CN115261798A - Crucible and evaporation device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a crucible and an evaporation device, wherein the crucible comprises a body and a coating, wherein the body comprises an inner wall; the coating is at least positioned on the inner wall of the bottom part; the material of the body is tantalum. According to the crucible provided by the invention, the bottom of the crucible comprises the double-layer structure, namely the body and the coating, the material of the body is tantalum, the problem that the crucible in the prior art is easy to damage can be effectively solved due to the existence of the tantalum and the coating, the adhesion between the evaporation material and the inner wall of the crucible can be effectively reduced, the material in the crucible is not easy to adhere to the bottom of the crucible and is easy to take out, the waste of the material is avoided, meanwhile, the deformation caused by the stress of the crucible can be avoided, and the service life of the crucible is prolonged.

Description

A crucible and evaporation device

technical field

The invention relates to the technical field of evaporation, in particular to a crucible and an evaporation device.

Background technique

With the development of the display industry, OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) technology is currently one of the most promising screen display technologies, and most of the core functional film layers of OLED devices are formed by film evaporation using crucibles of.

However, the crucible in the prior art is prone to breakage, and the material in the crucible adheres to the bottom of the crucible and is difficult to take out.

Contents of the invention

In view of this, an embodiment of the present invention provides a crucible and an evaporation device to improve the problems existing in the prior art.

The first aspect of the present invention provides a crucible, comprising:

a body comprising an interconnected bottom and side portions, the body further comprising an inner wall and an outer wall;

a coating, at least on the inner wall of the bottom, for reducing the adhesion of the body to the material in the crucible;

Wherein, the material of the body is tantalum.

In one embodiment, the material of the coating includes pyrolytic boron nitride, silicon nitride or silicon oxide. By setting the coating, the evaporation material can be easily taken out from the crucible, which is beneficial to recycling and avoids waste of materials.

In one embodiment, the thickness of the coating is less than 5 microns. On the basis of ensuring smooth removal of the vapor deposition material in the crucible, the preparation process is effectively simplified and the preparation raw materials are saved.

In one embodiment, the area of the coating accounts for 30%-90% of the area of the inner wall of the body;

Preferably, the area of the coating accounts for 50%-90% of the area of the inner wall of the body. The area of the coating can be reasonably set, making it easier to take out the evaporation material in the crucible, and avoiding the waste of the evaporation material.

In one embodiment, the crucible further includes an opening, and the distance between the inner wall and the outer wall of the side part gradually increases along the direction from the opening to the bottom. It can effectively increase the strength of the bottom of the crucible, avoid damage to the crucible, and at the same time avoid deformation of the crucible due to force.

In one embodiment, the side portion comprises a first portion and a second portion, the second portion is connected to the bottom, and the distance between the inner wall and the outer wall of the second portion is greater than that of the bottom The distance between the inner wall and the outer wall. By arranging a thicker structure at the easily damaged position of the crucible, the strength near the bottom of the crucible can be further increased, damage to the crucible can be avoided, and the service life of the crucible can be increased.

In one embodiment, the distance between the inner wall and the outer wall of the first portion is less than or equal to the distance between the inner wall and the outer wall of the bottom. By reasonably setting the thickness of the body, raw materials can be saved to a greater extent on the basis of ensuring that the crucible has beneficial effects.

In one embodiment, said first portion is provided with a protrusion;

Preferably, the coating is located below the protrusions. When the coating is prepared, it is made downward along the protrusion, which increases the adhesion of the coating, prevents the coating from falling off, and effectively protects the coating.

In one embodiment, the height of the protrusion is 0.1 mm-1.5 mm; preferably, the height of the protrusion is 0.1 mm-1 mm. By defining the height of the protrusions it is possible to define the initial application position of the coating.

Another aspect of the present invention provides an evaporation device, including the crucible described in any one of the above embodiments.

