Patent Application
20120094014
The present disclosure relates to a vapor deposition apparatus and a vapor deposition method for forming a light emitting layer in a manufacturing process of, e.g., an organic EL device.
Recently, an organic EL device using electroluminescence (EL) has been developed. The organic EL device generates almost no heat and consumes less power as compared to a cathode-ray tube or the like. Further, since the organic EL device is self-luminescent, there are some advantages such as a view angle wider than that of a liquid crystal display (LCD). For these reasons, the progress of the organic EL device in the future is expected.
Most typical structure of this organic EL device includes an anode (positive electrode) layer, a light emitting layer, and a cathode (negative electrode) layer sequentially stacked on a glass substrate to form a sandwiched structure. In order to transmit light from the light emitting layer, a transparent electrode made of, e.g., ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) is used as the anode layer on the glass substrate. Such an organic EL device is generally manufactured by forming the light emitting layer and the cathode layer in sequence on the glass substrate having thereon the ITO layer (anode layer) and by additionally forming a sealing film.
In general, the light emitting layer of such an organic EL device is formed by a vapor deposition apparatus. Patent Document 1 describes a vapor deposition apparatus and a method for film formation in the manufacturing process of an organic EL device.
Further, Patent Document 2 describes a vacuum gate valve for a powder supply chamber of a vapor deposition apparatus and a vapor deposition apparatus having the vacuum gate valve.
In an organic material supply device included in the vapor deposition apparatus described in Patent Document 1, an organic material is in the form of solid granules or pallets or in the form of a solution. By vaporizing the organic material and depositing the vaporized organic material on a target object such as a substrate, a film is formed on the target object. Further, in the vapor deposition apparatus described in Patent Document 2, MgO, an example organic material, is supplied in the form of single crystals or pellets.
As described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, when the granular organic material is supplied by using an opening/closing value such as a gate valve, mobility of the organic material is improved, so that it is possible to supply the organic material efficiently into a material sublimating chamber or the like from a material supplying device without suffering clogging or the like.
However, if the granular organic material is supplied by using the opening/closing value, a supply amount of the organic material may vary depending on various factors such as a size of the granules, a period of opening/closing time of the opening/closing valve, or the like. Moreover, a sublimation speed or melting speed may vary depending on the size of the granules of the supplied organic material, resulting in a nonuniform film forming rate. Furthermore, as compared to an organic material in the form of, e.g., powder, the sublimation rate or melting rate of the granular organic material may be lower. As a result, an operation efficiency of the vapor deposition apparatus is decreased. Meanwhile, if the organic material in the form of powder is supplied from the material supplying device into the material melting chamber, mobility of the powdery organic material is deteriorated. Also, there is a concern that a supply pipe of the material supply device is clogged with the powdery organic material, or the powdery organic material adheres to a seal surface of the opening/closing valve, so that problems such as deterioration of airtightness are caused.
The present disclosure provides a vapor deposition apparatus and a vapor deposition method capable of efficiently sublimating/melting a granular organic material at a uniform rate with high mobility.
In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a vapor deposition apparatus for forming a thin film on a substrate by vapor deposition. The apparatus may include a depressurizable material supply apparatus configured to supply a material gas, and a film forming apparatus configured to form a thin film on the substrate. The material supply apparatus may include a quantity control unit configured to control a quantity of a material, and a material gas generating unit configured to vaporize the material supplied from the quantity control unit.
The quantity control unit may include a cover body having a cone shape tapering to a top of the cover body; a cone-shaped concave body positioned so as to face a top surface of the cover body; and a rotating device configured to rotate the cover body relative to the concave body. A side surface of the cover body may include an upper side surface and a lower side surface, and an inclination of the upper side surface is smaller than an inclination of the lower side surface. Further, the quantity control unit may include an evacuable material supply device configured to supply the material into the quantity control unit, and an elevating device configured to vary a gap between the cover body and the concave body. Furthermore, the vapor deposition apparatus may further include a vibrating device configured to vibrate the quantity control unit and a vicinity of the quantity control unit.
