JP2013151760A - Method for replacing shadow mask - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for replacing a shadow mask used for an organic EL device production apparatus or a deposition apparatus, which enables downsizing of a carrier chamber and has high productivity or a high operation rate.SOLUTION: A method for replacing a shadow mask includes the respective steps of: carrying a first shadow mask for replacement into a shadow mask-replacement chamber in the atmosphere; carrying a used shadow mask out of the shadow mask-replacement chamber in the atmosphere; carrying a second shadow mask for replacement out of the shadow mask-replacement chamber having a predetermined degree of vacuum into a vacuum processing-chamber which has the predetermined degree of vacuum and in which a substrate is processed; carrying the used shadow mask out of the vacuum processing-chamber having the predetermined degree of vacuum into the shadow mask-replacement chamber having the predetermined degree of vacuum; reducing the pressure of the shadow mask-replacement chamber to the predetermined degree of vacuum; and maintaining the predetermined degree of vacuum of the vacuum processing-chamber and opening the shadow mask-replacement chamber to the atmosphere.

Description

  The present invention relates to a shadow mask replacement method used in an organic EL device manufacturing apparatus or a film forming apparatus.

  An organic EL device has attracted attention as a display device, and there is a vacuum deposition method as an effective method for manufacturing the device. In the vacuum vapor deposition method, as shown in FIG. 4, a shadow mask having a hole at a position where vapor deposition is desired is brought into close contact with a substrate to be processed. This shadow mask needs to be replaced every half day to one day because the shape of the hole changes due to the adhesion of the vapor deposition material. Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 10, a shadow mask storage chamber H, which is a vacuum chamber for storing replacement and used shadow masks M, is provided in a cluster C having a processing chamber S for performing vacuum deposition, and the substrate is transported. It was transported and set to the processing chamber S by the robot R (Patent Document 1).

  Further, in Patent Document 2, in order to keep the mask size within a desired range, a heating chamber for preheating the shadow mask is provided adjacent to the processing chamber, and the shadow mask of the processing chamber is replaced when necessary. It is disclosed. However, only the heating equipment is described in the heating chamber, and the carrying-in / out of the heating / cooling chamber is as described in the first embodiment of Patent Document 2, for example, a transport robot that transports the substrate in the same manner as Patent Document 1. It is thought that it is done using.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-027213 JP 2006-196360 A

  With the recent increase in the size of display devices, the substrate size has also increased, and the sixth generation has 1500 mm × 1850 mm and its weight reaches 5 kg. Naturally, when the substrate size is increased, the above-described shadow mask is also increased, the size is 1700-1800 mm × 2000 mm as shown in FIG. 4, and the weight is expected to exceed 200 kg.

  Therefore, in the conventional method, a transfer robot that can carry the shadow mask is required. However, a realistic size corresponding to the size of the processing chamber that accommodates the transfer robot that satisfies the above requirements, for example, a transfer chamber of 5 m square. Making is a difficult task.

  Conventionally, the transfer robot transfers the shadow mask and also the substrate. Therefore, the substrate cannot be transported during the replacement of the substrate, and the processing cannot be performed not only in the processing chamber that needs to be replaced by the shadow mask but also in the downstream processing chamber. There is a problem of lowering.

Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide an organic EL device manufacturing apparatus or film forming apparatus, a shadow mask exchanging apparatus, or an exchanging method thereof that can reduce the size of a transfer chamber.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a highly productive machine EL device manufacturing apparatus or film forming apparatus, shadow mask exchanging apparatus or exchanging method.
Furthermore, a third object of the present invention is to provide an EL device manufacturing apparatus or a film forming apparatus, a shadow mask exchanging apparatus or an exchanging method with a high operating rate.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has at least the following features.
The present invention includes a first carrying-in step of carrying a first replacement shadow mask necessary for processing a substrate into a shadow mask exchange chamber in an air atmosphere, and a used shadow mask necessary for processing a substrate in an air atmosphere. A first step of unloading from the shadow mask exchange chamber, and a second replacement shadow mask necessary for processing the substrate having the predetermined vacuum degree from the shadow mask exchange chamber having a predetermined degree of vacuum; A second carrying-in step for carrying in the vacuum processing chamber for treating the second shadow; and a second carrying-out step for carrying out the used shadow mask from the vacuum processing chamber having the predetermined degree of vacuum to the shadow mask exchange chamber having the predetermined degree of vacuum. Two steps, a depressurizing step of depressurizing the shadow mask exchange chamber to the predetermined degree of vacuum, and maintaining the vacuum processing chamber at the predetermined degree of vacuum, The Yadoumasuku exchange chamber and having a air release step for releasing to the atmosphere.

Further, the present invention is different from the first replacement shadow mask and the second replacement shadow mask, and each of the steps includes the carry-out second step, the carry-in second step, the air release step, You may carry out in order of the carrying-out 1st process, the said carrying-in 1st process, and the said pressure reduction process.
Furthermore, this invention may have the attachment / detachment process which attaches / detaches the said 1st replacement shadow mask or the said 2nd replacement shadow mask shadow mask in the said vapor deposition place.

Further, according to the present invention, the shadow mask exchange chamber may be adjacent to a plurality of the vacuum processing chambers, and the carry-in second step and the carry-out second step may be performed in any of the adjacent vapor deposition chambers. .
Furthermore, the present invention includes a plurality of vapor deposition positions for vapor deposition of a vapor deposition material on a substrate in one vapor deposition processing chamber, and during replacement of a shadow mask at one of the plurality of vapor deposition positions, Vapor deposition may be performed at the vapor deposition position.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an organic EL device manufacturing apparatus, a film forming apparatus, a shadow mask exchanging apparatus, or an exchanging method that can reduce the size of a transport chamber having a transport robot.
In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a highly productive organic EL device manufacturing apparatus or film forming apparatus, shadow mask exchanging apparatus or exchanging method.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an organic EL device manufacturing apparatus or a film forming apparatus, a shadow mask exchanging apparatus, or an exchanging method with a high operating rate.

It is a figure which shows the organic EL device manufacturing apparatus which is embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of a structure of the conveyance chamber 2 and the processing chamber 1 which are embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram and an operation explanatory diagram of configurations of a transfer chamber and a processing chamber according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a shadow mask. It is the figure which showed the processing flow of the processing chamber 1 which is embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram and an operation explanatory diagram of a configuration of a shadow mask exchange mechanism unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the principal part of the shadow mask exchange mechanism part which is embodiment of this invention. (a): It is a figure which shows the mounting base of the internal replacement part which is embodiment of this invention. (b): It is a figure which shows the holding | maintenance fixing | fixed part of the external exchange part which is embodiment of this invention. (c): It is a figure which shows the holding | maintenance fixing | fixed part drive part of the external exchange part which is embodiment of this invention. (d): It is a figure which shows the shadow mask holding | maintenance part of embodiment of this invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a processing flow of a shadow mask exchange mechanism unit that is an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the processing chamber of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining a prior art.

  A first embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Organic EL device manufacturing equipment is not simply a structure in which a light emitting material layer (EL layer) is formed and sandwiched between electrodes, but a hole injection layer or transport layer on the anode, an electron injection layer or transport layer on the cathode, etc. A multilayer structure in which various materials are formed as a thin film is formed, and a substrate is cleaned. FIG. 1 shows an example of the manufacturing apparatus.

  The organic EL device manufacturing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is roughly divided into a load cluster 3 that carries a substrate 6 to be processed (hereinafter simply referred to as a substrate), four clusters (A to D) that process the substrate 6, and between each cluster. Or, it is composed of five delivery chambers 4 installed between the cluster and the load cluster 3 or the next process (sealing process), and ten shadow mask exchange chambers 20 provided between or adjacent to the clusters. Yes.

