CN102703857B - Shade strip - Google Patents

Abstract

A mask strip is used to be fixed on a frame to form a mask, having two stretching areas and a pattern area. After the mask strip is fixed to the frame, the pattern area is located inside the frame, the stretching area is located outside the frame, and each stretching area has a V-shaped cutout on one side away from the pattern area.

Description

mask strip

【Technical field】

The invention relates to a mask strip and a method for manufacturing the mask.

【Background technique】

In the current patterning process, the patterned film layer is usually formed through a mask composed of a plurality of mask strips and a coating process. The mask is a thin metal plate that is etched to produce multiple thin and long metal lines, and the gaps between the multiple metal lines can be used as opening areas during the coating process.

Since the metal wire is quite slender and easily twisted and deformed, stretching areas are provided on both sides of the masking strip. When the mask strip is fixed to the frame to form the mask, a pretension is applied at the stretching area, so that the metal wire is stretched laterally. In this way, the metal line is kept straight to maintain the correct shape and position of the opening area, and it can resist the expansion caused by the temperature during coating, and also resist the bending deformation caused by the weight of the mask and the substrate to be coated.

However, when pretension is applied, the degree of freedom in force conversion and deformation under force is not high enough in the current design of the tension zone near the force application point. Therefore, the opening area close to the stretching area is prone to wavy wrinkle deformation, which makes the mask strip unable to conform to the substrate to be coated, resulting in positional deviation of the opening area, uneven coating thickness, and displacement of the desired coating position, etc. problem occurs. On the other hand, in order to avoid the aggravation of the wrinkle deformation caused by increasing the pretension, or the inward expansion of the influence range of the wrinkle deformation, it is necessary to limit the size of the pretension. However, this often results in insufficient pretension. In the case of insufficient pretension, because the mask strip is not stable enough, it cannot withstand the bending deformation caused by the weight of the substrate to be coated and the weight of the film layer accumulated during coating, and it is easy to loosen and deform during cleaning, so it is often As a result, the usage rate and life of the mask are greatly reduced.

【Content of invention】

The invention provides a mask strip, which can provide good coating quality and has good service rate and lifespan.

The present invention provides a mask strip, which is used to be fixed on a frame to form a mask, and has two stretching areas and a pattern area, wherein the mask strip is fixed behind the frame, and the pattern area is located in the frame. The stretching areas are located outside the frame, and each stretching area has a V-shaped cut on the side away from the pattern area.

In an embodiment of the present invention, each stretching zone has a plurality of hollowed out zones between the end point of the V-shaped incision and the pattern zone.

In an embodiment of the present invention, each of the aforementioned hollowed out areas is in the shape of a strip, and the hollowed out areas are arranged in parallel with each other.

In an embodiment of the present invention, each hollowed-out area mentioned above is in the shape of a triangle.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the aforementioned hollow areas are arranged in multiple rows along a direction parallel to the boundary between the pattern area and the stretch area.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the sizes of the aforementioned hollowed out areas located in the same column are the same.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the size of the aforementioned hollowed out area decreases gradually as the distance from the pattern area decreases.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a corner of each of the aforementioned hollow areas points to the pattern area.

The present invention also provides a mask strip, which is used to be fixed on a frame to form a mask, and has two stretching areas and a pattern area, wherein the mask strip is fixed behind the frame, and the pattern area is located in the frame , the stretch zones are located outside the frame, and each stretch zone has multiple hollowed out regions.

In an embodiment of the present invention, each stretching zone mentioned above has a cutout on a side away from the pattern zone.

In an embodiment of the present invention, each of the aforementioned hollowed out areas is in the shape of a strip, and the hollowed out areas are arranged in parallel with each other.

In an embodiment of the present invention, each hollowed-out area mentioned above is in the shape of a triangle.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the aforementioned hollow areas are arranged in multiple rows along a direction parallel to the boundary between the pattern area and the stretch area.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the sizes of the aforementioned hollowed out areas located in the same column are the same.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the size of the aforementioned hollowed out area decreases gradually as the distance from the pattern area decreases.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a corner of the aforementioned hollow area points to the pattern area.

Based on the above, the mask strip of this proposal can evenly disperse the pretension by providing a V-shaped incision and/or multiple hollowed out areas in the stretching area, so that the stretching area close to the force application point can be in the position of force conversion and force receiving. The degree of freedom of deformation is increased. Therefore, the opening area close to the stretching area can maintain good flatness and be conformed to the substrate to be coated, thereby improving the process yield.

In order to make the above-mentioned features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, the following specific embodiments are described in detail together with the accompanying drawings.

