KR102613397B1 - Substrate carrier, film forming apparatus, conveying method of substrate carrier, and film forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a technology that can improve efficiency when circulating a substrate carrier in a film forming apparatus that forms a film while holding and transporting a substrate by a substrate carrier.
[Solution means] The substrate carrier includes a plate-shaped member that holds the substrate, and a pair of plates each fixed to a first side and a second side along the first direction of the plate-shaped member and each extending in the first direction. It has a first member and a pair of second members each fixed to a third side and a fourth side along a second direction intersecting the first direction of the plate-shaped member, and each extending in the second direction.

Description

Substrate carrier, film formation device, substrate carrier transport method, and film formation method {SUBSTRATE CARRIER, FILM FORMING APPARATUS, CONVEYING METHOD OF SUBSTRATE CARRIER, AND FILM FORMING METHOD}

The present invention relates to a substrate carrier, a film forming apparatus, a method for transporting a substrate carrier, and a film forming method.

As a method of manufacturing an organic EL display, a mask deposition method is known in which a film of a predetermined pattern is formed by depositing a film on a substrate through a mask in which openings are formed in a predetermined pattern. In the mask film forming method, after aligning the mask and the substrate, film forming is performed by bringing the mask and the substrate into close contact.

Patent Document 1 describes holding a substrate on a chuck plate (also referred to as a “substrate carrier”) and transporting the substrate with the chuck plate. This makes it possible to transport even large-area substrates with large sag. And, in Patent Document 1, it is described that film formation is performed by bonding a substrate and a mask while holding the substrate on a substrate carrier. In Patent Document 1, when a series of film formation on a substrate is completed, the substrate and the substrate carrier are separated, the separated substrate carrier is returned to the chucking room through a return line, and another substrate is held in the chucking room on the returned substrate carrier to form a film. Do.

Patent Document 1: Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2018-0067031

Patent Document 1 describes circulating the substrate carrier after the substrate has been separated through a return line, but no specific study has been conducted on how to circulate it. Additionally, the specific configuration of the substrate carrier has not been examined.

Accordingly, the present invention aims to improve efficiency when circulating the substrate carrier in a film forming apparatus that forms a film while holding and transporting a substrate by a substrate carrier.

In order to solve the above problems, the substrate carrier of the present invention,

A plate-shaped member that holds and supports the substrate,

a pair of first members respectively fixed to a first side and a second side along a first direction of the plate-shaped member and each extending in the first direction;

characterized by having a pair of second members each fixed to a third side and a fourth side of the plate-shaped member along a second direction intersecting the first direction, and each extending in the second direction. do.

According to the present invention, in a film forming apparatus that forms a film while holding and transporting a substrate by a substrate carrier, the efficiency when circulating the substrate carrier can be improved.

1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a substrate carrier according to an embodiment.
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the lower surface of a substrate carrier according to the embodiment.
Fig. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of an in-line manufacturing system for an organic EL panel according to an embodiment.
Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the transport state of the substrate carrier and mask according to the embodiment.
Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the conveyance state of the carrier according to the embodiment.
Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of the alignment mechanism of the embodiment.
Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of the carrier holding portion and the mask holding portion of the embodiment.
Figure 8 is a perspective view of the alignment mechanism of the embodiment.
Figure 9 is a schematic diagram in a case where the amount of deflection of the carrier is small and there is a gap between it and the mask.
Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of the alignment state of the carrier in the embodiment.
Fig. 11 is a perspective view showing an example of a rotational translation mechanism.
Figure 12 is a plan view showing how the substrate and mask are held and an enlarged view of the mark.
Fig. 13 is a flow chart showing each process step in the embodiment.
14 is an explanatory diagram of an organic EL display device.

[Embodiment 1]

Below, with reference to the drawings, modes for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail by way of example based on examples. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, etc. of the components described in this example are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention to these alone, unless otherwise specified.

1 to 13, a substrate carrier, a film forming apparatus, a film forming method, and an electronic device manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the following description, a mask mounting device provided in an apparatus for manufacturing an electronic device will be described as an example. In addition, the case where vacuum deposition method is employed as a film forming method for manufacturing an electronic device will be described as an example. However, the present invention is applicable even when sputtering method is employed as the film forming method. In addition, the mask mounting device of the present invention can be applied to various devices that require mounting a mask on a substrate in addition to devices used in the film forming process, and can be particularly preferably applied to devices where large substrates are processed. there is. Meanwhile, as the material of the substrate applied to the present invention, in addition to glass, any material such as semiconductor (eg, silicon), polymer film, or metal can be selected. Additionally, as the substrate, for example, a silicon wafer or a substrate in which a film such as polyimide is laminated on a glass substrate may be used. On the other hand, in the case of forming a plurality of layers on a substrate, the layer that has already been formed in the preceding step is also included and is referred to as “substrate.” In addition, when there are multiple identical or corresponding members in the same drawing, such as the various devices described below, they may be indicated by suffixes such as a and b in the drawings, but in cases where there is no need to distinguish them in the description, There are cases where subscripts such as A, B, a, b, etc. are omitted.

(Carrier configuration)

1 and 2 are perspective views showing the configuration of a substrate carrier 9 to which a rail as a guided member of the present invention is applied. The substrate carrier 9 is a rectangular plate-shaped structure when viewed from the top, and pairs of rails 51a and 51b are installed on both sides of the substrate carrier 9 near two opposing sides among the four sides forming the outer periphery of the rectangle. It is done. The substrate carrier 9 is supported by the pair of rails 51a and 51b being supported on conveyance rollers 15 as conveyance rotating bodies arranged in plural numbers along the conveyance direction on both sides of the conveyance path of the substrate carrier 9. With this support structure, the movement of the substrate carrier 9 in the transport direction is guided by the rotation of the transport roller 15. 1 and 2 show a state in which the substrate carrier 9 is supported near two opposing sides of the four sides forming the outer periphery of the rectangle by the transport roller 15, and both sides are supported due to deformation by its own weight. It shows a state in which the central part away from the sides (the central part in the direction along the two opposing sides, not the supporting sides among the four sides) is deformed so that it sinks downward in the direction of gravity. FIG. 1 shows the appearance of the substrate carrier 9 when the substrate carrier 9 is viewed obliquely from above, and FIG. 2 shows the appearance of the substrate carrier 9 when the substrate carrier 9 is viewed obliquely from below. and the transport roller 15 is omitted. The configuration of the substrate carrier 9 will be explained using these drawings.

The substrate carrier 9 includes a carrier face plate 30, which is a rectangular flat member, four rails 50a, 50b, 51a, 51b fixed to the side of the carrier face plate 30, and a chuck member 32. Equipped with Meanwhile, in this embodiment, the case where the carrier face plate 30 provided in the substrate carrier 9 is a square-shaped member is described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and is provided with two pairs of opposing sides. , a pair of rails can be installed corresponding to each of the two opposing sides.

One rail (50a, 50b, 51a, 51b) is installed on each side of the four sides of the square outer circumference of the carrier face plate 30, and the rails installed on the two opposing sides (rail (50a), rail (50b), rail The rails 51a and 51b form a pair and function as guided portions when transporting the substrate carrier 9.

Among the two pairs of rails, the pair of rails 51a and 51b is used to transport the substrate carrier 9 during film formation on the substrate 5, and the pair of rails 50a and 50b, which are a pair orthogonal to this pair, are used to transport the substrate carrier 9. It is used in the conveyance path to change the conveyance direction in the circular conveyance path of the carrier 9. That is, the pair of rails 51a and 51b, which are the first guided members, are supported and transported by the first conveying rotary body (described later) when conveyed in the first direction, and the rails 50a, which are the second guided members, When the pair 50b) is conveyed in the second direction, it is supported and conveyed by a second conveyance rotary body (described later). Meanwhile, in this embodiment, the case where the first direction and the second direction are orthogonal will be described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the first direction and the second direction may be intersecting directions.

The material of the carrier face plate 30 is preferably made of aluminum or aluminum alloy as the main material in order to reduce the overall weight of the substrate carrier 9. On the other hand, the rails 50 and 51 of the substrate carrier 9 according to the present embodiment use as their main material a material with a higher Young's modulus than the carrier face plate 30, such as stainless steel or high-strength steel with anti-rust plating. desirable. As a result, vibration of the entire substrate carrier 9 generated during transport is reduced, and generation of particles and debris generated during contact with the transport roller 15 is reduced.

In addition, the surfaces of the rails 50 and 51 of the substrate carrier 9 according to the present embodiment are subjected to surface treatment to increase hardness, such as DLC coating, for example, so that the contact surface with the conveyance roller 15 is improved. The effect of suppressing wear and chipping during conveyance and reducing the generation of particles is obtained. Meanwhile, as surface treatment for the rails 50 and 51, other methods such as quenching may be used.

The chuck member 32 is a member for holding the substrate 5 along the holding surface formed by the carrier face plate 30. In this embodiment, a plurality of chuck members 32 are arranged inside a plurality of holes provided in the carrier face plate 30, as shown in FIG. 3 . An adhesive member is disposed on the portion of the chuck member 32 facing the substrate 5, and the substrate 5 can be held by adhesive force. The chuck member 32 may also be called an adhesive pad. On the other hand, the chuck member 32 is preferably arranged according to the shape of the mask 6, and is more preferably arranged corresponding to the grille portion of the mask 6. As a result, the influence of the chuck member 32 contacting the substrate 5 on the temperature distribution in the film forming area of the substrate 5 can be suppressed. Meanwhile, in this embodiment, a member that holds the substrate 5 by adhesive force is used as the chuck member 32, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the chuck member 32 is used to hold the substrate 5 by electrostatic force. ) can also be used.

With reference to FIG. 3, a manufacturing system (film deposition apparatus) according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a manufacturing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and illustrates a manufacturing system 300 for in-line manufacturing an organic EL panel (organic EL display device). Organic EL panels are generally manufactured through an organic light-emitting element forming process of forming an organic light-emitting element on a substrate and an encapsulation process of forming a protective layer on the formed organic light-emitting layer. However, the manufacturing system (300) according to this embodiment ) mainly performs the organic light emitting device formation process.