  The load cluster 3 includes a load chamber 31 having a gate valve 10 in order to maintain a vacuum in the front-rear direction, and a transfer robot 5R that receives the substrate 6 from the load chamber 31 and turns to carry the substrate 6 into the delivery chamber 4a. Each load chamber 31 and each delivery chamber 4 have a gate valve 10 in the front and rear, and deliver the substrate 6 to the load cluster 3 or the next cluster while controlling the opening and closing of the gate valve 10 and maintaining a vacuum.

  Each cluster (A to D) includes a transfer chamber 2 having a single transfer robot 5 and two processing chambers 1 (up and down) arranged on the drawing for receiving a substrate 6 from the transfer robot 5 and performing a predetermined process. The first subscripts a to d indicate clusters, the second subscripts u and d indicate the upper and lower sides, and in the subscripts that are English letters, lowercase letters indicate places and uppercase letters indicate components) Have. A gate valve 10 is provided between the transfer chamber 2 and the processing chamber 1.

FIG. 2 shows an outline of the configuration of the transfer chamber 2 and the processing chamber 1. Although the configuration of the processing chamber 1 varies depending on the content of processing, a vacuum deposition chamber 1bu in which a light emitting material is deposited in vacuum to form an EL layer will be described as an example. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram and an operation explanatory diagram of the configuration of the transfer chamber 2b and the vacuum deposition chamber 1bu. The transfer robot 5 in FIG. 2 has a three-link structure arm 51 that can move up and down as a whole (see arrow 53 in FIG. 3) and can turn left and right. Two hands 52 are provided in two upper and lower stages. In the case of a single hand, a rotation operation for transferring the substrate to the next process, a rotation operation for receiving the substrate from the previous process, and an accompanying gate valve opening / closing operation are necessary during the loading / unloading process. By making the upper and lower two stages, the substrate to be carried into one hand is held, the substrate is carried out from the vacuum deposition chamber with the other hand not holding the substrate, and then the carrying-in operation is continuously performed. be able to.
Whether to use two hands or one hand depends on the required production capacity. In the following description, a single hand is used for the sake of simplicity.

  The above-described transfer robots 5 and 5R are basically robots that do not transfer the shadow mask and transfer the substrate. As described above, the weight of the sixth generation substrate is about 5 kg. On the other hand, the weight of the fourth generation shadow mask is about 50 kg. Therefore, the transfer robot 5 can be made smaller than the fourth generation, and the size of the transfer chamber in which the transfer robot 5 is installed can be set within the range defined by the vacuum deposition chamber 1bu.

  According to the embodiment, it is possible to provide an organic EL device manufacturing apparatus or a manufacturing method that can reduce the size of the transfer robot and reduce the transfer chamber accordingly.

  On the other hand, the vacuum deposition chamber 1bu is roughly divided into a deposition unit 7 for evaporating the luminescent material and depositing it on the substrate 6, an alignment unit 8 for depositing the necessary part of the substrate 6, and the transfer robot 5 and the substrate 6 on delivery. The process delivery part 9 which moves the board | substrate 6 to the vapor deposition part 7 consists of, and the alignment part 8 and the process delivery part 9 are provided with two systems, the right side R line and the left side L line. As a result, two substrates can be processed in one chamber. The processing delivery unit 9 can deliver the substrate 6 without interfering with the comb-like hand 52 of the transport robot 5, and the comb-like hand 91 having means 94 for fixing the substrate 6 and the comb-like hand 91 are swung. Thus, hand swivel drive means 92 for moving the substrate 6 upright to the alignment unit 8 is provided. As the means 94 for fixing the substrate 6, means such as electrostatic adsorption or mechanical clamping are used in consideration of being in a vacuum.

  The alignment unit 8 includes a shadow mask 81 including the mask 81M and the frame 81F shown in FIG. 4 and an alignment driving unit 83 that aligns the substrate 6 and the shadow mask 81 with the alignment mark 84 on the substrate 6.

