Linear evaporation device based on improvement of film thickness uniformity

Abstract

The linear evaporation device comprises a base plate, a base plate conveying guide rail, a baffle, a point source and a uniformity improvement mechanism, the base plate, the base plate conveying guide rail, the baffle and the point source are sequentially arranged from top to bottom, the base plate is arranged on the base plate conveying guide rail in a sliding mode, the baffle is arranged below the base plate conveying guide rail, and the uniformity improvement mechanism is arranged below the base plate conveying guide rail. The uniformity improving mechanism is arranged between the baffle plate and the point source and is fixed on the baffle plate; the uniformity improving mechanism comprises a moving assembly and a special-shaped block fixed to the moving assembly. The moving assembly is slidably arranged on the baffle, and the special-shaped block is arranged close to the point source. According to the linear evaporation device, different special-shaped blocks can be designed and installed according to film thickness distribution, the film thickness distribution is adjusted, the thickness uniformity of large-size films is improved, and the product quality is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of evaporation equipment, and in particular to a linear evaporation device based on improving film thickness uniformity. Background Art

[0002] The existing OLED small and medium-sized (below G6H) evaporation system metal chamber uses a high-temperature point source for evaporation. In order to meet the production time of more than 200 hours, the metal point source adopts the Revolve design. The Revolve design is generally composed of multiple groups of point sources. If the size of the production glass continues to expand, the existing metal chamber point source design will be difficult to meet production needs, so the large-size (G8.5H and above) OLED evaporation equipment uses a linear arrangement to arrange the point source at a certain distance to form a similar line source mode. This linear arrangement of point sources has poor uniformity in film thickness, which will lead to a series of product problems such as uneven product brightness.

[0003] CN109468608 discloses a linear evaporation device and its evaporation line source control method. This patent mainly focuses on the line source control method, which solves the problem that the life of the crystal oscillator probe of the linear evaporation machine is limited during the long-term evaporation process, and the production is forced to stop when the probe fails. However, the problem of point source film thickness uniformity still exists. Summary of the invention

[0004] Based on the technical problems existing in the background technology, the present invention proposes a linear evaporation device based on improving the uniformity of film thickness, thereby improving the uniformity of large-size film thickness and improving product quality.

[0005] The present invention proposes a linear evaporation device based on improving film thickness uniformity, including a substrate, a substrate conveying guide rail, a baffle, a point source and a uniformity improvement mechanism. The substrate, the substrate conveying guide rail, the baffle and the point source are arranged in sequence from top to bottom. The substrate is slidably arranged on the substrate conveying guide rail, the baffle is arranged below the substrate conveying guide rail, and the uniformity improvement mechanism is arranged between the baffle and the point source and fixed on the baffle.

[0006] Furthermore, the uniform improvement mechanism includes a moving component and a special-shaped block fixed on the moving component; the moving component can be slidably arranged on the baffle, and the special-shaped block is arranged close to the point source.

[0007] Furthermore, the special-shaped block is designed to be arc-shaped.

[0008] Furthermore, the moving direction of the moving component on the baffle is parallel to the moving direction of the substrate.

[0009] Furthermore, a plurality of point sources are arranged in sequence, and the arrangement direction of the point sources is perpendicular to the movement direction of the substrate.

[0010] Furthermore, a plurality of special-shaped blocks are arranged in sequence, and the arrangement direction of the special-shaped blocks is parallel to the arrangement direction of the point sources.

[0011] Furthermore, the distance between adjacent special-shaped blocks is equal to the distance between adjacent point sources.

[0012] The advantage of a linear evaporation device based on improving film thickness uniformity provided by the present invention is that: a linear evaporation device based on improving film thickness uniformity provided in the structure of the present invention can be designed and installed with different special-shaped blocks according to the film thickness distribution, so as to adjust the film thickness distribution, improve the uniformity of large-size film thickness, and improve product quality. In addition, the movement of the special-shaped blocks can be remotely controlled and adjusted, and the uniformity adjustment can be performed in a vacuum environment without cooling, thus saving the time for cooling and vacuuming and reheating, thereby improving the utilization rate of the linear evaporation device and increasing production capacity. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of the present invention;

[0014] Figure 2 is the film thickness distribution diagram corresponding to the point source position;

[0015] Figure 3 It is a side view of point source evaporation;

[0016] Figure 4 A side view of a uniform improvement mechanism provided on the baffle;

[0017] Figure 5 A cross-sectional view of a uniform improvement mechanism provided on a baffle;

[0018] Figure 6 A top view of a uniform improvement mechanism provided on a baffle;

[0019] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the special-shaped block design 1;

[0020] Figure 8 The schematic diagram of the structure of the special-shaped block design 2;

[0021] Fig. 9 It is a structural diagram of the special-shaped block moving to position 1 and position 2;

[0022] Fig.10 Distribution diagram of film thickness improvement for the same type of shaped blocks at different locations;

[0023] Fig.11 Distribution diagram of film thickness improvement for different types of special-shaped blocks at the same position;

[0024] Among them, 1-substrate, 2-substrate conveying guide rail, 3-baffle, 4-point source, 5-uniform improvement mechanism, 51-moving component, 52-special-shaped block. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] Below, the technical solution of the present invention is described in detail through specific embodiments. Many specific details are set forth in the following description to facilitate a full understanding of the present invention. However, the present invention can be implemented in many other ways different from those described herein, and those skilled in the art can make similar improvements without violating the connotation of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the specific implementation disclosed below.

