Patent Publication Number: US-2013251907-A1

Title: Vapor deposition shadow mask system for backplane and display screen with any size and method thereof

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to the field of backplanes and display screens, and in concrete relates to a vapor deposition shadow mask system and method thereof for forming a backplane and a display screen with any size. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Photo-etching techniques are presently the main stream to manufacture display screens and backplanes in the world, and the produced maximum sizes of the display screen and the backplane are determined by the size of photo-etching machines and substrate material. The other conventional techniques, except that the display screens and backplanes provided therefrom cannot have sizes greater than the upper limit of size of those made from the photo-etching machines, cannot immediately offer special backplanes and the display screens according to the customers&#39; specifications. Furthermore, in these conventional techniques, there still have many technical difficulties to be confronted and improved, such as large dimension of investment, large occupancy area, high-level environment requirement, simple product property and long production time. 
     Vaporized deposition shadow mask plate techniques have been applied in micro electronic manufacturing process for many years. Although the photo-etching technique are much cheaper than that of the vaporized deposition shadow mask plate technique, the vaporized deposition shadow mask plate technique is still the main stream for manufacturing the larger-sized backplanes in the related fields. 
     To overcome the above-described difficulties, China Invention Patent Publication No. CN10102742 4B discloses a system and method for manufacturing large-sized backplanes by using the small-area shadow mask plates. In FIG. 1 of &#39;742 case, a typical manufacturing technique  300  is utilized to sequentially form a 3×2 matrix backplane  310  with substrate sections  312   a ,  312   b ,  312   c ,  312   d ,  312   e  and  312   f  by the shadow mask plate deposition technique applied in the continuously arranged deposition vacuum chambers  314   a  and  314   b . The deposition vacuum chambers  314   a  and  314   b  respectively include shadow mask plates  316   a  and  316   b , utilizing to form a multilayer backplane  310  by performing several deposition processes on the continuously arranged substrate section  312 . Specifically, at First Time Stage, the deposition process is performed on the substrate section  312   a  in the deposition vacuum chamber  314   a  by the use of the shadow mask plate  316   a . Then, the substrate is moved and aligned, such that at Second Time Stage the deposition process is performed on the substrate section  312   b  in the deposition vacuum chamber  314   a  by the use of the shadow mask plate  316   a . Then, the substrate is moved and aligned, such that at Third Time Stage the deposition process is performed on the substrate section  312   c  in the deposition vacuum chamber  314   a  by the use of the shadow mask plate  316   a . When the deposition processes on the row of the substrate sections  312   a ,  312   b  and  312   c  are completed, the substrate is moved to the deposition vacuum chamber  314   b , wherein the shadow mask plate  316   b  is disposed relative to the shifting position of the shadow mask plate  316   a  so as to form the next row of the substrate section  312 . At Fourth Time Stage, the deposition process is performed on the substrate section  312   d  in the deposition vacuum chamber  314   b  by the use of the shadow mask plate  316   b . Then, the substrate is moved and aligned, such that at Fifth Time Stage the deposition process is performed on the substrate section  312   e  in the deposition vacuum chamber  314   b  by the use of the shadow mask plate  316   b . Then, the substrate is moved and aligned, such that at Sixth Time Stage the deposition process is performed on the substrate section  312   f  in the deposition vacuum chamber  314   b  by the use of the shadow mask plate  316   b.    
     In actual applications, the small-area shadow mask plates can be utilized to manufacture the large-area backplane, but there still have some following shortages. 
     First, the operation of the manufacturing system for the large-area backplane too lengthy. In the deposition process, the large-area backplane is generally partitioned into multiple rows and columns, and multiple continuously-arranged deposition chambers shall be correspondingly arranged therewith, so that the formation of the backplane can be realized. Furthermore, the configuration of the positioning mechanism between the shadow mask plates and the substrates is very complicated due to the high deposition frequencies of the large-area backplane, and poor connection performances or disengagements caused by the inaccuracy positioning between the shadow mask plates and the substrate sections are easily occurred. Generally, each of the deposition sources corresponding to the shadow mask plates is designated to deposit all substrate sections in one row or column. When depositing the backplane formed with unequal rows and columns or a large-area one, it is correspondingly difficult to supplement materials to the deposition sources. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of this, the present invent is submitted to overcome the difficulties in the conventional methods for manufacturing the backplane and the display screen. 