  The vapor deposition unit 7 includes a vertical drive unit 72 that moves the evaporation source 71 in the vertical direction along the rail 76, and a left-right drive base 74 that moves the evaporation source 71 along the rail 75 between the left and right alignment units. The evaporation source 71 has a light emitting material as an evaporation material inside, and a stable evaporation rate can be obtained by heating control (not shown) of the evaporation material. As shown in the drawing of FIG. The structure evaporates from a plurality of holes 73 arranged in the source 71. If necessary, in order to improve the properties of the deposited film, the additive is also heated and deposited at the same time. In this case, the evaporation source and the pair or a plurality of evaporation sources are deposited in parallel vertically.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a processing flow of the processing chamber 1 with such a configuration. The basic concept of processing in the present embodiment is that the substrate is transported with the deposition surface on the top surface, the substrate 6 transported on the top surface is vertically set, transported to the alignment unit 8 and deposited. If the lower surface of the substrate 6 is a vapor deposition surface at the time of conveyance, it is necessary to invert it.

  In addition, the time required for the vapor deposition process and the other processes such as the substrate carrying-in / out process for the processing chamber 1 are substantially the same, and in this embodiment each is approximately 1 minute. Therefore, another basic idea of the processing in this embodiment is to perform deposition on one line, carry in and out the substrate on the other line, align, and complete preparation for deposition. . By alternately performing this process, the time during which the material in the evaporation source is evaporated wastefully can be reduced.

The processing flow will be described in detail using FIG. 5 with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, the place where the substrate 6 exists is indicated by a solid line.
First, in the R line, the substrate 6R is loaded, the substrate 6R is vertically set up, moved to the alignment unit 8R, and alignment is performed (Step R1 to Step R3). At this time, the substrate 6 is transported with the vapor deposition surface facing upward in order to perform vertical alignment immediately. As shown in the drawing of FIG. 3, the alignment is performed by aligning the shadow mask 81R so that the image is taken by the CCD camera 86 and the alignment mark 84 provided on the substrate 6 is at the center of the window 85 provided with the mask 81M. This is performed under the control of the drive unit 83. If the main vapor deposition is a material that emits red (R), as shown in FIG. 4, there is a window in a portion corresponding to R of the mask 81M, and this portion is vapor deposited. The size of the window varies depending on the color, but on average it is about 50 μm wide and 150 μm high. The thickness of the mask 81M is 40 μm and tends to become thinner in the future.

  When the alignment is completed, the evaporation source 71 is moved to the R line side (Step R4), and then the line-shaped evaporation source 71 is moved up or down to perform deposition (Step R5). During the R line deposition, the processing from StepL1 to StepL3 is performed on the L line in the same manner as the R line. That is, another substrate 6L is carried in, the substrate 6L is set up vertically, moved to the alignment unit 8L, and alignment between the substrate 6L and the shadow mask 81L is performed. When the deposition of the substrate 6R on the R line is completed, the evaporation source 71 moves to the L line (Step L4) and deposits the substrate 6L on the L line (Step L5). At this time, if the substrate 6R is separated from the alignment portion 8R before the evaporation source 71 completely exits the deposition area of the R line, there is a possibility that deposition may be unnecessarily performed. The carrying-out operation from the chamber 1 is started, and then preparation for a new substrate 6R is started. In order to avoid the unnecessary deposition, a partition plate 11 is provided between the lines. FIG. 3 shows the state of StepR5 and StepL1. That is, vapor deposition is started on the R line, and the substrate is loaded into the vacuum vapor deposition chamber 1bu on the L line.

  Thereafter, by continuously performing the above-described flow, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to perform vapor deposition without wasteful use of the vapor deposition material, except for the movement time of the vapor deposition unit 7. As described above, the necessary vapor deposition time and other processing time are about 1 minute. If the moving time of the evaporation source 71 is 5 seconds, the wasteful vapor deposition time of 1 minute is shortened to 5 seconds in the present embodiment. it can.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the processing cycle of one processing substrate in the vacuum deposition chamber 1bu is substantially the deposition time + the movement time of the evaporation source 71, thereby improving productivity. Can do. If the processing time is evaluated under the above-mentioned conditions, it will be 1 minute 5 seconds in the present invention compared to the conventional 2 minutes, and the productivity per chamber can be improved about twice.