[0026] In the prior art, large-size AMOLED (G8.5H and above) point sources are mainly arranged at a certain interval to form a quasi-line source for evaporation. Once the point source position and the distance between the substrate and the point source are determined, it is difficult to improve the uniformity of the film thickness in the later stage. The uniformity of the metal film thickness plays a vital role in large-size AMOLED, especially AMOLED products with top-emitting device structures, which seriously affects the performance of the product. Therefore, this embodiment proposes a linear evaporation device with a uniformity improvement mechanism to improve the uniformity of the film thickness.

[0027] like Figures 1 to 11 As shown, a linear evaporation device based on improving film thickness uniformity proposed by the present invention comprises a substrate 1, a substrate conveying guide rail 2, a baffle 3, a point source 4 and a uniformity improvement mechanism 5. The substrate 1, the substrate conveying guide rail 2, the baffle 3 and the point source 4 are arranged in sequence from top to bottom. The substrate 1 is slidably arranged on the substrate conveying guide rail 2, the baffle 3 is arranged below the substrate conveying guide rail 2, the uniformity improvement mechanism 5 is arranged between the baffle 3 and the point source 4 and fixed on the baffle 3, and the substrate 1 and the uniformity improvement mechanism 5 are arranged along Figure 1 Move in the direction of the arrow.

[0028] In the film-forming process of the large-size OLED linear evaporator, the high-temperature point sources are arranged linearly. Figure 2 As shown, the film thickness is usually thicker at the center of the point source and relatively thinner at a position away from the center of the point source. The film thickness distribution on the substrate 1 is wavy and has poor uniformity. In this embodiment, a uniformity improvement mechanism 5 is provided to improve the uniformity of evaporation on the substrate 1, thereby improving the quality of OLED products.

[0029] First, the baffle 3 and the uniformity improvement mechanism 5 form a blocking mechanism, and the two blocking mechanisms are symmetrically arranged with the arrangement direction of the point source 4 as the axis, and partially block the two edge parts of the evaporation area of ​​the point source 4 respectively, so as to avoid the thin film thickness at the edge causing the uniformity of the evaporation thickness of the entire substrate 1. The special-shaped blocks 52 in the two blocking mechanisms are relatively movable, that is, if the substrate 1 moves to the right, the special-shaped block 52 arranged on the left side of the point source 4 moves to the right, and the special-shaped block 52 arranged on the right side of the point source 4 moves to the left, so as to effectively block the edges of the evaporation area of ​​the point source 4. The following description is based on the special-shaped block 52 being arranged on the left side of the point source 4, and the special-shaped block 52 arranged on the right side of the point source 4 specifically refers to the special-shaped block 52 arranged on the left side of the point source 4.

[0030] like Figures 4 to 6 As shown, the uniform improvement mechanism 5 includes a moving component 51 and a special-shaped block 52 fixed on the moving component 51; the moving component 51 can be slidably set on the baffle 3, the special-shaped block 52 is set close to the point source 4, and the moving direction of the moving component 51 on the baffle 3 is parallel to the movement direction of the substrate 1.

[0031] The moving component 51 can be composed of a track, a slider and a telescopic cylinder. The slider is slidably set on the track, the track is fixedly set on the baffle 3, or the track is embedded in a groove opened on the baffle 3, the special-shaped block 52 is fixed on the slider, the telescopic cylinder is set on the baffle 3, and its telescopic end is fixedly connected to the slider. The slider is driven by the telescopic cylinder to slide on the track, thereby realizing the movement of the special-shaped block 52.

[0032] In addition, the moving component 51 can be a linear module, which is fixed on the baffle 3 or embedded in a groove opened on the baffle 3. The special-shaped block 52 is fixed on the slider of the linear module, and the movement of the special-shaped block 52 is realized by the telescopic movement of the linear module.

[0033] When the moving component 51 is in the above two forms or other feasible structures, the telescopic cylinder and the linear module or other driving structure are connected with the host computer signal to realize remote control of the movement of the telescopic cylinder and the linear module or other driving structure through the host computer, thereby realizing remote control of the movement of the special-shaped block 52.

