contaminating the cavity and affecting the energy uniformity of the laser beam. Therefore, this embodiment of the invention further addresses the issue of the slit 623... The structure is designed such that a shielding member 64 is provided above the slit 623 to prevent the film material of the substrate on the stage 610 from entering the cavity through the slit 623. The orthographic projection of the shielding member on the bottom wall and the orthographic projection of the slit on the bottom wall partially or completely overlap to partially or completely block the gap of the slit, avoid cavity contamination, thereby improving the stability of the gas in the cavity, further ensuring the energy stability of the laser transmitted by the optical lens group 63, and improving the problem of Mura defects that occur when using ELA (excimer laser annealing) equipment to fabricate the display substrate 10.

[0078] The embodiments of the present invention form partial or complete overlap, that is, the blocking member at least blocks part of the slit, thereby blocking the fully open slit. The effect of complete overlap is better than partial overlap, and has a better blocking effect.

[0079] In an optional embodiment, such as Figure 8 and Figure 9 As shown, the shielding member 64 includes:

[0080] The first surface 641 near the side of the slit 623, and

[0081] Second surface 642 near the side of the top wall 622;

[0082] The second surface 642 and the first surface 641 are both parallel to the light-emitting surface of the optical lens group 63.

[0083] This design avoids the obstruction member 64 located above the slit 623 from affecting the angle of the laser emitted through the slit 623, thus ensuring the quality of the laser beam during the annealing process.

[0084] In an optional embodiment, the material of the shielding member 64 is the same as the lens material of the optical lens assembly 63. Based on the design of the second surface 642 and the first surface 641 of the shielding member 64 in the previous embodiment, this embodiment designs the material of the shielding member 64 to further reduce its impact on the laser beam. In a specific example, the optical lens assembly 63 includes multiple lenses to realize the transmission of the laser beam. In this design, the material of the shielding member 64 is the same as the material of the lens closest to the shielding member 64, maximizing the stability and consistency of the laser beam transmission.

[0085] Based on the above design, that is, the shielding component of the present invention has transmittance to ensure that the laser beam can pass through the shielding component and exit through the slit to process the display substrate on the stage.

[0086] In an optional embodiment, the shielding member 64 further includes a shielding surface 644 facing the stage 610, the shielding surface 644 being located at least in a portion of the first surface 61, the orthographic projection of the shielding surface 644 on the bottom wall 621 covering the orthographic projection of the slit 623 on the bottom wall 621.

[0087] In this embodiment of the invention, the first surface 61 may be larger than the opening area of ​​the slit 623, and the shielding surface 644 is located in the area of ​​the first surface 61 corresponding to the slit 623.

[0088] It is worth noting that the shielding member 64 in this embodiment of the invention only serves a shielding function and does not limit the shielding member 64 from sealing the slit 623. Therefore, the shielding member 64 has a low cost, a simple structure, and achieves good improvement in the energy uniformity of the laser beam.

[0089] In an optional embodiment, such as Figure 8 and Figure 9 As shown, there are multiple shielding surfaces 644.

[0090] The annealing device 60 also includes a first displacement mechanism (not shown in the figure) for moving different shielding surfaces 644 above the slit 623.

[0091] This embodiment optimizes the structure of the shielding member 64, making full use of multiple surfaces of the shielding member 64 as shielding surfaces 644, and uses the first displacement mechanism to realize the transformation of different shielding surfaces 644 of the shielding member 64, thereby further reducing costs and improving the replacement efficiency of the shielding surfaces 644.

[0092] For example, such as Figure 8As shown, when the cross-section of the shielding member is hexagonal, it includes 6 side faces. In this structure, the maximum number of shielding surfaces 644 is the number of side faces. In another example, when the cross-section of the shielding member is pentagonal, the maximum number of shielding surfaces is 5. In yet another example, multiple shielding surfaces are present on the larger first surface, for example... Figure 9 The six shielding surfaces shown are formed together on the same first surface. Based on the above description, the number of shielding surfaces can be designed according to the structure of the shielding component.