  In the embodiment described above, two processing lines including the alignment unit 8 and the processing delivery unit 9 are provided for one vapor deposition unit 7 in one processing apparatus. For example, if the vapor deposition time is 30 seconds and the other treatment time is 1 minute, even if three treatment lines are provided for one vapor deposition unit 7 in one treatment apparatus, the same effect can be obtained. it can.

  Finally, the configuration of the shadow mask chamber 20 and the shadow mask replacement flow, which are major features of the present embodiment, will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 6 to 8.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the shadow mask exchange chamber 20 includes a shadow mask carry-in / out chamber 21 in the atmosphere, and a shadow mask exchange chamber 22 that is in a vacuum at least when the shadow mask is exchanged. In the present embodiment, the shadow mask loading / unloading chamber 21 is named in order to suppress a significant decrease in the degree of vacuum in the shadow mask replacing chamber 22, and thus the vacuum deposition chamber 1, when the shadow mask is loaded into and unloaded from the shadow mask replacing chamber 22. As shown, it is a “room” that is a closed space. As a result, it is possible to shorten the time for setting the degree of vacuum in the shadow mask exchange chamber 22 to a desired value again. The shadow mask exchange chamber 22 is provided adjacent to the processing chamber 1 for vapor deposition. In the following description, the L line of the vacuum deposition chamber 1ad shown in the drawing of FIG. 1 (the name of the line of the vacuum deposition chamber 1bu shown in FIG. An explanation will be given by taking as an example a shadow mask exchange chamber 20bd that is responsible for exchanging the shadow mask 81 in the R line (same as in parentheses) of the vacuum deposition chamber 1bd. In the subscript of the shadow mask exchange chamber or the like in FIG. 1, the first subscript represents the abc order from the left, and the second subscript represents the upper stage u and the lower stage d.

  FIG. 6 shows a schematic configuration diagram and an operation explanatory diagram of a portion of the drawing shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 7 shows a configuration of a main part. The shadow mask exchange means 23 is an external exchange unit 24 for moving the shadow mask 81 between the shadow mask loading / unloading chamber 21bd and the shadow mask exchange chamber 22bd, and the shadow mask 81 is a shadow mask exchange chamber 22bd and a vacuum deposition chamber. An internal exchange unit 25 that moves between the processing chambers 1 and a shadow mask holding unit 87 that holds and removes the shadow mask 81 from the alignment unit 8 are configured.

  The external replacement unit 24 includes a mounting table 24S (see FIG. 7A) on which the replacement shadow mask 81E and the used shadow mask 81U are mounted, a mounting table rail 24R on which the mounting table 24S moves, and the mounting table 24S. Frame fixing bases 24FU and 24FE (see FIG. 7A) having electromagnet portions 24DU and 24DE for fixing the lower frame of the steel frame 81F, a shadow mask loading / unloading chamber 21bd and a shadow mask exchange chamber 22bd And a gate valve 10A (see the drawing in FIG. 1) for carrying in and out of the shadow mask provided on the wall. The frame fixing bases 24FU and 24FE are provided with a mechanism that moves up and down somewhat (not shown) in order to deliver the shadow mask 81 to a holding and fixing portion 25H described later.

