KR20120022152A - Deposition apparatus for substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A substrate depositing apparatus is provided to improve the reliability of a deposition process by including an ion generator which plasmarizes reactive gas in a gas spray unit. CONSTITUTION: A gas spray unit sprays deposition gas to a substrate. An ion generator(130) sprays the plasmarized reactive gas through the gas spray unit after the reactive gas of the sprayed deposition gas is plasmarized. The gas spray unit includes a unit body and a spray buffer unit. Both sides of the unit body facing the substrate is horizontal to the incline of the substrate in a device housing(110). A spray buffer unit is formed on both sidewalls of the unit body and sprays the deposition gas to the substrate.

Description

Substrate Deposition Apparatus {Deposition Apparatus for Substrate}

A substrate deposition apparatus is disclosed. In more detail, the substrate deposition apparatus which can improve the diffusivity of reaction gas compared with the past by providing the ion generating part which can plasma-form a reaction gas inside a gas injection unit is disclosed.

The flat panel display (FPD) includes a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), and the like.

Among them, an organic light emitting display device is attracting attention as a next generation display device because of its characteristics such as self-luminous, wide viewing angle, high-speed response characteristics, low power consumption, and ultra-thin characteristics. An organic light emitting display device typically includes a first electrode, a hole injection layer, a hole transfer layer, an emission layer, and an electron transport layer corresponding to an anode on a glass substrate. layer), an organic layer formed of a multilayer of an eletron injection layer, and a second electrode corresponding to a cathode.

Organic thin film formation methods include vacuum deposition, sputtering, ion-beam deposition, pulsed-laser deposition, molecular beam deposition, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and spin coater (spin). coater).

In addition, an encapsulation thin film is required to protect the organic thin film from moisture, and methods for forming the encapsulation thin film include vacuum deposition, sputtering, chemical vapor deposition, and atomic layer deposition (ALD).

On the other hand, of the above-described methods, the upright deposition apparatus of the substrate deposition apparatus to which the atomic layer deposition method is applied, the shower head, the shower head for injecting the deposition gas to the substrate disposed on both sides of the housing, the shower head, It may include a substrate transfer unit mounted on both sides of the head to hold or transfer the substrate.

In more detail, the sour head has a plurality of injection holes, through which the deposition gas, that is, the precursor gas, the reactant gas, the reaction gas, and the purge gas are alternately sprayed, and the substrate A deposition process may be performed.

By the way, in the conventional substrate deposition apparatus, the precursor gas and the purge gas of the deposition gas is excellent in the transfer of these gases can be smoothly supplied to the substrate, but in the case of the reactive gas is not good transferability reliability of the deposition process for the substrate There is a problem of lowering.

Therefore, it is urgent to develop a substrate deposition apparatus capable of improving not only the precursor gas and the purge gas but also the supply of the reaction gas, thereby improving the reliability of the deposition process on the substrate.

An object according to an embodiment of the present invention is to improve the diffusibility of the reaction gas compared to the prior art by providing an ion generating unit capable of plasma-forming the reaction gas inside the gas injection unit. It is to provide a substrate deposition apparatus that can improve the reliability of the deposition process.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a substrate deposition apparatus capable of depositing a plurality of substrates by a single deposition process, thereby improving the efficiency of the substrate deposition process.

Substrate deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, the device housing; A gas injection unit that stands up inside the apparatus housing and injects deposition gas toward the substrate disposed on both sides; And an ion generator mounted on the inside of the gas injection unit to plasma the reaction gas of the deposition gas injected through the gas injection unit, and then spray the gas through the gas injection unit. With this configuration, by providing an ion generating unit capable of plasma forming a reaction gas inside the gas injection unit, the diffusibility of the reaction gas can be improved as compared with the prior art, and thus the reliability of the deposition process for the substrate is improved. Can improve.

The gas injection unit may include: a unit main body having a trapezoidal longitudinal cross-section that is formed such that both side surfaces facing the substrate are horizontal to the inclined surface of the substrate in the apparatus housing, and become narrower downwards; And injection buffers formed on both side walls of the unit body and connected by a supply unit supplying the deposition gas and a moving line to inject the deposition gas onto the substrate. By the shape of the unit body, it is possible to secure the mounting space of the ion generating unit, thereby realizing the plasma of the reaction gas.