The material supply apparatus may further include a mixing unit having a mixing member for mixing granular materials, and the mixing unit may be provided above the quantity control unit. The material gas generation unit may be configured as a material sublimating chamber for sublimating the material therein. The material sublimating chamber may communicate with the quantity control unit via a passage having a preset length. The passage and the material sublimating chamber may include a heater, and a temperature of the passage at the side of the quantity control unit may be lower than a temperature of the passage at the side of the material gas generation unit. A sealed space accommodating the heater therein may be formed at outer surfaces of the passage and the material sublimating chamber. Moreover, a volatile liquid may be provided within the sealed space. The material sublimating chamber may include a material dispersing plate for dispersing the material by allowing the material to pass therethrough, and a material sublimating member, made of porous ceramic, having thereon a protrusion. Further, the material sublimating chamber may include a material sublimating plate for sublimating the material by heating the material; a rotatable shaft inserted through the inside of the passage; and a material dispersing device fixed to an end of the shaft and positioned in a vicinity of a top surface of the material sublimating plate. Here, inner surfaces of the passage and the material sublimating chamber may have roughness.
The material gas generation unit may be configured as a material melting chamber for melting the material therein. The material melting chamber may communicate with the quantity control unit via a passage having a preset length. The passage and the material melting chamber may include a heater, and a temperature of the passage at the side of the quantity control unit may be lower than a temperature of the passage at the side of the material gas generation unit. A sealed space accommodating the heater therein may be formed at outer surfaces of the passage and the material melting chamber, and a volatile liquid may be provided within the sealed space. Inner surfaces of the passage and the material melting chamber may have roughness.
The film forming apparatus may include a processing chamber connected with an external vacuum pump; a substrate holding chamber for holding a substrate therein; and a vapor deposition head connected with the material gas generation unit via a material inlet path. A valve for controlling a flow rate of the material may be provided at the material inlet path. A material retreating path, connected with the external vacuum pump and having an opening/closing valve may be provided at the material inlet path. A discharge path connected with the external vacuum pump, having an opening/closing vale may be provided at the vapor deposition head.
The material supply device may include an evacuable material receiving unit configured to receive the material; and a material supply unit configured to supply the introduced material into the material supply apparatus. The material receiving unit and the material supply unit may be connected with each other via a gate valve. The material receiving unit may have a refining device for refining the material. An argon gas as a carrier gas may be introduced into the quantity control unit and the material gas generation unit.
In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a material supply apparatus for supplying a material gas into a film forming apparatus for forming a thin film on a substrate. The material supply apparatus may include a quantity control unit configured to quantify a material, and a material gas generating unit configured to vaporize the material supplied from the quantity control unit.
The quantity control unit may include a cover body having a cone shape tapering to a top of the cover body; a cone-shaped concave body positioned so as to face a top surface of the cover body; and a rotating device configured to rotate the cover body relative to the concave body. The quantity control unit may include an evacuable material supply device configured to supply the material into the quantity control unit, and an elevating device configured to vary a gap between the cover body and the concave body.
The material supply apparatus may further include a vibrating device configured to vibrate the quantity control unit and a vicinity of the quantity control unit. Further, the material supply apparatus may further include a mixing unit having a mixing member for mixing granular materials. The mixing unit may be provided above the quantity control unit.
The material gas generation unit may be configured as a material sublimating chamber for sublimating the material therein. The material sublimating chamber may communicate with the quantity control unit via a passage having a preset length. The passage and the material sublimating chamber may include a heater, and a temperature of the passage at the side of the quantity control unit may be lower than a temperature of the passage at the side of the material gas generation unit. The material sublimating chamber may include a material dispersing plate for dispersing the material by allowing the material to pass therethrough, and a material sublimating member, made of porous ceramic, having thereon a protrusion. The material sublimating chamber may include a material sublimating plate for sublimating the material by heating the material; a rotatable shaft inserted through the inside of the passage; and a material dispersing device fixed to an end of the shaft and positioned in a vicinity of a top surface of the material sublimating plate. Inner surfaces of the passage and the material sublimating chamber may have roughness.
The material gas generation unit may be configured as a material melting chamber for melting the material therein. The material melting chamber may communicate with the quantity control unit via a passage having a preset length. The passage and the material melting chamber may include a heater, and a temperature of the passage at the side of the quantity control unit may be lower than a temperature of the passage at the side of the material gas generation unit. Inner surfaces of the passage and the material melting chamber may have roughness.