As shown in FIG. 6, the internal replacement part 25 includes a holding and fixing part 25H having a T-shape (see FIG. 7B) for holding and fixing the shadow mask 81 provided on the upper part of the shadow mask replacement chamber 22bd. Two holding and fixing part rails 25R on which the lower surface 25HA of the T-shaped protrusion of the holding and fixing part 25H slides, and a holding and fixing part drive that moves on the holding and fixing part rail 25R and moves the holding and fixing part 25H back and forth. And a gate valve 10B (see FIG. 1) provided on the wall of the shadow mask exchange chamber 22bd and the vacuum deposition chamber 1bd.
The holding and fixing portion 25H is provided with an electromagnet portion 25D1 for fixing the upper frame of the steel frame 81F on the lower side surface, and an electromagnet portion 25D2 for connecting to the holding and fixing portion driving portion 25K on the upper end surface. (Refer FIG.7 (b)). Accordingly, an electromagnet attracting surface (not shown) is provided on the end surface of the corresponding holding and fixing portion driving unit 25K.

  The holding and fixing portion rail 25R is separated at the gate valve 10B portion, and is laid to the front of a shadow mask holding portion 87 described later. FIG. 7 (c) shows the state of the holding / fixing portion rail 25R in the holding / fixing portion driving portion 25D and the separation portion before and after the gate valve 10B. The holding and fixing part driving unit 25D has a driving motor 25KM in the center, and four driving wheels 25KD front and rear and left and right traveling on the holding and fixing part rail 25R, and two passive wheels 25KJ that run on the upper surface of the holding and fixing part rail 25R. Consists of. The distance between the front and rear drive wheels is equal to or greater than the width of the gate valve 10B so that at least one of the four drive wheels 25KD exists on the holding and fixing portion rail 25R. The parallelism of the holding / fixing part driving part 25D with respect to the holding / fixing part rail 25R is integrated with the long holding / fixing part 25H before that. And can travel on the holding and fixing portion rail 25R. Note that the end of the separation portion of the holding and fixing portion rail 25R is rounded to make it easier to ride on the rail again.

  The shadow mask holding portion 87 shown in FIG. 7 (d) is provided with an opening below, a sliding surface 87S on which the sliding surface 25HA of the holding and fixing portion 25H slides, and a steel frame 81F on both sides. It consists of a fixed frame 87K fixed with an electromagnet. The shadow mask holding unit 87 is supported by an alignment driving unit 83 that aligns the substrate 6 and the shadow mask 81.

Next, FIG. 8 shows a shadow mask replacement operation flow based on such an embodiment.
First, the replacement shadow mask 81E is installed on the frame fixing table 24FE on the mounting table 24S of the shadow mask loading / unloading chamber 21, travels on the mounting table rail 24R, opens and closes the gate valve 10A, and replaces the shadow mask. It is carried into the chamber 22bd (Step 1). After closing the gate valve 10A, the shadow mask exchange chamber 22bd is depressurized to a predetermined degree of vacuum of 10E-5 to 10E-6Pa (Step 2). Next, in order to collect the used shadow mask 81U, the holding and fixing unit 25H and the holding and fixing unit driving unit 25D in a connected state pass through the gate valve 10b that is controlled to open and close and travel on the holding and fixing unit rail 25R. Then, the holding and fixing part 25H is inserted into the shadow mask holding part 87 (Step 3). After the insertion, the holding and fixing part driving unit 25D is detached from the holding and fixing part 25H so that the shadow mask holding part 87 can move freely. Thereafter, the alignment driving unit 83 is used to operate the alignment electromagnet unit 25D1 to connect the holding and fixing unit 25H to the upper frame portion of the used shadow mask 81U. Then, the connection between the used shadow mask 81U and the shadow mask holding unit 87 is released (Step 4). After the cancellation, the used shadow mask 81U is returned to the position of the mounting table 24S in the shadow mask exchange chamber 22bd by the reverse operation to the recovery (Step 5). Thereafter, the rail fixing base 24FU is raised, the shadow mask 81U is fixed to the frame fixing base 24FU by the electromagnet portion 24DU, the electromagnet portion 25D1 is released and separated from the holding fixing portion 25H (Step 6).