     The first purpose of the present is to provide a vapor deposition shadow mask system for a backplane and a display screen with any size, avoiding the lengthy operation of the manufacturing system for the large-area backplane, poor connection performances or disengagements caused by the inaccuracy positioning between the shadow mask plates and the substrate sections, and difficulties of materials supplemented to the deposition sources. 
     To attain the purpose above, the present invention provides the following solutions. 
     A vapor deposition shadow mask system for a backplane and a display screen with any size is provided. The vapor deposition shadow mask system comprises at least one vacuum chamber, a substrate and a transmission device. The vacuum chamber is utilized to accommodate ‘M’ set of shadow mask plates and deposition sources therein. The substrate comprises ‘M’ number of elementary units, each of which being partitioned into ‘N’ number of regions. The transmission device is utilized to shift the substrate or the shadow mask plate along a path of the vacuum chamber such that the ‘M’ set of shadow mask plates are corresponded to the different regions of the ‘M’ number of elementary units in ‘N’ number of periods. The ‘M’ is a natural number greater than or equal to one, and the ‘N’ is a natural number greater than or equal to two. 
     Further, the ‘N’ is equal to four. 
     Further, the at least one vacuum chamber comprises ‘N’ number of serially-connected vacuum chambers, and the transmission device comprises a substrate transmission device. 
     Further, the amount of the at least one vacuum chamber is one, and the transmission device comprises a shadow mask plate transmission device. 
     Further, the shadow mask plate system is operable at a position where the shadow mask plates corresponding to the neighboring regions of the elementary units are overlapped to a part of material of the deposition source when the deposition source deposits. 
     The second purpose of the present is to provide a method for a vaporized deposition shadow mask plate for a backplane and a display screen with any size, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of: 
     (A) respectively positioning each of sets of shadow mask plates and deposition sources on a first region of each of elementary units in accordance with an operable relationship of between the shadow mask plate which is fully located in a vacuum box and the deposition source; 
     (B) depositing a material on the first region of each of elementary units by a vaporized deposition; 
     (C) positioning each of sets of the shadow mask plates and deposition sources on a second region of each of elementary units by a transmission device; 
     (D) depositing the material on the second region of each of elementary units by the vaporized deposition; and 
     (E) repeating the steps (C) and (D) to perform depositions to ‘N’ number of regions of each of elementary units, wherein the ‘N’ is a natural number greater than or equal to two. 
     Further, the ‘N’ is equal to four. 
     Further, the transmission device comprises a substrate transmission device, ‘N’ number of serially-connected vacuum boxes, and the different regions of each of the elementary units are deposited in different vacuum boxes, respectively. 
     Further, the transmission device comprises a shadow mask plate transmission device, and the number of the vacuum box is one. 
     Further, when depositing the neighboring regions of the elementary units, the shadow mask plates corresponding to the neighboring regions of the elementary units are overlapped to a part of material of the deposition source when the deposition source deposits. 
     With the above-described structure of the invention, the following benefits and effects can be obtained. 
     First, it only has to determine the ‘N’ number of the vacuum box in accordance with the ‘N’ number of regions of each of the elementary unit if the above deposition process of the present invention is realized by moving the substrate. On the other hand, if the above deposition process of the present invention is realized by moving the shadow mask plate, it only has to move the shadow mask plate within the single vacuum box instead of the conventional skills utilizing large number of vacuum boxes, thus simplifying the whole structure of the deposition system. Further, for manufacturing any backplanes and display screens with any size, the present invention only has to perform the depositions of the ‘N’ number of regions of each of the elementary unit in ‘N’ number of period, i.e., four-time movements in the deposition process, thereby avoiding poor connection performance between the adjacent substrate sections caused by high frequency of movement in the deposition process. In addition, if the deposition process is performed by moving the substrate, the present invention only has to perform one-time deposition when forming a shadow mask plate provided with a backplane and a display screen, thereby facilitating the controlling to the deposition materials of the deposition sources. 
