KR102337855B1 - OLED Panel with Improved Deposition Effect - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention has an advantage of being applied to various process environments because latent time of a deposition delay layer can be increased by various methods. According to an OLED panel manufacturing method having an improved deposition effect of the present invention, a deposition delay layer having a preset pattern is deposited on a substrate. A deposition layer is formed by performing deposition on at least a portion of the substrate on which the deposition delay layer is deposited. The incubation time required for deposition film growth of the deposition layer on the deposition delay layer is increased in a deposition process of the deposition layer. It is possible to maintain a state in which the deposition layer is not deposited on the deposition delay layer and to increase the deposition thickness of the deposition layer with respect to the deposition area of the substrate.

Description

OLED panel manufacturing method having improved deposition effect {OLED Panel with Improved Deposition Effect}

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an OLED panel, and more particularly, by increasing the deposition delay time (deposition latency time) of a deposition delay layer patterned on a substrate or maintaining the deposition delay function to deposit a deposition layer deposited on a substrate thereafter It relates to a method for manufacturing an OLED panel capable of forming a thick deposition layer by maintaining the time longer than the deposition delay time of the original deposition delay layer.

In recent years, the classification of displays has been diversified, which is largely divided into displays using light-emitting materials, displays using light-receiving/transmitting materials, and displays using reflective materials.

Among them, OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) is widely used display, and OLED (organic light emitting diode) is widely used, and since OLED is a self-luminous device, unlike LCD, it does not need a backlight, so it can be thinned, and it is light in weight and provides clear readability even outdoors. In particular, since OLED is not a backlight type, the device can be turned off to express black, so the contrast ratio and color reproducibility are very good.

In the case of such a top emission type of OLED panel, the common electrode layer is usually a cathode layer. At this time, the cathode layer is a thin metal film layer such as Mg or Ag. There was a problem in that the luminous efficiency was lowered accordingly.

However, compared to the general deposition layer, the incubation time required for nucleation is long, so after depositing the deposition delay layer having the function of delaying the deposition of the material deposited on the surface after depositing it outside the light emitting area of the OLED panel When the cathode layer is deposited, the area of the cathode layer in the non-emission area is minimized, and the transmittance of the OLED panel itself is improved, which can be applied to UDC (Under Display Camers), Transparent Display, etc.

In addition, the above deposition delay layer can be applied to the formation of a low-resistance common electrode layer of an OLED panel (Application No. 10-2021-0075964).

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2013-0041945

The pattern-formed deposition delay layer requires a function of delaying the formation of deposition until a sufficient thickness is formed where the surface of the deposition delay layer is subsequently deposited with another material deposited outside the deposition delay layer. It depends on the incubation time required for nucleation. However, there is a problem in that the deposition incubation time can be reduced by the temperature increased during the deposition process, and accordingly, deposition can be formed on the deposition delay layer before deposition of the deposition layer having a target thickness.

Accordingly, the present invention has an object to provide a method for manufacturing an OLED panel using a deposition delay layer by solving the above problems.

The problems of the present invention are not limited to the problems mentioned above, and other problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

In an OLED panel manufacturing method having an improved deposition effect of the present invention for achieving the above object, a deposition delay layer having a preset pattern is deposited on a substrate, and the deposition delay layer is deposited on at least a partial region of the substrate. A deposition layer is formed by performing deposition, but in the deposition process of the deposition layer, an incubation time required for growth of a deposition film of the deposition layer is increased on the deposition delay layer, so that the deposition layer is on the deposition delay layer It is possible to maintain a non-deposited state and increase the deposition thickness of the deposition layer with respect to the deposition area of the substrate.

And the process of processing to increase the incubation time required for the deposition film growth of the deposition delay layer is to continuously cool the substrate and increase the incubation time of the deposition delay layer as the deposition layer proceeds. can

In this case, the process of processing to increase the incubation time required for growth of the deposition film of the deposition delay layer includes supplying a cooling gas between the electrostatic chuck and the substrate while the substrate is fixed to the electrostatic chuck to increase the temperature of the substrate. The deposition layer may be deposited while maintaining the cooling state.

In addition, the process of processing to increase the incubation time required for the deposition film growth of the deposition delay layer is a time before the end of the incubation time of the deposition delay layer arrives in the process of depositing the deposition layer. By intermittently stopping the deposition of the deposition layer, the latency time of the deposition delay layer may be increased.

Here, the process of processing to increase the incubation time required for growth of the deposition film of the deposition delay layer repeats the process of transferring the substrate from the chamber in which the deposition layer was deposited to another chamber, and the deposition delay layer of cooling can be achieved.