  The replacement flow of the replacement shadow mask 81E is entered from the next step. The mounting table 24S is moved, the replacement shadow mask 81E is moved below the holding and fixing unit 25H, the frame fixing table 24FE is raised, and the replacement shadow mask 81E is fixed to the holding and fixing unit 25H by the reverse operation of Step 6. (Step7). Thereafter, similarly to Step 3, the replacement shadow mask 81E is inserted into the shadow mask holding portion 87 (Step 8). In the shadow mask holding part 87, the holding and fixing part 25H is separated from the replacement shadow mask 81E by the reverse operation of Step 4, and the shadow mask 81E is fixed and installed on the shadow mask holding part 87 (Step 9). Similar to Step 5, the holding and fixing part 25H from which the replacement shadow mask 81E has been separated is returned to the frame fixing base 24KE in the shadow mask changing chamber 22bd, and the gate valve 10B is closed (Step 10). The gate valve 10A is opened and closed, the mounting table 24S is moved to the shadow mask loading / unloading chamber 21, and the used shadow mask 81U is unloaded from the used shadow mask 81U (Step 11).

  In the above description, the configuration and operation flow of carrying the shadow mask 81 into and out of the vacuum deposition chamber 1bd have been shown. Regarding the configuration for carrying the shadow mask 81 into and out of the vacuum deposition chamber 1ad, the holding / fixing unit driving unit 25D is provided on the left side of the holding / fixing unit 25H, but it may be provided on the right side. Accordingly, it is only necessary to provide two holding and fixing unit driving units 25D on the left and right sides of the holding and fixing unit 25H, or to provide a mechanism capable of rotating 180 degrees on the left holding and fixing unit 25D of the holding and fixing unit 25H. . The operation flow is basically the same except that the right and left are different.

  According to the above-described embodiment, when replacing the shadow mask, processing can be performed without affecting the substrate transport system. Therefore, it is possible to provide an organic EL device manufacturing apparatus or manufacturing method with high availability and high productivity.

  In addition, according to the above embodiment, since the shadow mask loading / unloading chamber 21 serving as a closed space is provided as a shadow mask loading / unloading location, it is possible to suppress a decrease in the degree of vacuum in the vacuum deposition chamber. Other processes in can continue. Accordingly, it is possible to provide an organic EL device manufacturing apparatus or manufacturing method with a high operating rate.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, there are two deposition locations in one vacuum deposition chamber, in other words, two shadow mask masks, and the same processing is continued with another shadow mask that is not a shadow mask to be replaced. Therefore, a highly productive organic EL device manufacturing apparatus or manufacturing method capable of performing a series of operations as a product without stopping the entire apparatus can be provided.

  Moreover, since at least the replacement time of the shadow mask can be shortened, it is possible to provide an organic EL device manufacturing apparatus or manufacturing method with high operating rate and high productivity.

  In the first embodiment, the shadow mask loading / unloading chamber 21 is provided as a shadow mask loading / unloading place. However, a simple shadow mask loading / unloading base may be used. In this embodiment, the processing of the other processing chambers can be continued only by interrupting the processing of the vacuum deposition chamber for replacing at least the shadow mask. Therefore, the organic EL device manufacturing apparatus having a high operation rate or without stopping the entire apparatus. A manufacturing method can be provided. Furthermore, an organic EL device manufacturing apparatus or a manufacturing method with a high operating rate can be provided by efficiently performing evacuation and reducing the evacuation time.

  In the first embodiment, the replacement shadow mask 81E and the used shadow mask 81U are carried in / out at the same time. However, the used shadow mask 81U is first carried out to the shadow mask carry-in / out chamber 21, and then the replacement shadow mask is used. 81E may be carried in.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the shadow mask exchange chamber is provided beside the vacuum deposition chamber, but it may be provided in the upper part or the lower part, and the same effect can be obtained.

  In the above embodiment, the shadow mask exchange chamber is a vacuum chamber. However, when the shadow mask is carried in and out, the gate valve other than the shadow mask carrying in and out may be closed so that the shadow mask exchange chamber does not have to be a vacuum deposition chamber.