     A detailed description is given in the following embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a time sequence diagram of a manufacturing process of a conventional vapor deposition shadow mask system; 
         FIG. 2  is a time sequence diagram of a manufacturing process of a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a time sequence diagram of a manufacturing process of a second embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 4  is a time sequence diagram of a manufacturing process of a second embodiment of the present invention when shadow mask plates are utilized for transmission. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     To further explain the technical measures of the present invention, the present invention is described in detail by specific embodiment as follows. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , a time sequence diagram of a manufacturing process of a vapor deposition shadow mask system of a first embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. The vapor deposition shadow mask system comprises four serially-connected vacuum chambers  13 A,  13 B,  13 C and  13 D, a substrate  10  movable in the vacuum chambers  13 A,  13 B,  13 C and  13 D, and a transmission device (not shown in FIGs.) utilized to drive the substrate  10  to move along the path of the vacuum chambers  13 A,  13 B,  13 C and  13 D for translation displacement. The substrate  10  comprises ‘M’ number elementary unit partitioned into ‘N’ number of regions. Each of the vacuum chambers  13 A,  13 B,  13 C and  13 D comprises ‘M’ set of shadow mask plates and deposition sources therein. In this embodiment, the ‘M’ is equal to one, the ‘N’ is equal to four, and a backplane with 2×2 matrix can be gradually formed when the four-time depositions are performed. 
     The detail specific time sequence of the first embodiment of the present invention is described as follows. 
     At First Time Stage, a substrate section  10   a  of the substrate  10  is deposited by the use of a shadow mask plate  11   a  in the vacuum chamber  13 A. Then, the substrate  10  is moved by the transmission device into the vacuum chamber  13 B to align a shadow mask plate  11   b  to a substrate section  10   b  of the substrate  10 , and at Second Time Stage the substrate section  10   b  of the substrate  10  is deposited by the use of the shadow mask plate  11   b  in the vacuum chamber  13 B. Then, the substrate  10  is moved by the transmission device into the vacuum chamber  13 C to align a shadow mask plate  11   c  to a substrate section  10   c  of the substrate  10 , and at Third Time Stage the substrate section  10   c  of the substrate  10  is deposited by the use of the shadow mask plate  11   c  in the vacuum chamber  13 C. Then, the substrate  10  is moved by the transmission device into the vacuum chamber  13 D to align a shadow mask plate  11   d  to a substrate section  10   d  of the substrate  10 , and at Third Time Stage the substrate section  10   d  of the substrate  10  is deposited by the use of the shadow mask plate  11   d  in the vacuum chamber  13 D. 
     With the shadow mask plates  11   a ,  11   b ,  11   c  and  11   d  disposed in the vacuum chambers  13 A,  13 B,  13 C and  13 D above, a backplane with 2×2 matrix can be formed in the time sequence of First, Second, Third and Fourth Time Stages, and it is particularly suitable for small-sized backplanes. 
     Preferably, the shadow mask plate system is operable at a position where the shadow mask plates corresponding to the neighboring regions of the elementary units are overlapped to a part of material of the deposition source when the deposition source deposits, thereby providing a seaming effect to the backplane. It is needed to explain that the distances ‘S’ formed between the vacuum chambers  13 A,  13 B,  13 C and  13 D can be arbitrarily and suitably adjusted or desired one, thereby eliminating possible interference occurred in the vacuum chambers  13 A,  13 B,  13 C and  13 D when the substrate  10  is transmitted therebetween. Therefore, the distances ‘S’ formed between the vacuum chambers  13 A,  13 B,  13 C and  13 D can be zero. In the actual operation, the distances ‘S’ can be possibly enlarged, thereby allowing half-sized vacuum box and wider-sized substrates in use. 
     In this embodiment, it is possible to take a single vacuum chamber provided with one set of the shadow mask plate and the deposition source therein, wherein the transmission device is served as a shadow mask plate transmission device. With the shadow mask plate transmission device to drive the substrate  10 , the shadow mask plate is enabled to respectively correspond to the different substrate sections  10   a ,  10   b ,  10   c  and  10   d  of the substrate  10  in the time sequence of First, Second, Third and Fourth Time Stages, so that the deposition is performed four times to form a backplane with 2×2 matrix. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , a time sequence diagram of a manufacturing process of a vapor deposition shadow mask system of a second embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. The vapor deposition shadow mask system comprises four serially-connected vacuum chambers  23 A,  23 B,  23 C and  23 D, a substrate  20  movable in the vacuum chambers  23 A,  23 B,  23 C and  23 D, and a transmission device (not shown in FIGs.) utilized to drive the substrate  20  to move along the path of the vacuum chambers  23 A,  23 B,  23 C and  23 D for translation displacement. The substrate  20  comprises ‘M’ number elementary unit, each of which is partitioned into ‘N’ number of regions. Each of the vacuum chambers  23 A,  23 B,  23 C and  23 D comprises ‘M’ set of shadow mask plates and deposition sources therein. In this embodiment, the ‘M’ is equal to four, and the ‘N’ is also equal to four. Four substrate sections  20   aa ,  20   ba ,  20   ca  and  20   da  constitute a first elementary unit, four substrate sections  20   ab ,  20   bb ,  20   cb  and  20   db  constitute a second elementary unit, four substrate sections  20   ac ,  20   bc ,  20   cc  and  20   dc  constitute a third elementary unit, and four substrate sections  20   ad ,  20   bd ,  20   cd  and  20   dd  constitute a third elementary unit. In this embodiment, a backplane with 4×4 matrix can be gradually formed when the four-time depositions are performed. 