[0093] like Figure 8 and Figure 9 As shown, the first displacement mechanism of this invention has different displacement modes, which will now be described with reference to specific embodiments.

[0094] In an optional embodiment, such as Figure 8 As shown, the shielding member 64 further includes at least one third surface 643 connecting the second surface 642 and the first surface 641, and the plurality of shielding surfaces 644 are respectively disposed on one or more of the second surface 642, the first surface 641 and the third surface 643.

[0095] The first displacement mechanism includes a rotating shaft (not shown in the figure) extending in a direction parallel to the long side 6101, that is, the extending direction of the rotating shaft is... Figure 8 The direction shown is D1.

[0096] The first displacement mechanism is used to drive the blocking member 64 to rotate around the rotation axis as the rotation center, so as to rotate different blocking surfaces 644 above the slit 623.

[0097] In this embodiment, as Figure 7 As shown, the direction of the rotation axis is consistent with the direction of the long side 6101 of the stage 610, that is, Figure 8 The cross-sectional schematic diagram shown is from Figure 7 The view from the short side 6102 of the stage 610 shown, that is, the direction of the extension of the rotation axis is... Figure 8 The D1 direction is shown as perpendicular to the paper and pointing inwards or outwards.

[0098] The rotating shaft drives the blocking component 64 to rotate around the center of rotation. The direction of rotation can be as follows: Figure 8 The clockwise or counterclockwise direction shown allows for the rotation of different blocking surfaces 644.

[0099] In a specific example, such as Figure 8As shown, the cross-section of the shielding member 64 is hexagonal, and each surface can serve as a shielding surface 644. When the film material of a sputtered display substrate 10 covers the entire shielding surface 644, the shielding surface 644 can be updated by rotating using the first displacement mechanism. The whole process is highly efficient.

[0100] In another specific example, the number of shielding surfaces 644 is less than the number of surfaces of the shielding member 64. For example, based on the foregoing embodiments, when all surfaces are shielding surfaces 644, there will be a situation where the shielding surfaces 644 face the optical lens group 63. In this case, the film material sputtered onto the shielding surfaces 644 will still cause contamination of the optical lens group 63. Therefore, this embodiment designs the number and position of the shielding surfaces 644. Not all surfaces of the shielding member 64 are shielding surfaces 644. In the initial state before the rotation of the first displacement mechanism, the surface of the shielding member 64 facing the optical lens group 63 is not designed with shielding surfaces 644 to protect the optical lens group 63.

[0101] In another alternative embodiment, such as Figure 9 As shown, multiple shielding surfaces 644 are disposed on the first surface 641 and are arranged sequentially along the extension direction of the short side 6102 (i.e., the D2 direction).

[0102] The first displacement mechanism is used to drive the blocking member 64 to move along the extension direction of the short side 6102, so as to move the different blocking surfaces 644 above the slit 623.

[0103] In this embodiment of the invention, the blocking member 64 extends along the direction of the short side 6102 of the stage 610, that is, along... Figure 9 In the D2 direction extension, the length of the first surface 61 in the D2 direction is greater than the length of the slit 623 in the D2 direction. Multiple shielding surfaces 644 are arranged sequentially along the D2 direction on the same first surface 61. The shielding surfaces 644 can be updated by translating the first displacement mechanism. The whole process is highly efficient.

[0104] Based on the foregoing explanation, Figure 8 and Figure 9 The different shapes of the shielding members 64 shown are related to the displacement direction of the first displacement mechanism. Those skilled in the art can use the above structure as a design guideline to further design different shapes of the shielding members 64. For example, when the cross-section of the shielding member 64 is triangular, rectangular, or a polygon of other structures, reference can be made. Figure 8 The structural design shown will not be described in detail here.