[0034] It should be noted that when multiple special-shaped blocks 52 are set, the multiple special-shaped blocks 52 can be synchronously set on the same slider to achieve synchronous movement, or they can be set on different sliders and the displacement of different sliders can be controlled by the host computer, thereby achieving synchronous movement of multiple special-shaped blocks 52. This arrangement on different sliders allows the host computer to control the displacement of the slider and adjust the displacement of the special-shaped blocks 52, so that it can also be suitable for different requirements of evaporation thickness at different positions.

[0035] A plurality of point sources 4 are arranged in sequence, and the arrangement direction of the point sources 4 is perpendicular to the movement direction of the substrate 1. After the film is formed on the substrate 1 based on the linearly arranged point sources 4, the film thickness distribution presents a wave shape, and the uniformity is relatively poor. Therefore, the function of the special-shaped block 52 is to mask the edge area of ​​the vapor deposition area formed by the linearly arranged point sources 4 to make the vapor deposition film thickness distribution of the linearly arranged point sources 4 change from a wave shape with a larger amplitude to a curve shape with a smaller amplitude, thereby making the vapor deposition film thickness on the substrate 1 tend to be consistent.

[0036] As for the positional relationship between the special-shaped block 52 and the point source 4, the special-shaped block 52 is designed according to product requirements, and two point sources 4 can be shielded by the same special-shaped block 52. It is not ruled out that three or more point sources can be shielded by the same special-shaped block 52. Since the special-shaped block 52 is designed in an arc shape, and the linearly arranged point sources 4 obtain a wavy thickness of the evaporated film, the film thickness is adjusted to a certain consistency by shielding the wavy edge with the arc.

[0037] Preferably, each point source 4 corresponds to a special-shaped block 52, and multiple special-shaped blocks 52 are arranged in sequence. The arrangement direction of the special-shaped blocks 52 is parallel to the arrangement direction of the point sources 4, and the distance between adjacent special-shaped blocks 52 is equal to the distance between adjacent point sources 4. The special-shaped blocks 52 are designed in an arc shape, and the linearly arranged point sources 4 obtain a wavy vapor deposition film thickness. Each arc-shaped special-shaped block 52 blocks the corresponding wavy edge to achieve one-to-one blocking of each point source 4. At this time, compared with two or more point sources 4 sharing the same special-shaped block 52, the film thickness uniformity effect is better.

[0038] It is understandable that the shape of the shaped block 52 is designed according to the film thickness distribution during the evaporation of the point source 4, and the design size ratio of the shaped baffle is related to the evaporation opening size and the substrate size. When the uniformity of the film thickness calibration before production does not meet the corresponding specifications, the moving distance of the shaped block 52 can be set to make corresponding adjustments.

[0039] Usage process: the uniformity improvement mechanism 5 is set below the baffle 3. When it moves to above the baffle 3, the special-shaped block 52 is remotely controlled to move in the same direction as the movement of the substrate 1. After the special-shaped block 52 moves to the set position, the substrate 1 moves on the substrate conveying guide rail 2 and passes above the point source 4. Through the partial blocking effect of the special-shaped block 52, the point source 4 vapor-deposits the substrate 1 to obtain the substrate 1 with improved film thickness uniformity. The improvement in film thickness uniformity in this embodiment is relative to the vapor deposition uniformity of the substrate 1 when only the baffle 3 is used to partially block the point source 4.

[0040] It should be noted that the substrate conveying rail 2 is driven to move by a driving mechanism (such as a servo motor), and the substrate 1 moves forward on the moving substrate conveying rail. During the movement, it passes through the point source 4 for vapor deposition, and the uniformity is improved by the special-shaped blocks 52 during the vapor deposition.

[0041] Supplementary information: In order to facilitate better understanding, a simple example is used to illustrate

[0042] The size of substrate 1 is 300x 300mm, and the evaporation opening area of ​​the equipment is 300x 700mm.

[0043] As an example 1, when the shaped block 52 is of the size and shape of design 1, before the uniformity improvement mechanism 5 is used, the film thickness uniformity is 3.88%. Figure 2 The film thickness distribution shown in the figure shows that the film thickness is thicker just above the point source 4. In order to improve the uniformity of the film thickness, the following is designed: Figure 7 The shaped block design 1 shown in FIG. Fig. 9 As shown, when the shaped block 52 moves to position 1, Fig. 9 It can be seen that the middle film thickness has become thinner due to the action of the special-shaped block 52, and the uniformity of the film thickness has improved to 3.38%; in order to further improve the uniformity of the film thickness, the moving position of the special-shaped block 52 is remotely controlled by the host computer, and the special-shaped block 52 is moved to position 2, and the uniformity of the film thickness is improved to 2.79%; through this method of remotely controlling the improvement of the film thickness, the uniformity of the film thickness can be improved conveniently and quickly.