As shown in FIG. 3, the manufacturing system 300 includes an alignment chamber 100 (mask attachment chamber), a plurality of film deposition chambers 110, a rotation chamber 111, a transfer chamber 112, and a mask It has a separation chamber 113, a substrate separation chamber 114, a substrate input chamber 117 (substrate attachment chamber), a transfer chamber 118, and a transfer chamber 115. The manufacturing system 300 also has a transport means to be described later, and the substrate carrier 9 is transported along a predetermined transport path through each chamber of the manufacturing system 300 by the transport means. Specifically, in the configuration of FIG. 3, the substrate carrier 9 includes an alignment chamber 100 (mask attachment chamber), a plurality of film deposition chambers 110a, a rotation chamber 111a, a transfer chamber 112, and a rotation chamber. (111b), a plurality of film formation chambers (110b), mask separation chamber (113), substrate separation chamber (114), substrate input chamber (117), and transport chamber (115), passing through each chamber in that order and being transported, Again, it returns to the alignment room 100. In this way, the substrate carrier 9 is conveyed in circulation along a predetermined conveyance path (circular conveyance path). On the other hand, the manufacturing system 300 in this embodiment further includes a mask input chamber 90 and a mask transfer chamber 116. Hereinafter, the function of each chamber will be described.

While the substrate carrier 9 is circulated along the circular conveyance path, the mask 6 is placed on the circular conveyance path from the mask input chamber 90 and discharged from the mask conveyance chamber 116. In addition, the unformed substrate 5 is placed on the circular transfer path from the substrate input chamber 117, and after being deposited while held in the substrate carrier 9, the substrate 5 with the completed film formation is transferred to the substrate separation chamber. It is exported from (114). The unformed substrate 5 loaded into the substrate loading chamber 117 is held by the substrate carrier 9 in the substrate loading chamber 117 and passes through the transfer chamber 118 and the transfer chamber 115 to the alignment room. It is brought in at (100).

In addition, the substrate input chamber 117 and the substrate separation chamber 114 are equipped with a reversal mechanism that reverses the orientation of the holding surface of the substrate carrier 9 from vertically upward to vertically downward, or from vertically downward to vertically upward. (not shown) is provided. The substrate 5 is brought into the substrate loading chamber 117 where the substrate carrier 9 is disposed with its holding surface facing vertically upward, with its film-deposited surface facing vertically upward, and the substrate carrier It is placed on the holding surface of (9) and held by the substrate carrier (9). Afterwards, the substrate carrier 9 holding the substrate 5 is inverted by an inversion mechanism (not shown), and the film-deposited surface of the substrate 5 is brought into a state facing downward in the vertical direction. On the other hand, when the substrate carrier 9 is brought into the substrate separation chamber 114 from the mask separation chamber 113, the substrate 5 is brought in with the deposition surface facing vertically downward. After loading, the substrate carrier 9 holding the substrate 5 is inverted by an inversion mechanism (not shown), and the film-deposited surface of the substrate 5 is turned vertically upward. Thereafter, the substrate 5 is carried out from the substrate separation chamber 114 with the film-deposited surface facing vertically upward.

When the inverted substrate carrier 9 holding the substrate 5 loaded from the substrate loading chamber 117 is brought into the alignment room 100, the mask 6 is moved from the mask loading chamber 90 to the alignment room accordingly. It is imported as (100). An alignment device 1 is mounted in the alignment room 100 (mask attachment room), and the substrate 5 and the mask 6 held by the substrate carrier 9 according to the present embodiment are aligned with high precision. The substrate carrier 9 (substrate 5) is placed on the mask 6, and then transferred to the conveying roller 15 (transfer means), and conveyance toward the next process is started. The substrate 5, mask 6, and substrate carrier 9 are each conveyed along the conveyance path without changing their orientations. In other words, even if the direction in which the conveyance path extends changes, it is a conveyance method that changes only the direction of travel without changing the orientation. A plurality of conveyance rollers 15 as conveyance means are arranged along the conveyance direction on both sides of the conveyance path, and each rotates by the driving force of an AC servo motor (not shown) to convey the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6. It consists of: In the conveyance path, along the conveyance direction, a pair of conveyance rollers 15A (15Aa, 15Ab) as a first conveyance rotary body for conveyance in the first direction, and a pair of conveyance rollers (15Aa, 15Ab) as a second conveyance rotary body for conveyance in the second direction. One or both of the pairs 15Ba and 15Bb of the conveying rollers 15B are installed.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the alignment is completed and the mask 6 on which the substrate carrier 9 is placed is supported by the conveyance rollers 15 at both ends in the width direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the lower surface, as viewed in the conveyance direction. This is a schematic diagram of the time. Since only both ends in the width direction of the mask 6 on which the substrate carrier 9 is mounted are supported by the conveyance rollers 15, the central portion in the width direction moves downward due to its own weight together with the substrate carrier 9. It becomes deformed and has a downward convex shape so that it sinks down. In this state, movement in the transport direction is guided by the transport roller 15, and the substrate 5 is formed into a film by passing over the deposition source 7 within the film formation chamber 110. Since the rail 51 in the conveyance direction of the present invention passes over a plurality of conveyance rollers 15 at the time of film formation, the substrate carrier 9 itself is excited under the influence of vibration at that time, and the substrate carrier ( There is a risk of causing misalignment between 9) and the mask (6). Therefore, it is desirable for the rail 51 in the film forming direction to have as high a rigidity as possible. On the other hand, the rail 50 of the present invention in the direction perpendicular to the film formation direction has low rigidity from the viewpoint of ensuring adhesion and alignment accuracy between the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6, as will be described later. That is, it is preferable that the rigidity is relatively lower than that of the rail 51.

In FIG. 3, in the film deposition chamber 110a at the front end of the conveyance path, the substrate 5 adsorbed on the brought-in substrate carrier 9 passes over the deposition source 7, thereby causing the substrate 5 to be covered with blood. On the film formation surface, surfaces other than those covered by the mask 6 are deposited. The substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 rotate their travel directions by 90° in the rotation chamber 111a, pass through the transfer chamber 112, and further pass through the rotation chamber 111b (and rotate their travel directions by 90°). rotates) and is input into the film formation chamber 110b at the rear end of the conveyance path. In each rotation chamber 111, a pair 15Aa, 15Ab of transport rollers 15A as a first transport rotation body for transporting the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 in the first direction, and a pair of transport rollers 15A in the second direction A pair of conveying rollers 15B (15Ba, 15Bb) as second conveying rotors for conveying is provided. The substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are transferred by varying the heights of the first and second transport rotators, so that the orientation of the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 is not changed, but the moving direction is changed. It is designed to change only the Specifically, while the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are supported on the first transport rotator, the second transport rotor rises from the bottom to the top and moves to a position higher than the first transport rotor, so that the substrate By making the carrier 9 and the mask 6 supported by the second transport rotary body, transfer can be achieved.

After completion of film formation, the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are transported to the mask separation chamber 113, and in the mask separation chamber 113, the substrate carrier 9 holding the substrate 5 is transferred to the mask ( 6) It is separated from. The substrate carrier 9 separated from the mask 6 is transported to the substrate separation chamber 114, and in the substrate separation chamber 114, the substrate 5 on which film formation has been completed is separated from the substrate carrier 9 and circulated. recovered from the route. Additionally, in the substrate separation chamber 114, the substrate carrier 9 is inverted as described above. On the other hand, the mask 6 separated from the substrate carrier 9 continues straight and is transported to the mask carrying chamber 116 via the transport chamber 118. A new substrate 5 is loaded and adsorbed onto the carrier 9 from the substrate loading chamber 117 . Also in the substrate loading chamber 117, the substrate carrier 9 is inverted as described above. The substrate carrier 9 passes through the transfer chamber 118 and the transfer chamber 115 and is then transferred back to the alignment room 100. Then, in the alignment chamber 100, it is aligned and placed on the mask 6 conveyed from the input chamber 90. On the other hand, in the transfer chamber 118, pairs of transfer rollers with different (orthogonal) transfer directions are installed in two upper and lower stages. The lower pair of transport rollers arranged in plurality in the first direction are used when the mask 6 separated in the mask separation chamber 113 is transported from the mask separation chamber 113 to the mask transport chamber 116. The upper transfer roller pairs arranged in plurality in the second direction are used when transferring the substrate carrier 9 loaded from the substrate loading chamber 117 to the transfer chamber 115 .

FIG. 5 shows a state in which the substrate carrier 9 alone is placed on the conveyance roller 15. The substrate carrier 9 is placed on the conveyance roller 15 via the rail 51 and the rail 50 . The rail 51 is placed on a conveyance roller 15A as a first conveyance rotary body for conveyance in the above-described first direction, and the rail 50 is placed on a second conveyance rotary body for conveyance in the above-described second direction. It is placed on the conveyance roller 15B as a whole. As described above, the process of separating the substrate 5 from the substrate carrier 9, the process of holding it on the substrate carrier 9, and the substrate carrier 9 holding the substrate 5 are transported to the alignment room ( 100), it is necessary to enable transportation of the substrate carrier 9 alone in both directions, including the film formation direction and the direction perpendicular to the film formation direction. Therefore, as in the present embodiment, a rail 50, which is a second transported member for transport in the second direction, and a rail 51, which is a first transported member for transport in the first direction, are provided to the substrate carrier 9. By arranging the substrate carrier 9, it becomes possible to transport it in the first direction and the second direction, thereby enabling efficient transport. Furthermore, by using members with high wear resistance as the first and second conveyed members, wear resistance at the contact portion with the conveyance roller 15 is ensured, and wear resistance is ensured at the contact portion between the conveyance roller 15 and the substrate carrier 9. Dust generation can be reduced. As a result, scattering of particles and debris within the line can be prevented, and adhesion to the substrate 5 or substrate carrier 9 within the film forming apparatus can be prevented. As a result, the substrate carrier 9 can be transported in the first and second directions while suppressing a decrease in yield during film formation.

Fig. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the overall structure of the alignment mechanism of the in-line vapor deposition apparatus of the present embodiment.