[0105] Based on the foregoing embodiments, the present invention designs the structure at the slit 623, and sets a shielding member 64 above the slit 623 to prevent the film material of the substrate on the stage 610 from entering the cavity through the slit 623, thereby avoiding cavity contamination, improving the stability of the gas in the cavity, further ensuring the energy stability of the laser transmitted by the optical lens group 63, and improving the problem of Mura defects that occur when using ELA (excimer laser annealing) equipment to fabricate the display substrate 10.

[0106] Furthermore, based on the aforementioned research regarding the Mura defect in the display substrate 10, related technologies utilize an energy scanner 66 to monitor the state of the laser beam, enabling timely detection of abnormal laser beam conditions. For example, the energy scanner 66 is an ACBP camera. An ACBP (AC Beam Profile, attenuation-controlled laser analysis, used to monitor laser energy distribution) camera scans the energy of the entire laser beam, generating data such as... Figure 4 The energy curve of the laser beam at the ACBP end is shown. The jitter of the curve represents the energy fluctuation of the laser beam. The larger the fluctuation, the worse the energy uniformity of the laser beam.

[0107] However, current ELA devices involve cumbersome steps in acquiring the long-axis energy state of the laser beam. For example, in the initial state, the energy scanner 66 is positioned on one side of the short side 6102 of the stage 610, meaning the short axis of the slit 623 corresponds to the energy scanner 66. The stage 610 needs to rotate around its center axis to move the energy scanner 66 to the direction of the long axis of the slit 623, i.e. Figure 10 As shown, the stage 610 moves along the D1 direction extending from the long axis of the slit 623, thereby driving the energy scanner 66 to perform energy detection along the long axis of the slit 623. The above process is relatively complex. Therefore, in related applications, this detection process is only performed once during the ELA equipment rework. It cannot be detected in real time during the manufacturing process. If the laser beam exhibits energy unevenness as described in the previous embodiment during the process, it is often not detected in time, resulting in repetitive Mura defects on the display substrate 10 on the entire stage 610, which affects the product yield. Furthermore, the detection process takes a long time to complete, which affects the process efficiency.

[0108] Therefore, in an alternative embodiment, such as Figure 6 and Figure 11 As shown, the annealing apparatus 60 further includes an energy scanner 66 and a second displacement mechanism 65 that drives the energy scanner 66 to move.

[0109] Energy scanner 66 is used to scan the energy of the laser beam emitted from the slit 623 and generate scan data. For example, energy scanner 66 is an ACBP camera, and the scan data is as follows: Figure 4 and Figure 12 It can be viewed as a visual diagram formed by curve changes.

[0110] In this embodiment of the invention, an energy scanner 66 is positioned in the direction of the short side 6102 of the stage 610, and a second displacement mechanism 65 drives the energy scanner 66 to move in the extension direction of the short side 6102 of the stage 610, thereby monitoring the energy change of the laser beam between two adjacent display substrates 10 in the extension direction D2 of the short side 6102.

[0111] In an optional embodiment, the movement distance of the second displacement mechanism 65 is greater than the boundary distance between two adjacent display substrates 10 in the extension direction of the short side 6102. In a specific example, by Figure 11 and Figure 12 It can be seen that the boundary distance between two adjacent display substrates 10 in the extension direction D2 of the short side 6102 is 992.17 mm. Therefore, the moving distance of the second displacement mechanism 65 must be greater than this boundary distance, for example, 1000 mm. The energy scanner 66 can obtain the energy of the laser beam at different positions within this distance range, based on the setting of the shielding member 64 in this embodiment of the invention. Figure 12 The energy curve of the laser beam is relatively Figure 4 The energy curves of the related technologies shown have small fluctuations and are relatively stable overall, indicating that the structural design of the shielding member 64 in this embodiment has a significant effect on improving the energy uniformity of the laser beam.

[0112] Furthermore, uneven laser beam energy will lead to significant differences in particle size in the microstructure of the P-Si (P-silicon thin film) generated after the ELA process, for example... Figure 5 The uniformity of the particle size shown is poor, and the uniformity of the grain boundary generated by the mutual compression of the grains during the growth process will also be affected, causing the P-Si layer protrusions to pierce the subsequent gate insulating layer, affecting the electrical performance of the thin film driving transistor and causing back-end defects.