[0044] As a second embodiment, in order to further improve the uniformity of film thickness, different types of special-shaped baffles can be designed, such as Figure 8 When the shaped block 52 shown is of the size and shape of design 2 (relative to embodiment 1), the uniformity of the film thickness of design 2 can be improved from 3.88% before improvement to 2.03% with respect to the shaped block design 1, and the improvement effect is obvious; in addition, Fig.11 It can be seen that the distribution shape of the film thickness can be adjusted due to changes in the moving position and design shape, which makes it easier to match the film thickness distribution of the entire OLED device to improve the optical performance of the product.

[0045] Combining the first and second embodiments, the relationship between the design shape of the special-shaped block and the uniformity of the film thickness is shown in the following table:

[0046]

[0047] According to the above table, it can be clearly concluded that when the special-shaped block 52 is not designed, that is, corresponding to the situation where there is no special-shaped block 52 in the tradition, the film thickness uniformity is 3.88% at this time, when the special-shaped block 52 is the shape of design 1, the film thickness uniformity is 3.38% when the special-shaped block 52 moves 10 mm, the film thickness uniformity is 2.79% when the special-shaped block 52 moves 20 mm, and when the special-shaped block 52 is design 2, the film thickness uniformity is 2.03% when the special-shaped block moves 10 mm.

[0048] Therefore, by comparing the sequence numbers 1 and 2 in the above table, it can be concluded that the existence of the special-shaped block 52 has a certain improvement effect on the uniformity of film thickness. By comparing the sequence numbers 2 and 3 in the above table, it can be concluded that the special-shaped block 52 of the same shape has a certain improvement effect on the uniformity of film thickness at different movement distances. In actual use, the best position for improving the uniformity of film thickness can be found by adjusting the movement distance of the special-shaped block 52. By comparing the sequence numbers 2 and 4 in the above table, the special-shaped blocks 52 of different shapes have different improvements on the uniformity of film thickness when they move to the same position. Therefore, in actual use, the shape of the special-shaped block 52 can be changed to gradually find the shape that best improves the uniformity of film thickness.

[0049] Therefore, the linear evaporation device in this embodiment can be designed and installed with different special-shaped blocks according to the film thickness distribution, so as to adjust the film thickness distribution, improve the uniformity of large-size film thickness, and improve product quality. In addition, the movement of the special-shaped blocks can be remotely controlled and adjusted, and the uniformity adjustment can be performed in a vacuum environment without cooling, thus saving the time for cooling and vacuuming and reheating, thereby improving the utilization rate of the linear evaporation device and increasing production capacity.

[0050] The above description is only a preferred specific implementation manner of the present invention, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any technician familiar with the technical field can make equivalent replacements or changes according to the technical scheme and inventive concept of the present invention within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention, which should be covered by the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A linear evaporation device based on improving film thickness uniformity, characterized in that: The invention comprises a substrate (1), a substrate conveying guide rail (2), a baffle (3), a point source (4) and a uniformity improvement mechanism (5), wherein the substrate (1), the substrate conveying guide rail (2), the baffle (3) and the point source (4) are arranged in sequence from top to bottom, the substrate (1) is slidably arranged on the substrate conveying guide rail (2), the baffle (3) is arranged below the substrate conveying guide rail (2), and the uniformity improvement mechanism (5) is arranged between the baffle (3) and the point source (4) and is fixed on the baffle (3).

2. The linear evaporation device for improving film thickness uniformity according to claim 1, characterized in that: The uniformity improvement mechanism (5) comprises a moving component (51) and a special-shaped block (52) fixed on the moving component (51); the moving component (51) is slidably arranged on the baffle (3), and the special-shaped block (52) is arranged close to the point source (4).

3. The linear evaporation device for improving film thickness uniformity according to claim 2, characterized in that: The special-shaped block (52) is designed to be arc-shaped.

4. The linear evaporation device for improving film thickness uniformity according to claim 2, characterized in that: The moving direction of the moving component (51) on the baffle (3) is parallel to the moving direction of the substrate (1).

5. The linear evaporation device for improving film thickness uniformity according to claim 2, characterized in that: A plurality of point sources (4) are arranged in sequence, and the arrangement direction of the point sources (4) is perpendicular to the movement direction of the substrate (1).

6. The linear evaporation device for improving film thickness uniformity according to claim 5, characterized in that: A plurality of special-shaped blocks (52) are arranged in sequence, and the arrangement direction of the special-shaped blocks (52) is parallel to the arrangement direction of the point sources (4).

7. The linear evaporation device for improving film thickness uniformity according to claim 6, characterized in that: The distance between adjacent special-shaped blocks (52) is equal to the distance between adjacent point sources (4).

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