     The detail specific time sequence of the second embodiment of the present invention is described as follows. 
     At First Time Stage, the substrate sections  20   aa ,  20   ab ,  20   ac  and  20   ad  of the substrate  20  are deposited by the use of shadow mask plates  21   aa ,  21   ab ,  21   ac , and  21   ad  in the vacuum chamber  23 A, wherein the shadow mask plates  21   aa ,  21   ab ,  21   ac , and  21   ad  are respectively corresponded to the substrate sections  20   aa ,  20   ab ,  20   ac  and  20   ad  of the substrate  20 . 
     Then, the substrate  20  is moved by the transmission device into the vacuum chamber  23 B to align the shadow mask plates  21   ba ,  21   bb ,  21   bc  and  21   bd  to the substrate sections  20   ba ,  20   bb ,  20   bc  and  20   bd  of the substrate  20 , and at Second Time Stage the substrate sections  20   ba ,  20   bb ,  20   bc  and  20   bd  of the substrate  20  are sequentially deposited by the use of the shadow mask plates  21   ba ,  21   bb ,  21   bc  and  21   bd  in the vacuum chamber  23 B. 
     Then, the substrate  20  is moved by the transmission device into the vacuum chamber  23 C to align the shadow mask plates  21   ca ,  21   cb ,  21   cc  and  21   cd  to the substrate sections  20   ca ,  20   cb ,  20   cc  and  20   cd  of the substrate  20 , and at Third Time Stage the substrate sections  20   ca ,  20   cb ,  20   cc  and  20   cd  of the substrate  20  are sequentially deposited by the use of the shadow mask plates  21   ca ,  21   cb ,  21   cc  and  21   cd  in the vacuum chamber  23 C. 
     Then, the substrate  20  is moved by the transmission device into the vacuum chamber  23 D to align the shadow mask plates  21   da ,  21   db ,  21   dc  and  21   dd  to the substrate sections  20   da ,  20   db ,  20   dc  and  20   dd  of the substrate  20 , and at Fourth Time Stage the substrate sections  20   da ,  20   db ,  20   dc  and  20   dd  of the substrate  20  are sequentially deposited by the use of the shadow mask plates  21   da ,  21   db ,  21   dc  and  21   dd  in the vacuum chamber  23 D. 
     Thus, with the shadow mask plates  21   aa / 21   ab / 21   ac / 21   ad ,  21   ba / 21   bb / 21   bc / 21   bd ,  21   ca / 21   cb / 21   cc / 21   cd  and  21   da / 21   db / 21   dc / 21   dd  respectively disposed in the vacuum chambers  23 A,  23 B,  23 C and  23 D above, a backplane with 4×4 matrix can be formed by the continuous deposition in the time sequence of First, Second, Third and Fourth Time Stages. If a large-sized backplane is required, it can be easily achieved only by increasing the number of the substrate sections of the substrate and the number of the shadow mask plates in the vacuum chambers. That is, the aspects of the present invention can be applicable to the manufacturing process of any backplanes and display screens with any size, and therefore the present invention is not limited to the disclosed backplanes with 4×4 and 2×2 matrixes, i.e., the criteria of ‘M’ can extend to a natural number. The whole deposition process of the backplane can be similarly completed, according to the above-described time sequence of First, Second, Third and Fourth Time Stages and four-time movements in the vacuum chamber. It is understood that the ‘N’ is not limited to being four as mentioned in the embodiments above, and the ‘N’ can be a natural number equal to or more than two according to the different requirements. 