In accordance with still another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a vapor deposition method for forming a thin film on a substrate by vapor deposition. The method may include grinding a granular material; vaporizing the ground material by sublimating or melting the ground material and vaporizing the melted material; and forming a thin film on the substrate by using a gas of the vaporized material. The granular material may be made by making a material in the form of powder into a material in the form of granule.
In accordance with the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a vapor deposition apparatus capable of efficiently sublimating/melting an organic material with high mobility. By sublimating/melting the organic material efficiently, it is possible to shorten a film forming time for forming an organic layer on a substrate or a standby time after ending a film formation on a substrate before starting a film formation on a next substrate. Moreover, by sublimating/melting the organic material at an appropriate timing, degradation of the organic material can be prevented. In addition, since it is possible to sublimate/melt the organic material at a regular rate, a uniform vaporizing rate can be achieved.
a) to 1(d) are explanatory diagrams for describing a manufacturing process of an organic EL device A.
a) to 12(c) are side views illustrating modified examples of the cover body 60.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Through the present specification and drawings, like parts having substantially the same function and configuration will be assigned like reference numerals, and redundant description thereof will be omitted.
a) to 1(d) are explanatory diagrams for describing a manufacturing process of an organic EL device A manufactured by various kinds of film forming apparatuses including a vapor deposition apparatus 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. As depicted in
First, as depicted in
Then, as depicted in
Subsequently, as depicted in
Thereafter, as depicted in
In the organic EL device A manufactured as described above, the light emitting layer 11 may emit light by applying a voltage between the anode layer 10 and the cathode layer 12. This organic EL device A may be applied to a display device or a surface emitting device (illumination, light source or the like) and can be used for various other electronic devices.
The vapor deposition apparatus 1 shown in
The material supply apparatus 30 may include a control unit 30a, a supply unit 30b and a material gas generation unit 30c. The vapor deposition head 22 may be connected with the material gas generation unit 30c of the material supply apparatus 30 via a material inlet path 31 for introducing the material gas into the vapor deposition head 22. That is, the material gas supplied from the material gas generation unit 30c may be introduced into the vapor deposition head 22 and then be discharged toward the substrate G from the vapor deposition head 22. Further, the material inlet path 31 may be provided with a valve 33 for controlling introduction of the material gas into the vapor deposition head 22. A material retreating path 34 communicating with the vacuum pump 26 and having an opening/closing valve 35 may be provided at the material inlet path 31 between the material gas generation unit 30c and the valve 33. Further, the vapor deposition head 22 may be connected with a discharge path 36 communicating with the vacuum pump 26 and having an opening/closing valve 37.
Moreover, windows 39 that transmit light may be formed at both lateral sides of the vapor deposition head 22 and both lateral sides of the substrate holding chamber 21. A vapor amount measuring device 38 may be provided outside the substrate holding chamber 21. By transmitting light through the windows 39, the vapor amount measuring device 38 is capable of measuring a vapor amount of the material gas within the vapor deposition head 22 by, e.g., Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR).
Now, a configuration of the material supply apparatus 30 will be explained with reference to
A Heater 52 may be provided on both lateral sides of the mixing unit 42 so as to control a temperature of the mixing unit 42. Further, the mixing unit 42 may be sealed against an upper portion (control unit 30a) of the material supply apparatus 30 by the elastic sealing member 39. The interior of the mixing unit 42 may be evacuated by a vacuum pump 55 and a carrier gas such as argon gas may be introduced into the mixing unit 42 by a gas introducing device 57.
Provided under the mixing unit 42 is a cover body 60, having a cone shape tapering to a top of the cover body 60, for blocking up the drop hole 43 from below. The cover body 60 may be supported by a shaft 61 provided at a top portion of the cover body 60. The shaft 61 may include an upper shaft 61a and a lower shaft 61b connected by a coupling member 61′. A rotating device 62 such as a rotating motor may be connected to a top portion of the shaft 61a. The shaft 61 may be configured to be rotatable. That is, the cover body 60 supported at the shaft 61 may also be configured to be rotatable. Further, an elevating device 65 may be provided above the control unit 30a. The elevating device 65 may vertically move the control unit 30a including the rotating device 62, the shaft 61, and the cover body 60 supported at the shaft 61. Here, since the control unit 30a may be moved up and down by the elevating device 65, a moving distance by the elevating device 65 may be measured by a measuring device 66 such as a micrometer provided to the control unit 30a.