The deposition apparatus roughly includes a chamber 4 and an alignment device 1 that holds the substrate 5 and the mask 6 held by the substrate carrier portion 9 and performs relative alignment. The actual pressure of the chamber 4 can be adjusted by a vacuum pump or a real pressure control unit (not shown) equipped with a real pressure gauge, and deposition material 71 (film forming material) is stored inside the chamber 4. ) can be disposed, thereby forming a depressurized film formation space 2 inside the chamber. In the film formation space 2, the deposition material flies from the evaporation source 7 toward the substrate 5, and a film is formed on the substrate. On the other hand, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, the mask 6 has a structure in which a mask foil 6b with a thickness of several μm to several tens of μm is welded and fixed to a frame-shaped mask frame 6a. The mask frame 6a supports the mask foil 6b in a stretched state in its surface direction (X direction and Y direction described later) so that the mask foil 6b does not sag. An opening according to a desired film formation pattern is formed in the mask foil 6b. When using a glass substrate or a substrate on which a film of a resin such as polyimide is formed as the substrate 5, an iron alloy can be used as the main material of the mask frame 6a and the mask foil 6b. , it is preferable to use an iron alloy containing nickel. Specific examples of iron alloys containing nickel include invar materials containing 34 mass% to 38 mass% nickel, and super invar materials further containing cobalt in addition to 30 mass% to 34 mass% nickel. invar) material, a low thermal expansion Fe-Ni-based plating alloy containing 38 mass% or more and 54 mass% or less nickel, and the like.

In the illustrated example, the configuration of upward deposition (Deposition Up) in which a film is formed with the film deposition surface of the substrate facing downward in the direction of gravity is explained. However, a deposition down configuration may be used in which the film is formed with the film-forming surface of the substrate facing upward in the direction of gravity during film formation. Additionally, a side deposition configuration may be used in which the substrate is erected vertically and the film deposition is performed with the film deposition surface substantially parallel to the direction of gravity. That is, the present invention provides high-precision positioning in a state in which sagging or sagging occurs in at least one member of the substrate carrier and the mask when relatively approaching the substrate held in the carrier. When required, it can be preferably used.

The chamber 4 has an upper partition 4a (top plate), a side wall 4b, and a bottom wall 4c. The inside of the chamber may be maintained in a vacuum atmosphere or an inert gas atmosphere such as nitrogen gas, in addition to the above-mentioned reduced pressure atmosphere. Meanwhile, “vacuum” in this specification refers to a state in a space filled with gas at a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure, and typically refers to a state in a space filled with gas at a pressure lower than 1 atm (1013 hPa).

The evaporation source 7 may include, for example, a material storage portion such as a crucible that accommodates the deposition material, and a heating means such as a sheath heater that heats the deposition material. Furthermore, by providing a mechanism for moving the material receiving portion or a mechanism for moving the entire evaporation source 7 within a plane substantially parallel to the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6, the position of the injection port for injecting the evaporation material can be adjusted to the chamber. The film formation on the substrate 5 may be made uniform by displacing it relative to the substrate 5 within (4).

The alignment device 1 is roughly mounted on the upper partition 3a of the chamber 4 and drives the substrate carrier 9, and aligns the substrate 5 and the mask 6 held by the substrate carrier 9. A positioning mechanism 60 (positioning means) for relatively adjusting the position is included. The alignment device 1 includes a carrier support portion 8 (substrate carrier support portion) holding the substrate carrier 9, a mask stand 16 (mask support portion) holding the mask 6, and a conveyance roller ( 15) It has (transportation means).

The positioning mechanism 60 is installed outside the chamber 4 and changes the relative positional relationship between the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 by moving at least one of the substrate carrier support portion and the mask support portion. In this embodiment, the positioning mechanism 60 moves the carrier support portion 8, which is a substrate carrier support portion. The positioning mechanism 60 roughly includes a rotational translation mechanism 11 (in-plane movement means), a Z-elevating base 13, and a Z-elevating slider 10.

The rotational translation mechanism 11 is connected to the upper partition 4a of the chamber 4, and drives the Z lifting base 13 in the The Z lifting base 13 is connected to the rotational translation mechanism 11 and serves as a base for moving the substrate carrier 9 in the Z direction. The Z lifting slider 10 is a member that can move in the Z direction along the Z guide 18. The Z lifting slider is connected to the substrate carrier support portion 8 through the substrate holding shaft 12.

In this configuration, during XYθ driving (driving in the The Z lifting slider 10 and the substrate holding shaft 12 move as one body and transmit driving force to the carrier support portion 8. Then, the substrate 5 held by the substrate carrier 9 is moved within a plane substantially parallel to the substrate 5 and the mask 6. On the other hand, the mask 6 and the substrate 5 are sagging due to gravity as will be described later, but the plane substantially parallel to the substrate 5 and the mask 6 here refers to a substrate in an ideal state in which no sagging occurs. It refers to a plane approximately parallel to (5) and mask (6). For example, in a configuration in which the substrate 5 and the mask 6 are arranged horizontally, such as upward evaporation or downward evaporation, the rotational translation mechanism 11 moves the substrate 5 in the horizontal plane. Additionally, when the Z lifting slider 10 is driven in the Z direction with respect to the Z lifting base 13 by the Z guide 18, the driving force is applied to the substrate holding shaft 12 (in this embodiment, four substrates are held). It is provided with support shafts 12a, 12b, 12c, and 12d. Meanwhile, in Figure 8, the shaft 12d is hidden by the substrate 5 and the mask 6 (not shown) to the carrier support 8. It is delivered. Then, the distance of the substrate 5 to the mask 6 is changed (separated or closer). That is, the Z lifting base 13, the Z lifting base 13, and the Z guide 18 function as distance changing means of the positioning means.

As shown in the example, by arranging the alignment mechanism 60, which includes many movable parts, outside the film deposition space, dust generation within the film formation space or the alignment space can be suppressed. As a result, it is possible to prevent the mask or substrate from being contaminated by dust generation, thereby reducing film formation accuracy. Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, a configuration in which the alignment mechanism 60 moves the substrate 5 in the It may be moved, or both the substrate 5 and the mask 6 may be moved. That is, the positioning mechanism 60 is a mechanism that moves at least one of the substrate 5 and the mask 6, and thereby the relative positions of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 can be aligned.

The substrate carrier 9 has a carrier face plate 30 (face plate member), a seating block 31 (seating member), and a chuck member 32.

The carrier face plate 30 is a plate-shaped member made of metal or the like, and constitutes a holding surface that holds the substrate 5. The carrier face plate 30 has a certain degree of rigidity (at least higher rigidity than the substrate 5), and by holding the substrate 5 along the holding surface, sagging of the substrate 5 can be suppressed.

A plurality of seating blocks 31 are arranged outside the substrate holding area of the holding surface of the carrier face plate 30, protruding from the holding surface. The seating block 31 is installed so as to protrude from the substrate 5 toward the mask 6 while the substrate 5 is held by the substrate carrier 9 . The substrate carrier 9 is seated on the outer frame of the mask frame 6a through the seating block 31 through an alignment operation.

The chuck member 32 has a chuck surface that contacts the substrate 5 and churns the substrate 5 . The chuck surface of the chuck member 32 of this embodiment is an adhesive surface made of an adhesive member, and holds the substrate 5 by adhesive force. Therefore, the chuck member 32 of this embodiment may also be called an adhesive pad. In this embodiment, each of the plurality of chuck members 32 has a chuck surface (adhesive surface) inside a plurality of holes provided in the carrier face plate 30 as shown in FIG. 2. It is arranged so that there is no level difference with the holding surface (located on the same plane). As a result, the substrate 5 can be held along the holding surface of the carrier face plate 30 by chucking the substrate 5 with each of the plurality of chuck members 32 . On the other hand, the plurality of chuck members 32 may be arranged so that each chuck surface protrudes a predetermined distance from the holding surface of the carrier face plate 30. The chuck member 32 is preferably arranged according to the shape of the mask 6, and is arranged corresponding to the window portion of the mask 6 (a boundary portion for dividing the film-forming area of the substrate 5). It is more preferable. As a result, the influence of the chuck member 32 contacting the substrate 5 on the temperature distribution in the film forming area of the substrate 5 can be suppressed. Meanwhile, in this embodiment, a member that holds the substrate 5 by adhesive force is used as the chuck member 32, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the chuck member 32 is used to hold the substrate 5 by electrostatic force. ) can also be used.

The substrate carrier 9 further has magnetic adsorption means (not shown) for magnetically adsorbing the mask 6 via the held substrate 5. As a magnetic adsorption means, a magnetic plate equipped with a permanent magnet, an electromagnet, or a zero electromagnet can be used. Additionally, the magnetic suction means may be installed to be movable relative to the carrier face plate 30. More specifically, the magnetic adsorption means may be installed so that the distance between it and the carrier face plate 30 can be changed.

Figure 7 is an enlarged view of the mask and carrier holding portion, and details will be explained using this. The substrate carrier portion 9 is positionable relative to the mask 6 via the carrier support portion 8 . The carrier support portion 8 is composed of a carrier receiving finger 42 and a carrier receiving surface 41. By placing the rail 51 on the side of the substrate carrier 9 on the carrier receiving surface 41, the substrate carrier ( 9) Perform an alignment operation on the mask 6 by supporting the whole.

The mask frame 6a is supported by the mask support 16 via the mask pad 33 constituting the mask receiving surface. On the other hand, the mask pad 33 preferably has a high coefficient of friction to prevent the mask position from being misaligned due to vibration occurring during alignment. For example, it is conceivable to make the surface into an emboss shape by contacting metals with each other.

In this way, in this embodiment, the square-shaped substrate carrier 9 and the square-shaped mask 6 are transported on the transport roller 15A by the carrier support part 8 and the mask support part (mask support 16). They are each supported along a direction (first direction). That is, one set of two sets of opposing sides of the substrate carrier 9 is disposed substantially parallel to the conveyance direction (first direction) of the conveyance roller 15A, and the substrate carrier corresponding to the one set of sides The rail 51, which is the first conveyed member, arranged on the periphery of (9), is supported by the carrier support part 8 arranged opposite to it. In addition, one set of the two sets of opposing sides of the mask 6 is disposed substantially parallel to the conveying direction (first direction) of the conveying roller 15A, and the mask 6 corresponding to the one set of sides ) is supported by a mask supporter disposed opposite to the periphery of the mask. On the other hand, the opposing sides supported by the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 may be either long sides or short sides, respectively. Also, even when the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are square, any structure that supports the peripheral portion of one of the two sets of sides may be sufficient.

Figure 8 is a perspective view showing one form of an alignment mechanism. The mask stand 16 is guided (elevated) up and down along the elevating platform guide 34 placed on the mask stand base 19. Additionally, a conveyance roller 15A is disposed below the side of the mask 6 in the conveyance direction, and the mask 6 is transferred to the conveyance roller 15A by lowering the mask stand 16.

The substrate holding shaft 12 is installed across the outside and inside of the chamber 4 through a through hole provided in the upper partition wall 4a of the chamber 4. In the film formation space, a carrier support part 8 is installed at the lower part of the substrate holding shaft 12, and the substrate 5 as a deposited object can be held via the substrate carrier 9.

The through hole is designed to be sufficiently large relative to the outer diameter of the substrate holding shaft 12 so that the substrate holding shaft 12 and the upper partition 4a do not interfere. In addition, the section of the substrate holding shaft 12 from the through hole to the fixed part to the Z lifting slider 10 (part above the through hole) is fixed to the Z lifting slider 10 and the upper partition 4a. It is covered by a bellows (40). As a result, since the substrate holding shaft 12 is covered by a closed space communicating with the chamber 4, the entire substrate holding shaft 12 is kept in the same state as the film deposition space 2 (for example, in a vacuum state). ) can be maintained. For the bellows 40, one that has flexibility in the Z direction and the XY direction may be used. As a result, the resistance force generated when the bellows 40 is displaced by operation of the alignment device 1 can be sufficiently reduced, and the load during position adjustment can be reduced.

The mask support portion is installed on the surface of the upper partition 4a on the film deposition space 2 side inside the chamber 4, and is capable of supporting the mask 6. For example, the mask used in the production of organic EL panels is a mask foil 6b having openings according to the film formation pattern, which is draped under tension on a highly rigid mask frame 6a. It has a fixed configuration. With this configuration, the mask support portion can hold the mask foil 6b with reduced sagging.

Various operations by the alignment device 1 (alignment by the rotational translation mechanism, lifting and lowering of the Z-elevating slider 10 by the distance change means, holding the substrate by the carrier support portion 8, and vapor deposition by the evaporation source 7) etc.) is controlled by the control unit 70. The control unit 70 can be configured by, for example, a computer having a processor, memory, storage, I/O, etc. In this case, the function of the control unit 70 is realized by the processor executing a program stored in memory or storage. As a computer, a general-purpose personal computer may be used, an embedded computer, or a PLC (programmable logic controller) may be used. Alternatively, part or all of the functions of the control unit 70 may be configured with a circuit such as ASIC or FPGA. On the other hand, a control unit 70 may be installed for each deposition apparatus, or one control unit 70 may control a plurality of deposition apparatuses.

Next, details of the positioning mechanism 60 of the alignment device 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 8. Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing one form of an alignment mechanism. The guide that guides the Z-elevating slider 10 in the vertical Z direction includes a plurality of (four here) Z guides 18a to 18d, and is fixed to the side of the Z-elevating base 13. A ball screw 27 is disposed in the center of the Z-elevating slider to transmit driving force, and the power transmitted from the motor 26 fixed to the Z-elevating base 13 is transmitted through the ball screw 27 to the Z-elevating slider 10. ) is passed on.

The motor 26 has a built-in rotation encoder (not shown), and can indirectly measure the Z-direction position of the Z-elevating slider 10 according to the rotation speed of the encoder. By controlling the drive of the motor 26 by an external controller, precise positioning of the Z-elevating slider 10 in the Z direction is possible. On the other hand, the lifting mechanism of the Z lifting slider 10 is not limited to the ball screw 27 and the rotary encoder, and any mechanism such as a combination of a linear motor and a linear encoder can be adopted.

In the configuration of Fig. 11, the rotational translation mechanism 11 has a plurality of drive units 21a, 21b, 21c, and 21d at four corners of the base. Each drive unit 21a to 21d is arranged by rotating the drive units arranged at adjacent corners by 90 degrees around the Z axis so that the direction in which the driving force is generated is different at 90 degrees at each of the four corners.

Each drive unit 21 is provided with a drive unit motor 25 that generates driving force. Each drive unit 21 also includes a first guide 22 that slides in a first direction as the force of the drive unit motor 25 is transmitted through the drive unit ball screw 46, and a first guide 22 that slides in a first direction in the XY plane. It is provided with a second guide 23 that slides in a second direction perpendicular to . Furthermore, it is provided with a rotary bearing 24 that can rotate around the Z axis. For example, in the case of the drive unit 21d, it has a first guide 22 sliding in the X direction, a second guide 23 sliding in the Y direction perpendicular to the X direction, and a rotation bearing 24. , the force of the drive unit motor 25 is transmitted to the first guide 22 through the drive unit ball screw 46. The other drive units 21a, 21b, and 21c also have the same configuration as the drive unit 21d, except that their arrangement orientations are different from each other by 90 degrees.

The drive unit motor 25 has a built-in rotation encoder (not shown), and can measure the amount of displacement of the first guide 22. In each drive unit 21, the drive of the drive unit motor 25 is controlled by the control unit 70, thereby making it possible to precisely control the position of the Z lifting base 13 in the XYθz direction.

For example, when moving the Z lifting base 13 in the + This can be done by generating the force and transmitting the force to the Z lifting base 13. In addition, when moving in the +Y direction, a force to slide in the +Y direction is generated in each of the drive unit 21b and the drive unit 21c by the drive unit motor 25, and the Z lifting base 13 ) Just transfer that power to .

When rotating the Z lifting base 13 +θ around a rotation axis parallel to the Z axis (clockwise rotating θz), drive units 21a and 21d arranged diagonally are used to rotate the Z lifting base 13 by +θz around the Z axis. Simply generate the force necessary for rotation and transmit that force to the Z lifting base 13. Alternatively, the force required for rotation may be transmitted to the Z lifting base 13 using the drive unit 21b and the drive unit 21c.

Next, an imaging device for simultaneously measuring the positions of each alignment mark in order to detect the positions of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 will be described. 6 and 8, on the outer surface of the upper partition 4a, there are markings for acquiring the positions of the alignment mark (mask mark) on the mask 6 and the alignment mark (substrate mark) on the substrate 5. An imaging device 14 (14a, 14b, 14c, 14d) serving as a position acquisition means is disposed. The upper partition 4a is provided with a through hole for imaging on the camera optical axis so that the position of the alignment mark placed inside the chamber 4 can be measured by the imaging device 14. A window glass 17 (17a, 17b, 17c, 17d), etc. is installed in the imaging through-hole to maintain the air pressure inside the chamber. Furthermore, by installing illumination (not shown) inside or near the imaging device 14 and irradiating light near the alignment marks of the substrate and mask, accurate measurement on the mark is possible. Meanwhile, in FIG. 6, the imaging device 14d and the window glasses 17c and 17d are not shown because they are covered by other members.

12(a) to 12(c), a method of measuring the positions of the substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 38 using the imaging device 14 will be described.

FIG. 12(a) is a view from above of the substrate 5 on the carrier face plate 30 while being held by the carrier support portion 8. For illustration purposes, the carrier face plate 30 is shown as if transparent, with dashed lines. On the substrate 5, substrate marks 37a, 37b, 37c, and 37d that can be measured with the imaging device 14 are formed at four corners of the substrate 5. These substrate marks 37a to 37d are simultaneously measured by four imaging devices 14a to 14d, and the translation amount and speed of the substrate 5 are calculated from the positional relationship of the four center positions of each substrate mark 37a to 37d. By calculating the total amount, positional information of the substrate 5 can be obtained. On the other hand, a through hole is opened in the carrier face plate 30, making it possible to measure the position of the substrate mark 37 using the imaging device 14 from the top.

FIG. 12(b) is a view of the mask frame 6a seen from the top. Mask marks 38a, 38b, 38c, and 38d that can be measured with an imaging device are formed at the four corners. These mask marks 38a to 38d are simultaneously measured by four imaging devices 14a, 14b, 14c, and 14d, and the mask 6 is obtained from the positional relationship of the four center positions of each mask mark 38a to 38d. ), the amount of translation, the amount of rotation, etc. can be calculated, and the position information of the mask 6 can be acquired.

Figure 12(c) schematically shows the field of view 44 of the captured image when one set of four sets of the mask mark 38 and the substrate mark 37 is measured by the imaging device 14. This is the drawing shown. In this example, since the substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 38 are measured simultaneously within the field of view 44 of the imaging device 14, it is possible to measure the relative positions of the centers of the marks. The mark center coordinates can be obtained using an image processing device (not shown) based on an image obtained by measurement by the imaging device 14. On the other hand, although the mask mark 38 and the substrate mark 37 are shown to be square or circular, the shape of the mark is not limited to this. For example, it is desirable to use a symmetrical shape such as an

When high-precision alignment is required, a high-magnification CCD camera with a high resolution of several micrometers is used as the imaging device 14. Since such a high-magnification CCD camera has a narrow field of view of several millimeters, if the positional deviation when the substrate carrier 9 is placed on the carrier receiving finger 41 is large, the substrate mark 37 deviates from the field of view, resulting in measurement failure. It becomes impossible. Therefore, as the imaging device 14, it is desirable to install a high-magnification CCD camera and a low-magnification CCD camera with a wide field of view. In that case, rough alignment is performed using a low-magnification CCD camera so that the mask mark 38 and the substrate mark 37 are simultaneously in the field of view of the high-magnification CCD camera, and then the mask mark is performed using the high-magnification CCD camera. The positions of (38) and the substrate mark (37) are measured, and high-precision alignment (fine alignment) is performed.

By using a high-magnification CCD camera as the imaging device 14, the relative positions of the mask frame 6a and the substrate 5 can be adjusted with an accuracy within an error of several μm. However, the imaging device 14 is not limited to a CCD camera, and may be, for example, a digital camera equipped with a CMOS sensor as an imaging element. In addition, even if the high-magnification camera and the low-magnification camera are not installed separately, high-magnification and low-magnification measurements can be made with a single camera by using a camera with interchangeable high-magnification and low-magnification lenses or a zoom lens.

From the positional information of the mask frame 6a and the positional information of the substrate 5 acquired by the imaging device 14, the relative positional information of the mask frame 6a and the substrate 5 can be obtained. This relative position information is fed back to the control unit 70 of the alignment device, and the driving amount of each drive unit, such as the lifting slider 10, the rotational translation mechanism 11, and the carrier support unit 8, is controlled.

(Configuration of substrate carrier and rail)

Using FIGS. 9 and 10 , the substrate carrier 9 of this embodiment and the rail shape and configuration preferred for applying the present invention will be described. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the substrate carrier 9a according to Example 1 of this embodiment, and FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the substrate carrier 9b according to Example 2 of this embodiment.

The substrate carrier 9a of Example 1 shown in FIG. 9 includes a rail 52 as a first guided member supported when conveyed by a conveyance roller 15A for conveyance in the first direction, and a rail 52 as a first guided member for conveyance in the second direction. It has a rail 53 as a second guided member that is supported when conveyed by a conveyance roller 15B for conveyance. As a result, the substrate carrier 9a of Example 1 can be transported in both the first and second directions while suppressing dust generation during transport and suppressing a decrease in yield during film formation. In Example 1, both the rail 52 as the first guided member and the rail 53 as the second guided member have a shape considering rigidity to reduce vibration during conveyance, and the rails have the same cross-sectional shape. is using . Specifically, as shown in Fig. 9(b), all of them have a thick rail shape with a cross-sectional shape of "ㄷ". Meanwhile, the reason for the cross-sectional shape of “ㄷ” is because a groove is dug on the side of the carrier face plate 30 to prevent the head of the bolt 54 from protruding when fastened with a bolt.

The substrate carrier 9b of Example 2 shown in FIG. 10, like Example 1, also has a rail 51 as a first guided member supported when conveyed by conveyance rollers 15A for conveyance in the first direction. and a rail 50 as a second guided member supported when conveyed by a conveyance roller 15B for conveyance in the second direction. As a result, the substrate carrier 9b of Example 2 can also be transported in both the first and second directions while suppressing the generation of dust during transport and suppressing a decrease in yield during film formation. On the other hand, the substrate carrier 9b of Example 2 is different from Example 1 in that the rail 51 as the first guided member and the rail 50 as the second guided member are rails with different cross-sectional shapes. That is, the rail 51 as the first guided member has a cross-section similar to the rail 52 of Example 1 shown in FIG. 9 and has a configuration that emphasizes rigidity in a “ㄷ” shape, but the second guided member has a structure that emphasizes rigidity. As shown in FIG. 10(b), the rail 50 has an “L” shape in cross section. As a result, the cross-sectional area of the rail 50 as the second guided member is smaller than the cross-sectional area of the rail 51 as the first guided member, and the secondary moment of inertia is greater for the rail 50 than for the rail 51. is small. Meanwhile, in Example 2, both the rail 51 and the rail 50 are made of stainless steel.

Figure 9(a) shows a state in which the substrate carrier 9a and the mask 6 are held separately by an alignment mechanism (separated state) during alignment. The substrate carrier 9a is aligned with respect to the mask 6 while being supported on the carrier receiving surface 41 via a rail 52 as a first guided member. In the substrate carrier 9a of Example 1, since both the first guided member and the second guided member have high rigidity, as shown in FIG. 9(a), the rigidity of the rail 52 As a result, the amount of sagging of the substrate carrier 9a is suppressed. As a result, even after the substrate carrier 9a is placed on the mask 6, a gap ds is formed in the mask frame 6a.

When the substrate carrier 9a of Example 1 is aligned with the mask 6 and then placed on the mask 6, when the substrate carrier 9a is seated on the mask frame 6a, the substrate carrier 9a is first ), the area extending along the part (rail 52) supported by the carrier receiving finger 42 and the area extending along the part supported by the mask support part of the mask 6 are in contact with each other. I do it. When sides come into contact with each other, if the two sides in contact are of the same shape and the ideal situation is such that the two sides approach each other while remaining parallel, the entire side will come into contact at once. However, in reality, due to the influence of various disturbances, one of the sides contacts each other at once. Contact begins with some. In this case, the starting position of the contact changes each time under the influence of various disturbances, and is not fixed at one location, but is determined randomly. In addition, not only is the contact start position among one side determined randomly, but also which of the two opposing sides initiates contact first is not constant due to the influence of various disturbances. As a result, reproducibility when the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are seated decreases. In addition, if one of the two opposing sides initiates contact first, an unbalanced load is applied to the side that initiated contact first, so the reaction force when the substrate carrier 9a is seated passes through the carrier receiving surface 41. It is transmitted to the positioning mechanism 60, and further disturbances such as change in posture or positional misalignment of the mechanism may occur.

On the other hand, in Example 2, as described above, the rigidity of the rail 50 as the second guided member is lowered, so when only the rail 51 as the first guided member is held, the carrier is supported in the state. The amount of sagging is larger than the amount of sagging in Example 1 shown in FIG. 9. Therefore, if the amount of deflection of the rail 50a at this time is greater than the amount of deflection of the mask frame 6a, the position where the substrate carrier 9b sits relative to the mask 6 (mask frame 6a) during alignment is at the center. , the contact start position becomes the same position each time, and stable seating can be performed. Additionally, the amount of lateral misalignment of the substrate carrier 9b with respect to the mask 6 when seated is also reduced, thereby improving alignment accuracy. Furthermore, since the contact progresses symmetrically outward from the center of the substrate carrier 9b, and the load is applied equally to the left and right on the carrier receiving surface 41, there is no change in the posture of the alignment mechanism 60 due to an unbalanced load. Positional misalignment is reduced.

In addition, the gap ds between the substrate carrier 9b and the mask 6 hardly occurs because the carrier 9b and the mask 6 are in good contact when seated, and ultimately, as shown in FIG. It is transported and formed into a film without any gaps. This has the effect of improving the yield of organic EL panel production because it is possible to prevent the organic material from moving in during film formation.

Here, in more detail, the sagging of the substrate carrier 9 supported by the carrier support portion 8 and the mask 6 supported by the mask support portion will be examined. As described above, the substrate carrier 9 (holding the substrate 5) supported by the carrier support portion 8 has a parabola convex downward in the direction of gravity in a cross section perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the conveyance roller 15. It becomes a sagging shape. Additionally, the mask 6 supported by the mask support portion also has a parabolic shape that is convex downward in the direction of gravity in a cross section perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the conveyance roller 15. In this specification, as quantities for quantitatively handling the sagging degree of the substrate carrier 9 and the sagging degree of the mask 6, the carrier self-weight sagging amount (dc) and the mask self-weight sagging amount (dm) are defined as follows. .

In this specification, the amount of carrier self-weight deflection (dc) refers to the height along a certain plane (virtual plane) when the substrate carrier 9 is supported by the carrier support portion 8 (the height of the virtual plane). ) as the standard, it refers to the difference (absolute value) between the standard height and the height of the part sagging due to its own weight. For example, when attempting to support the substrate carrier 9 horizontally by the carrier support portion 8, the greatest sagging of the reference height and the substrate carrier 9 is based on the height of the carrier receiving surface 41. The height of the lower surface of the substrate carrier 9 of the portion (the portion where the change in height from the height of the virtual plane is greatest) (typically the substrate carrier 9 corresponding to the middle portion between the oppositely arranged carrier supports 8 The difference (absolute value) of ) with the height of the lower surface becomes the carrier dead weight deflection amount (dc). That is, as shown in Figure 10 (a), on the lower surface of the substrate carrier 9 supported by the carrier support portion 8, the height of the end portion with the least change in height is set as the height of the virtual plane, The difference (absolute value) from the height of this virtual plane to the height of the central part where the change in height is greatest is taken as the carrier dead weight deflection amount (dc). On the other hand, the carrier self-weight deflection amount (dc) may be defined based on the upper surface of the substrate carrier 9 rather than the lower surface. In this case, the height of the virtual plane may be obtained based on the height of the carrier receiving surface 41 and the thickness (height) of the substrate carrier 9. That is, paying attention to the portion of the substrate carrier 9 that is in contact with the carrier receiving surface 41, the height of the carrier receiving surface 41 plus the thickness of the substrate carrier 9 may be taken as the height of the virtual plane. do.

In addition, in this specification, the mask self-weight deflection dm refers to the height along that plane (height of the virtual plane) when the mask 6 is supported along a certain plane (virtual plane) by the mask support part. As a standard, it refers to the difference (absolute value) between the reference height and the height of the part sagging due to its own weight. For example, when attempting to support the mask 6 horizontally by the mask support part, the height of the upper surface of the part of the mask 6 in contact with the mask receiving surface 33 is used as a reference, and the reference height and the mask The height of the upper surface of the mask 6 at the most sagging part (the part with the greatest change in height from the height of the virtual plane) of (6) (typically the mask corresponding to the middle part between the opposing mask supports) The difference (absolute value) with the height of the upper surface of (6) becomes the amount of deflection of the mask's own weight (dm). That is, as shown in Figure 10 (a), on the upper surface of the mask 6 supported by the mask support part, the height of the end portion with the least change in height is set as the height of the virtual plane, and the height of the virtual plane is set to The difference (absolute value) from the height to the height of the central part where the change in height is greatest is taken as the amount of deflection of the mask's own weight (dm). Meanwhile, the height of the virtual plane may be acquired based on the height of the mask receiving surface 33 and the thickness (height) of the mask 6. That is, the slope at the end of the mask 6 when sagging is so small that it can be ignored, and the height at the end of the mask 6 may be assumed to be approximately equal to the thickness of the mask 6. In addition, the amount of deflection (dm) of the mask's own weight may be defined based on the lower surface rather than the upper surface of the mask 6, and in this case, the height of the mask receiving surface 33 may be used as the reference height.

Here, since the substrate carrier 9 is intended to facilitate transportation by suppressing sagging of the substrate 5, from that purpose, it is necessary to make the rigidity of the substrate carrier 9 as high as possible to prevent sagging as much as possible. desirable. On the other hand, since the mask 6 uses a highly rigid mask frame 6b to prevent the mask foil 6a from sagging as described above, it is less prone to sagging compared to the substrate 5. Conventionally, the length of one side of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 was about 1.5 m at most, so the sagging of the mask 6 was negligible, but in the 8th and 10th generations, the length of one side was 2 m. When using a substrate 5 and a mask 6 that greatly exceed , sagging of the mask 6 cannot be ignored. Additionally, in the case where the square-shaped mask 6 and the substrate carrier 9 are supported only on one pair of opposing sides rather than on all four sides, as in the present embodiment, the sagging of the mask 6 gradually decreases. It gets bigger. In other words, if the substrate carrier 9 was designed according to the conventional idea, the mask 6 was more prone to sagging than the substrate carrier 9.

As a result of intensive study by the present inventors, it was found that in this case, if the rigidity of the substrate carrier 9 is made as high as possible to prevent it from sagging, as in the conventional idea, several problems arise. Hereinafter, a problem that occurs when the rigidity of the substrate carrier 9 is made as high as possible and the carrier self-weight deflection amount (dc) becomes smaller than the mask self-weight deflection amount (dm) (i.e., when dc < dm) will be described.

In the case of dc < dm, first, the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are brought into contact, the substrate carrier 9 is placed on the mask 6, and the mask 6 is mounted on the substrate 5. At this time, if the sagging of the mask 6 is too much larger than the sagging of the substrate carrier 9, a large gap will be created between the mask foil 6a and the substrate 5. Figure 9(a) shows a state in which a large gap is created between the mask 6 and the substrate 5. When a large gap occurs between the mask foil 6a and the substrate 5, the mask 6 is adsorbed from the back side with the substrate 5 and the substrate carrier 9 sandwiched between the mask foil 6a and the substrate 5 by magnetic adsorption means such as a magnet. Even if the mask foil 6a is tried to be brought into close contact with the substrate 5, a gap may remain. In this way, a gap ds is created between the mask 6 and the substrate 5 held by the substrate carrier 9. When transported in this state and deposited into a film, the film-forming material is used to form the mask. It rotates through the gap between the foil 6a and the substrate 5, resulting in film blurring. As a result, uneven film formation occurs, and there is a risk of quality degradation due to uneven luminance of the display.

In the case of dc < dm, secondly, when the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are brought into contact, the contact occurs from the area extending along the long side, which is the portion supported by each support portion (carrier support portion, mask support portion). It begins. Since the long sides of the substrate carrier 9 are all supported by the carrier receiving fingers 42 so as to be at the same height, and the long sides of the mask 6 are all supported by the mask support portion so as to be at the same height, initiation of contact occurs between sides (between long sides or between areas extending along the long side). When sides contact each other, in an ideal situation where the two sides in contact have the same shape and the two sides approach and touch each other while remaining parallel, the entire side touches at once. However, in reality, the changes occur due to the influence of various disturbances. Contact begins with some of them. In this case, the starting position of the contact changes each time under the influence of various disturbances, and is not fixed at one location, but is determined randomly. As a result, the reproducibility when the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are seated decreases. For example, during alignment, the Z lifting slider 10 is guided by the Z guide 18 and lowered, and the process of lowering the substrate carrier 9 depends on the straightness or posture reproducibility of the Z guide. Because the paths and postures are different, it is difficult to keep the contact start position constant. For this reason, when the contact start position changes, the reaction force that the substrate carrier 9 receives from the mask frame 6a changes, so the substrate carrier 9 (or the substrate 5 held by the substrate carrier 9) and the mask 6 ) After the alignment is completed, there is a risk that the manner in which the substrate carrier 9 is misaligned when seated on the mask 6 may vary greatly each time. On the other hand, in the case of dc = dm, as in the case of dc < dm, the behavior during seating is not stable, so it is not very desirable from the viewpoint of realizing stable seating.

Accordingly, the present inventors solved the above-mentioned problem by avoiding making the rigidity of the substrate carrier 9 too high and adjusting the amount of sagging of the substrate carrier 9 and the amount of sagging of the mask 6. In this embodiment, the rigidity of the rails 50 and 51 of the substrate carrier 9 is adjusted so that the relationship between the carrier self-weight deflection amount dc and the mask self-weight deflection amount dm is dc > dm. By setting dc > dm, as shown in FIG. 10(a), the substrate carrier 9 sags more than the mask 6. On the other hand, since the substrate 5 is held by the substrate carrier along the holding surface of the substrate carrier 9, the amount of deflection of the substrate 5 can also be considered to be equivalent to the amount of deflection of the carrier's own weight (dc).

In this state, when the substrate carrier 9 is placed on the mask 6, the substrate carrier 9 is placed along the mask 6, so after placement, the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are aligned as shown in FIG. 4. ) can be matched to the deflection. Therefore, the gap between the mask foil 6a and the substrate 5 can be sufficiently reduced, and film blurring during film formation can be suppressed.

Furthermore, by setting dc > dm, when the substrate 5 held by the substrate carrier 9 is brought into contact with the mask 6, the contact begins from the most sagging portion of the short side of the substrate 5. In this embodiment, a plurality of seating blocks 31 are arranged outside the area holding the substrate 5 of the substrate carrier 9, and the seating blocks 31 are installed so as to protrude beyond the substrate 5. there is. In addition, some of the plurality of seating blocks 31 are arranged at the center of the short side of the substrate carrier 9, that is, at the most sagging part. Therefore, in this embodiment, when the substrate carrier 9 is brought into contact with the mask 6, the contact can be started from the seating block 31 disposed in the center of the short side of the substrate carrier 9. The reproducibility of seating can be improved. In addition, the seating block 31 that is first contacted can be used as a reference for positioning, and the reproducibility of the position by seating can also be improved.

(Substrate wit method)

Below, the substrate 5 is set on the substrate carrier 9, the substrate 5 and the mask 6 on the substrate carrier 9 are aligned, and the substrate carrier 9 (substrate 5) is applied to the mask ( 6) A series of operations of the vapor deposition apparatus until placement on the bed will be explained.

Fig. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation sequence of the vapor deposition apparatus of the embodiment.

First, in step S101, the substrate carrier 9 mounted on a roller transport mechanism (not shown) is brought into the chamber 4 through the gate valve and placed on the carrier receiving fingers 42 on both sides of the carrier support portion 8. It is witty in A plurality of carrier receiving fingers 42a on one side are arranged at predetermined intervals along one side of the substrate 5 (substrate carrier 9), and the substrate carrier 9 is provided in the vicinity of one side of the substrate 5. It supports the rail 51a, which is the peripheral part of . A plurality of the other carrier receiving fingers 42b are arranged at predetermined intervals along the second side of the substrate 5 opposite to the first side, and the substrate carrier 9 is provided near the second side of the substrate 5. ) supports the rail (51b), which is the peripheral part of ).

Next, in step S103, the substrate carrier 9 is lowered and set at a height for imaging with a low-magnification CCD camera. Next, in step S104, the substrate mark 37 provided on the substrate 5 is imaged with a low-magnification CCD camera. The control unit 70 acquires the position information of the substrate 5 based on the captured image and stores it in memory.

Step S105 may be executed subsequent to step S104, and may be executed subsequent to step S109 or S113 when the determination in step S109 or step S113 is “NO”.

In step S105, which is performed following step S104, the substrate carrier 9 is lowered, set at the alignment operation height, and the position of the substrate 5 is adjusted based on the positional information acquired in step S104. .

First, speaking of the height of the substrate carrier 9, the distance between the carrier receiving surface 41 (upper surface of the carrier receiving finger 42) and the mask 6 is changed to a lower height than in step S104. . However, at this time, the position of the carrier receiving surface 41 is set to a height where the substrate 5 on the substrate carrier 9 sagging due to its own weight does not contact the mask 6. Meanwhile, in some cases, steps S105 and S104 may be performed at the same height.

In the alignment operation in step S105 carried out following step S104, the control unit 70 determines the alignment device 1 provided based on the positional information of the substrate 5 acquired in step S104. The positioning mechanism 60 is driven. That is, the control unit 70 adjusts the position of the substrate 5 so that the substrate mark 37 of the substrate 5 falls within the field of view of the high-magnification CCD camera. On the other hand, with respect to the mask 6, the relative positions of the mask 6 and the high-magnification CCD camera have been adjusted in advance so that the mask mark 38 is within the field of view (preferably the center of the field of view) of the high-magnification CCD camera. there is. For this reason, the alignment operation in step S105 performed following step S104 adjusts both the substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 38 so that they fall within the field of view of the high-magnification CCD camera. However, at this point, there is a possibility that the substrate mark 37 cannot be imaged with a high-magnification CCD camera due to the relationship with the depth of field. On the other hand, in the alignment operation, the substrate 5 is moved in the , or the film pattern already formed on the surface of the substrate 5 slides with the mask 6 and is not damaged.

Next, in step S106, the substrate carrier 9 is lowered and the substrate 5 is set at a height for imaging with a high-magnification CCD camera.

Here, since a high-magnification CCD camera with a shallow depth of field is focused on both the substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 36 to capture images, at least a part (sagging portion) of the substrate 5 is in contact with the mask 6. The substrate 5 is brought closer to the mask 6 until a substrate mask contact is formed.

Next, in step S108, the substrate mark 37 of the substrate 5 and the mask mark 38 of the mask 6 are simultaneously imaged by a high-magnification CCD camera. The control unit 70 acquires relative position information of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 based on the captured image. The relative position information referred to here is specifically information about the distance between the center positions of the substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 38 and the direction of positional deviation. Step S108 is a measurement process (measurement process) of acquiring relative position information (amount of relative position misalignment) of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 and measuring the amount of position misalignment between the substrate 5 and the mask 6. )am.

Next, in step S109, the control unit 70 determines whether the amount of positional discrepancy between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 measured in step S108 is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold value. The predetermined threshold value is a value set in advance so that the amount of positional misalignment between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 falls within a range that does not cause problems even when forming a film. The threshold is set to achieve the required alignment accuracy of the substrate 5 and mask 6. The threshold value is, for example, such that the error is within several micrometers.

If it is determined in step S109 that the amount of positional misalignment between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 exceeds a predetermined threshold (step S109: NO), the process returns to step S105 and the alignment operation is performed. And, the processing after step S106 continues.

In step S105, which is performed when the determination in step S109 is NO, the substrate carrier 9 is raised and set at the alignment operation height, and the substrate 5 is placed based on the relative position information acquired in step S108. ) to adjust the position.

In the alignment operation performed when the determination in step S109 is NO, the control unit 70 operates the alignment device 1 based on the relative position information of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 acquired in step S108. ) drives the positioning mechanism provided. That is, the control unit 70 moves the substrate 5 in the Adjust.

In the alignment operation, the substrate 5 is moved in the Alternatively, the film pattern already formed on the surface of the substrate 5 is not damaged by sliding with the mask 6.

Step S105 is an alignment process (alignment process) in which the substrate 5 is moved to reduce the amount of positional misalignment between the substrate 5 and the mask 6. If the determination in step S109 is NO, fine alignment is performed. It is done.

If the determination in step S109 is YES, in step S110, the substrate carrier 9 is further lowered so that the entire substrate carrier 9 is placed on the mask frame 6a. That is, the support of the substrate carrier 9 by the carrier support portion 8 is released, and the substrate carrier 9 (substrate 5) and the mask frame 6a (mask 6) mounted thereon are together with the mask. It is supported by the stand 16 (mask support portion). Then, in step S112, the substrate mark 37 and the mask mark 36 are imaged by a high-magnification CCD camera, and relative position information of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 is acquired.

