Vacuum deposition apparatus and vapor deposition method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10081860-B2
Application number	US-201615511577-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2016
Priority date	Jun 30, 2015
Publication date	Sep 25, 2018
Grant date	Sep 25, 2018

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to the field of display technology, particularly to a vacuum deposition apparatus and a vapor deposition method. The vacuum deposition apparatus includes a vacuum chamber and a rotary base, an evaporation source, and a plurality of vapor deposition zones arranged in series from bottom to top in the vacuum chamber, wherein the shape of the rotary base is a Reuleaux triangle, and the trajectories of movement of its vertices in the horizontal plane is a rounded square, the vapor deposition zones are arranged at intervals along the trajectories of movement of the vertices of the rotary base, the evaporation source is driven by the rotary base to pass below the vapor deposition zones sequentially, so that the evaporation source can be used to perform the vapor deposition operation in multiple directions simultaneously, thus improving the uniformity of film formation and utilization of the evaporation material.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vacuum deposition apparatus comprising:
a vacuum chamber; and
a rotary base, an evaporation source, and a plurality of substrates to be vapor deposited in the vacuum chamber;
wherein a shape of the rotary base is a Reuleaux triangle,
wherein trajectories of movement of vertices of the rotary base in a first horizontal plane form a rounded square, and the substrates are arranged in series in a second horizontal plane at intervals along the trajectories,
wherein a base guide rail having a rounded square shape is located on an outer side of the rotary base, and the vertices are slidably connected to the base guide rail respectively, and
wherein the evaporation source is moved from a center of the rotary base to a vertex of the vertices and driven by the rotary base to pass below the substrates sequentially.

2. The vacuum deposition apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein an evaporation source guide rail extends between the center and a vertex of the rotary base, and the evaporation source is slidable along a direction of the evaporation source guide rail.

3. The vacuum deposition apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the evaporation source is of a point source type.

4. The vacuum deposition apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the evaporation source is of a line source type, wherein a turret is provided below the evaporation source, and wherein the turret is used to drive the evaporation source to be always perpendicular to the base guide rail during a vapor deposition process.

5. The vacuum deposition apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a crystal sensor and a baffle plate, wherein the crystal sensor is disposed obliquely with respect to an opening direction of the evaporation source to detect the evaporation rate of the evaporation source, and wherein the baffle plate is located between the crystal sensor and the evaporation source.

6. The vacuum deposition apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a vacuum pump connected to the vacuum chamber through an air suction duct.

7. The vacuum deposition apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a driving device configured to drive the rotary base to rotate.

8. The vacuum deposition apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the evaporation source comprises a plurality of evaporation sources.

9. A vapor deposition method for a vacuum deposition apparatus according to claim 1 , comprising:
loading an evaporation material into the evaporation source and causing the evaporation source to be at the center of the rotary base;
moving the evaporation source, an evaporation rate of which is stabilized, to a vertex position of the rotary base, and placing the plurality of substrates to be vapor deposited respectively in a plurality of vapor deposition zones, wherein i) no substrate is placed in one of the vapor deposition zones corresponding to and above the evaporation source, or ii) no corresponding vapor deposition zone is above the evaporation source; and
starting the rotary base so that the evaporation source passes through each of the vapor deposition zones sequentially to carry out a vapor deposition operation on the plurality of substrates to be vapor-deposited in different directions during the same vapor deposition operation, and then removing a substrate that has completed vapor deposition.

10. The vapor deposition method according to claim 9 , further comprising, after removing the substrate that has completed vapor deposition, placing a new substrate to be vapor-deposited.

11. The vapor deposition method according to claim 9 , wherein the vacuum deposition apparatus includes at least one additional evaporation source, and wherein the method further comprises:
for the at least one additional evaporation source, an evaporation rate of which is stabilized after the evaporation source, moving the at least one additional evaporation source to a corresponding vertex on the rotary base when the corresponding vertex of the rotary base is located in a gap between two vapor deposition zones, until all the evaporation sources are involved in the deposition operation.

12. The vapor deposition method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
if the evaporation rate of the evaporation source is unstable during the vapor deposition operation, controlling the evaporation source to be moved to the center of the rotary base for maintenance when the evaporation source is rotated into a gap between two vapor deposition zones; and
when the evaporation rate of the evaporation source is stabilized and the vertex of the rotary base corresponding to the evaporation source is located in the gap between two vapor deposition zones, moving the evaporation source to the vertex of the rotary base to perform the vapor deposition operation.

13. A vapor deposition method for a vacuum deposition apparatus according to claim 2 , comprising:
loading an evaporation material into the evaporation source and causing the evaporation source to be at the center of a rotary base;
moving the evaporation source, an evaporation rate of which is stabilized, to a vertex position of the rotary base, and placing the plurality of substrates to be vapor deposited respectively in a plurality of vapor deposition zones, wherein i) no substrate is placed in one of the vapor deposition zones corresponding to and above the evaporation source, or ii) no corresponding vapor deposition zone is above the evaporation source; and
starting the rotary base so that the evaporation source passes through each of the vapor deposition zones sequentially to carry out a vapor deposition operation on the plurality of substrates to be vapor-deposited in different directions during the same vapor deposition operation, and then removing a substrate that has completed vapor deposition.

14. A vapor deposition method for a vacuum deposition apparatus according to claim 3 , comprising:
loading an evaporation material into the evaporation source and causing the evaporation source to be at the center of a rotary base;
moving the evaporation source, an evaporation rate of which is stabilized, to a vertex position of the rotary base, and placing the plurality of substrates to be vapor deposited respectively in a plurality of vapor deposition zones, wherein i) no substrate is placed in one of the vapor deposition zones corresponding to and above the evaporation source, or ii) no corresponding vapor deposition zone is above the evaporation source; and
starting the rotary base so that the evaporation source passes through each of the vapor deposition zones sequentially to carry out a vapor deposition operation on the plurality of substrates to be vapor-deposited in different directions during the same vapor deposition operation, and then removing a substrate that has completed vapor deposition.

15. A vapor deposition method for a vacuum deposition apparatus according to claim 4 , comprising:
loading an evaporation material into the evaporation source and causing the evaporation source to be at the center of a rotary base;
moving the evaporation source, an evaporation rate of which is stabilized, to a vertex position of the rotary base, and placing the plurality of substrates to be vapor deposited respectively in a plurality of vapor deposition zones, wherein i) no substrate is placed in one of the vapor deposition zones corresponding to and above the evaporation source, or ii) no corresponding vapor deposition zone is above the evaporation source; and
starting the rotary base so that the evaporation source passes through each of the vapor deposition zones sequentially to carry

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd
• Hefei Xinsheng Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd
• Hefei Xinsheng Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yao Gu
• Zeng Suwei
• Xu Peng

Classifications

• C23C14/24

  Vacuum evaporation · CPC title

• C23C14/544

  using measurement in the gas phase · CPC title

• C23C14/243 Primary

  Crucibles for source material (C23C14/28, C23C14/30 take precedence) · CPC title

• C23C14/546

  using crystal oscillators · CPC title