In the vicinity of an upper portion of the cover body 60, a concave body 63 having a cone shape may be provided so as to face a top surface of the cover body 60. As the cover body 60 is moved up and down, the width of a gap 64 between the cover body 60 and the concave body 63 may be varied. That is, a variation in the width of the gap 64 may be measured by the measuring device 66. In the following, the structure of a quantity control unit 70 will be explained. The structure includes the cover body 60 and the concave body 63, and the cover body 60 is rotated and moved up and down by the rotating and elevating devices, and the width of the gap 64 is varied.
A space 71 having a cone shape tapering to a bottom of the space 71 may be formed under the quantity control unit 70. Further, a drop passage 72 through which the organic material falls down may be provided at a lower portion of the space 71. The space 71 may be connected with the gas introducing device 57. By way of example, an argon gas as the carrier gas may be introduced and a pressure of the argon gas may be measured by a pressure gauge 73. Further, a heater 52 may be provided at both lateral sides of the drop passage 72 so as to control a temperature of the drop passage 72. Here, desirably, the drop passage 72 may have a temperature gradient such that a temperature at the side of the quantity control unit 70 is lower than a temperature at the side of the material gas generation unit 30c.
As shown in
In the material gas generation unit 30c, the organic material may be liquefied or vaporized. Here, the organic material may be a sublimating material such as Alq3 or a melting material such as α-NPD. Since vaporization mechanisms of the sublimating material and the melting material are different, it is desirable that configuration of the material gas generation unit 30c is largely different between cases of using the sublimating material and the melting material in order to vaporize the materials efficiently.
Illustrated in
In the vapor deposition apparatus 1 explained with reference to
Then, the mixed granular organic material may fall down from the drop hole 43 to the gap 64 between the cover body 60 and the concave body 63 of the quantity control unit 70. Herein, a width of the gap 64 is smaller than a diameter of the granular organic material. The cover body 60 is supported by the shaft 61 from above. Since the shaft 61 may be rotated by the rotating device 62, the cover body 60 may also be rotated accordingly. For this reason, the granular organic material fallen down to the gap 64 may be rotated in the gap 64 to be ground into the powder in the same manner as in a mortar and pestle. Since a lower circumference velocity during the rotation of the cover body is faster than an upper circumference velocity, the organic material ground into powder may slowly fall down along an upper surface of the cover body 60 toward an outside thereof. Then, the organic material may fall down to the space 71 formed in a lower region of the quantity control unit 70.
As the shaft 61 is moved up and down by the elevating device 65, the cover body 60 may also be moved up and down accordingly. A distance moving up and down may be measured by the measuring device 66. Therefore, the width of the gap 64 can be easily changed by moving the cover body 60 up and down, and the width of the gap 64 can be measured by the measuring device 66. As described above, the argon gas as a carrier gas may be supplied into the mixing unit 42 from the gas introducing device 57. In the same manner, the carrier gas may be introduced into the quantity control unit 70 and the space 71. A difference in the carrier gas pressure between the mixing unit 42 and the space 71 may be one of causes allowing the powdery organic material to fall down from the quantity control unit 70.
That is, if a sufficient amount of organic material is supplied by the material supply device 40, the amount of the organic material falling down from the mixing unit 42 to the space 71 may be determined depending on three factors of the width of the gap 64, the rotation speed of the cover body 60 and a pressure difference between the mixing unit 42 and the space 71. These three factors can be controlled by the elevating device 65, the rotating device 50, and the gas introducing device 57. Therefore, it may be possible to control the amount of powdery organic material falling from the quantity control unit 70 to be a desired level. The pressure difference between the mixing unit 42 and the space 71 can be removed by controlling a pressure of a carrier gas to be supplied to each of the mixing unit 42 and the space 71 to be the same. As a result, the amount of the falling organic material can be determined only under control of the elevating device 65 and the rotating device 50 of the control unit 30a. Thus, it may be possible to supply the organic material into the material gas generation unit 32 more easily.