The moving line may include a precursor gas moving line connecting the precursor gas supply tank supplying a precursor gas of the deposition gas and the injection buffer unit; A purge gas moving line connecting the purge gas supply tank supplying a purge gas of the deposition gas and the injection buffer unit; And a reaction gas moving line connecting the reaction gas supply tank supplying a reaction gas of the deposition gas to the injection buffer, wherein the ion generating unit is mounted on the reaction gas moving line to react with the reaction gas moving line. The reaction gas moving through the plasma may be supplied to the injection buffer unit after the plasma.

The precursor gas transfer line and the reaction gas transfer line are equipped with control valves to regulate the supply of respective gases, and the control valves may be valve controlled alternately by a valve control unit. Thus, the above-described deposition gases can be alternately supplied onto the substrate.

The injection buffer unit may include: a buffer space formed to have spaces on both side walls of the unit main body, and the deposition gas introduced by the moving line to be spread; And a plurality of injection holes formed in both side walls of the unit main body so as to communicate with the buffer space to inject the deposition gas into the substrate.

The plurality of injection holes may be provided in a radial shape on each side wall of the unit body.

The ion generating unit may be provided in plural in parallel along the longitudinal direction inside the gas injection unit.

The substrate deposition apparatus may include: a substrate transfer unit mounted to the apparatus housing so as to be disposed at both sides of the gas injection unit, and configured to transfer the gas injection unit; A substrate alignment unit disposed on a rear side of the substrate in the device housing, the substrate alignment unit aligning and fixing the substrate; A heater unit mounted to the apparatus housing to be disposed on the rear side of the substrate and applying heat to the substrate; And an exhaust gas discharge part mounted to a lower portion of the device housing and configured to discharge the exhaust gas generated as a result of the deposition process on the substrate.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, by providing an ion generating unit capable of plasma-forming a reaction gas inside the gas injection unit, the diffusibility of the reaction gas can be improved compared to the prior art, and thus the deposition process on the substrate. Can improve the reliability.

In addition, according to the embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of substrates can be deposited by one deposition process, thereby improving the efficiency of the substrate deposition process.

In addition, according to the embodiment of the present invention, since the injection hole of the gas injection unit is provided in a radial shape with respect to the center of the side wall, the deposition gas injected through the injection hole may be evenly supplied to the front surface of the substrate, thus depositing the substrate. Uniformity can be improved.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing an internal configuration of a substrate deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the substrate deposition apparatus of FIG. 1 longitudinally cross sectioned. FIG.
3 is a view of an internal configuration of the substrate deposition apparatus of FIG. 1 viewed from above.
4 is a view schematically illustrating the shape of the injection hole formed in the side wall of the gas injection unit illustrated in FIG. 1.

Hereinafter, configurations and applications according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following description is one of several aspects of the patentable invention and the following description forms part of the detailed description of the invention.

In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail for the sake of clarity and conciseness.

Hereinafter, the substrate to be deposited may be a substrate for a flat panel display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), or the like. However, the substrate of the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be a silicon wafer. In addition, the shape and size of the substrate is not limited by the drawings, it is natural that it can have a variety of shapes and sizes, such as circular and square.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing an internal configuration of a substrate deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view in the longitudinal direction of the substrate deposition apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. The internal configuration of the substrate deposition apparatus is viewed from above, and FIG. 4 is a view schematically illustrating the shape of the injection hole formed in the side wall of the gas injection unit illustrated in FIG. 1.

As shown in the drawing, the substrate deposition apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes two device housings 110 forming an external appearance and two standing walls disposed on both sides of the device housing 110. Plasma reacting the reaction gas among the gas injection unit 120 that injects the deposition gas onto the substrate W and the deposition gas that is mounted inside the gas injection unit 120 and injected through the gas injection unit 120. Afterwards it includes a plurality of ion generating unit 130 to be injected through the gas injection unit 120.

In addition, although not shown, the substrate deposition apparatus 100 of the present exemplary embodiment may include a cathode applying part (not shown) that forms a cathode when a cathode voltage is applied, and an anode applying part that forms an anode when an anode is applied. (Not shown) further. When respective voltages are applied to the cathode applying unit and the anode applying unit, the deposition gas injected through the gas injection unit 120 may be plasmaized, and thus, the deposition process for the substrate W may be performed.

