This application claims the benefit of priority of Chinese Patent Application No. 201910765171.6, filed on Aug. 19, 2019, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety as part of the present application.
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of display technology, and in particular, to a mask assembly, a manufacturing device and a manufacturing method thereof.
The vapor deposition or evaporation process is one of the important processes for manufacturing the organic light emitting layer of the organic light emitting diode (OLED) display screen. In this process, it is necessary to use a mask assembly with a pattern to form the required pattern on the substrate to be vapor-deposited by vacuum evaporation. The mask assembly comprises a mask frame and a mask. The mask is tensioned and fixed to the mask frame in the stretching step of the process. However, when the mask is tensioned in the stretching step, the mask is often stretched unevenly in different directions, which will cause wrinkles in the mask and seriously affect the quality of the evaporation process.
In view of this, the purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a mask assembly, a manufacturing device and a manufacturing method thereof, which can effectively avoid the wrinkle phenomenon of the mask and improve the quality of the evaporation process.
The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a manufacturing device of mask assembly including at least one mask, comprising: a first stretching mechanism configured to clamp the edges of the mask in a first direction and stretch the mask in a second direction; and a second stretching mechanism configured to clamp the edges of the mask in the second direction and stretch the mask in the first direction; wherein the first direction being perpendicular to the second direction.
Optionally, at least one of the first stretching mechanism and the second stretching mechanism may comprise:
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the clamping unit may comprise a movable clamping jaw, a clamping jaw lifting part and a clamping jaw base; the movable clamping jaw can move along a third direction relative to the clamping jaw base under the driving of the clamping jaw lifting part, and the third direction is perpendicular to both the first direction and the second direction; a space is formed between the movable clamping jaw and the clamping jaw base to receive and clamp the edges of the mask in the first direction or in the second direction.
In an embodiment, the sliding unit may comprise a first sliding rail, a base and a second sliding rail; the first sliding rail extends along the first direction, the second sliding rail extends along the second direction, or vice versa. In other words, the extending direction of the first sliding rail is perpendicular to that of the second sliding rail. The first sliding rail may be fixed to the base, and the clamping unit may be arranged on the first sliding rail; the base may be arranged on the second sliding rail and can slide along the second sliding rail.
In an embodiment, the friction coefficient between the first sliding rail and the clamping unit may be different from that between the second sliding rail and the base.
In an embodiment, the manufacturing device may comprise a plurality of said first stretching mechanisms which arranged at equal intervals along the first direction; and a plurality of said second stretching mechanisms which are arranged at equal intervals along the second direction.
The present disclosure further provides a method of manufacturing a mask assembly, comprising the steps of:
providing the mask assembly including at least one mask;
clamping the edges of a mask of a mask assembly in a first direction by a first stretching mechanism of a manufacturing device of mask assembly, and stretching the mask along a second direction;
clamping the edges of the mask of the mask assembly in the second direction by a second stretching mechanism of the manufacturing device of mask assembly, and stretching the mask along the first direction;
wherein the first direction is perpendicular to the second direction.
In an embodiment, the method may further comprise:
using a plurality of first shielding strips and a plurality of supporting strips to form a grid holder on the mask frame;
sandwiching the mask between two adjacent first shielding strips;
wherein the plurality of first shielding strips may arranged in parallel in the first direction, the plurality of supporting strips may be arranged in parallel in the second direction, or vice versa, wherein the extending direction of the first shielding strips is perpendicular to that of the supporting strips.
In an embodiment, the method may further comprise:
fixing the edges of the mask parallel to and adjacent to the first shielding strips with the first shielding strips, after the mask being stretched and tensioned along the first direction and the second direction.
In an embodiment, the method may further comprise:
cutting the edges of the mask fixed with the first shielding strips to expose at least a portion of the first shielding strip;
arranging a second shielding strip at a gap between adjacent masks;
fixing the second shielding strip with the exposed portion of the corresponding first shielding strip.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further comprise:
carrying out a pre-deformation treatment on a light-transmitting region of the mask.
The present disclosure also provides a mask assembly manufactured by the above manufacturing method.
In an embodiment, the mask assembly may comprise a mask frame, a plurality of first shielding strips, a plurality of supporting strips and at least one mask; the plurality of first shielding strips and the plurality of supporting strips may form a grid holder, wherein the grid holder is disposed on the mask frame; the mask may be sandwiched between two adjacent first shielding strips; the plurality of first shielding strips are arranged in parallel along a first direction, the plurality of supporting strips are arranged in parallel along the second direction, or vice versa, wherein the extending direction of the first shielding strips is perpendicular to the extending direction of the supporting strips.
