阅读说明：本技术 一种蒸发源和蒸镀装置 (Evaporation source and evaporation device ) 是由 刘全宝 王宝 毋炳辉 史治化 高松 邱林林 于 2020-06-29 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供一种蒸发源和蒸镀装置,包括循环冷却通道,所述循环冷却通道包括隔热腔室循环冷却通道和内部循环冷却通道,所述隔热腔室循环冷却通道设置于所述隔热壁内,所述内部循环冷却通道设置于所述隔热腔室内部,本发明利用冷却介质直接对蒸发源进行降温,以使得蒸发源能够在短时间内即可达到所需温度,提高设备生产稼动率,提高生产效率；另外,本发明通过在隔热壁内及隔热腔室内部均设置循环冷却通道,可以减小甚至消除循环冷却通道与蒸发源内的热源位置的间隙,利用隔热壁内及隔热腔室内部设置的循环冷却通道共同对蒸发源进行降温,从而进一步缩短蒸发源的冷却降温时间,进一步提高生产效率。(The invention provides an evaporation source and an evaporation device, which comprise a circulating cooling channel, wherein the circulating cooling channel comprises a heat-insulating cavity circulating cooling channel and an internal circulating cooling channel, the heat-insulating cavity circulating cooling channel is arranged in a heat-insulating wall, and the internal circulating cooling channel is arranged in the heat-insulating cavity; in addition, the circulating cooling channels are arranged in the heat insulation wall and the heat insulation chamber, so that the gap between the circulating cooling channel and the heat source position in the evaporation source can be reduced or even eliminated, and the circulating cooling channels arranged in the heat insulation wall and the heat insulation chamber are used for cooling the evaporation source together, thereby further shortening the cooling time of the evaporation source and further improving the production efficiency.)

1. An evaporation source, comprising:

an insulating chamber comprising insulating walls interconnected to form the insulating chamber;

the crucible is arranged in the heat insulation chamber and used for containing evaporation materials;

a heating device disposed in a manner to surround the crucible, for heating the crucible;

the reflector is arranged in a manner of surrounding the crucible, is arranged on one side of the heating device away from the crucible, and is used for reflecting the heat generated by the heating device to the crucible;

the circulating cooling channel comprises a heat insulation cavity circulating cooling channel and an internal circulating cooling channel, the heat insulation cavity circulating cooling channel is arranged in the heat insulation wall, and the internal circulating cooling channel is arranged inside the heat insulation cavity.

2. The evaporation source according to claim 1, wherein the internal circulation cooling channel is disposed between the reflector and the heating device.

3. The evaporation source according to claim 2, further comprising a fixing device for fixing the inner circulation cooling channel between the reflector and the heating device.

4. The evaporation source according to claim 1, wherein the internal circulation cooling channel is disposed inside the reflector.

5. The evaporation source according to claim 1, wherein the reflectors are spaced apart in a direction from the bottom toward the opening of the crucible, and the inner circulation cooling channel is disposed between the spaced apart reflectors.

6. The evaporation source according to claim 5, further comprising a fixing device for fixing the inner circulation cooling channel between the spaced reflectors.

7. The evaporation source according to any of claims 2 to 6, wherein the inner circulation cooling channel is circumferentially arranged around the circumference of the crucible.

8. The evaporation source according to claim 1, wherein the circulating cooling channel is a liquid circulating cooling channel or a gas circulating cooling channel.

9. The evaporation source according to claim 1, further comprising a temperature sensor disposed inside the evaporation source for detecting the temperature inside the evaporation source.

10. An evaporation apparatus comprising the evaporation source according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of display, in particular to an evaporation source and an evaporation device.

Background

In the manufacturing process of the organic electroluminescent display, the used evaporation device places a substrate to be evaporated and an evaporation source in the same vacuum chamber, the evaporation source is placed below the substrate to be evaporated, the evaporation source for coating is placed in the vacuum chamber, the evaporation source is heated to a preset temperature during evaporation, evaporation materials (generally solid or powder organic small molecular materials) placed in the evaporation source are promoted to sublimate or evaporate, the evaporation materials are finally deposited on the substrate with a mask plate, and the mask plate is removed after the evaporation is finished, so that the functional film layer of the organic electroluminescent display with the required pattern can be obtained.