In addition, the substrate deposition apparatus 100 of the present embodiment is disposed on the bottom surface of the device housing 110 so as to be located on both sides of the gas injection unit 120, as shown schematically in FIG. The substrate transfer unit 140 to transfer, the board | substrate alignment unit 145 which aligns or fixes the board | substrate W by supporting the back surface of the board | substrate W, and the board | substrate W arrange | positioned at the back side of the board | substrate W. The apparatus may further include a heater unit 150 that applies heat to the exhaust gas, and an exhaust gas discharge unit 160 that discharges exhaust gas generated as a result of the deposition process on the substrate W.

Referring to each configuration, first, the device housing 110 forms the deposition space of the substrate (W). Although not shown, an access door (not shown) may be mounted on the device housing 110 to open and close the external substrate W to move to the deposition space of the device housing 110, and the deposition process may be completed. The substrate W may be moved back to the outside.

Meanwhile, as shown schematically in FIG. 1, the heater unit 150 is disposed on the back side of the substrate W to heat the substrate W to a temperature suitable for being deposited, as well as inside the device housing 110. It serves to heat and maintain the temperature of the to the temperature required for deposition. The heater unit 150 may be disposed at an inclination corresponding to the inclination of the substrate W so as to apply uniform heat to the entire surface of the substrate W. FIG. The heater unit 150 of the present embodiment may be applied by a wire heater. However, the present invention is not limited thereto and may be applied to other types of heater units.

The substrate transfer unit 140 of the present embodiment serves to transfer the substrate W in an inclined state. In this case, the substrate W may be added to the device housing 110 alone, or may be inserted into a mask (not shown) to form a thin film having a predetermined pattern, thereby forming a thin film. The mask is mounted on the deposition surface of the substrate W to selectively block the deposition gas injected from the gas injection unit 120 to form a thin film of a predetermined pattern.

1 and 2, the substrate alignment unit 145 is disposed to be inclined upward from the substrate transfer unit 140 to support the rear surface of the substrate W. As shown in FIG. The substrate aligning unit 145 fixes the substrate W in a state aligned with the deposition position so that the deposition process for the substrate W can be reliably performed.

On the other hand, the exhaust gas discharge unit 160 of the present embodiment is provided in the lower portion of the device housing 110 serves to discharge the exhaust gas generated during the process to the outside of the device housing 110. The exhaust gas discharge unit 160 may be formed of a plurality of exhaust holes formed in the bottom surface of the device housing 110. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the position and shape of the exhaust gas discharge unit 160 may be changed in various ways.

On the other hand, the gas injection unit 120 of the present embodiment injects the deposition gas in order to deposit a predetermined pattern on the substrate (W). The deposition gas here includes one or more gases provided for depositing a thin film on the substrate (W). In other words, the deposition gas purges a precursor gas including a constituent material of a thin film to be deposited on the substrate W, a reaction gas chemically reacting with the precursor gas, a precursor gas, and a reactive gas. Purge gas for the purpose of However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the type of deposition gas may be changed in various ways depending on the type of thin film to be deposited.

However, as described above, in the conventional case, the transfer gas of the precursor gas and the purge gas in the deposition gas is excellent, so that these gases can be smoothly supplied to the substrate W, but in the case of the reactive gas, the transferability (diffusion) is not good. There was a problem of lowering the reliability of the deposition process for the substrate (W).

Accordingly, in order to solve such a problem, the substrate deposition apparatus 100 of the present embodiment is mounted inside the gas injection unit 120 to convert a plurality of ions into plasma and then move the gas to the gas injection unit 120. It further includes a gas injection unit 120 having a shape suitable for providing the generator 130 and the ion generator 130.

Among these configurations, when the gas injection unit 120 is described first, the gas injection unit 120 according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, forms a deposition gas toward two substrates W standing inclined on both sides. It is provided in the central region of the inside of the device housing 110 so as to spray.