[0113] Based on the design of the shielding component 64 in this embodiment, the laser beam in this embodiment exhibits good energy density stability when acting on the A-si surface, and the P-Si generated after scanning is closer to the surface as described above. Figure 13 The tetragonal crystal shown effectively improves particle size and uniformity, ensures the electrical characteristics of thin-film driving transistors, and reduces the Mura occurrence rate of the back-end display substrate with 10 lamps caused by ELA process, and has broad application prospects.

[0114] Furthermore, in an optional embodiment, the support platform 61 further includes a third displacement mechanism 620 for moving the platform 610 in the extending direction of the long side 6101 and in the extending direction of the short side 6102. For example, as... Figure 11 As shown, when multiple display substrates 10 are arrayed on the stage 610, and it is necessary to move the laser beam or move the display substrates 10 to perform different annealing processes on the display substrates 10, in order to avoid further impact on the laser beam from the movement of the laser beam, this embodiment uses a third displacement mechanism 620 to move the stage 610 to realize the movement of the display substrates 10.

[0115] Another embodiment of the present invention provides an excimer laser annealing apparatus, such as... Figure 14 As shown, the excimer laser annealing equipment includes:

[0116] A laser emitter is used to emit a laser beam; for example, a laser emitter is an excimer laser emitter.

[0117] An optical decomposition device is used to adjust the size of the laser beam and transmit the adjusted laser beam to the annealing device 60 as described in the above embodiment of the present invention.

[0118] In a specific example, such as Figure 15 As shown, the optical decomposition device includes: an optical transmission unit 151 and an optical focusing unit 152.

[0119] For example, the optical transmission unit 151 can be used to adjust the size of the laser beam and transmit the adjusted laser beam to the optical focusing unit 152, which can be used to focus the superimposed beam output by the optical transmission unit 151.

[0120] Reference Figure 15 As shown, the optical transmission unit 151 may include the following components:

[0121] The first long-axis condensing lens LACL1 and the second long-axis condensing lens LACL2 can concentrate light in the long-axis direction;

[0122] The first short-axis fine-tuning mirror group SAM and the second short-axis fine-tuning mirror group SAFT (SA Fine Tuning) can fine-tune the short-axis shape of the laser beam.

[0123] Laser emission slit (Slit);

[0124] The first short-axis telescope SAT1 and the second short-axis telescope SAT2 can fine-tune the size (i.e., width) of the laser beam along the short axis.

[0125] Reflectors M8, M9, and M10; and

[0126] The micro-vibration device μSM can homogenize energy along the long axis.

[0127] Reference Figure 15 The optical focusing unit 152 may include the following components:

[0128] The beam splitter M11 splits the laser beam into two beams. One beam is incident on the lens group below, and the other beam is used to monitor the energy of the laser beam during the process.

[0129] The first lens C1 and the second lens C2 can be either convex or concave lenses, and can fine-tune the size (i.e. the length) of the laser beam along its long axis.

[0130] The lens group PL, which may include convex and / or concave lenses, can finely adjust the dimensions of the laser beam along its short axis.

[0131] Based on the above components, the laser beam is decomposed and focused, thereby generating a laser beam incident on the optical lens group 63 of the annealing device 60.

[0132] Based on the annealing equipment of the above embodiments of the present invention, the annealing device 60 has the characteristic of having a stable laser beam, which can improve the energy stability of the entire annealing equipment, thereby ensuring the quality of the manufactured display substrate 10 and improving the yield.

[0133] Furthermore, another embodiment of the present invention proposes a detection method for the annealing apparatus 60, such as... Figure 16 As shown, the detection method includes:

[0134] The slit 623 emits the laser beam emitted by the laser emitter;

[0135] The second displacement mechanism 65 moves in the extension direction of the short side 6102 of the support platform 61;

[0136] The energy scanner 66 scans the energy of the laser beam emitted from the slit 623 at different locations and generates scan data;

[0137] The uniformity parameters of the laser beam are determined based on the scanning data.

