The application claims priority of Chinese patent application No. 201720572004.6 filed with the SIPO on May 22, 2017, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference as part of the present application.
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an evaporation apparatus.
With the development of display technology, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display has gained attentions, increasingly, for its advantageous such as self-luminance, wide viewing angle, high resolution ratio, low power consumption and quick reaction speed.
The OLED is a light-emitting element including a plurality of types of functional layers which are stacked one on another. Currently, a manufacturing method of the OLED includes an evaporation process. That is, the functional layer of the OLED, e.g., an organic light-emitting layer, is evaporated by utilizing the evaporation process.
An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an evaporation apparatus. The evaporation apparatus includes an evaporation source, an inner plate, an outer plate and a driving device. The evaporation source includes at least one evaporation hole; the inner plate is located at two sides of the evaporation hole; the outer plate is disposed at a side of the inner plate away from the evaporation hole; the driving device is connected to the outer plate, and is configured to drive the outer plate so as to adjust an evaporation range. At least one embodiment of the present disclosure provides an evaporation apparatus, including an operation platform; an evaporation source on the operation platform; an inner plate on at least one side of the evaporation source, the inner plate being configured to detect an evaporation rate of the evaporation source and fixedly connected to the evaporation source; an outer plate on a side of the inner plate away from the evaporation source, the outer plate being configured to adjust an evaporation range.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, the inner plate and the outer plate are at two opposite sides of the evaporation source, respectively.
For example, the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure further includes a driving device; the driving device is connected to the outer plate and is configured to drive the outer plate to adjust the evaporation range.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, the driving device includes a lifting device; the lifting device is configured to drive the outer plate to move in a direction away from the operation platform so as to change a height of the outer plate with respect to the operation platform.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, the driving device includes a lifting device; the lifting device is configured to drive the outer plate to move in a direction away from the operation platform.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, the driving device includes a rotating device; the outer plate includes: a main body part at a side of the inner plate away from the evaporation source, the main body and the inner plate both extend along a direction perpendicular to the operation platform, an end of the main body part away from the evaporation source extends beyond an end of the inner plate away from the evaporation source; and a rotating part, an end of the rotating part is hinged with the end of the main body part away from the evaporation source, the rotating device is configured to drive the rotating part to rotate towards a direction close to the evaporation source and a direction away from the evaporation source.
For example, the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure further includes a film thickness detector; the film thickness detector is at least partly disposed inside the inner plate and is configured to detect an evaporation rate of the evaporation apparatus.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, the film thickness detector includes a piezoelectric sensor.
For example, the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure further includes a controller; the controller is communicatively connected to the film thickness detector and the driving device, respectively, and is configured to control the driving device according to an evaporation rate detected by the film thickness detector.
For example, the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure further includes a cooling device; the cooling device is disposed inside the inner plate and is configured to cool the film thickness detector.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, the cooling device includes a cooling liquid pipeline.
For example, the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure further includes an electrical circuit; the electrical circuit is disposed inside the inner plate and is connected to the film thickness detector.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electrical circuit includes at least one of a power supply line and a signal transmission line.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, a first surface of the inner plate facing the outer plate is disposed to be in contact with a second surface of the outer plate facing the inner plate.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, an end of the inner plate away from the evaporation source includes a first inclined surface biased to a side of the inner plate close to the evaporation source.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, an end of the outer plate away from the evaporation source includes a second inclined surface biased to a side of the outer plate close to the evaporation source.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, the evaporation source includes a plurality of evaporation holes, the plurality of evaporation holes are arranged in a line on the evaporation source.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, the evaporation source includes a plurality of evaporation holes, the plurality of evaporation holes are arranged in a line on the evaporation source; the evaporation apparatus includes a plurality of film thickness detectors, the plurality of film thickness detectors are disposed in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of evaporation holes.
Hereinafter, in order to clearly describe technical solutions of the embodiments in the present disclosure in a better way, the drawings of the embodiments will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings to be described below merely relate to some embodiments of the present disclosure without any limitation to the present disclosure.
Hereinafter, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly, completely described with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the embodiments described are only a part of the embodiments, not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by one skilled in the art without paying inventive labor are within the protection scope of the present disclosure.
Unless otherwise defined, all the technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs. The terms “first,” “second,” etc., which are used in the present disclosure, are not intended to indicate any sequence, amount or importance, but distinguish various components. The phrases “comprise(s)” and “include(s)” etc., refer to that, an element or an object preceding this phrase encompasses element(s) or object(s) listed following this phrase, and equivalents thereof, without excluding the existence of other element(s) or object(s). The phrases “connect”, “connected”, etc., are not intended to define a physical connection or mechanical connection, but may include an electrical connection, directly or indirectly.
In study, inventors of the present application found that, in order to improve a performance of the OLED such as a capability of injecting and transmitting carriers, a luminous efficiency and a device lifetime, and also to manufacture OLED devices with different properties, it needs to adjust thicknesses of different functional layers in the OLED. Generally, a method of raising and lowering a temperature is adopted to change an evaporation rate of the evaporation source, so as to adjust a thickness of the functional layer to be formed. However, raising and lowering the temperature cost a relatively longer time, which may result in huge losses. Moreover, in an ordinary evaporation apparatus, electrical circuits such as signal transmission lines and control lines are all arranged as exposed lines, and involve problems such as a damage resulted by baking under high temperature and a sticking of evaporated material.