Then, a desired amount of the refined powdery organic material may pass through the drop passage 72 from the space 71, and may be introduced into the material gas generation unit 30c. Herein, the material gas generation unit 30c may have different configurations depending on whether an introduced organic material is a sublimating material or a melting material. The configurations have been explained above by reference to
If the organic material is a sublimating material, the material sublimating bottle 80 depicted in
The material sublimating plate 82 may be configured to efficiently heat the accumulated powdery organic material to be sublimated. Desirably, by way of example, as depicted in
If the organic material is a melting material, the material melting bottle 90 depicted in
Since the liquefied organic material B may be constantly heated by the heater 52 provided on the material melting bottle 90, it may be vaporized within the material melting bottle 90, and the material melting bottle 90 may be full of a material gas. Since a carrier gas flows from the drop passage 72 to the material melting bottle 90, the material gas may be discharged from the material inlet path 31. The material inlet path 31 is formed at a portion facing a position where the drop passage 72 of the material melting bottle 90 is formed.
As described above, the material gas vaporized from the organic material may be introduced from the material gas generation unit 30c of the material sublimating bottle 80 or the material melting bottle 90 into the material gas inlet path 31. As depicted in
When the material gas is not discharged from the vapor deposition head 22 toward the substrate G, the valve may be closed. Thus, the material gas may not be introduced into the vapor deposition head 22 from the material inlet path 31. In this case, the material gas may remain in the material gas inlet path 31. However, since the material gas inlet path 31 includes the valve 35 and the material retreating path 34 communicating with the vacuum pump 26, the material gas may be sucked/exhausted by the vacuum pump 26. The vapor deposition head 22 may include the discharge path 36, communicating with the vacuum pump 26, for sucking/exhausting the material gas remaining in the vapor deposition head 22 and for evacuating the inside of the vapor deposition head 22. Through the material retreating path 34 and the discharge path 36, the material gas remaining in the material inlet path 31 and the vapor deposition head 22 can be completely exhausted. Therefore, if a film is formed on multiple substrates G, the film can be formed on each substrate G in a uniform film forming environment and a highly uniform film formation on each substrate G can be performed.
A reference amount of material gas may be compared with an actual amount of material gas within the vapor deposition head 22 measured by a vapor amount measuring device 38, such as a FTIR detector. The FTIR detector may be provided at a side surface of the vapor deposition head (at a side surface of a substrate holding chamber 21). Thereafter, a comparison result may be sent as signals to the heater 52 provided on the gas introducing device 57 of the material supply apparatus 30 or on each component. Based on these signals, the amount of a carrier gas introduced from the gas introducing device 57 or a temperature of each component may be controlled so as to optimize the amount of material gas within the vapor deposition head 22.
In accordance with the vapor deposition apparatus of the present embodiment described above, by controlling the amount of the granular organic material in the material supply apparatus 30 and by making the granular organic material into powder, it may be possible to efficiently vaporize the organic material so as to generate the material gas. Further, when the material gas is deposited on the substrate G to form a film by deposition, a film is formed on a first substrate G, and then the insides of the vapor deposition head 22 and the material inlet path 31 is evacuated. Then, a film is formed on a next substrate G under substantially the same conditions as the first substrate G. In this way, a film can be formed uniformly on each substrate G.
By way of example, if a granular material is supplied to the quantity control unit 70 with the load-lock type material supply device 40, the amount of the material at the time of being supplied can be controlled accurately and the material can be continuously supplied as compared with a case where a powdery material is used.
The embodiment of the present disclosure has been explained above, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. It would be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the scope of the accompanying claims and their equivalents are included in the scope of the present disclosure.
In the above-described embodiment, there has been explained a case where an organic EL device is manufactured and an organic layer is deposited on a substrate with an organic material, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The present disclosure may be applied to various electronic devices and optical devices manufactured by performing a film forming process and a surface treatment by vapor deposition.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, there has been explained a case where if an organic material supplied from the material supply apparatus 30 depicted in
As depicted in
As described in the above embodiment, the cover body 60 may be rotated by a movement of the rotating device 62. For this reason, the shaft 94 connected to the cover body 60 may be rotated, and the material distributing body 96 and the material uniformizing body 97 may also be rotated in connection with the shaft 94.