【Description of drawings】

FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of a mask strip according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic top view of the stretching zone in Fig. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of a mask strip according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Description of main component symbols]

100: mask

110, 210: Mask strip

112: metal wire

114: Opening area

120: frame

A1: Stretch zone

A2: pattern area

A3, A4: Knockout area

F: Pretension

V: V-shaped cut

X: endpoint

U: incision

【detailed description】

FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of a mask strip according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a schematic top view of the stretching zone in Fig. 1 .

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 at the same time, the mask bar 110 of this embodiment is used to be fixed on a frame 120 to form a mask 100 . In this embodiment, the mask strip 110 is fixed on the frame 120 by welding, locking or other methods, for example. In addition, the number of mask strips 110 included in the mask 100 may be greater than one. In other words, usually a mask 100 is composed of a plurality of mask strips 110 fixed on a frame 120 to facilitate large-area evaporation or other processes.

The mask strip 110 has two stretch areas A1 and a pattern area A2. After the mask strip 110 is fixed on the frame 120 , the pattern area A2 is located inside the frame 120 , and the stretch area A1 is located outside the frame 120 . After the mask strip 110 is fixed on the frame 120 , the stretching area A1 can be removed to facilitate evaporation or other processes. In this embodiment, the manufacturing method of the mask strip 110 is, for example, to make a plurality of repeated patterns in the pattern area A2 by etching a thin metal plate, wherein each pattern includes a plurality of elongated metal lines 112, and each metal The gap 114 between the lines 112 can be used as an opening area during the coating process during the patterning process. For example, the gap 114 between each metal line 112 can be used as an opening area to form a patterned film layer during an organic light emitting diode (Organic Light Emitting Diode, OLED) evaporation process, such as an organic light emitting material used to form each pixel area in an OLED. layer. In the evaporation process, the mask 100 is placed between the evaporation material source and the target substrate, and each gap 114 corresponds to each pixel area. After the vapor deposition is completed, the material of the vapor deposition material source will only be deposited in each pixel area without exceeding the range. Therefore, by adjusting the size, shape and position of the gap 114 , the size, shape and position of the region where material is to be deposited during the evaporation process can be controlled. Of course, the use of the mask bar 110 and the mask 100 is not limited thereto, and the gap 114 is not limited to the corresponding pixel area.

In practice, since the metal wires 112 are quite slender and easily twisted and deformed, by applying a pre-tension F at the stretching area A1, the metal wires are stretched laterally and fixed on the frame 120, which can avoid problems in the coating process. When the coating position is shifted, it is sufficient to bear the expansion caused by the temperature during coating and the bending deformation caused by the weight of the mask and the substrate to be coated.

The mask strip 110 of this embodiment has a V-shaped cut V on the side of each stretching area A1 away from the pattern area A2, which reduces the area of the application point of the pretension F, thereby making the application force more concentrated. In addition, by increasing the depth of the V-shaped notch V and increasing the degree of freedom of force and deformation around the V-shaped notch V, the mask strip 110 in this embodiment can more evenly disperse the pretension. Specifically, the stress concentrated at the force application point is distributed to the entire surface stretching area A1. Therefore, the mask strip 110 of this embodiment can reduce the wave-like wrinkle deformation caused by stress concentration.

In addition, the mask strip 110 of this embodiment can optionally provide a plurality of hollowed out areas A3 between the end point X of the V-shaped cutout V and the pattern area A2. In this embodiment, the hollowed out areas A3 are long strips arranged parallel to each other, and the hollowed out areas A3 are arranged in a row along a direction parallel to the boundary between the pattern area A2 and the stretched area A1 .

It is worth mentioning that the mask strip 110 of this embodiment can allow the pretension to be more evenly transmitted into the pattern area A2 by providing a plurality of hollow areas A3. Therefore, the evenly transmitted pretension can keep the pattern area A2 flat. In addition, since the mask strip 110 of this embodiment has good force conversion and freedom of force deformation, it can further withstand a larger pretension F. The mask bar 110 of this embodiment can provide a large bearing capacity, which is sufficient to support the weight of the substrate to be coated and the weight of the accumulated film layers during coating. In addition, it is less likely to loosen and deform during cleaning. Therefore, the mask made of the mask strip 110 of this embodiment has a good usage rate and lifespan.