     Preferably, in this embodiment, the shadow mask plate system is operable at a position where the shadow mask plates corresponding to the neighboring regions of the elementary units are overlapped to a part of material of the deposition source when the deposition source deposits, thereby providing a seaming effect to the backplane. It is needed to explain that the distances ‘S’ formed between the vacuum chambers  23 A,  23 B,  23 C and  23 D can be arbitrarily and suitably adjusted or desired one, thereby eliminating possible interference occurred in the vacuum chambers  23 A,  23 B,  23 C and  23 D when the substrate  20  is transmitted therebetween. Therefore, the distances ‘S’ formed between the vacuum chambers  23 A,  23 B,  23 C and  23 D can be zero. In the actual operation, the distances ‘S’ can be possibly enlarged, thereby allowing half-sized vacuum box and wider-sized substrates in use. 
     In this embodiment, it is applicable for taking a single vacuum chamber  23 E (see  FIG. 4 ) to perform the sequential deposition in the time sequence of First, Second, Third and Fourth Time Stages when moving the shadow mask plates. As shown in  FIG. 4 , four shadow mask plates  21   ea ,  21   fa ,  21   ga  and  21   ha  are disposed in the vacuum chamber  23 E, and a substrate comprises four elementary units. In the substrate, four substrate sections  20   ea ,  20   eb ,  20   ec  and  20   ed  constitute a first elementary unit, four substrate sections  20   fa ,  20   fb ,  20   fc  and  20   fd  constitute a second elementary unit, four substrate sections  20   ga ,  20   gb ,  20   gc  and  20   gd  constitute a third elementary unit, and four substrate sections  20   ha      20   hb      20   hc      20   hd  constitute a fourth elementary unit. Therefore, a backplane with 4×4 matrix can be gradually formed in the single vacuum chamber  23 E when the four-time depositions are performed. 
     Accordingly, it only has to determine the ‘N’ number of the vacuum box in accordance with the ‘N’ number of regions of each of the elementary unit if the above deposition process of the present invention is realized by moving the substrate. On the other hand, if the above deposition process of the present invention is realized by moving the shadow mask plate, it only has to move the shadow mask plate within the single vacuum box instead of the conventional skills utilizing large number of vacuum boxes, thus simplifying the whole structure of the deposition system. Further, for manufacturing any backplanes and display screens with any size, the present invention only has to perform the depositions of the ‘N’ number of regions of each of the elementary unit in ‘N’ number of period, i.e., four-time movements in the deposition process, thereby avoiding poor connection performance between the adjacent substrate sections caused by high frequency of movement in the deposition process. In addition, if the deposition process is performed by moving the substrate, the present invention only has to perform one-time deposition when forming a shadow mask plate provided with a backplane and a display screen, thereby facilitating the controlling to the deposition materials of the deposition sources. 
     The present invention further provides a method for a vaporized deposition shadow mask plate for a backplane and a display screen with any size, comprising the steps of: 
     (A) respectively positioning each of sets of shadow mask plates and deposition sources on a first region of each of elementary units in accordance with an operable relationship of between the shadow mask plate which is fully located in a vacuum box and the deposition source; it is concretely that, in the first embodiment the first region is actually referred to the substrate section  10   a , and in the second embodiment the first region is actually referred to the substrate sections  20   aa ,  20   ba ,  20   ca  and  20   da;    
     (B) depositing a material on the first region of each of elementary units by a vaporized deposition; 
     (C) positioning each of sets of the shadow mask plates and deposition sources on a second region of each of elementary units by a transmission device; it is concretely that, in the first embodiment the second region is actually referred to the substrate section  10   b , and in the second embodiment the second region is actually referred to the substrate sections  20   ab ,  20   bb ,  20   cb  and  20   db;    
     (D) depositing the material on the second region of each of elementary units by the vaporized deposition; and 
     (E) repeating the steps (C) and (D) to perform depositions to ‘N’ number of regions of each of elementary units, wherein the ‘N’ comprises a natural number greater than or equal to two. In the first and second embodiments, the deposition only reaches to the third and fourth regions. 
     This is a method wherein the transmission device can be a substrate transmission device, ‘N’ number of serially-connected vacuum boxes is provided, and the different regions of each of the elementary units are respectively deposited in different vacuum boxes. The transmission device can also be a shadow mask plate transmission device, and the number of the vacuum box is one. For attaining the seaming effect to the backplane, when depositing the neighboring regions of the elementary units, the shadow mask plates corresponding to the neighboring regions of the elementary units are overlapped to a part of material of the deposition source when the deposition source deposits. 
     As to the substrate having the elementary unit partitioned into regions, it is needed to explain that, the boundary of the configuration of the elementary unit and the regions is considered so obvious but it actually and substantially is not existed. 
     While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.