In addition, the process of processing to increase the incubation time required for growth of the deposition film of the deposition delay layer includes loading the substrate into a cooling chamber including a cooling function, and depositing the deposition layer in the process of depositing the deposition layer. The deposition of the deposition layer may be stopped at a point in time before the end of the latent time of the delay layer arrives, and the deposition delay layer may be cooled through a cooling function of the cooling chamber.

In an OLED panel manufacturing method having an improved deposition effect of the present invention for solving the above problems, a deposition delay layer having a preset pattern is deposited on a substrate, and the deposition delay layer is deposited on at least a partial region of the substrate. In the process of forming the deposition layer by performing deposition, the incubation time required for the deposition film growth of the deposition delay layer is increased, so that the deposition layer is not deposited on the deposition delay layer, and the deposition area of the substrate is maintained. It has the advantage of maximizing the deposition thickness of the deposition layer for

In particular, the present invention has the advantage that it can be applied to various process environments because the latent time of the deposition delay layer can be increased by various methods.

Effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description of the claims.

1 is a view showing the structure of an OLED panel;
2 is a view showing a cross section of a deposition layer and a deposition delay layer formed by the method for manufacturing an OLED panel according to an embodiment of the present invention;
3 and 4 are views illustrating a process of depositing a deposition delay layer and a deposition layer in a method for manufacturing an OLED panel according to an embodiment of the present invention;
5 is a graph showing the deposition tendency on the upper surface of the substrate and the deposition delay layer in the OLED panel manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention;
6 is a graph showing the correlation between deposition latency and temperature;
7 is a graph showing the deposition tendency on the upper surface of the substrate and the deposition delay layer according to the temperature of the substrate in the OLED panel manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
8 is a graph showing a temperature change in the process of performing an intermittent deposition method in an OLED panel manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
9 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a substrate is processed by a continuous cooling deposition method in an OLED panel manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention in which the object of the present invention can be specifically realized will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In describing the present embodiment, the same names and the same reference numerals are used for the same components, and an additional description thereof will be omitted.

In the OLED panel manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention, a deposition delay layer having a preset pattern is deposited outside the OLED light emitting region of a substrate, and common electrode deposition is performed on the OLED panel substrate on which the deposition delay layer is deposited, thereby providing a common An electrode layer is formed. For this reason, the common electrode layer outside the OLED light emitting area is a deposition delay layer, which minimizes the deposition area and improves transparency. In general, the transparency of the panel may be lowered by depositing the common electrode on the deposition delay layer before the required thickness (about 10 to 20 nm).

Accordingly, in the deposition process of the deposition layer, the incubation time required for the deposition film growth of the deposition delay layer is increased or maintained, so that the deposition layer is not deposited on the deposition delay layer, and the deposition layer for the deposition area of the substrate It is possible to form a target deposition thickness of

That is, according to the present invention, the latent time of the deposition delay layer is extended or maintained, so that the deposition time of the deposition layer can be maintained longer, thereby forming or maximizing the desired thickness of the deposition layer.

In addition, a plurality of additional processes for manufacturing the OLED panel may be performed before and after this process, but since this is obvious to those skilled in the art, detailed description of the additional processes will be omitted.

And FIG. 1 is a view showing the structure of an OLED panel.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the OLED panel is supplied to the light emitting layer 100 provided inside the active area 101 in which the screen of the display is driven, and diodes of each unit pixel included in the light emitting layer 100 . _{It may include a driving circuit 120 for power control, a V com} pad 121 for applying a voltage to each unit pixel of the light emitting layer 100 , and an FPC 130 bonded to one side of the panel.

2 is a view showing a cross section of the deposition layer 210 and the deposition delay layer 220 formed by the method for manufacturing an OLED panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the deposition delay layer 220 formed by the OLED panel manufacturing method according to an embodiment is deposited to have a preset pattern on the substrate 200 , and the deposition layer 220 is formed as described above. As described above, as the latency time required for deposition of the deposition layer on the deposition delay layer is increased as the temperature rise of the substrate 200 is lowered or suppressed during the deposition process, deposition occurs only in the region where the deposition delay layer 220 is not formed. will be done

3 and 4 are diagrams illustrating a process of depositing a deposition delay layer 220 and a deposition layer 210 in a method for manufacturing an OLED panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

And Figure 5 is a graph showing the deposition tendency of the substrate and the deposition delay layer in the OLED panel manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3 , first, the deposition delay layer for each area corresponding to the area of the red organic light emitting diode 110R, the green organic light emitting diode 110G, and the blue organic light emitting diode B included in the light emitting layer 100 . (220) is deposited.