After the completion of vapor deposition, the operations of replenishing the vapor deposition material in the evaporation source, maintaining the equipment, and the like need to be performed after cooling the heated evaporation source to a certain temperature, but if the evaporation source is cooled naturally by merely stopping heating and being left in a vacuum environment, several hours or even ten or more hours are required to cool the evaporation source to the required temperature, which seriously affects the production efficiency.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above problems, embodiments of the present invention provide an evaporation source and an evaporation apparatus, so as to accelerate the cooling rate of the evaporation source, improve the utilization rate of equipment production, and improve the production efficiency.

To achieve the above object, an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention provides an evaporation source, including:

an insulating chamber comprising insulating walls interconnected to form the insulating chamber;

the crucible is arranged in the heat insulation chamber and used for containing evaporation materials;

a heating device disposed in a manner to surround the crucible, for heating the crucible;

the reflector is arranged in a manner of surrounding the crucible, is arranged on one side of the heating device away from the crucible, and is used for reflecting the heat generated by the heating device to the crucible;

the circulating cooling channel comprises a heat insulation cavity circulating cooling channel and an internal circulating cooling channel, the heat insulation cavity circulating cooling channel is arranged in the heat insulation wall, and the internal circulating cooling channel is arranged inside the heat insulation cavity.

Further, the internal circulation cooling channel is disposed between the reflector and the heating device.

Further, the evaporation source further comprises a fixing device for fixing the internal circulation cooling channel between the reflector and the heating device.

Further, the internal circulation cooling channel is disposed inside the reflector.

Further, the reflectors are arranged at intervals in the direction from the bottom to the opening of the crucible, and the internal circulation cooling channel is arranged between the reflectors arranged at intervals.

Further, the evaporation source further comprises a fixing device, and the fixing device is used for fixing the internal circulation cooling channel between the reflectors which are arranged at intervals.

Further, the internal circulation cooling channel is circumferentially arranged on the peripheral side of the crucible.

Further, the circulating cooling channel is a liquid circulating cooling channel or a gas circulating cooling channel.

Further, the evaporation source also comprises a temperature sensor, and the temperature sensor is arranged inside the evaporation source and used for detecting the temperature inside the evaporation source.

Another aspect of embodiments of the present invention provides an evaporation apparatus including the evaporation source described in the first aspect.

The evaporation source and the evaporation device provided by the embodiment of the invention comprise the circulating cooling channel, wherein the circulating cooling channel comprises a heat insulation chamber circulating cooling channel and an internal circulating cooling channel, the heat insulation chamber circulating cooling channel is arranged in the heat insulation wall, and the internal circulating cooling channel is arranged in the heat insulation chamber. In addition, the circulating cooling channels are arranged in the heat insulation wall and the heat insulation chamber, so that the gap between the circulating cooling channel and the heat source position in the evaporation source can be reduced or even eliminated, and the circulating cooling channels arranged in the heat insulation wall and the heat insulation chamber are used for cooling the evaporation source together, so that the cooling time of the evaporation source is further shortened, and the production efficiency is further improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments are briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on the drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional evaporation source;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an evaporation source according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is another schematic structural diagram of an evaporation source according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is another schematic structural diagram of an evaporation source according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is another schematic structural diagram of an evaporation source according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is another schematic structural diagram of an evaporation source according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a cooling process of an evaporation source according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Description of reference numerals:

1. a thermally insulated chamber; 2. a crucible; 3. a reflector; 4. a heating device; 5. evaporating a material; 6. a thermally insulated chamber circulating cooling channel; 7. an internal circulation cooling channel.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all, embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention. The embodiments described below and the features of the embodiments can be combined with each other without conflict.

The OLED device is mainly of a film layer structure, each functional film layer is formed on a substrate by using an evaporation source evaporation technology, after evaporation is finished, the supplement operation of evaporation materials in the evaporation source, the maintenance operation of equipment and the like are required to be carried out after the heated evaporation source is cooled to a certain temperature, but if the evaporation source is only stopped to be heated and placed in a vacuum environment for natural cooling, the evaporation source is cooled to the required temperature for several hours or even more than ten hours, and the production efficiency is seriously influenced.