The present invention provides a crucible and an evaporation device, wherein the crucible includes a body and a coating, wherein the body includes an inner wall; the coating is located at least on the inner wall of the bottom; the material of the body is tantalum . The crucible provided by the present invention, because its bottom includes a double-layer structure, that is, a body and a coating, and the material of the body is tantalum, can effectively avoid the problem that the crucible in the prior art is prone to breakage, and due to the existence of the coating , which can effectively reduce the adhesion between the evaporation material and the inner wall of the crucible. The material in the crucible is not easy to adhere to the bottom of the crucible, easy to take out, which is conducive to recycling, avoiding material waste, and at the same time avoiding the deformation of the crucible due to force, prolonging the use of the crucible life.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 shows a schematic structural view of a crucible provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of the decomposition of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of a crucible provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a peripheral structure provided by another embodiment of the present invention.

Reference signs:

1-crucible; 10-body; 110-bottom; 120-side; 122-first part; 124-second part; 126-inner wall; 128-outer wall; 20-coating; 30-opening; 40-protrusion; 50—peripheral structure; X—first direction; h—height; d—distance.

Detailed ways

The following will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of them. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the orientation or positional relationship indicated by the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right" etc. is based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings , is only for the convenience of describing the present invention, but does not indicate that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, so it should not be construed as a limitation of the present invention. In addition, the terms "first", "second", etc. are only used for distinguishing descriptions, and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance. In addition, it should be noted that the technical features involved in the different embodiments of the present invention described below can be combined as long as they do not constitute a conflict with each other.

It should be noted that the defects in the above solutions in the prior art are the results obtained by the inventor after practice and careful research. Therefore, the discovery process of the above technical problems and the following embodiments of the application are aimed at The solutions proposed for the above problems should be the contributions made by the inventors to this application during the process of invention and creation, and should not be understood as technical content known to those skilled in the art.

The inventors of the present application have found through long-term research that when using the evaporation process to evaporate the various film layers of the OLED, if the specific evaporation process is point source evaporation, the two materials that are usually used in the crucible of the prior art are : Pyrolytic boron nitride and tantalum, when the material of the crucible used is pyrolytic boron nitride (PBN), its disadvantage is that it is easy to infiltrate and leak, and its own hardness is small, and it is easy to break and crack in the collision, so in practice During production, the crucible is likely to be damaged abnormally, causing production delay; if the material of the crucible is tantalum (Ta), the remaining material in the crucible will adhere to the bottom of the crucible after evaporation, which is difficult to take out, and after the temperature drops, the bottom of the crucible will It will shrink under force and deform.

Based on the above-mentioned series of problems, the present invention provides a crucible, which can effectively improve the problems in the prior art that the crucible is prone to breakage, and the material in the crucible sticks to the bottom of the crucible and is difficult to take out. The specific solution is as follows.

A crucible is provided in an embodiment of the present invention, and details may be referred to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 . FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a crucible provided in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the exploded structure of FIG. 1 . Specifically, the crucible 1 includes a body 10 and a coating 20, wherein the body 10 includes a bottom 110 and a side portion 120 connected to each other, the body 10 also includes an inner wall 126 and an outer wall 128, and the material of the body 10 is tantalum (Ta); The coating 20 is located at least on the inner wall 126 of the bottom 110 to reduce the adhesion between the body 10 and the materials in the crucible 1 . It is understandable that tantalum material has very good chemical properties, it has extremely high corrosion resistance, is very ductile, and has a small coefficient of thermal expansion. The material of the body 10 is tantalum, so that the crucible 1 has excellent performance. It can be understood that the material in the crucible 1 is specifically the evaporation material in the crucible 1 .

The coating 20 is located at least on the inner wall 126 of the bottom 110. It can be understood that the coating 20 can also be located on the inner wall 126 of the side part 120, that is, the coating 20 is located on all parts of the inner wall 126 of the body 10, which can be determined according to the actual situation. to set. By setting the coating 20 at least on the inner wall 126 of the bottom 110, it can be ensured that the material in the crucible 1 is in contact with the coating 20 coated on the inner wall 126 as much as possible, and not in contact with the inner wall 126 without the coating 20, which can effectively reduce the evaporation rate. The adhesion of the plating material to the inner wall 126 of the crucible 1 is so that subsequent materials can be quickly taken out of the coating.