Such a process may be performed by depositing a component separated from the deposition source for forming the deposition delay layer on the substrate 200, and at this time, on the substrate 200 to form the deposition delay layer 220 according to a target pattern. A fine metal mask 10 having a plurality of pattern openings formed on the front surface of the .

Accordingly, the deposition delay layer 220 having a predetermined thickness is formed on the substrate 200 .

Next, as shown in FIG. 4 , a deposition layer 210 is deposited by depositing a component separated from a deposition source for deposition layer formation on the substrate 200 . In this process, the deposition delay layer 220 has a property of delaying deposition because an incubation time required for growth of the deposition layer is long.

At this time, referring to the graph of FIG. 5 , in the process of depositing the deposition layer, since the deposition delay layer 220 has a characteristic that electron substitution is not easy, the latency time (I) required for the deposition film growth on the deposition delay layer 220 . _{B ) becomes longer than the latent time (I A} ) required for the growth of the deposition film on the substrate, and thus the thickness of the deposition layer on the deposition delay layer 220 at the time when the deposition layer is deposited by nucleation on the substrate During the deposition up to TH ₁ , the deposition layer is not deposited.

However, in reality, when the deposition layer is deposited on the substrate on which the deposition delay layer is formed, the temperature of the substrate gradually increases.

Latency is related to nucleation and nucleation follows the Arrhenius Equation. Therefore, the relationship between the latent time and the temperature can be defined as follows.

First, the nucleation rate can be expressed as in Equation 1 below.

Here, T is temperature, E _A is activation energy, R is a gas constant, and below I is deposition latency.

In this case, since the nucleation rate is inversely proportional to the deposition latency (∝ 1/I), the correlation between the deposition latency and temperature can be expressed as in Equation 2 below.

In addition, Equation 2 can be expressed as Equation 3 below.

If this is expressed as a correlation graph between the deposition latency I and the temperature (RT), it is shown in FIG. 6 .

Therefore, if the deposition latent time at the _{temperature T 1 is I 1} and the deposition latent time at the temperature T _{2 is I 2} , Equation 3 can be expressed as Equation 4 and Equation 5 below, respectively.

And if this is summarized, it can be expressed as Equation 6 below.

At this time, when the dotted line on the right side of Equation 6 is α, α<1 if T2>T1, and α>1 if T2<T1.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7 , the rise in the temperature of the substrate by deposition causes a phenomenon in which the _{deposition latency is reduced (I A1} => I _A2 , I _B1 => I _{B2 ) on the substrate and the deposition delay layer, and the target thickness TH 1} In the case of target deposition, there is a problem in that deposition is deposited on the deposition delay layer 220 after _{TH 2} having a thickness smaller than the _{target thickness TH 1 .}

7 is a graph showing this, and accordingly, when the temperature of the substrate by deposition increases, the deposition latency is shortened, and the thickness TH _{2 that} can be deposited is smaller than that _{of TH 1 .} Conversely, when the temperature of the substrate is lowered, the deposition latency becomes longer and the thickness TH _{3 that} can be deposited becomes larger than that _{of TH 1 .}

Therefore, lowering the temperature of the substrate has the effect of increasing the maximum thickness of the deposition layer.

Here, the present invention is thus in the process of depositing the vapor deposition layer, to be longer than the latency time (I _B) required for the deposited film growth of the deposition layer on the deposition delay layer 220, or a temperature increase of the substrate to be maintained By suppressing or keeping the temperature low, the deposition thickness of the deposition layer on the upper surface of the substrate can be formed to a desired target thickness.

As shown in the equation, since the deposition delay layer 220 has a relatively large latent time required for deposition compared to the substrate, it has a property of having a larger change in latency at the same temperature change, thereby cooling the substrate. In this case, the latent time of the deposition delay layer 220 is greatly increased compared to the latency of the substrate.

_{Therefore, the thickness (TH 3} ) of the deposition layer in a state in which the process is performed while cooling the substrate may be significantly increased compared _{to the thickness (TH 1} to TH ₂ ) of the deposition layer deposited in a state in which the substrate is not cooled.

And for this, the present invention may use a method such as an intermittent deposition method or a continuous cooling method of the substrate.

(Example 1)

8 is a graph illustrating a temperature change in the process of performing an intermittent deposition method in an OLED panel manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 8 , when the intermittent deposition method is applied, the internal temperature atmosphere during the process repeats rising and falling, and the latent time of the deposition delay layer 220 in the process of depositing the deposition layer. In order to prevent the deposition of the deposition layer on the deposition delay layer 220 when the endpoint of As the temperature of the layer 220 is lowered, the effect of extending the latent time can be obtained.