In the material sublimating bottle 80′ configured as described above, after falling down from the material supply apparatus 30 through a drop passage 72 by means of a flow of a carrier gas, a powdery organic material serving as a sublimating material may be distributed widely on the material sublimating plate 98 by the rotating material distributing body 96. The powdery organic material distributed on the material sublimating plate 98 may be dispersed uniformly on the material sublimating plate 98 by the rotation of the material uniformizing body 97. The uniformly dispersed organic material may be heated by the heated material sublimating plate 98 so as to be sublimated. The sublimated organic material (organic material gas) may be discharged from the material inlet path 31 in the same manner as the above-described embodiment.
In the above-described embodiment, there has been explained a case where the heaters 52 may be provided at the upper and the side surfaces of the material gas generation unit 30c (the material sublimating bottles 80 and 80′; and the material melting bottle 90) and the side surface of the drop passage 72. However, desirably, by way of example, these heaters 52 may be provided in sealed spaces configured to cover the entire outer surfaces of the material gas generation unit 30c and the drop passage 72. Therefore, there will be explained a sealed space 100 configured to cover the entire outer surfaces of the material gas generation unit 30c and the drop passage 72 with reference to
In the sealed space 100, the liquid L provided in the sealed space 100 may be vaporized by the heater 52, and then, may be in contact with the entire inner surface of the sealed space 100. Thus, the entire sealed space 100 can be heated. That is, the sealed space 100 may have a configuration/operation similar to a so-called “heat pipe”. In this case, vapor of the liquid L in contact with an inner surface of the sealed space 100 may be cooled by heat exchange with the inner surface thereof. The vapor may be liquefied to a liquid (liquid L), and may return to the liquid L within the sealed space 100. That is, the state of the liquid L may be changed while being repeatedly vaporized and liquefied within the sealed space 100. Further, in the present modified example, a shape of the inner surface of the sealed space 100 may not be limited. The inner surface of the sealed space 100 may have a typical plane shape. However, in order for the liquid L liquefied at the inner surface of the sealed space 100 to be collected to the liquid L in the bottom portion of the sealed space more effectively, desirably, a surface area of the inner surface of the sealed space 100 may be large and may have a shape easily causing a capillary action. By way of example, the inner surface may be processed in a mesh shape or a groove shape.
In the material sublimating bottle 80 including the sealed space 100 depicted in
In the above-described embodiment, there has been explained a case where a single vapor deposition head is provided. However, typically, in a vapor deposition apparatus, multiple vapor deposition heads each for discharging an organic material gas onto a substrate G may be provided to form multiple organic layers such as a hole transport layer, a non-light-emitting layer (electron blocking layer), a blue light emitting layer, a red light emitting layer, a green light emitting layer, and an electron transport layer by vapor deposition. A vapor deposition apparatus including multiple material supply units according to the number of these multiple vapor deposition heads in accordance with the present disclosure may also be included in the scope of the present disclosure.
In the above-described embodiment, by way of example, a vibrating device such as an ultrasonic vibrator may be provided in the mixing unit 42 or the space 71. Thus, if a granular or a powdery organic material is deposited/remains in the mixing unit 42 or the space 71, the deposited/remaining organic material can fall down readily by an operation of the vibrating device. Further, there has been explained a case where the vibrating device is provided in the mixing unit 42 and the space 71, but the positions thereof may not be limited thereto. The vibrating device can be provided at any position within the vapor deposition apparatus 1 if there is a possibility that the organic material may be deposited/may remain at that position.
Desirably, by way of example, the inner surface of the space 71 within the quantity control unit 70 or the inner surface of the drop passage 72 may be formed in a roughened surface instead of a mirror surface. Thus, a powdery organic material may fall down without adhering to the inner surface of the space 71 or the inner surface of the drop passage 72.
In the above-described embodiment, there has been explained that a shape of the cover body 60 serving as one of components of the quantity control unit 70 may have a cone shape tapering to the top of the cover body 60. However, the cover body 60 may have a cone shape tapering to the top of the cover body 60 with two-level inclinations.
