Organic layer deposition assembly, organic layer deposition apparatus, organic light-emitting display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9570714-B2
Application number	US-201313794659-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2013
Priority date	Aug 3, 2012
Publication date	Feb 14, 2017
Grant date	Feb 14, 2017

Abstract

An organic layer deposition assembly, an organic layer deposition apparatus, an organic light-emitting display apparatus, and a method of manufacturing the organic light-emitting display apparatus, in order to improve a characteristic of a deposited layer, the organic layer deposition assembly including a deposition source for discharging a deposition material; a deposition source nozzle unit disposed at a side of the deposition source, and including a plurality of deposition source nozzles; and a patterning slit sheet disposed while facing the deposition source nozzle unit, and including a plurality of patterning slits and one or more alignment confirmation pattern slits that are formed at edge portions of the plurality of patterning slits, wherein the deposition material that is discharged from the deposition source passes through the patterning slit sheet and then is formed on the substrate, while a deposition process is performed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An organic layer deposition apparatus comprising a plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies for depositing deposition materials on a substrate, each of the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies comprising:
a deposition source for discharging a deposition material of the deposition materials;
a deposition source nozzle unit disposed at a side of the deposition source, the deposition source nozzle unit comprising a plurality of deposition source nozzles; and
a patterning slit sheet facing the deposition source nozzle unit, the patterning slit sheet comprising a plurality of patterning slits and one or more alignment confirmation pattern slits at an outer region of the patterning slit sheet surrounding the plurality of patterning slits, each patterning slit of the plurality of patterning slits having a first length extending along a direction and each alignment confirmation pattern slit of the one or more alignment confirmation pattern slits having a second length extending along the direction, the second length being less than the first length, wherein the one or more alignment confirmation pattern slits in each of the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies are aligned along the direction with the one or more alignment confirmation pattern slits in each of the other plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies, and wherein the one or more alignment confirmation pattern slits in each of the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies are located at different positions along the direction relative to the plurality of patterning slits of the respective patterning slit sheet;
wherein the deposition source is configured to discharge the deposition material to pass through the plurality of patterning slit sheets and then on the substrate, while a deposition process is performed.

2. The organic layer deposition apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, when the plurality of patterning slit sheets are aligned with respect to the substrate so as to deposit the deposition material on the substrate, the one or more alignment confirmation pattern slits, which are formed at the plurality of patterning slit sheets, respectively, do not overlap with each other.

3. The organic layer deposition apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, while the substrate sequentially passes through the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies, the plurality of patterning slit sheets are configured to deposit different deposition materials on the substrate, respectively, and
wherein the one or more alignment confirmation pattern slits at the plurality of patterning slit sheets are configured to form alignment confirmation patterns on the substrate.

4. The organic layer deposition apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a conveyer unit comprising a transfer unit configured to fix the substrate thereto and to move along with the substrate, a first conveyer unit for moving in a first direction the transfer unit on which the substrate is fixed, and a second conveyer unit for moving in a direction opposite to the first direction the transfer unit from which the substrate is separated after deposition has been completed;
a loading unit for fixing the substrate on the transfer unit;
a chamber maintained in a vacuum state and in which the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies are disposed; and
an unloading unit for separating, from the transfer unit, the substrate on which the deposition has been completed while passing through the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies,
wherein the transfer unit is configured to cyclically move between the first conveyer unit and the second conveyer unit, and
wherein the substrate fixed on the transfer unit is configured to be spaced apart from the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies by a set distance while being transferred by the first conveyer unit.

5. The organic layer deposition apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the first conveyer unit and the second conveyer unit are configured to pass through the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies in the chamber.

6. The organic layer deposition apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the first conveyer unit and the second conveyer unit are arranged above and below each other.

7. The organic layer deposition apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the first conveyer unit is configured to sequentially convey the transfer unit to the loading unit, the chamber, and the unloading unit.

8. The organic layer deposition apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the second conveyer unit is configured to sequentially convey the transfer unit to the unloading unit, the chamber, and the loading unit.

9. A method of manufacturing at least one organic layer of an organic light-emitting display apparatus using the organic layer deposition apparatus of claim 1 , the method comprising:
passing the substrate sequentially through the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies;
discharging the deposition materials sequentially from the deposition sources of the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies, wherein the deposition material that is discharged from each of the deposition sources passes through the plurality of patterning slits in one of the patterning slit sheets and is deposited onto the substrate to form the at least one organic layer; and
forming alignment confirmation patterns having the deposition material on the substrate by the discharging the deposition materials, the deposition material discharged from each of the deposition sources passing through the one or more alignment confirmation pattern slits in one of the patterning slit sheets when the at least one organic layer is formed, the alignment confirmation patterns being aligned and spaced apart from each other on the substrate when the organic layer deposition apparatus is properly aligned.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the at least one organic layer that is formed by using the organic layer deposition apparatus is one layer comprised in an intermediate layer of the at least one organic layer.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein, while the substrate sequentially passes through the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies, different deposition materials are deposited on the substrate via the plurality of patterning slit sheets, respectively.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the forming of the at least one organic layer comprises:
fixing the substrate to a transfer unit by using a loading unit;
moving the transfer unit on which the substrate is fixed to a chamber, by using a first conveyer unit mounted to pass through the chamber;
when the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies are in the chamber, and the substrate and the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies in the chamber are spaced apart by a set distance, forming the at least one organic layer in a manner that, while the substrate relatively moves with respect to the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies, deposition materials discharged from the plurality of organic layer deposition assemblies are deposited on the substrate;
separating, from the transfer unit, the substrate on which the deposition has been completed, by using an unloading unit; and
moving the transfer unit, from which the substrate is separated, to the loading unit by using a second conveyer unit mounted to pass through the chamber.

Assignees

• Samsung Display Co Ltd
• Samsung Display Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Myung-Ki
• Lee Sung-Bong
• Jeong Dong-Seob
• Kim Mu-Hyun

Classifications

• H10K71/00

  Manufacture or treatment specially adapted for the organic devices covered by this subclass · CPC title

• C23C14/042 Primary

  using masks · CPC title

• H01L51/0011

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L51/52

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L51/56 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic