Fabrication system, light-emitting device and fabricating method of organic compound-containing layer

• US 7,378,133 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2003
• Issued: 05/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Kuwabara, Hideaki, Yamazaki, Shunpei, Murakami, Masakazu
• Primary Examiner(s): Moore; Karla
• Application Number:
  US10/651,286
• Publication Number:
  US 20040139914A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,733 Days
• Field of Search: 427/249.1, 427/255.6, 427/561, 118/726
• US Class Current: 427/561
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/12 Organic material
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/225 Oblique incidence of vaporised material on substrate
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/24 Vacuum evaporation
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/246 Replenishment of source material
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/542 Controlling the film thickness or evaporation rate
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/564 Means for minimising impurities in the coating chamber such as dust, moisture, residual gases
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/568 Transferring the substrates through a series of coating stations C23C14/562 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 33/10 Apparatus or processes specially adapted to the manufacture of electroluminescent light sources
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 33/14 characterised by the chemical or physical composition or the arrangement of the electroluminescent material , or by the simultaneous addition of the electroluminescent material in or onto the light source
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 30/865 Intermediate layers comprising a mixture of materials of the adjoining active layers
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/11 characterised by the electroluminescent [EL] layers
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/14 Carrier transporting layers
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/8445 multilayered coatings having a repetitive structure, e.g. having multiple organic-inorganic bilayers
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/846 comprising getter material or desiccants
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/122 Pixel-defining structures or layers, e.g. banks
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/35 comprising red-green-blue [RGB] subpixels
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 71/00 Manufacture or treatment specially adapted for the organic devices covered by this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 71/164 using vacuum deposition

Abstract

The present invention provides a vapor deposition system for a film forming systems that promote an efficiency of utilizing an EL material and is excellent in uniformity or throughput of forming an EL layer and a vapor deposition method. According to the present invention, vapor deposition is carried out in a deposition chamber by moving an evaporation source holder 903 on which six containers 911 filled with an evaporation material are set at a certain pitch with respect to the substrate. The evaporation holder 903 is transported from an installation chamber 905 by a transport mechanism 902b. A heater is provided in a turntable 907. Throughput can be improved by heating the evaporation holder 903 in advance of transporting containers into the evaporation holder 903.

Claims

1. A method of forming a layer, said method comprising:

installing at least first and second containers to an installation chamber, each of the first and second containers containing an organic compound;

vacuum-exhausting the installation chamber;

heating the first and second containers to a temperature T in the installation chamber;

making a first degree of vacuum in the installation chamber and in a deposition chamber;

opening a gate between the installation chamber and the deposition chamber;

carrying the heated first and second containers to an evaporation holder previously heated to the temperature T, wherein the evaporation holder is in the deposition chamber;

closing the gate between the installation chamber and the deposition chamber;

disposing a substrate in the deposition chamber; and

forming a film over the substrate in the deposition chamber by evaporating the organic compound contained in the first and second containers by making a second degree of vacuum in the deposition chamber higher than the first degree of vacuum while independently heating the first and second containers,

wherein evaporation of the organic compound from the first and second containers is controlled by independently adjusting a distance between the first container and the evaporation holder and a distance between the second container and the evaporation holder.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second containers comprise at least one of a heat-resisting metal, a sintered boron nitride, a sintered compound of boron nitride and aluminum nitride, a quartz and a graphite.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the evaporation holder includes a tilt regulating screw.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the organic compound contained in the first and second containers is the same.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the organic compound contained in the first and second containers is different.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the film is formed over the substrate in the deposition chamber by evaporating the organic compound contained in the first and second containers by making the second degree of vacuum in the deposition chamber higher than the first degree of vacuum while maintaining the first and second containers at the temperature T.

2. A method of forming a layer, said method comprising:

installing at least first and second containers to an installation chamber, each of the first and second containers containing an organic compound;

vacuum-exhausting the installation chamber;

heating the first and second containers to a temperature T in the installation chamber;

making a first degree of vacuum in the installation chamber and in a deposition chamber;

opening a gate between the installation chamber and the deposition chamber;

carrying the heated first and second containers to an evaporation holder previously heated to the temperature T, wherein the evaporation holder is in the deposition chamber;

closing the gate between the installation chamber and the deposition chamber;

disposing a substrate in the deposition chamber; and

forming a film over the substrate in the deposition chamber by evaporating the organic compound contained in the first and second containers by making a second degree of vacuum in the deposition chamber higher than the first degree of vacuum while independently heating the first and second containers,

wherein the evaporation holder is moved in an X-direction at a certain pitch and in a Y-direction at a certain pitch in the step of forming a film over the substrate in the deposition chamber by evaporating the organic compound, and

wherein evaporation of the organic compound from the first and second containers is controlled by independently adjusting a distance between the first container and the evaporation holder and a distance between the second container and the evaporation holder.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first and second containers comprise at least one of a heat-resisting metal, a sintered boron nitride, a sintered compound of boron nitride and aluminum nitride, a quartz and a graphite.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein the evaporation holder includes a tilt regulating screw.

12. The method according to claim 2, wherein the organic compound contained in the first and second containers is the same.

13. The method according to claim 2, wherein the organic compound contained in the first and second containers is different.

17. The method according to claim 2, wherein the film is formed over the substrate in the deposition chamber by evaporating the organic compound contained in the first and second containers by making the second degree of vacuum in the deposition chamber higher than the first degree of vacuum while maintaining the first and second containers at the temperature T.

3. A method of forming a layer, said method comprising:

installing at least first and second containers to an installation chamber, each of the first and second containers containing an organic compound;

vacuum-exhausting the installation chamber;

heating the first and second containers to a temperature T in the installation chamber;

making a first degree of vacuum in the installation chamber and in a deposition chamber;

opening a gate between the installation chamber and the deposition chamber;

carrying the heated first and second containers to an evaporation holder previously heated to the temperature T, wherein the evaporation holder is in the deposition chamber;

closing the gate between the installation chamber and the deposition chamber;

disposing a substrate in the deposition chamber; and

forming a film over the substrate in the deposition chamber by evaporating the organic compound contained in the first and second containers by making a second degree of vacuum in the deposition chamber higher than the first degree of vacuum while independently heating the first and second containers,

wherein the evaporation holder is rotated in the step of forming a film over the substrate in the deposition chamber by evaporating the organic compound, and

wherein evaporation of the organic compound from the first and second containers is controlled by independently adjusting a distance between the first container and the evaporation holder and a distance between the second container and the evaporation holder.

8. The method according to claim 3, wherein the first and second containers comprise at least one of a heat-resisting metal, a sintered boron nitride, a sintered compound of boron nitride and aluminum nitride, a quartz and a graphite.

9. The method according to claim 3, wherein the evaporation holder includes a tilt regulating screw.

14. The method according to claim 3, wherein the organic compound contained in the first and second containers is the same.

15. The method according to claim 3, wherein the organic compound contained in the first and second containers is different.

18. The method according to claim 3, wherein the film is formed over the substrate in the deposition chamber by evaporating the organic compound contained in the first and second containers by making the second degree of vacuum in the deposition chamber higher than the first degree of vacuum while maintaining the first and second containers at the temperature T.