In view of the above problems, the prior art generally adopts an evaporation source structure as shown in fig. 1, and as shown in fig. 1, the evaporation source includes an insulated chamber 1, and the insulated chamber 1 includes insulated walls, and the insulated walls are connected to each other to form the insulated chamber 1; a crucible 2, which is arranged inside the heat insulation chamber 1 and is used for containing evaporation materials 5; a heating device 4, provided in a manner surrounding the crucible 2, for heating the crucible 2; a reflector 3 arranged around the crucible 2 and arranged on one side of the heating device 4 away from the crucible 2 for reflecting heat generated by the heating device 4 to the crucible 2; the evaporation source also comprises a heat insulation chamber circulating cooling channel 6 which is arranged in a heat insulation wall of the heat insulation chamber 1, and a cooling medium is introduced into the heat insulation chamber circulating cooling channel 6 to cool the evaporation source, so that the cooling time can be shortened to a certain extent compared with natural cooling. However, in this cooling method, the gap between the circulating cooling channel and the heat source position (such as the crucible 2 and the heating device 4) in the evaporation source is large, and the evaporation source is in a vacuum environment, so that the cooling time is still long, and the production efficiency is still low.

In view of this, an embodiment of the present invention provides an evaporation source, including a circulating cooling channel, where the circulating cooling channel includes a heat-insulating chamber circulating cooling channel and an internal circulating cooling channel, the heat-insulating chamber circulating cooling channel is disposed in the heat-insulating wall, and the internal circulating cooling channel is disposed in the heat-insulating chamber, and compared with natural cooling of the evaporation source, in the solution of the embodiment of the present invention, a cooling medium is used to directly cool the evaporation source, so that the evaporation source can reach a desired temperature in a short time, and thus, the operation rate of equipment production is increased, and the production efficiency is increased; in addition, compared with the prior art that only the circulating cooling channel is arranged in the heat insulation wall, the circulating cooling channels are arranged in the heat insulation wall and the heat insulation chamber, so that the gap between the circulating cooling channel and the heat source position in the evaporation source can be reduced or even eliminated, and the circulating cooling channels arranged in the heat insulation wall and the heat insulation chamber 1 are utilized to cool the evaporation source together, thereby further shortening the cooling time of the evaporation source and further improving the production efficiency.

Fig. 2 to 6 are schematic structural diagrams of an evaporation source according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 2 to 6, the evaporation source according to the embodiment of the present invention includes:

the heat insulation chamber 1 comprises heat insulation walls which are connected with each other to form the heat insulation chamber 1;

the crucible 2 is arranged in the heat insulation chamber 1 and used for containing evaporation materials;

a heating device 4, provided in a manner surrounding the crucible 2, for heating the crucible 2;

a reflector 3 arranged around the crucible 2 and arranged on one side of the heating device 4 away from the crucible 2 for reflecting heat generated by the heating device 4 to the crucible 2;

and the circulating cooling channel comprises a heat-insulating cavity circulating cooling channel 6 and an internal circulating cooling channel 7, the heat-insulating cavity circulating cooling channel 6 is arranged in the heat-insulating wall, and the internal circulating cooling channel 7 is arranged in the heat-insulating cavity 1.

Compared with the natural cooling of the evaporation source, the circulating cooling channel of the evaporation source provided by the embodiment of the invention directly cools the evaporation source by using the cooling medium, so that the evaporation source can reach the required temperature in a short time, the production utilization rate of equipment is improved, and the production efficiency is improved; in addition, compared with the prior art that only the circulating cooling channel is arranged in the heat insulation wall, the circulating cooling channels are arranged in the heat insulation wall and the heat insulation chamber 1, so that the gap between the circulating cooling channel and the heat source position in the evaporation source can be reduced or even eliminated, and the circulating cooling channels arranged in the heat insulation wall and the heat insulation chamber 1 are utilized to cool the evaporation source together, thereby further shortening the cooling time of the evaporation source and further improving the production efficiency.

In the embodiment of the invention, the heat insulation chamber 1 is used for isolating the inside of the evaporation source from the external environment in the evaporation process, so that the evaporation temperature is stable. The heat insulation cavity circulating cooling channel 6 is arranged in the heat insulation wall of the heat insulation cavity 1, so that the interior of an evaporation source can be cooled by introduced cooling media in the process of cooling the evaporation source, and the cooling rate is improved. The heat-insulating chamber circulating cooling passage 6 may be disposed in the heat-insulating chamber 1 in a surrounding manner, or may be disposed in a meandering manner in a heat-insulating wall of the heat-insulating chamber 1, and the heat-insulating chamber circulating cooling passage 6 has a cooling medium inlet and a cooling medium outlet for charging and discharging a cooling medium into and from the heat-insulating chamber circulating cooling passage 6, thereby realizing circulation of the cooling medium in the heat-insulating chamber circulating cooling passage 6 to realize a cooling effect on the evaporation source.

The crucible 2 is used to contain the deposition material 5, and the material of the crucible 2 may be a metal material or a ceramic material, the metal material is preferably a metal such as Mo, Ta, or W, or an alloy of at least two metals thereof, and the ceramic material is preferably alumina, silicon carbide, boron nitride, or aluminum nitride, and a material such as carbon graphite may be used in addition to the metal material and the ceramic material.

The reflector 3 serves to reflect heat generated from the heating device 4 to the crucible 2 to enhance heat utilization efficiency. The material of the reflector 3 may be selected from stainless steel, metal, ceramic, etc., as long as it can reflect heat, and the surface of the reflector 3 may be mirror-finished or plated with a metal layer such as Ag, Au, Cu, Al, etc. in order to further improve the reflectance.

The heating device 4 is used for heating the evaporation source in the evaporation process to realize sublimation or evaporation of the evaporation material, and finally the evaporation material is deposited on the substrate to form a functional film layer of the organic electroluminescent display. The heating device 4 is disposed around the crucible 2 to uniformly heat the crucible and the evaporation material therein. The heating device 4 may be a heating wire or a plate-like body, and is not particularly limited herein.

The internal circulation cooling channel 7 may be disposed around the periphery of the crucible 2, or may be disposed in a winding manner around the periphery of the crucible 2, and the internal circulation cooling channel 7 has a cooling medium inlet and a cooling medium outlet for charging and discharging a cooling medium into and from the internal circulation cooling channel 7, so as to realize circulation of the cooling medium in the internal circulation cooling channel 7, thereby realizing a cooling effect on the evaporation source.

In the above embodiment, the circulating cooling channel may be a liquid circulating cooling channel, or may also be a gas circulating cooling channel, that is, the cooling medium may be liquid, such as ordinary cooling water, deionized water, or the like, or gas, such as nitrogen, compressed air, or the like, and is not limited specifically herein.

The evaporation source in the embodiment of the present application may further include a temperature sensor, and the temperature sensor is disposed inside the evaporation source and is used for detecting the temperature inside the evaporation source.

Specifically, referring to fig. 2, the internal circulation cooling channel 7 is disposed between the reflector 3 and the heating device 4, and the internal circulation cooling channel 7 may be selectively disposed in contact with the reflector 3, or in contact with the heating device 4, or in contact with both the reflector 3 and the heating device 4, so that direct contact cooling of the reflector 3 and the heating device 4 may be achieved, and the cooling rate may be increased. In this arrangement, the internal circulation cooling channel 7 may be fixed to the reflector 3 and/or the heating device 4 by a fixing device (e.g., a fixing ring), or the internal circulation cooling channel 7 may be directly formed on the surface of the reflector 3 and/or the heating device 4.

Of course, the internal circulation cooling channel 7 may be provided only between the reflector 3 and the heating means 4 without being in direct contact with the reflector 3 and the heating means 4, and in this arrangement, the internal circulation cooling channel 7 may be fixed between the reflector 3 and the heating means 4 by using a fixing means.

Referring to fig. 3, in the embodiment, the internal circulation cooling channel 7 is disposed inside the reflector 3, and in this manner, the internal circulation cooling channel 7 can be formed by opening a channel inside the reflector 3. The reflector 3 is disposed around the crucible 2, the reflector 3 may be disposed on the peripheral side, bottom and top of the crucible 2, and the internal circulation cooling passage 7 may be disposed in the reflector on the peripheral side, bottom and top of the crucible 2 at the same time to increase the cooling area, but of course, the internal circulation cooling passage 7 may be disposed in the reflector 3 at any position as required.

Referring to fig. 4, the reflectors 3 are spaced apart from each other in the direction from the bottom to the opening of the crucible 2, and the internal circulation cooling passages 7 are disposed between the reflectors 3 spaced apart from each other, in which case the internal circulation cooling passages 7 may be fixed between the reflectors 3 spaced apart from each other by using a fixing means.

Referring to fig. 5 and 6, the internal circulation cooling channel 7 may be located between the reflector 3 and the heating device 4 and inside the reflector 3, and the internal circulation cooling channel 7 may also be located between the reflector 3 and the heating device 4 and between the reflectors 3 arranged at intervals, which may further increase the cooling area.

The internal circulating cooling channel 7 may also be located between the crucible 2 and the heating device 4, and the internal circulating cooling channel 7 is fixed by a fixing device. In this arrangement, the internal circulation cooling passage 7 can be fixed to the crucible 2 or the heating device 4.

Of course, the specific location of the internal circulation cooling channel 7 depends on the processing difficulty, the equipment precision, etc., and may be specifically selected according to the actual situation, and is not particularly limited herein, and the above-mentioned embodiment does not constitute a particular limitation to the solution of the present application.

The specific cooling process of the evaporation source is shown in fig. 7, and specifically as follows:

s1: the heating device 4 is turned off, and the heating of the evaporation source is stopped;

s2: detecting the internal temperature of the evaporation source by using a temperature sensor to obtain the actual temperature of the evaporation source;

s3: comparing the actual temperature of the evaporation source with the target temperature;

s4: if the actual temperature of the evaporation source is less than or equal to the target temperature, closing a cooling medium inlet of the circulating cooling channel, and finishing cooling;

s5: and if the actual temperature of the evaporation source is higher than the target temperature, opening a cooling medium inlet and a cooling medium outlet of the circulating cooling channel, introducing a cooling medium, circulating the cooling medium in the circulating cooling channel, cooling the evaporation source until the actual temperature of the evaporation source is lower than or equal to the target temperature, closing the cooling medium inlet of the circulating cooling channel, and finishing cooling.

The circulating cooling channel comprises an insulating cavity circulating cooling channel 6 and an internal circulating cooling channel 7, and the insulating cavity circulating cooling channel 6 and the internal circulating cooling channel 7 can use the same cooling medium inlet and the same cooling medium outlet, and can also use different cooling medium inlets and different cooling medium outlets. When different cooling medium inlets and different cooling medium outlets are used for the heat-insulating chamber circulating cooling channel 6 and the internal circulating cooling channel 7, the heat-insulating chamber circulating cooling channel 6 and the internal circulating cooling channel 7 can independently control the injection of the cooling medium in the process of cooling the evaporation source. Wherein, preferably, thermal-insulated chamber circulative cooling passageway 6 and inside circulative cooling passageway 7 use different coolant entry and different coolant export, can realize so that thermal-insulated chamber circulative cooling passageway 6 and inside circulative cooling passageway 7's independent control to in the coating by vaporization before the cooling, can only inject cooling medium in thermal-insulated chamber circulative cooling passageway 6 according to the coating by vaporization temperature demand, in order to reach the required temperature of coating by vaporization.

The evaporation source and the evaporation device provided by the embodiment of the invention comprise circulating cooling channels, wherein each circulating cooling channel comprises a heat insulation chamber circulating cooling channel 6 and an internal circulating cooling channel 7, the heat insulation chamber circulating cooling channel 6 is arranged in the heat insulation wall, and the internal circulating cooling channel 7 is arranged in the heat insulation chamber 1. In addition, the embodiment of the invention can reduce or even eliminate the gap between the circulating cooling channel and the heat source position in the evaporation source by arranging the circulating cooling channels in the heat insulation wall and the heat insulation chamber 1, and the circulating cooling channels arranged in the heat insulation wall and the heat insulation chamber 1 are utilized to cool the evaporation source together, thereby further shortening the cooling time of the evaporation source and further improving the production efficiency.

The embodiment of the invention also provides an evaporation device which comprises the evaporation source. The evaporation source is provided with the circulating cooling channels in the heat insulation wall and the heat insulation cavity, so that the gap between the circulating cooling channel and the heat source position in the evaporation source can be reduced or even eliminated, and the circulating cooling channels in the heat insulation wall and the heat insulation cavity are utilized to cool the evaporation source together, so that the cooling time of the evaporation source is further shortened, and the production efficiency is further improved.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein. Also, different features that are present in different embodiments may be combined in a first combination to advantage. Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art upon studying the drawings, the specification, and the claims.