In an embodiment, the edges of the mask parallel to and adjacent to the first shielding strips are fixed with the first shielding strips, after the mask being stretched and tensioned in the first direction and the second direction.
In an embodiment, the mask assembly may further comprise a second shielding strip; the edges of the mask fixed with the first shielding strips are cut to expose at least a portion of the first shielding strips, the second shielding strip is disposed at a gap between adjacent masks, and fixed with the exposed portion of the corresponding first shielding strip.
In an embodiment, the mask of the mask assembly has a pre-deformed light-transmitting region.
As can be seen from the above, the mask assembly, the manufacturing device and the manufacturing method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure can, by stretching the mask in two directions, effectively reduce mask wrinkles, make the magnetic force bond between the magnetic plate of the evaporation device and the mask more tightly, reduce the gap between the substrate to be vapor-deposited and the mask, and reduce shadowing effect, improper color mixing and etc.
In order to explain the embodiments of the present disclosure or the technical solutions in the prior art more clearly, the drawings needed in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be outlined. Obviously, the drawings in the following description only relate to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to these drawings without creative efforts.
In order to make the object, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure clearer, the present disclosure will be described in further detail below in association with specific embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings.
It should be noted that, all expressions using “first” and “second” in the embodiments of the present disclosure are intended to distinguish between two different entities or parameters with the same name. Thus “first” and “second” are only used for the clarity of expression and should not be construed as limiting the embodiments of the present disclosure. This also applies to other embodiments.
Optionally, the manufacturing device may further comprise a main body, wherein the first stretching mechanism 10 and the second stretching mechanism 20 are both disposed on the main body, so that the main body can provide a support for the first stretching mechanism 10 and the second stretching mechanism 20. For example, the main body can also provide a source of stretching force for the first stretching mechanism 10 and the second stretching mechanism 20, such as a motor, a screw rod, a hydraulic cylinder, and the like.
As can be seen from the above-mentioned embodiments, the manufacturing device according to the present disclosure can, by stretching the mask in two directions, effectively reduce mask wrinkles, make the magnetic force bond between the magnetic plate of the evaporation device and the mask more tightly, reduce the gap between the substrate to be vapor-deposited and the mask, and reduce shadowing effect, improper color mixing and etc.
Preferably, when the manufacturing device is used for manufacturing large-size AMOLED panels, mask wrinkles can be effectively reduced, and the quality of the evaporation process can be improved. Meanwhile, the embodiments of the present disclosure enable less waste of the mask materials, and also meet the manufacturing precision requirement for large-size masks.
Alternatively, as shown in
According to an alternative embodiment, as shown in
Optionally, the first stretching mechanism 10 and the second stretching mechanism 20 may each comprise a clamping unit and a sliding unit, wherein the first stretching mechanism 10 may comprise a clamping unit 11 and a sliding unit 12, and the second stretching mechanism 20 may comprise a clamping unit 21 and a sliding unit 22.
According to an alternative embodiment, as shown in
According to an alternative embodiment, as shown in
A schematic structural top view of the first stretching mechanism is shown in
In the case where the second stretching mechanism has the same configuration as the first stretching mechanism, the working principle for stretching is basically the same as that of the first stretching mechanism and will not be repeated here.
Optionally, the friction coefficient between the first sliding rails 121, 221 and the clamping units 11, 21 (e.g. the clamping jaw bases 113, 213) is different from that between the second sliding rails 123, 223 and the bases 122, 222, wherein the sliding rails with higher friction coefficient are used to perform stretching, and the sliding rails with lower friction coefficient are used to enable the clamping jaws to move freely in the other direction along with the deformation of the mask, that is, to provide a freedom of movement in the other direction. Thus, the selection of the specific friction coefficient depends on the required functions for the sliding rails and thus is not defined here. For example, if the first sliding rails are used to enable the clamping jaws to move freely in the other direction along with the deformation of the mask, the friction coefficient between the first sliding rails and the clamping units is lower, and the second sliding rails are used to perform stretching, the friction coefficient between the second sliding rails and the bases is higher.
As shown in
wherein the first direction 41 is perpendicular to the second direction 42.