As shown in FIG. 2, the gas injection unit 120 according to the present embodiment has a trapezoidal shape that is formed in the device housing 110 in the longitudinal direction in order to secure a mounting space of the ion generating unit, but narrows downward. The unit body 121 having a longitudinal cross section of the unit body 121, and formed on both side walls 123 of the unit body 121, are connected by a supply unit 170 and a moving line 180 to supply the deposition gas, thereby depositing the deposition gas on the substrate (W). It may include a spray buffer unit 125 for spraying to).

The unit main body 121 has not only a plurality of injection buffer portions 125 formed on both side walls 123, but also a plurality of ion generating units 130 mounted therein along the longitudinal direction of the unit main body 121. do. The inner space of the unit main body 121 has a larger upper space than the lower space, thereby securing a mounting space of the ion generating unit 130.

On the other hand, the injection buffer 125 is a portion for spraying toward the substrate W after the deposition gas moved by the moving line 180 diffuses, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, the moving line ( The deposition gas introduced by 180 may be formed in the buffer space 126 through which the deposition gas flows in the lateral direction, and penetrate through both side walls 123 of the unit body 121 so as to communicate with the buffer space 126. It may include a plurality of injection holes 127 for injecting.

The buffer space 126 is an area to be buffered before the deposition gas is injected through the injection hole 127. In the buffer space 126, the deposition gas may spread to the entire region, and thus, a uniform amount of the deposition gas may be injected through the injection hole 127 to improve the reliability of the deposition process for the substrate W.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the plurality of injection holes 127 may be provided in a radial shape at the side wall 123 of the unit body 121. Therefore, the deposition gas spread in the radial direction in the buffer space 126 may be uniformly sprayed through the plurality of injection holes 127, and thus, the deposition uniformity of the substrate W may be improved.

However, the arrangement structure of the injection holes 127 is not limited thereto, and a plurality of injection holes may be regularly provided along the horizontal direction and the vertical direction.

Meanwhile, the buffer space 126 of the injection buffer unit 125 is connected by a moving line 180 that moves the deposition gas of the supply unit 170 to the buffer space 126. The moving line 180 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes a precursor gas moving line 181 connecting the precursor gas supply tank 171 for supplying the precursor gas in the deposition gas and the injection buffer unit 125, and a purge gas in the deposition gas. A purge gas moving line 182 connecting the purge gas supply tank 172 and the injection buffer unit 125 to supply the reaction gas, a reaction gas supply tank 173 and a spray buffer unit 125 supplying a reactive gas in the deposition gas. The reaction gas transfer line 183 is connected.

Here, the precursor gas transfer line 181 and the purge gas transfer line 182 are connected to the injection buffer unit 125 in a state where the precursor gas transfer line 181 is combined in the middle portion.

In addition, the reaction gas movement line 183 is formed as a separate movement line to move the reaction gas to the injection buffer unit 125.

However, in this case, the control valves 184 and 185 are mounted at the front end of the precursor gas shift line 181 and the front end of the reactant gas shift line 183 so that the precursor gas and the reactant gas may be alternately supplied. By valve control by 188, only selected gas of the precursor gas and the reactant gas may be moved to the injection buffer unit 125 through the respective moving lines 181 and 183.

On the other hand, the ion generating unit 130 of the present embodiment, as shown in Figure 2, is mounted on the reaction gas moving line 183, after plasma-forming the reaction gas introduced through the reaction gas moving line 183 is injected Move to the buffer unit 125.

Therefore, the plasma-reacted reactant gas particles can be smoothly diffused in the buffer space 126 of the injection buffer unit 125, and thus, chemically interacting with the precursor gas on the first sprayed substrate W is actively performed. The reliability of the vapor deposition process of (W) can be improved.

Meanwhile, hereinafter, the substrate W deposition process of the substrate deposition apparatus 100 having such a configuration will be described schematically.

First, when the entrance door of the device housing 110 is opened and then the two substrates W are loaded into the substrate transfer unit 140, the two substrates W are formed by the operation of the substrate transfer unit 140. It is moved to the deposition area.

Thereafter, the deposition gas is supplied onto the substrate W while the respective voltages are applied to the cathode applying portion and the anode applying portion. Then, the deposition gas may be plasma-formed to form a thin film of a predetermined pattern on the substrate (W).