It can be understood that, in this embodiment, the film thickness of the coating 20 is the same everywhere on the inner wall 126, which can effectively simplify the preparation process. In other embodiments, the film thickness of the coating 20 can also be set to be different, and close to The film thickness of the coating 20 on the inner wall 126 at the bottom 110 is greater than the film thickness of the coating 20 far from the bottom 110 , which is beneficial to strengthen the strength of the bottom of the crucible 1 . In another embodiment, along the X direction, the film thickness of the coating 20 gradually increases, and through this arrangement, the strength of the bottom of the crucible 1 can be further enhanced.

It can be understood that the crucible 1 provided in the present application is a point source crucible used in the evaporation process.

The invention provides a crucible, which includes a body and a coating, wherein the body includes an inner wall, and the material of the body is tantalum; the coating is at least located on the inner wall of the bottom. Through the crucible provided by the present invention, since the bottom includes a double-layer structure, that is, a body and a coating, and the material of the body is tantalum, it can effectively avoid the problem that the crucible in the prior art is prone to breakage, and due to the existence of the coating , which can effectively reduce the adhesion between the evaporation material and the inner wall of the crucible. The material in the crucible is not easy to adhere to the bottom of the crucible, easy to take out, which is conducive to recycling, avoiding material waste, and at the same time avoiding the deformation of the crucible due to force, prolonging the use of the crucible life.

Specifically, the side portion 120 may further include a first portion 122 and a second portion 124 , and the second portion 124 is connected to the bottom 110 .

It can be understood that the coating 20 in this embodiment is arranged sequentially in the opposite direction along the X direction, that is, the coating 20 is first located on the inner wall 126 of the bottom 110 (ie, the bottom of the inner wall 126), and then located on the second on the inner wall 126 of the portion 124 and finally on the inner wall 126 of the first portion 122 . It can be understood that the coating 20 is disposed around the inner wall 126 .

It can be understood that the height of the coating 20 along the X direction is located on the same horizontal plane, that is, the highest point of the coating 20 on the inner wall 126 around the crucible 1 is located on the same horizontal plane. This arrangement can facilitate the simplification of the preparation process and effectively It is beneficial to take out the evaporation material from the crucible 1 after the evaporation is completed.

In other embodiments, the coating 20 is not only located on the inner wall 126 of the bottom 110, but also located on at least part of the inner wall 126 of the second part 124, or located on the inner wall 126 of the second part 124 and at least part of the first part 122. On the inner wall 126, specific settings may be made according to actual conditions.

In one embodiment, the body 10 is configured in a cylindrical shape, and in other embodiments, the body 10 may also be configured in other shapes; and the top end of the body 10 is configured with a peripheral structure 50 . Specifically, the peripheral structure 50 can facilitate the movement of the crucible 1 . The specific shape of the peripheral structure 50 can be seen in FIG. 4 , which is a schematic structural diagram of a peripheral structure provided by another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4 , the peripheral structure 50 is circular. In other embodiments, the peripheral structure 50 can also be set in other shapes such as square, triangular, etc., which are not specifically limited here.

In one embodiment, the material of coating 20 may include pyrolytic boron nitride (PBN), silicon nitride, or silicon oxide. By providing the coating 20, the vapor deposition material can be easily taken out from the crucible 1, avoiding material waste. Preferably, the material of the coating 20 includes pyrolytic boron nitride, which is a special ceramic material with high temperature resistance, acid, alkali, salt and organic reagent properties, good thermal shock resistance, and good thermal conductivity , low coefficient of thermal expansion. The pyrolytic boron nitride material can effectively make the evaporated material in the crucible 1 difficult to adhere to the bottom of the crucible 1 , easy to take out, beneficial to recycling, and avoid waste of materials.

In one embodiment, coating 20 has a thickness of less than 5 microns. Compared with the thickness of the main body 10, the coating 20 is only a relatively thin coating. By setting the thickness of the coating 20 within this range, the preparation process can be effectively simplified on the basis of ensuring that the evaporation material in the crucible 1 can be taken out smoothly. , saving raw materials.

In one embodiment, the area of the coating 20 accounts for 30%-100% of the area of the inner wall 126 of the body 10 . Further, the area of the coating 20 accounts for 30%-90% of the area of the inner wall 126 of the body 10 . By setting the area of the coating 20 within this range, the area of the coating 20 can be reasonably set, so that it is easier to take out the evaporated material in the crucible 1 . Preferably, the area of the coating 20 accounts for 50%-90% of the area of the inner wall 126 of the main body 10. By setting the area of the coating 20 within this range, it can be ensured that the vapor deposition material in the crucible is completely compatible with the coating during evaporation. The layer 20 is in contact with the inner wall 126 of the non-coating layer 20 as far as possible, which can effectively reduce the adhesion between the evaporation material and the inner wall 126 of the crucible 1, and further make the material in the crucible 1 difficult to adhere to the bottom of the crucible 1 after evaporation. The materials are easy to take out and recycled, avoiding the waste of materials.

In one embodiment, the crucible 1 further includes an opening 30 , and along the direction from the opening 30 to the bottom 110 , the distance between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 of the side portion 120 gradually increases. Specifically, the distance between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 of the side part 120 can be referred to as the d mark in FIG. Set opposite to the bottom 110; the direction along the opening 30 to the bottom 110 is the X direction in FIG. The crucible 1 is damaged, and at the same time, the deformation caused by the force on the crucible 1 can be avoided, and the service life of the crucible 1 can be prolonged.

It can be understood that the distance between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 of the side part 120 gradually increases toward the inside of the side part 120 , and on the outer surface, the distribution of the crucible 1 up and down along the X direction is a vertical shape.

In one embodiment, the distance d between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 of the second portion 124 is greater than the distance between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 of the bottom 110 . After long-term research by the inventor, it has been found that since the crucible 1 is prone to damage in the prior art near the bottom of the side part 120, in this embodiment, the distance d between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 of the second part 124 is larger than the bottom The distance between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 of 110 can further increase the strength of the bottom attachment of the crucible 1, avoid damage to the crucible 1, and at the same time avoid deformation of the crucible 1 due to force, prolonging the service life of the crucible 1.

In one embodiment, the distance d between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 of the first portion 122 is less than or equal to the distance between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 of the bottom 110 . It can be understood that, in the first part 122, the distance d between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 may be constant in some areas, but generally along the X direction, the distance d between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 Gradually get bigger. Such an arrangement can help to save materials on the basis of ensuring the effect of the crucible 1 .

In one embodiment, the distance d between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 of the second part 124 is 0.5 mm to 2 mm, and the distance d between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 of the second part 124 is set within this range, The strength of the crucible 1 can be effectively guaranteed, and the service life of the crucible 1 can be prolonged. Preferably, the distance d between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 of the second part 124 is 1 mm to 2 mm, by setting the distance d between the inner wall 126 and the outer wall 128 of the second part 124 within this range, the effect can be further enhanced. The strength of the crucible 1 can effectively prevent the crucible 1 from being damaged, and at the same time avoid the deformation of the crucible 1 caused by force, which greatly prolongs the service life of the crucible 1 .

In one embodiment, the ratio of the lengths of the first portion 122 to the second portion 124 along the X direction ranges from 0.2 to 5, preferably, the ratio of the lengths of the first portion 122 to the second portion 124 along the X direction ranges 0.5-3, the lengths of the first part 122 and the second part 124 can be set more reasonably. Specifically, it may be set according to actual conditions, and no strict limitation is made here.

In one embodiment, the first part 122 is provided with a protrusion, specifically, the upper part of the inner wall 126 of the first part 122 is provided with a protrusion 40 ; preferably, the coating 20 is located below the protrusion 40 . Specifically, refer to FIG. 3 , which is a schematic structural diagram of a crucible provided by another embodiment of the present invention. After the upper part of the inner wall 126 of the first part 122 is provided with a protrusion 40 near the top position, the coating 20 can be made downward along the protrusion 40 during preparation to increase the adhesion of the coating 20 and prevent the coating 20 from falling off. That is, the specific preparation process of the crucible 1 is to firstly prepare the body 10 , then the protrusion 40 , and finally form the coating 20 . It can be understood that, the protrusion 40 is provided in a complete circle around the inner wall 100 .