Certainly, besides the above-mentioned types, the mask strips of the present proposal can also have other types, and another embodiment will be illustrated below with reference to FIG. 3 . FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of a mask strip according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3 , the mask strip 210 of this embodiment has a similar shape to the mask strip 110 , but the difference lies in the shape of the stretching area A1 . The masking strip 210 of this embodiment has a plurality of hollowed out areas A4 at the stretching area A2. In this embodiment, each hollowed area A4 is, for example, in the shape of a triangle, and a corner of each hollowed area points to the pattern area A2. In addition, the hollowed areas A4 are arranged in multiple rows along the direction parallel to the boundary between the patterned area A2 and the stretched area A1, and those located in the same column have the same size, wherein the size of the hollowed areas A4 increases with the distance from the patterned area. shortened and decreased. Similar to the previous embodiment, the mask made of the mask strip 210 of this embodiment has a good usage rate and a good lifespan.

Of course, the masking strip 210 of this embodiment can also be optionally configured with a cutout U on the side of each stretching area A1 away from the pattern area A2. By increasing the depth of the notch U, the degree of freedom of force deformation around the notch U can be improved. Therefore, the mask strip 210 of this embodiment can more uniformly distribute the pretension, and further reduce the wave-like wrinkle deformation caused by stress concentration.

To sum up, the mask strip of this proposal is to provide V-shaped cuts and/or multiple hollowed out areas in the stretching area to evenly disperse the pretension, so that the stretching area close to the point of force application can be used for force conversion and stress The degree of freedom of deformation and other aspects can be improved. In this way, the wavy wrinkle deformation caused by uneven force in the opening area in the conventional technology is improved, thereby ensuring that the mask strip of this embodiment is flat and obedient on the substrate to be coated, and the position of the opening area is slowed down. Problems such as offset, uneven coating thickness and displacement of coating position occur. In addition, the masking strip of this proposal can further increase the pretension under the condition that the degree of freedom of force conversion and force deformation is improved, and improve the situation of insufficient pretension caused by conventional technology to avoid wrinkle deformation. Therefore, the mask bar of the present proposal can be fixed on the frame relatively stably, and has enough bearing capacity to carry the weight of the substrate to be coated and the weight of the accumulated film layers during coating. Therefore, the mask formed by the mask strips of the present proposal has good utilization rate and service life.

Although the present invention has been disclosed above in terms of implementation, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Anyone with ordinary knowledge in the technical field may make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be defined by the scope of the appended patent application.

Claims (6)

1. a shade bar, a shade is formed in order to be fixed on a framework, there is two drawing zones and a pattern area, this pattern area is completely between these two drawing zones, after wherein this shade bar is fixed in this framework, this pattern area is positioned at this framework, this pattern area comprises the pattern of multiple repetition, each pattern area comprises that many elongated and metal wire that is that laterally tighten is fixed on framework, space between each metal wire in patterning process as open region during film-plating process, described drawing zone is positioned at outside this framework, respectively this drawing zone has a v-notch away from the side of this pattern area, respectively this drawing zone has multiple district that hollows out between the end points of this v-notch and this pattern area,

Wherein, respectively this to hollow out district triangular in shape, respectively this leg-of-mutton one jiao is pointed to this pattern area, described in hollow out district size successively decrease along with the Distance Shortened with this pattern area, allow pretension transmit into this pattern area more fifty-fifty with this, the pretension evenly transmitted can make this pattern area keep smooth.

2. shade bar according to claim 1, is characterized in that, described in hollow out district and line up multiple row along the direction on the border being parallel to this pattern area and described drawing zone.

3. shade bar according to claim 2, is characterized in that, described in hollow out in district the size being positioned at same row person identical.

4. a shade bar, a shade is formed in order to be fixed on a framework, there is two drawing zones and a pattern area, this pattern area is completely between these two drawing zones, after wherein this shade bar is fixed in this framework, this pattern area is positioned at this framework, this pattern area comprises the pattern of multiple repetition, each pattern area comprises that many elongated and metal wire that is that laterally tighten is fixed on framework, space between each metal wire in patterning process as open region during film-plating process, described drawing zone is positioned at outside this framework, respectively this drawing zone has and multiplely hollows out district, respectively this drawing zone has a kerf away from the side of this pattern area,

Wherein, respectively this to hollow out district triangular in shape, respectively this leg-of-mutton one jiao is pointed to this pattern area, described in hollow out district size successively decrease along with the Distance Shortened with this pattern area, allow pretension transmit into this pattern area more fifty-fifty with this, the pretension evenly transmitted can make this pattern area keep smooth.

5. shade bar according to claim 4, is characterized in that, described in hollow out district and line up multiple row along the direction on the border being parallel to this pattern area and described drawing zone.

6. shade bar according to claim 5, is characterized in that, described in hollow out in district the size being positioned at same row person identical.