Next, in step S113, the control unit 70 determines the positional deviation amount between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 based on the relative position information of the substrate 5 and the mask 6 acquired in step S112. It is determined whether it is below a predetermined threshold. The predetermined threshold value is set in advance under the condition that it is within a range where there is no problem in film formation if it is within the threshold value.

In step S113, when it is determined that the amount of positional deviation between the substrate 5 and the mask 6 exceeds a predetermined threshold (step S113: NO), the carrier receiving finger 42 is moved to the substrate 5. Support the substrate carrier 9 by raising it to a height of . On the other hand, such a NO decision may occur, for example, between steps S109 to S114 when a positional misalignment occurs due to external vibration.

Then, it returns to step S105 and performs the alignment operation. Thereafter, processing from step S106 continues.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S113 that the amount of positional misalignment between the substrate 5 and the mask 6a is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold value (step S113: YES), the process proceeds to step S114 and the mask lifting platform (16) is lowered and delivered to the conveying roller (15). This completes the alignment sequence (END).

In this embodiment, when the substrate carrier is conveyed in the first direction in the conveyance path, the first guided member is supported by the conveyance roller 15 as a plurality of conveyance rotating bodies arranged along the first direction in the conveyance path. a first rail as a second guided member, and a second guided member supported by a conveying roller 15 as a plurality of conveying rotating bodies arranged along the second direction in the conveying path when conveyed in the second direction in the conveying path. Provide rails. When the substrate after film formation is recovered, the substrate carrier is circulated upstream of the film formation transport path and is used again to hold the substrate during film formation. In such a circular transport path (single transport path), by providing the above-described first rail and second rail, transport can be made in the first and second directions orthogonal to each other without changing the orientation (direction) of the substrate carrier. , it becomes possible to efficiently perform circular conveyance upstream of the desired path.

The first rails are arranged in a pair along the first direction (in the longitudinal direction) on both side surfaces of the plate-shaped member for holding the substrate in the substrate carrier in the second direction orthogonal to the first direction. is fixed (so that it is parallel to the first direction). On the other hand, the second rails are arranged in a pair along the second direction (length is fixed (so that the direction is parallel to the second direction). The first rail becomes a portion supported by the carrier support portion during alignment, and the second rail becomes a portion where sagging deformation occurs due to the weight (self-weight) of the substrate carrier and the substrate during alignment. The first rail and the second rail are each long rail-shaped member made of the same material, and the shape of the cross section is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of each, or the size of the cross section is made smaller for the second rail. By doing so, the secondary moment of section in the cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the second rail is made smaller than that of the first rail, that is, the second rail is made more prone to sagging than the first rail. By doing this, it becomes possible to improve the alignment precision of the substrate carrier with respect to the mask.

That is, in this embodiment, as a support process, a substrate carrier ( The rails 51a and 51b, which are opposing peripheral portions of 9), are supported by the substrate carrier support portion 8 so that the rails 51a and 51b follow a predetermined direction. Additionally, as a pair of peripheral regions in the peripheral portion of the mask 6, the opposing sides of the mask 6 (mask frame 6a) correspond to a pair of opposing sides among the four sides forming the peripheral portion of the mask 6. The peripheral portion is supported by a mask support portion (mask support 16) so that the opposing peripheral portion follows a predetermined direction. Meanwhile, in this embodiment, the predetermined direction (first direction) is the Y-axis direction, the second direction is the X-axis direction, and the third direction is the Z-axis direction, but the direction is not limited to this. In addition, although the present embodiment illustrates the rectangular substrate 5 and the rectangular mask 6, the shapes of the substrate and mask are not limited to rectangular shapes, and are formed in a predetermined direction among the plurality of sides forming the periphery of the substrate or mask. It can be configured to support a pair of peripheral regions corresponding to a pair of opposing sides arranged along. Therefore, depending on the shape of the substrate or mask, the intersection of the first direction and the second direction is not limited to being orthogonal.

Then, as an attachment process, the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are attached so that the substrate carrier 9 is placed on the mask 6 from a spaced position where the substrate carrier 9 is spaced upward from the mask 6. The substrate carrier support portion 8 is lowered to move to the position (transfer from the separated state to the attached state). In this embodiment, it is lowered along the Z-axis direction as the third direction, but the direction may be at a slight angle to the Z-axis direction as long as the desired loading operation of the present invention can be realized. Additionally, the substrate carrier support portion 8 may be moved without moving the mask support portion, or both may be moved.

At this time, the substrate carrier 9 supported only by the substrate carrier support portion 8 and the mask 6 supported only by the mask support portion satisfy the relationship of dc > dm (... equation (1)) as described above. Each is supported so as to do so. Therefore, when the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 are moved from the separation position to the attachment position, the portion with the greatest sagging in the third direction in the substrate carrier 9 and the mask 6 Contact is initiated from the portion with the greatest deflection in the third direction.

On the other hand, when the substrate carrier 9 comes into contact with the mask 6 during movement from the separation position to the attachment position, the substrate carrier 9 is more likely to slip relative to the mask 6 in the direction perpendicular to the third direction. It is preferable that the substrate is supported by the substrate carrier support portion 8 so as to have a high degree of slippage against the substrate carrier support portion 8 (carrier receiving surface 41). That is, the substrate carrier 9 undergoes deformation such that the positions of both ends in the second direction are displaced in the second direction as the sagging state is resolved, but this displacement of both ends is offset by the mask 6 ), but is configured to be absorbed and eliminated by slipping with the substrate carrier support portion 8 (carrier receiving surface 41). As a result, displacement in the plane direction when the substrate carrier 9 is placed on the mask 6 is effectively suppressed.

Various methods may be used to control the size of the slipperiness described above. For example, the seating member 31 of the substrate carrier 9 is made of a metal member such as iron, similar to the mask 6 (mask frame 6a), and at least the contact portion between the two is a polished surface. It is composed of a surface or a grinding surface, and the contact area at the contact portion is set appropriately. On the other hand, the carrier receiving surface 41 ensures a frictional force that prevents the substrate carrier 9 from slipping when supported alone, and is positioned closer to the substrate carrier 9 rather than between the seating member 31 and the mask 6. To make it easier to slip on the surface, various coating films may be applied. The contact portion with the substrate carrier 9 on the carrier receiving surface 41 is, for example, coated with an inorganic material, fluorine, DLC, or inorganic ceramic as the base material (inorganic material, fluorine-based coat, ceramic-based coat, DLC coat). You may carry out. Meanwhile, methods other than those described in this embodiment may be appropriately used.

According to this embodiment, when aligning the substrate carrier and the mask in the deposition apparatus, it becomes possible to accurately position the substrate to the mask, and it is possible to mount the mask on the substrate by sufficiently reducing the gap between the substrate and the mask. I do it. Therefore, it becomes possible to reduce film formation unevenness and improve film formation precision.

[Embodiment 2]

<Method for manufacturing electronic devices>

A method of manufacturing an electronic device using the above substrate processing apparatus will be described. Here, as an example of an electronic device, the case of an organic EL element used in a display device such as an organic EL display device will be described as an example. Meanwhile, the electronic device according to the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a thin film solar cell or an organic CMOS image sensor. In this embodiment, there is a step of forming an organic film on the substrate 5 using the above film forming method. Additionally, after forming the organic film on the substrate 5, there is a step of forming a metal film or a metal oxide film. The structure of the organic EL display device 600 obtained through this process will be described below.

FIG. 14(a) shows the overall view of the organic EL display device 600, and FIG. 14(b) shows the cross-sectional structure of one pixel. As shown in FIG. 14A, in the display area 61 of the organic EL display device 600, a plurality of pixels 62 including a plurality of light-emitting elements are arranged in a matrix shape. Each light emitting element has a structure including an organic layer sandwiched between a pair of electrodes. Meanwhile, the pixel referred to here refers to the minimum unit that enables display of a desired color in the display area 61. In the case of the organic EL display device in this figure, the pixel 62 is composed of a combination of a first light-emitting element 62R, a second light-emitting element 62G, and a third light-emitting element 62B that exhibit different light emissions. . The pixel 62 is often composed of a combination of a red light-emitting element, a green light-emitting element, and a blue light-emitting element, but may be a combination of a yellow light-emitting element, a cyan light-emitting element, and a white light-emitting element, and is not particularly limited as long as it is of at least one color. No. Additionally, each light-emitting element may be composed of a plurality of light-emitting layers stacked.

In addition, the pixel 62 is composed of a plurality of light-emitting elements that emit the same light, and a color filter in which a plurality of different color conversion elements are arranged in a pattern to correspond to each light-emitting element is used, so that one pixel is displayed in the display area. (61) may enable display of a desired color. For example, the pixel 62 may be composed of at least three white light-emitting elements, and a color filter in which red, green, and blue color conversion elements are arranged to correspond to each light-emitting element may be used. Alternatively, the pixel 62 may be composed of at least three blue light-emitting elements, and a color filter may be used in which red, green, and colorless color conversion elements are arranged to correspond to each light-emitting element. In the latter case, by using a quantum dot color filter (QD-CF) using quantum dot (QD) material as the material constituting the color filter, the display color is better than that of a typical organic EL display device that does not use a quantum dot color filter. The area can be expanded.

FIG. 14(b) is a partial cross-sectional schematic diagram taken along line A-B in FIG. 14(a). The pixel 62 includes, on the substrate 5, a first electrode (anode) 64, a hole transport layer 65, one of the light emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B, and an electron transport layer 67, It has an organic EL element provided with a second electrode (cathode) 68. Among these, the hole transport layer 65, the light-emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B, and the electron transport layer 67 correspond to the organic layer. Additionally, in this embodiment, the light-emitting layer 66R is an organic EL layer that emits red, the light-emitting layer 66G is an organic EL layer that emits green, and the light-emitting layer 66B is an organic EL layer that emits blue. Meanwhile, when using a color filter or quantum dot color filter as described above, the color filter or quantum dot color filter is disposed on the light emission side of each light emitting layer, that is, at the top or bottom of Figure 14 (b), but the illustration is Omit it.

