Metal mask plate and fabrication method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10604833-B2
Application number	US-201615510464-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2016
Priority date	Jan 6, 2016
Publication date	Mar 31, 2020
Grant date	Mar 31, 2020

Abstract

A metal mask plate and a fabrication method thereof. The metal mask plate has a first main surface and a second main surface opposite to each other, the metal mask plate includes: a plurality of panel-defining regions spaced apart; and a main frame portion. In each of the panel-defining regions, a plurality of via holes configured for defining a pixel structure are arranged in a matrix, and each of the via holes communicates the first main surface and the second main surface of the metal mask plate, side walls of every two adjacent via holes are directly connected with each other on the second main surface of the metal mask plate so that the metal mask plate between the two adjacent via holes (101) in the panel-defining region has a thickness D1. The main frame portion of the metal mask plate has a second thickness D2, and the first thickness D1 and the second thickness D2 satisfy |D1−D2|/D1≤20%. Thus, a wrinkle and deformation caused by the difference of the thicknesses during unfolding can be effectively avoid, so as to further effectively improve quality of the OLED display product fabricated by adopting the fine metal mask plate.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A metal mask plate configured for fabricating an organic light-emitting display panel, having a first main surface and a second main surface opposite to each other, the metal mask plate comprising:
a plurality of panel-defining regions spaced apart; and
a main frame portion, surrounding each of the panel-defining regions and connecting the plurality of panel-defining regions,
wherein, in each of the panel-defining regions, a plurality of via holes configured for defining a pixel structure are arranged in a matrix, and each of the via holes communicates the first main surface and the second main surface of the metal mask plate, side walls of every two adjacent via holes are directly contacted and connected with each other on the second main surface of the metal mask plate so that a vertical distance between the first main surface and the second main surface of the metal mask plate between the two adjacent via holes in the panel-defining region defines a first thickness D 1 , a vertical distance between the first main surface and the second main surface of the main frame portion defines a second thickness D 2 , and the first thickness D 1 and the second thickness D 2 satisfy |D 1 −D 2 |/D 1 ≤20%, and
wherein, the metal mask plate further comprises: a bonding portion provided coplanar with the main frame portion and connected with at least two opposite sides of the main frame portion, the bonding portion being configured for unfolded fixing the metal mask plate onto a support mechanism, and a thickness of the bonding portion being equal to the second thickness D 2 of the main frame portion.

2. The metal mask plate according to claim 1 , wherein, the first thickness D 1 is equal to the second thickness D 2 .

3. The metal mask plate according to claim 1 , wherein, both the first thickness D 1 and the second thickness D 2 are within a range of 5 μm to 40 μm.

4. The metal mask plate according to claim 3 , wherein, both the first thickness D 1 and the second thickness D 2 are within a range of 10 μm to 25 μm.

5. The metal mask plate according to claim 1 , wherein, each of the via holes in the metal mask plate forms a first opening and a second opening on the first main surface and the second main surface of the metal mask plate respectively, and an area of the second opening is larger than an area of the first opening.

6. The metal mask plate according to claim 5 , wherein, each of the via holes is formed by a first sub-via hole on a first main surface side and a second sub-via hole on a second main surface side which are coincided and communicated, and in a direction perpendicular to the metal mask plate and from the second main surface to the first main surface, a hole diameter of the first sub-via hole gradually increases and a hole diameter of the second sub-via hole gradually decreases.

7. A fabrication method of the metal mask plate according to claim 1 , comprising steps of:
providing a metal substrate, having a first main surface side and a second main surface side opposite to each other, wherein, the metal substrate is divided into a plurality of panel-defining regions spaced a part and a main frame region surrounding each of the panel-defining regions and connecting the plurality of panel-defining regions;
forming a plurality of via holes communicating the first main surface side and the second main surface side of the metal substrate in the metal substrate; and
adjusting a thickness of the main frame region of the metal substrate,
wherein, in each of the panel-defining regions, the plurality of via holes are configured for defining a pixel structure and are arranged in a matrix, and side walls of every two adjacent via holes are directly contacted and connected with each other on the second main surface side of the metal substrate so that a thickness D 1 defined by a vertical distance between the first main surface and the second main surface of the metal substrate between the two adjacent via holes is formed to be smaller than a thickness D 1 ′ defined by the panel-defining region when the via holes begins to be formed, and a thickness of the main frame region of the metal substrate is adjusted so that a thickness D 2 defined by a vertical distance between the first main surface and the second main surface of the main frame region after adjustment satisfies |D 1 −D 2 |/D 1 ≤20%,
the fabrication method further comprising:
providing a bonding portion coplanar with the main frame portion and connected with at least two opposite sides of the main frame portion, the bonding portion being configured for unfolded fixing the metal mask plate onto a support mechanism, and a thickness of the bonding portion being equal to the second thickness D 2 of the main frame portion.

8. The fabrication method according to claim 7 , wherein, the thickness D 2 of the main frame region after adjustment satisfies |D 1 −D 2 |/D 1 ≤5%.

9. The fabrication method according to claim 8 , wherein, the thickness D 2 of the main frame region after adjustment is equal to the thickness D 1 of the metal substrate between two adjacent via holes.

10. The fabrication method according to claim 7 , wherein, an original thickness of the panel-defining region is equal to an original thickness of the main frame region, and both are larger than or equal to 30 microns.

11. The fabrication method of the metal mask plate according to claim 7 , wherein, the thickness D 1 of the metal substrate between every two adjacent via holes is formed to be 33% to 75% of the thickness D 1 ′ of the panel-defining region when the via hole begins to be formed.

12. The fabrication method according to claim 7 , wherein, the step of adjusting a thickness of the main frame region of the metal substrate is performed by thinning the main frame portion of the metal substrate, after forming a plurality of via holes communicating the first main surface side and the second main surface side of the metal substrate in the metal substrate, so that the main frame region has the thickness D 2 after the thinning.

13. The fabrication method according to claim 7 , wherein, the main frame region is adjusted to have the thickness D 2 before formation of the plurality of via holes.

14. The fabrication method according to claim 7 , wherein, the via hole forms a first opening and a second opening respectively on the first main surface and the second main surface of the metal substrate, and an area of the second opening is larger than an area of the first opening.

15. The fabrication method according to claim 14 , wherein, the plurality of via holes is formed by a chemical solution double-face etching method.

16. The fabrication method according to claim 15 , wherein, each of the via holes is formed by coinciding and communicating a first sub-via hole on the first main surface side and a second sub-via hole on the second main surface side, and in a direction perpendicular to the metal mask plate and from the second main surface to the first main surface, a hole diameter of the first sub-via hole gradually increases and a hole diameter of the second sub-via hole gradually decreases.

17. The fabrication method of the metal mask plate according to claim 7 , further comprising steps of:
obtaining a target thickness D 1 0 defined by a vertical distance between the first main surface and the second main surface of the metal mask plate between two adjacent via holes in the panel-defining region; and
providing a metal substrate to form the metal mask plate, wherein a portion of the metal substrate for forming the main frame

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd
• Ordos Yuansheng Optoelectronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Bai Shanshan

Classifications

• C23C14/24

  Vacuum evaporation · CPC title

• C23C14/042 Primary

  using masks · CPC title

• C23F1/14

  Aqueous compositions · CPC title

• H01L51/0011

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10K71/166

  using selective deposition, e.g. using a mask · CPC title