It can be understood that, in this embodiment, the protrusion 40 is adjacent to and connected to the coating 20, and the thickness of the protrusion 40 is the same as the thickness of the coating 20 adjacent to the protrusion 40, so that the crucible 1 When the vapor deposition material is added, the vapor deposition material can enter the crucible 1 along the inner wall of the protrusion 40 and the coating 20. This arrangement can effectively avoid the problem that the thickness of the protrusion 40 is smaller than the thickness of the coating 20 or there is no protrusion. At 40 o'clock, when the evaporation material enters the crucible 1, it will fall on the coating 20, so that it cannot reach the inside of the crucible 1, so as to avoid the waste of the evaporation material.

In one embodiment, the height of the protrusion 40 is 0.1mm-1.5mm. The height of the protrusion 40 can refer to the mark h in FIG. 3 , that is, h is 0.1 mm-1.5 mm, preferably, the height of the protrusion 40 is 0.1 mm-1 mm. Since the starting position of the protrusion 40 is the top of the inner wall 126, by setting the height of the protrusion 40, the ending position of the protrusion can be defined, that is, the starting position of the coating 20 can be defined, which is beneficial to simplify the manufacturing process.

It can be understood that, in other embodiments, the initial position of the protrusion 40 may not be the top of the inner wall 126, but any position on the upper part of the inner wall 126, as long as the protrusion 40 is located above the coating 20, it can be As far as the protective coating 20 is concerned, it is only necessary to prevent it from falling off, and no specific limitation is made here, and it can be set according to actual conditions.

In one embodiment, when preparing the crucible 1 , the main body 10 of the crucible 1 may be prepared first, and then the coating 20 is coated on the inner wall 126 of the main body 10 . Other production steps and procedures can also be used, which can be set according to actual conditions, and are not specifically limited here.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides an evaporation device, including the crucible in any one of the above embodiments. It can be understood that the vapor deposition device is used for vapor deposition of part of the functional film layers of the OLED device. In addition to the crucible, the evaporation device may also include a heating source, a fixed structure, etc., wherein the heating source is used to heat the crucible, and the fixed structure is used to fix the substrate to be evaporated, which can be set according to actual conditions, and will not be described here. limited.

The beneficial effects of the vapor deposition device in this embodiment can be seen in the description of the crucible above, and will not be repeated here.

The technical features of the above-mentioned embodiments can be combined arbitrarily. To make the description concise, all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-mentioned embodiments are not described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, should be considered as within the scope of this specification.

The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention within.

Claims (10)

1. A crucible, characterized in that, comprising: a body comprising an interconnected bottom and side portions, the body further comprising an inner wall and an outer wall; a coating, at least on the inner wall of the bottom, for reducing the adhesion of the body to the material in the crucible; Wherein, the material of the body is tantalum. 2. The crucible according to claim 1, wherein the material of the coating comprises pyrolytic boron nitride, silicon nitride or silicon oxide. 3. The crucible according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the thickness of the coating is less than 5 microns. 4. The crucible according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, the area of the coating accounts for 30%-90% of the area of the inner wall of the body; Preferably, the area of the coating accounts for 50%-90% of the area of the inner wall of the body. 5. The crucible according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, the crucible further comprises an opening, and in a direction along the opening to the bottom, the inner wall of the side portion and the The distance between the outer walls gradually increases. 6. The crucible according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the side portion comprises a first part and a second part, the second part is connected to the bottom, and all parts of the second part A distance between the inner wall and the outer wall is greater than a distance between the inner wall and the outer wall of the bottom. 7. The crucible of claim 6, wherein the distance between the inner and outer walls of the first portion is less than or equal to the distance between the inner and outer walls of the bottom. 8. The crucible according to claim 6, wherein the first part is provided with a protrusion; Preferably, the coating is located below the protrusions. 9. The crucible according to claim 8, characterized in that, the height of the protrusion is 0.1mm-1.5mm; Preferably, the height of the protrusion is 0.1mm-1mm. 10. An evaporation device, characterized by comprising the crucible according to any one of claims 1-9.

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