[0138] The method for detecting the structure of the annealing apparatus 60 of the aforementioned embodiments according to this invention can generate, as shown in the following example: Figure 12The schematic diagram shown illustrates the visualization of the energy fluctuations of the laser beam. The entire process is simple and, compared to related detection methods, it eliminates the need to rotate the stage 610 to change the relative positions of the stage 610 and the slit 623. Furthermore, this detection method can be applied to the manufacturing process of the display substrate 10, enabling real-time detection and improving the number of detections, detection efficiency, and detection timeliness.

[0139] Another embodiment of the present invention provides a process method for annealing a display substrate 10, such as... Figure 17 As shown, the process includes:

[0140] Before the initial annealing process of the display substrate 10 to be processed, using Figure 16 The detection method described above determines the uniformity parameters of the laser beam;

[0141] If the uniformity parameters meet the processing data, the laser emitter is controlled to emit a laser beam, and the display substrate 10 to be processed is subjected to annealing.

[0142] Replace the processed display substrate 10 with a new display substrate 10 to be processed;

[0143] use Figure 16 The detection method described above determines the uniformity parameters of the laser beam;

[0144] If the uniformity parameters meet the processing data, the laser emitter is controlled to emit a laser beam, and the display substrate 10 to be processed is subjected to annealing.

[0145] In other words, the detection method of this embodiment can be applied to the processing of the display substrate 10. After multiple substrates on the entire surface of the stage 610 have been processed, during the time it takes to replace the processed display substrate 10 with a new display substrate 10 to be processed, the detection method of the aforementioned embodiment can be used to stop and detect at different processing positions of the display substrate 10. The entire detection time is short and will not occupy too long a process time. Therefore, this embodiment can monitor the energy morphology of the laser beam before each processing of the display substrate 10, detect the energy state of the laser beam in time, improve process stability and product yield, and improve the Mura defects of the manufactured display substrate 10.

[0146] In an optional embodiment, such as Figure 8 and Figure 9 As shown, there are multiple shielding surfaces 644, and the annealing device 60 also includes a first displacement mechanism for moving different shielding surfaces 644 above the slit 623.

[0147] The process method further includes:

[0148] If the uniformity parameters do not meet the processing data, the first displacement mechanism will be used to move the different blocking surfaces 644 of the blocking member 64 to the slit 623.

[0149] And reuse such as Figure 16 The detection method determines the uniformity parameters of the laser beam until the uniformity parameters meet the processing data.

[0150] The method of this invention can monitor the energy state of the laser beam before the display substrate 10 undergoes the annealing process. If the uniformity parameter exceeds the monitoring value of the processing data, it indicates that continuing the annealing process will result in a Mura defect in the display substrate 10. In this case, the shielding surface 644 of the shielding member 64 is replaced, and the energy of the laser beam is detected again using the above detection method to reconfirm the uniformity parameter. The process can only continue after ensuring that the uniformity parameter meets the monitoring value of the processing data, thereby effectively avoiding Mura defects in the display substrate 10.

[0151] Based on the above design, the variable shielding component 64 of this embodiment of the invention has a shorter replacement time, which can save a lot of time and improve equipment uptime.

[0152] In the description of this invention, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are used merely to distinguish one entity or operation from another, without necessarily requiring or implying any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Furthermore, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes said element.