As can be seen from the above-mentioned embodiments, the manufacturing method according to the present disclosure can, by stretching the mask in two directions, effectively reduce mask wrinkles, make the magnetic force bonding between the magnetic plate of the evaporation device and the mask more tightly, reduce the gap between the substrate to be vapor-deposited and the mask, and reduce shadowing effect, improper color mixing and etc.
In one embodiment, as shown in
wherein the plurality of first shielding strips 34 are arranged in parallel along the first direction 41, the plurality of supporting strips 33 are arranged in parallel along the second direction 42; or the plurality of first shielding strips 34 are arranged in parallel along the second direction 42, the plurality of supporting strips 33 are arranged in parallel along the first direction 41, and the extending direction of the first shielding strips 34 is perpendicular to the extending direction of the supporting strips 33.
Optionally, gaps may be left between two adjacent first shielding strips 34 and between each of the first shielding strips 34 and the mask frame 32, such that the clamping units can move. Alternatively, the crossing points of the first shielding strips 34 and the supporting strips 33 may be fixed by welding, for example, in order to restrict the movement of the shielding strips 34 along the second direction 42 after the stretching operation. Of course, other suitable fixing means are also feasible and covered by the scope of this application.
In one embodiment, as shown in
In this way, by fixing the mask 31 to the first shielding strips 34, the mask 31 is prevented from wrinkling and sagging further due to the retraction of the mask 31 along the second direction 42.
In one embodiment, as shown in
In this way, a final mask assembly is formed by providing a second shielding strip 35 at the gap between adjacent masks 31. In addition, since the edges of the mask 31 have undergone cutting operation, the second shielding strip 35 disposed at the gap between adjacent masks 31 can be flush with the mask 31, and thus the entire mask assembly is flat. If the edges of the mask 31 have not been cut, the second shielding strip 35 will directly cover the edges of the mask 31, that is, the second shielding strip 35 will be above the mask 31, resulting in the subsequent untight fit of the mask, which may lead to color mixing problems.
In one embodiment, as shown in
As shown in
The tensioned mask may still retract to a certain extent, which may lead to a pixel hole position deviation. In order to avoid this problem, the light-transmitting region of the mask is pre-deformed in the design of the mask, so that the pre-deformation will counteract the retraction deformation when the mask retracting and compensate for the pixel hole position deviation.
Alternatively, in the design of the mask, the compensation amount of the light-transmitting region of the mask can be obtained by virtue of the finite element simulation of the three-dimensional mechanical structure.
In another aspect of one embodiment of the present disclosure, there is also provided a mask assembly manufactured by any embodiment of the method of manufacturing mask assembly or the combination of embodiments.
The mask assembly according to one embodiment of the present disclosure can, by stretching the mask in two directions during manufacturing, effectively reduce mask wrinkles, make the magnetic force bond between the magnetic plate of the evaporation device and the mask more tightly, reduce the gap between the substrate to be vapor-deposited and the mask, and reduce shadowing effect, improper color mixing and etc.
Preferably, when the mask assembly is used for manufacturing large-size AMOLED panels, the mask wrinkles can be effectively reduced, and the quality of the evaporation process is improved. For example, the mask 31 in the mask assembly is a fine metal mask (FMM).
In one embodiment, as shown in
In one embodiment, as shown in
In this way, by fixing the mask 31 to the first shielding strips 34, the mask 31 is prevented from wrinkling and sagging further due to the retraction of the mask 31 along the second direction 42.
In one embodiment, as shown in
In this way, a final mask assembly is formed by providing a second shielding strip 35 at the gap between adjacent masks 31.
In one embodiment, as shown in
The tensioned mask may retract to a certain extent, which may lead to pixel hole position deviation. In order to avoid this problem, the light-transmitting region of the mask is pre-deformed in the design of the mask, so that the pre-deformation will just counteract the retraction deformation when the mask retracts, and compensate for the pixel hole position deviation.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that, the discussion of any of the above embodiments is merely exemplary and is not intended to imply that the scope of the present disclosure (including the claims) is limited to these examples. Based on the idea of this application, the technical features of the above embodiments or different embodiments can also be combined, the steps can be implemented in any order, and there may be many other changes in different aspects of this application as described above, which are not specified in detail for the sake of brevity.
The embodiments of the present disclosure are intended to cover all such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the broad scope of the appended claims. Therefore, any omission, modification, equivalent substitution, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principles of this disclosure shall be included within the protection scope of this disclosure.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201910765171.6 | Aug 2019 | CN | national |