The light-emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B are formed in a pattern corresponding to light-emitting elements (sometimes referred to as organic EL elements) that emit red, green, and blue colors, respectively. Additionally, the first electrode 64 is formed separately for each light emitting element. The hole transport layer 65, the electron transport layer 67, and the second electrode 68 may be formed in common with the plurality of light-emitting elements 62R, 62G, and 62B, or may be formed for each light-emitting element. Meanwhile, in order to prevent the first electrode 64 and the second electrode 68 from being short-circuited by foreign substances, an insulating layer 69 is provided between the first electrode 64. Furthermore, since the organic EL layer is deteriorated by moisture and oxygen, a protective layer (P) is provided to protect the organic EL element from moisture and oxygen.

Next, an example of a manufacturing method for an organic EL display device as an electronic device will be described in detail. First, a circuit for driving an organic EL display device (not shown) and a substrate 5 on which the first electrode 64 is formed are prepared.

Next, a resin layer such as acrylic resin or polyimide is formed by spin coating on the substrate 5 on which the first electrode 64 is formed, and the resin layer is applied to the portion where the first electrode 64 is formed by lithography. An insulating layer 69 is formed by patterning so that an opening is formed. This opening corresponds to the light emitting area where the light emitting element actually emits light.

Next, the substrate 5 on which the insulating layer 69 has been patterned is loaded into the first film forming apparatus, the substrate is held in the substrate holding unit, and the hole transport layer 65 is placed on the first electrode 64 in the display area. ) It is formed as a common layer on top. The hole transport layer 65 is formed by vacuum deposition. In reality, since the hole transport layer 65 is formed to a size larger than the display area 61, a very fine (high-definition) mask is unnecessary. Here, the film forming apparatus used in the film forming in this step and the film forming of each layer below is the film forming apparatus described in any one of the above-described embodiments.

Next, the substrate 5 formed up to the hole transport layer 65 is loaded into the second film forming apparatus and held by the substrate holding unit. The substrate and the mask are aligned, the substrate is placed on the mask, and a red-emitting light-emitting layer 66R is deposited on the portion of the substrate 5 where the red-emitting element is placed. According to this example, the mask and the substrate can be overlapped satisfactorily, and high-precision film formation can be performed.

As with the deposition of the light-emitting layer 66R, the light-emitting layer 66G that emits green color is formed into a film using the third film forming device, and the light-emitting layer 66B that emits blue color is further formed into a film using the fourth film forming device. After the deposition of the light emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B is completed, the electron transport layer 67 is formed over the entire display area 61 by the fifth deposition apparatus. Each of the light emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B may be a single layer or may be a stack of a plurality of different layers. The electron transport layer 65 is formed as a layer common to the three color light emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B. In this embodiment, the electron transport layer 67 and the light emitting layers 66R, 66G, and 66B are formed by vacuum deposition.

Next, the second electrode 68 is formed on the electron transport layer 67. The second electrode may be formed by vacuum deposition or sputtering. Thereafter, the substrate on which the second electrode 68 is formed is moved to an encapsulation device to form a protective layer P by plasma CVD (encapsulation process), and the organic EL display device 600 is completed. Meanwhile, here, the protective layer P is formed by the CVD method, but it is not limited to this and may be formed by the ALD method or the inkjet method.

After the substrate 5 on which the insulating layer 69 has been patterned is brought into the film formation apparatus and until the film formation of the protective layer P is completed, when exposed to an atmosphere containing moisture or oxygen, the light emitting layer made of organic EL material There is a risk of deterioration due to moisture or oxygen. Therefore, in this example, the loading and unloading of the substrate between film forming devices is performed under a vacuum atmosphere or an inert gas atmosphere.

100: Alignment room
1: Alignment device
8: substrate carrier support
9: substrate carrier
60: Positioning mechanism
11: rotational translation mechanism
10: Z lifting slider
13: Z lifting base
18: Z guide
70: control unit
5: substrate
6: mask
6a: Mask frame
31: Seating block

Claims (30)

A film forming apparatus comprising a plurality of first transport rotors arranged in a first direction and a plurality of second transport rotors arranged in a second direction intersecting the first direction, and forming a film on a substrate, comprising: A substrate carrier that is transported in the first direction and the second direction while holding the substrate,
a plate-shaped member holding the substrate;
a pair of first members respectively fixed to a first side and a second side of the plate-shaped member along the first direction and each extending in the first direction;
It has a pair of second members, each of which is fixed to a third side and a fourth side of the plate-shaped member along the second direction, and each of which extends in the second direction,
The pair of first members are supported by the first transport rotating body,
The pair of second members are supported by the second transport rotating body,
The pair of first members are supported and the pair of second members are placed on the mask from an unsupported state,
A substrate carrier wherein film formation is performed while the substrate is placed on a mask with the film-forming surface facing downward. According to paragraph 1,
A substrate carrier, wherein the Young's modulus of the first member and the Young's modulus of the second member are higher than the Young's modulus of the plate-shaped member. According to paragraph 1,
The plate-shaped member is made of aluminum or aluminum alloy,
A substrate carrier, wherein the first member and the second member are made of stainless steel. According to paragraph 1,
A substrate carrier, wherein the secondary moment of inertia of the second member in a cross section perpendicular to the second direction is smaller than the secondary moment of inertia of the first member in a cross section orthogonal to the first direction. According to paragraph 1,
The first member and the second member are each made of the same material,
A substrate carrier, wherein an area of a cross section of the second member perpendicular to the second direction is smaller than an area of a cross section of the first member orthogonal to the first direction. According to paragraph 1,
A substrate carrier, characterized in that the surfaces of the first member and the second member are coated with a DLC coat or the surfaces are quenched. delete delete delete delete According to paragraph 1,
A cross section in a cross section perpendicular to the second direction of the second member such that when placed on the mask, contact begins with the portion with the largest downward protruding sag in the substrate carrier with respect to the mask. A substrate carrier characterized in that the magnitude of the secondary moment is set. According to paragraph 1,
When viewed in a cross section perpendicular to the first direction, the amount of deflection (dc) of the substrate carrier in a state in which the pair of first members is supported and the pair of second members is not supported is, A substrate carrier characterized in that it is greater than the amount of deflection (dm) of the mask when viewed in a cross section perpendicular to the first direction. delete a substrate carrier that holds and supports the substrate;
film forming means for forming a film through a mask on the film forming surface of the substrate held by the substrate carrier;
a plurality of first transport rotating bodies arranged along a first direction;
A film forming apparatus comprising a plurality of second transport rotating bodies arranged along a second direction intersecting the first direction,
The substrate carrier is,
A plate-shaped member that holds and supports the substrate,
a pair of first members respectively fixed to a first side and a second side of the plate-shaped member along the first direction and each extending in the first direction;
It has a pair of second members, each of which is fixed to a third side and a fourth side of the plate-shaped member along the second direction, and each of which extends in the second direction,
The plurality of first transport rotating bodies support the pair of first members to transport the substrate carrier in the first direction,
The plurality of second transport rotating bodies support the pair of second members and transport the substrate carrier in the second direction,
The film deposition apparatus further includes support means for supporting the substrate carrier in a state in which the pair of first members are supported and the pair of second members are not supported,
The support means moves the substrate carrier relative to the mask so that from the above state, the substrate carrier is placed on the mask with the deposition surface of the substrate facing downward,
A film forming apparatus, wherein when the substrate carrier is in the placed state, the film forming means forms a film on the film forming surface. According to clause 14,
The film forming apparatus, wherein the plurality of first transport rotating bodies and the plurality of second transport rotating bodies each transport the substrate carrier in a state not holding the substrate. According to clause 14,
A film forming apparatus wherein the Young's modulus of the first member and the Young's modulus of the second member are higher than the Young's modulus of the plate-shaped member. According to clause 14,
The plate-shaped member is made of aluminum or aluminum alloy,
A film forming apparatus, wherein the first member and the second member are made of stainless steel. delete According to clause 14,
A film forming apparatus, wherein the secondary moment of section of the second member at a cross section perpendicular to the second direction is smaller than the secondary moment of section of the first member at a cross section perpendicular to the first direction. According to clause 14,
The first member and the second member are each made of the same material,
An area of a cross section of the second member perpendicular to the second direction is smaller than an area of a cross section of the first member orthogonal to the first direction. According to clause 14,
A cross section in a cross section perpendicular to the second direction of the second member such that when placed on the mask, contact begins with the portion with the largest downward protruding sag in the substrate carrier with respect to the mask. A film forming device characterized in that the size of the secondary moment is set. According to clause 14,
When viewed in a cross section perpendicular to the first direction, the amount of deflection (dc) of the substrate carrier in a state in which the pair of first members is supported and the pair of second members is not supported is, A film forming device characterized in that the amount of deflection (dm) of the mask when viewed in a cross section perpendicular to the first direction is greater. According to clause 14,
A film forming apparatus, wherein the surfaces of the first member and the second member are coated with a DLC coat or the surfaces are quenched. delete A plate-shaped member that holds and supports the substrate,
a pair of first members respectively fixed to a first side and a second side along a first direction of the plate-shaped member and each extending in the first direction;
A substrate carrier including a pair of second members each fixed to a third side and a fourth side of the plate-shaped member along a second direction intersecting the first direction and each extending in the second direction. As a transport method for transporting from the film forming apparatus,
A step of transporting the substrate carrier in the first direction by supporting the pair of first members by a plurality of first transport rotating bodies arranged in the first direction;
A step of transporting the substrate carrier in the second direction by supporting the pair of second members by a plurality of second transport rotating bodies arranged in the second direction;
and a placing step of placing the substrate carrier in a state in which the pair of first members are supported and the pair of second members are not supported on the mask so that the film-forming surface of the substrate faces downward. A method for transporting a substrate carrier, characterized by: delete According to clause 25,
Transport of a substrate carrier, wherein the secondary moment of inertia of the second member in a cross section perpendicular to the second direction is smaller than the secondary moment of inertia of the first member in a cross section orthogonal to the first direction. method. According to clause 25,
A method for transporting a substrate carrier, wherein the area of the cross section of the second member orthogonal to the second direction is smaller than the area of the cross section of the first member orthogonal to the first direction. According to clause 25,
A method of transporting a substrate carrier, characterized in that, in the placing step, the substrate carrier is placed on the mask so as to start contacting the mask from a portion of the substrate carrier that protrudes downward and has the largest sag. A step of placing the substrate carrier holding the substrate on the mask using the substrate carrier transport method according to claim 25;
A film forming method comprising a film forming step of forming a film on a film forming surface of the substrate through the mask while transporting the substrate carrier and the mask in the first direction.