[0153] Obviously, the above embodiments of the present invention are merely examples for clearly illustrating the present invention, and are not intended to limit the implementation of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other variations or modifications can be made based on the above description. It is impossible to exhaustively list all the implementation methods here. All obvious variations or modifications derived from the technical solutions of the present invention are still within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An annealing apparatus, characterized in that, Applied to excimer laser annealing equipment, the annealing apparatus includes: A support platform for supporting and moving a display substrate to be processed, the support platform including a stage with a long side and a short side; An annealing chamber with a cavity is disposed above the stage. The annealing chamber includes a bottom wall near the stage and a top wall opposite the bottom wall away from the stage. A slit is provided on the bottom wall, and the extension direction of the slit in the orthographic projection of the stage is parallel to the long side. An optical mirror assembly disposed on the side of the top wall away from the cavity is used to transmit the laser beam emitted from the laser emitter; and A shielding member disposed within the cavity above the slit, wherein the orthographic projection of the shielding member onto the bottom wall and the orthographic projection of the slit onto the bottom wall partially or completely overlap; The shielding component includes: The first surface near the side of the slit; and The second surface near the side of the top wall, Both the first surface and the second surface are parallel to the light-emitting surface of the optical lens assembly; The shielding member further includes a shielding surface facing the stage side, the shielding surface being located at least in a portion of the first surface, and the orthographic projection of the shielding surface on the bottom wall covering the orthographic projection of the slit on the bottom wall; The number of the shielding surfaces is multiple. The annealing device also includes a first displacement mechanism for moving different shielding surfaces above the slit.

2. The annealing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, The shielding member further includes at least one third surface connecting the first surface and the second surface, and multiple shielding surfaces are respectively disposed on one or more of the first surface, the second surface, and the third surface. The first displacement mechanism includes a rotation shaft extending parallel to the long side. The first displacement mechanism is used to drive the blocking member to rotate around the rotation axis as the rotation center, so as to rotate different blocking surfaces above the slit.

3. The annealing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, Multiple shielding surfaces are disposed on the first surface and arranged sequentially along the extension direction of the short side; The first displacement mechanism is used to drive the blocking member to move along the extension direction of the short side, so as to move different blocking surfaces above the slit.

4. The annealing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, The optical lens assembly includes multiple lenses, and the material of the shielding element is the same as the material of the lens closest to the shielding element.

5. The annealing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, The annealing apparatus further includes: An energy scanner is used to scan the energy of a laser beam emitted from the slit and generate scan data; and The second displacement mechanism is used to move the energy scanner in the extension direction of the short side of the stage, and the moving distance of the second displacement mechanism is greater than the boundary distance between two adjacent display substrates in the extension direction of the short side.

6. The annealing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, The support platform also includes a third displacement mechanism for moving the platform along the extension direction of the long side and along the extension direction of the short side.

7. An excimer laser annealing apparatus, characterized in that, The excimer laser annealing equipment includes: A laser emitter, used to emit a laser beam; An optical decomposition device is used to adjust the size of the laser beam and transmit the adjusted laser beam to the annealing device as described in any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. A method for testing the annealing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that, The detection method includes: The slit will emit the laser beam from the laser emitter; The second displacement mechanism moves in the direction of the extension of the short side of the support platform; The energy scanner scans the energy of the laser beam emitted from the slit at different locations and generates scan data; The uniformity parameters of the laser beam are determined based on the scanning data.

9. A process method for annealing a display substrate, characterized in that, The process includes: Before the initial annealing process of the display substrate to be processed, the uniformity parameters of the laser beam are determined using the detection method described in claim 8. If the uniformity parameters meet the processing data, the laser emitter is controlled to emit a laser beam, and the display substrate to be processed is annealed; the processed display substrate and the new display substrate to be processed are then replaced. The uniformity parameters of the laser beam are determined using the detection method described in claim 8; If the uniformity parameters meet the processing data, the laser emitter is controlled to emit a laser beam, and the display substrate to be processed is subjected to annealing.

10. The process method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The number of shielding surfaces is multiple, and the annealing device also includes a first displacement mechanism for moving different shielding surfaces to above the slit; The process method further includes: If the uniformity parameters do not meet the processing data, the first displacement mechanism will be used to move different blocking surfaces of the blocking member to the slit. The uniformity parameters of the laser beam are then determined again using the detection method described in claim 8, until the uniformity parameters meet the processing data.

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