Gas cushion apparatus and techniques for substrate coating

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11338319-B2
Application number	US-201916553909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2019
Priority date	Apr 30, 2014
Publication date	May 24, 2022
Grant date	May 24, 2022

Abstract

A method of forming a material layer on a substrate comprises loading a substrate into a printing zone of a coating system using a substrate handler, printing an organic ink material on a substrate while the substrate is located in the printing zone, transferring the substrate from the printing zone to a treatment zone of the coating system, treating the organic ink material deposited on the substrate in the treatment zone to form a film layer on the substrate, and removing the substrate from the treatment zone using the substrate handler.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a material layer on a substrate, the method comprising:
loading a substrate into a printing zone of a coating system using a substrate handler;
printing an organic ink material on a substrate while the substrate is located in the printing zone;
transferring the substrate from the printing zone to a treatment zone of the coating system using a conveyance system separate from the substrate handler;
treating the organic ink material deposited on the substrate in the treatment zone to form a film layer on the substrate; and
removing the substrate from the treatment zone using the substrate handler.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the removing of the substrate comprises grasping or clamping the substrate via the substrate handler.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the removing of the substrate comprises applying a vacuum force to the substrate via the substrate handler.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the removing of the substrate using the substrate handler comprises moving the substrate handler along a track.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the removing of the substrate using the substrate handler comprises moving an end effector of the substrate handler in one or more degrees of freedom relative to an arm of the substrate handler.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising after removing the substrate from the treatment zone, loading the substrate into a second coating system using the substrate handler, the second coating system comprising a second printing zone and a second treatment zone.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
printing a second organic ink material on the substrate while the substrate is located in the second printing zone; and
treating the second organic ink material deposited on the substrate in the second treatment zone to form a second film layer on the substrate, the film layer being a first film layer that differs from the second film layer.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate handler is located within a transfer module, the method further comprising holding the substrate in the transfer module at least one of before and after printing the organic ink material on the substrate.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising controlling a temperature of the transfer module while the substrate is held in the transfer module.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising maintaining a level of one or more reactive species within the transfer module to be about 100 ppm or lower.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after treating the organic ink material in the treatment zone:
loading the substrate into a transfer module, the substrate handler located within the transfer module, and
removing the substrate from the transfer module using a second substrate handler.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising supporting the substrate with a gas cushion during each of the printing, transferring, and treating steps.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the organic ink material is deposited on a first side of the substrate and the gas cushion is provided to a second side of the substrate, the first side being opposite of the second side.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the film layer comprises at least a portion of an encapsulation structure, and the organic ink material is printed over an electronic device on the substrate.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein treating the organic ink material in the treatment zone comprises exposing the organic ink material to an ultraviolet (UV) light.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein treating the organic ink material in the treatment zone comprises at least one of drying, baking, and chemically reacting the organic ink material.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising holding the substrate in a holding zone at least one of before and after printing the organic ink material on the substrate.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising moving the substrate in a U-shaped route when transferring the substrate between the printing zone, the holding zone, and the treatment zone.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the holding zone comprises a plurality of holding regions in a stacked arrangement, the method further comprising moving a first holding region of the plurality of holding regions to selectively align the first holding region in a same plane with the printing zone.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the holding zone comprises a plurality of holding regions on a rotatable platform, the method further comprising rotating the platform to selectively align a first holding region of the plurality of holding regions with the printing zone.

21. A method of forming a material layer on a substrate, the method comprising:
loading a substrate into a printing zone of a coating system using a substrate handler;
printing an organic ink material on the substrate while the substrate is located in the printing zone;
transferring the substrate from the printing zone to a treatment zone of the coating system;
treating the organic ink material deposited on the substrate in the treatment zone to form a film layer on the substrate;
transferring the substrate to a transfer module using a substrate handler located within the transfer module;
removing the substrate from the transfer module using a second substrate handler;
removing the substrate from the treatment zone using the substrate handler; and
supporting the substrate on a gas cushion while printing, transferring and treating the substrate.

Assignees

• Kateeva Inc

Inventors

• Ko Alexander Sou-Kang
• Mauck Justin
• Vronsky Eliyahu
• Madigan Conor F
• Rabinovich Eugene
• Harjee Nahid
• Buchner Christopher
• Lewis Gregory

Classifications

• H10P72/3602

  with angular orientation of the workpieces · CPC title

• H10P72/3314

  Continuous loading and unloading into and out of a processing chamber, e.g. transporting belts within processing chambers · CPC title

• H10P72/3306

  Horizontal transfer of a single workpiece · CPC title

• H10P72/0612

  Production flow monitoring, e.g. for increasing throughput · CPC title

• H10P72/0606

  Position monitoring, e.g. misposition detection or presence detection · CPC title