Here, the deposition gas composed of the precursor gas, the reaction gas, and the purge gas is alternately supplied onto the substrate W. As shown in FIG. However, the precursor gas and the purge gas are injected directly from the respective supply tanks 171 and 172 through the injection buffer unit 125 to the substrate W after passing through the respective moving lines 181 and 182. When the gas passes through the reaction gas moving line 183, the gas is converted into plasma by the ion generating unit 130 and then transferred to the injection buffer unit 125, so that the diffusion of the reaction gas may be improved, and thus the substrate W may be improved. The reaction gas can also be supplied smoothly to the phase.

Thus, according to an embodiment of the present invention, by providing a plurality of ion generating unit 130 that can plasma the reaction gas inside the gas injection unit 120 to improve the diffusivity of the reaction gas compared to the conventional Therefore, it is possible to improve the reliability of the deposition process for the substrate W, and also to deposit two substrates W by one deposition process to improve the efficiency of the substrate W deposition process. Can be.

In addition, since the injection hole 127 of the gas injection unit 120 is provided radially with respect to the center of the side wall 123, the deposition gas injected through the injection hole 127 is uniformly supplied to the front surface of the substrate W. FIG. It is possible to improve the deposition uniformity of the substrate (W).

In the above-described embodiment, the cross-sectional shape of the unit body of the gas injection unit is provided in the shape of a trapezoid having a relatively large width at the upper end thereof, but is not limited thereto, and is suitable for depositing the deposition gas onto the substrate. However, it is natural that the unit body can be applied to any structure suitable for mounting the ion generating unit therein.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, such modifications or variations will have to be belong to the claims of the present invention.

100 substrate deposition apparatus 110 device housing
120: gas injection unit 121: unit body
125: injection buffer section 126: buffer space
127: injection hole 130: ion generating unit
140: substrate transfer unit 150: heater unit
160: exhaust gas discharge unit

Claims (8)

Device housings;
A gas injection unit that stands up inside the apparatus housing and injects deposition gas toward the substrate disposed on both sides; And
An ion generator mounted on at least one inside of the gas injection unit to plasma-react the reaction gas of the deposition gas injected through the gas injection unit and then to spray the gas through the gas injection unit;
Substrate deposition apparatus comprising a.
The method of claim 1,
The gas injection unit,
A unit main body having both sides of the device housing facing the substrate in a horizontal plane with an inclined surface of the substrate, the terminal body having a trapezoidal longitudinal section that is narrowed downwardly; And
And a spray buffer unit formed on both side walls of the unit body and connected to a supply unit supplying the deposition gas and a moving line to inject the deposition gas onto the substrate.
The method of claim 2,
The moving line is,
A precursor gas moving line connecting a precursor gas supply tank supplying a precursor gas of the deposition gas to the injection buffer;
A purge gas moving line connecting the purge gas supply tank supplying a purge gas of the deposition gas and the injection buffer unit; And
It includes a reaction gas supply line for connecting the injection gas supply tank and the injection buffer for supplying a reaction gas (reactance gas) of the deposition gas,
And the ion generator is mounted on the reaction gas moving line to plasma-form the reaction gas moving through the reaction gas moving line and to supply the plasma to the injection buffer part.
The method of claim 3,
And a control valve for controlling supply of respective gases to the precursor gas moving line and the reactive gas moving line, and the control valves are alternately valve controlled by a valve control unit.
The method of claim 2,
The injection buffer unit,
A buffer space which is formed to have spaces on both side walls of the unit main body and spreads the deposition gas introduced by the moving line; And
And a plurality of injection holes formed in both side walls of the unit main body so as to communicate with the buffer space to inject the deposition gas onto the substrate.
The method of claim 5,
And the plurality of injection holes are radially formed at each sidewall of the unit body.
The method of claim 1,
And a plurality of ion generating units provided in parallel in a longitudinal direction from the inside of the gas injection unit.
The method of claim 1,
A substrate transfer unit mounted to the apparatus housing to be disposed on both sides of the gas injection unit, and configured to transfer the gas injection unit;
A substrate alignment unit disposed on a rear side of the substrate in the device housing, the substrate alignment unit aligning and fixing the substrate;
A heater unit mounted to the apparatus housing to be disposed on the rear side of the substrate and applying heat to the substrate; And
And an exhaust gas discharge part mounted on a lower portion of the device housing and discharging exhaust gas generated as a result of the deposition process on the substrate.

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