Division Mask Clamping Portion Wave Suppression
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Solution Overview
Problem
In the manufacturing of OLED display devices, fine metal masks (FMMs) face challenges in maintaining patterning accuracy due to wave generation during the deposition process, which affects the efficiency of light emission and the overall quality of the thin film formation.
Innovation Solution
A division mask with a main body and a clamping portion having a fan-out portion and branch portions with specific angles and widths is designed, featuring a dummy pattern and a joint portion, which helps in suppressing wave generation by distributing tensile forces uniformly, thereby improving patterning accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a conventional fine metal mask is used during deposition, then the mask structure is simple, but wave generation occurs during deposition which reduces patterning accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The mask is divided into a main body portion containing the opening pattern and a separate clamping portion with dummy patterns. This segmentation allows the dummy patterns to be positioned specifically at the clamping region to suppress waves without interfering with the functional opening patterns, thereby improving patterning accuracy while managing structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Dummy patterns are introduced as intermediary elements in the clamping portion of the mask. These dummy patterns do not perform the primary function of defining the opening pattern but serve as mediators to suppress wave generation during deposition, thereby protecting the patterning accuracy of the functional opening patterns.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the mask width is increased to reduce waves, then wave suppression improves, but the mask becomes more prone to deformation due to increased weight
Solution Approach 1:
The mask structure implements local quality by concentrating the dummy patterns specifically in the clamping portion rather than uniformly across the entire mask. This localized approach provides wave suppression where it is most needed (at the clamping region) without uniformly increasing the mask's weight and deformation risk across the entire structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution addresses wave suppression not by increasing the mask width in the planar dimension, but by adding functional elements (dummy patterns) in the pattern dimension. This allows wave suppression through increased pattern complexity rather than increased physical size, avoiding the strength-degradation issue.
3Manufacturing precision
If dummy patterns are added to suppress waves, then patterning accuracy improves, but the mask design complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mask is segmented into functional regions (main body with opening patterns) and non-functional regions (clamping portion with dummy patterns). This segmentation allows dummy patterns to be added for wave suppression without complicating the design of the functional opening patterns, as they are designed independently in separate regions.
Solution Approach 2:
The dummy patterns are simple copies or replicas of the opening patterns, placed in the clamping portion. This copying approach allows the use of standard pattern design processes without requiring complex new designs, thereby limiting the increase in design complexity while still achieving wave suppression.
Data Source
AI summary
A division mask includes a main body including at least one opening pattern, and a clamping portion at an edge of the main body, the clamping portion having an increasing width with respect to an increasing distance from the main body, and the clamping portion including a fan-out portion extending from the main body and including at least one dummy pattern, and at least one branch portion having a decreasing width with respect to an increasing distance from the fan-out portion.