In addition, such an intermittent deposition method is not limited and various methods may be used.

(Example 1-1)

In the intermittent deposition method, the process of processing to increase the latent time required for growth of the deposition film of the deposition delay layer 220 repeats the process of transferring the substrate from the chamber in which the deposition layer was deposited to another chamber, and the process is performed so that the temperature The deposition delay layer 220 may be cooled by transferring it from the elevated chamber to a new chamber in a room temperature atmosphere.

(Example 1-2)

The process of processing to increase the latent time required for the growth of the deposition film of the deposition delay layer 220 in the intermittent deposition method is to load the substrate into a cooling chamber including a cooling function and deposit the deposition delay layer in the process of depositing the deposition layer. The deposition of the deposition layer may be stopped before the end of the latent time of 220 arrives, and the deposition delay layer 220 may be cooled through the cooling function of the cooling chamber.

(Example 2)

When using the continuous cooling method of the substrate, by controlling the temperature of the substrate so that the state in which the latent time end point of the substrate is exceeded and the state in which the latent time end point of the deposition delay layer 220 is less than the end point can be maintained, the deposition delay layer 220 It should have the effect of extending the latent time.

For example, in such a continuous cooling method of the substrate, as shown in FIG. 9 , the electrostatic chuck 300 and the substrate ( By circulating a cooling gas between the circulation space P formed between the S) and the internal space 320 of the electrostatic chuck 300, the substrate S is maintained in a cooling state and deposition of the deposition layer can be performed. In this case, a dam 310 may be provided around the electrostatic chuck 300 to contact the substrate S to prevent leakage of cooling gas.

And the cooling gas used at this time may be, for example, helium (He).

As described above, preferred embodiments according to the present invention have been reviewed, and the fact that the present invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention other than the above-described embodiments is a fact having ordinary skill in the art. It is obvious to them. Therefore, the above-described embodiments are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive, and accordingly, the present invention is not limited to the above description, but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

10: fine metal mask
100: light emitting layer
101: active area
110R, 110G, 110B: organic light emitting diode
120: driving circuit
121: V _com pad
130: FPC
200: substrate
210: deposition layer
220: deposition delay layer
300: electrostatic chuck
310: dam
320: internal space
S: substrate
P: circulation space

Claims (7)

In the method of manufacturing an OLED panel,
Depositing a deposition delay layer having a preset pattern on a substrate and increasing the incubation time required for deposition of the deposition layer on the deposition delay layer by lowering or suppressing the temperature rise of the substrate when depositing the deposition layer ,
OLED panel manufacturing method. According to claim 1,
The deposition delay layer has a property of delaying deposition due to a long latent time for deposition in the deposition process of the deposition layer,
OLED panel manufacturing method. According to claim 1,
The process of processing so that the incubation time required for the deposition film growth of the deposition delay layer is increased,
Continuously cooling the substrate and increasing the latent time of the deposition delay layer as the deposition of the deposition layer proceeds,
OLED panel manufacturing method. 4. The method of claim 3,
The process of processing so that the incubation time required for the deposition film growth of the deposition delay layer is increased,
In a state in which the substrate is fixed to the electrostatic chuck, a cooling gas is supplied between the electrostatic chuck and the substrate to maintain a cooling state of the substrate and deposition of the deposition layer is performed;
OLED panel manufacturing method. According to claim 1,
The process of processing so that the incubation time required for the deposition film growth of the deposition delay layer is increased,
Increasing the latent time of the deposition delay layer by intermittently stopping the deposition of the deposition layer before the end of the latent time of the deposition delay layer arrives in the process of depositing the deposition layer,
containing,
OLED panel manufacturing method. 6. The method of claim 5,
The process of processing so that the incubation time required for the deposition film growth of the deposition delay layer is increased,
repeating the process of transferring the substrate from the chamber where the deposition of the deposition layer was in progress to another chamber so that the deposition delay layer is cooled,
OLED panel manufacturing method. 6. The method of claim 5,
The process of processing so that the incubation time required for the deposition film growth of the deposition delay layer is increased,
In the process of loading the substrate into a cooling chamber having a cooling function and proceeding with the deposition of the deposition layer, the deposition of the deposition layer is stopped before the end of the latency time of the deposition delay layer arrives, and the deposition layer is deposited in the cooling chamber. to cool the deposition delay layer through the cooling function of
OLED panel manufacturing method.

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