  In the above embodiments, the case where the substrate is erected so that the vapor deposition surface of the substrate 6 can be conveyed and vapor deposition can be performed with a standing shadow mask has been described. As another deposition method, there is a method in which both the substrate and the shadow mask are horizontal. In many cases, as shown in FIG. 9, the deposition surface is down, and the deposition process is performed from below.

  In this case, the configuration of the shadow mask exchange chamber is the same as that of the first embodiment, and can be realized by horizontally transporting the shadow mask. Also in this embodiment, it is possible to carry out the variation of the first embodiment, for example, carrying in / out from the upper lower part.

Also in this embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.
Therefore, the present invention can be applied regardless of the posture of the shadow mask with different deposition surface postures.

In the above description, the shadow mask 81 is carried in and out by running on the rail. However, the transfer robot shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 may be used. That is, a robot having a larger carry weight than the transfer chamber is placed in the shadow mask exchange chamber 22, the load chamber 31 is placed between the shadow mask exchange chamber 22 and the shadow mask carry-in / out chamber 21, and the shadow mask exchange chamber 22 is vacuumed. A gate valve 10 is provided between the vapor deposition chamber 1.
Also in this embodiment, the same effects as those in the first and second embodiments can be obtained.

  Finally, in the above description, the organic EL device has been described as an example. However, the present invention can also be applied to a film forming apparatus and a film forming method that perform vapor deposition processing in the same background as the organic EL device.

1: Processing chamber 1bu: Vacuum deposition chamber 2: Transfer chamber 3: Load cluster 4: Delivery chamber 5: Transfer robot 6: Substrate 7: Deposition unit 8: Alignment unit 9: Processing transfer unit 10: Gate valve 11: Partition plate 20 : Shadow mask exchange chamber 21: Shadow mask loading / unloading chamber 22: Shadow mask exchange chamber 23: Shadow mask exchange means 24: External exchange section 25: Internal exchange section 31: Load chamber 71: Evaporation source 81: Shadow mask 87: Shadow mask Holding unit 100: Organic EL device manufacturing apparatuses A to D: Cluster

Claims (5)

A first carrying-in step of carrying in a first shadow mask for replacement necessary for substrate processing into a shadow mask exchange chamber in the air atmosphere;
A first unloading step of unloading the used shadow mask necessary for processing the substrate from the shadow mask exchange chamber in the air atmosphere;
A second step of carrying in the second replacement shadow mask necessary for processing the substrate from the shadow mask replacement chamber having a predetermined degree of vacuum into the vacuum processing chamber having the predetermined degree of vacuum and processing the substrate; ,
A second unloading step of unloading the used shadow mask from the vacuum processing chamber having the predetermined degree of vacuum to the shadow mask exchange chamber having the predetermined degree of vacuum;
A depressurizing step of depressurizing the shadow mask exchange chamber to the predetermined degree of vacuum;
An atmosphere release step of maintaining the vacuum processing chamber at the predetermined degree of vacuum and opening the shadow mask exchange chamber to the atmosphere.   Unlike the first replacement shadow mask and the second replacement shadow mask, the steps include the second carry-out step, the second carry-in step, the air release step, the first carry-out step, The shadow mask replacement method according to claim 1, wherein the process is performed in the order of a first carry-in step and the decompression step.   3. The shadow mask replacement method according to claim 1, further comprising an attaching / detaching step of attaching / detaching the first replacement shadow mask or the second replacement shadow mask shadow mask at the deposition position.   4. The shadow mask exchange chamber is adjacent to the plurality of vacuum processing chambers, and the second loading step and the second unloading step can be performed in any of the adjacent deposition chambers. The shadow mask replacement method according to any one of the above. A plurality of deposition positions for depositing a deposition material on a substrate are provided in one deposition processing chamber,
5. The shadow mask replacement method according to claim 1, wherein the deposition is performed at another deposition position while the shadow mask at one deposition position among the plurality of deposition positions is being replaced.

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