In the above-described embodiment, there has been explained that the powdery organic material falls down to the space 71 by the principle that the lower periphery of the cover body 60 may be faster than the upper periphery thereof. However, depending on an inclined angle of the cover body 60, all the organic material may not fall down effectively and the organic material may remain at the upper surface (side surface) of the cover body 60. If the vapor deposition apparatus 1 may be continuously operated for a long time, the organic material may remain/may adhere to the upper surface (side surface) of the cover body 60 as time passes. As a result, falling efficiency of the organic material in the quantity control unit 70 may be deteriorated after the vapor deposition apparatus is operated for a long time.
Therefore, a modified example depicted in
In the modified example shown in
a) to 12(c) are side views each showing a modified example of the cover body 60. As depicted in
In case of using the cover body 60 including the cone-shaped member 104 and the cylinder-shaped member 105 depicted in
In the above-described embodiment, there has been explained that the material supply device 40 may be a load-lock type device. To be specific, the material supply device 40 may have a configuration to be explained below by reference to
The material receiving unit 120 may include a refining device 140 formed in a shape (a bowl shape) surrounding a cone-shaped space 132 tapering to a bottom of the space 132 and a mixing device 145 configured to mix the cone-shaped space 132 within the refining device 140. In the material receiving unit 120, an openable/closeable inlet opening 133 configured to introduce the material to the space 132 within the refining device 140 may be provided. The mixing device 145 may include a rotation shaft 147 rotated by an operation of a non-illustrated driving device at a central portion of the space 132 and multiple mixing rods 149 horizontally provided at the rotation shaft 147. A bottom portion of the refining device 140 (lower portion of the space 132) may be connected to the gate valve 130 via a duct 150 through which a material refined by the refining device 140 passes. When the gate valve 130 is opened, the material falling down from the refining device 140 may pass through the duct 150 and may be introduced to the material supply path 125.
A heater 142 may be provided at an outer surface of the refining device 140 and a material introduced into the refining device 140 can be heated. Regarding installation and arrangement of heaters, desirably, the heater may be provided in various positions so as to maintain a temperature of the material at a certain level in the material supply device 40. Further, it is illustrated that a heater is not provided in other positions than the refining device 140. However, in order to efficiently and uniformly heat the material, desirably, the heater may be provided in other positions.
In accordance with the material supply device 40 configured as depicted in
Subsequently, the material receiving unit 120 may be evacuated by evacuation from the exhaust port 121. Herein, when the material supply apparatus 30 is operated, for example, the inside of the material supply apparatus 30, i.e. the mixing unit 42, depicted in
After the material receiving unit 120 is evacuated, the gate valve 130 may be opened. Then, the material refined by the refining device 140 may pass through the duct 150, and may be introduced from the material supply path 125 into the mixing unit 42 of the material supply apparatus 30. Then, after the material is introduced into the material supply apparatus 30, the gate valve 130 may be closed and the material receiving unit 120 may be opened to atmosphere again. Thereafter, another material to be supplied may be refined.
The material supply device 40 depicted in
In the vapor deposition apparatus 1, a refining device such as a vaporization refining device can be provided. Even if a vapor deposition process is performed with a material having a slightly low purity, the material may be refined by the refining device within the vapor deposition apparatus 1 before performing the vapor deposition process. Thus, a film of high quality can be formed. Although not illustrated in the above-described embodiment, desirably, a refining device may be provided, for example, within the mixing unit 42.
The above-described embodiment may not limit shapes of other various components. By way of example, in the above-described embodiment, there has been explained that the mixing member may be operated by rotation of a rotation shaft including a rod-shaped body. The present disclosure may not be limited to this embodiment. A wing-shaped flat plate may be provided at the rotation shaft.
The present disclosure can be applied to, for example, a vapor deposition apparatus and a vapor deposition method used for forming a light emitting layer in a manufacturing process of an organic EL device.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-105871 | Apr 2009 | JP | national |
| 2010-048734 | Mar 2010 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2010/057058 | 4/21/2010 | WO | 00 | 12/27/2011 |