An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an evaporation apparatus. The evaporation apparatus includes an operation platform; an evaporation source on the operation platform; an inner plate; and an outer plate. The inner plate is on at least one side of the evaporation source, configured to be able to detect an evaporation rate of the evaporation source, and fixedly connected to the evaporation source. The outer plate is on a side of the inner plate away from the evaporation source and is adjacent to the inner plate; the outer plate is able to adjust an evaporation range. In this way, the evaporation apparatus can adjust an evaporation rate of the evaporation apparatus by adjusting the evaporation range of the evaporation source, so as to adjust a thickness of a film layer to be formed by evaporation, thereby achieving a quick adjustment of the thickness of the film layer to be formed by evaporation and improving a production efficiency.
Hereinafter the evaporation apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in conjunction with the drawings.
An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an evaporation apparatus.
In the evaporation apparatus provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the outer plate can limit the evaporation range of the evaporation source, e.g., the outer plate can move in a direction perpendicular to the operation platform, so as to change the evaporation range of the evaporation source. For example, given a same amount of evaporation material, when the evaporation range of the evaporation source is expanded, the evaporation material would be evaporated over a larger range, resulting in a reduced evaporation rate of the evaporation apparatus; when the evaporation range of the evaporation source is narrowed, the evaporation material would be evaporated over a smaller range, resulting in an increased evaporation rate of the evaporation apparatus. In this way, the evaporation apparatus can adjust the evaporation range of the evaporation source by driving the outer plate through the driving device, so as to be able to adjust the evaporation rate of the evaporation apparatus. By adjusting the evaporation rate of the evaporation apparatus, the thickness of the film layer to be formed by evaporation can be adjusted, so as to achieve quick adjustment of the thickness of the film layer to be formed by evaporation, thereby improving the production efficiency. It should be explained that, the evaporation rate mentioned above refers to an amount of evaporation material deposited on a unit area within a unit time period by the evaporation apparatus.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in
For example, in some examples, as illustrated in
In the evaporation apparatus provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the outer plate can limit the evaporation range of the evaporation source, e.g., the outer plate can move in a direction perpendicular to the operation platform, so as to change the evaporation range of the evaporation source. For example, given a same amount of evaporation material, when the evaporation range of the evaporation source is expanded, the evaporation material would be evaporated over a larger range, resulting in a reduced evaporation rate of the evaporation apparatus; when the evaporation range of the evaporation source is narrowed, the evaporation material would be evaporated over a smaller range, resulting in an increased evaporation rate of the evaporation apparatus. In this way, the evaporation apparatus can adjust the evaporation range of the evaporation source by driving the outer plate through the driving device, so as to be able to adjust the evaporation rate of the evaporation apparatus. By adjusting the evaporation rate of the evaporation apparatus, the thickness of the film layer to be formed by evaporation can be adjusted, so as to achieve quick adjustment of the thickness of the film layer to be formed by evaporation, thereby improving the production efficiency. It should be explained that, the evaporation rate mentioned above refers to an amount of evaporation material deposited on a unit area within a unit time period by the evaporation apparatus.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by the present embodiment, as illustrated in
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in
For example, the lifting device can include an air cylinder or a hydraulic device. Of course, the embodiments of the present disclosure include but not limited thereto, and the lifting device can also adopt other common structures, for example, the lifting device can realize ascending and descending movement by a lead screw and an electric motor.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in
For example, the film thickness detector can include a piezoelectric sensor. In this way, the film thickness detector can determine the evaporation rate of the evaporation apparatus according to a weight of evaporation material deposited onto the piezoelectric sensor within a unit time period. Of course, the embodiments of the present disclosure include but not limited thereto, and the film thickness detector can also adopt other structures and sensors to realize the detection of the evaporation rate of the evaporation apparatus.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in
For example, the cooling device includes a cooling liquid pipeline. The film thickness detector is cooled by circulating the cooling liquid. For example, the cooling liquid can be water. Of course, the embodiments of the present disclosure include but not limited thereto, and the film thickness detector can also be cooled by adopting forced air cooling and other methods.
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in
For example, in the evaporation apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in
For example, as illustrated in
For example, as illustrated in
An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an evaporation apparatus.
It should be noted that, the driving device can also include both of the lifting device and the rotating device to drive the outer plate to perform ascending and descending movement and drive the rotating part to rotate, so as to jointly adjust the evaporation range of the evaporation source.
For example,
The following statements should be noted:
(1) The accompanying drawings of the embodiments of the present disclosure involve only the structure(s) in connection with the embodiment(s) of the present disclosure, and other structure(s) can be referred to common design(s).
(2) In case of no conflict, features in one embodiment or in different embodiments of the present disclosure can be combined.
The foregoing are merely specific embodiments of the invention, but not limitative to the protection scope of the invention. Within the technical scope disclosed by the present disclosure, any alternations or replacements which can be readily envisaged by one skilled in the art shall be within the protection scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the protection scope of the invention shall be defined by the accompanying claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201720572004.6 | May 2017 | CN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2017/116463 | 12/15/2017 | WO | 00 |