TWI881536B - Low-particle gas enclosure systems and methods - Google Patents

Abstract

The present teachings relate to various embodiments of a gas enclosure system that can have various components comprising a particle control system that can provide a low-particle zone proximal to a substrate. Various components of a particle control system can include a gas circulation and filtration system, a low-particle-generating motion system for moving a printhead assembly relative to a substrate, a service bundle housing exhaust system, and a printhead assembly exhaust system. In addition to maintaining substantially low levels for each species of various reactive species, including various reactive atmospheric gases, such as water vapor and oxygen, for various embodiments of a gas enclosure system that have a particle control system, an on-substrate particle specification can be readily met. Accordingly, processing of various substrates in an inert, low-particle gas environment according to systems and methods of the present teachings can have substantially lower manufacturing defects.

Description

Low particle gas packaging system and method

This application claims the rights of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/833,398 filed on June 10, 2013. This application claims the rights of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/911,934 filed on December 4, 2013. This application claims the rights of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/925,578 filed on January 9, 2014. This application claims the rights of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/983,417 filed on April 23, 2014. This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Application No. 14/205,340 filed on March 11, 2014. U.S. Application No. 14/205,340, filed on March 11, 2014, is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Application No. 13/802,304, filed on March 13, 2013, and published on August 15, 2013 as US 2013/0206058. U.S. Application No. 13/802,304 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Application No. 13/720,830, filed on December 19, 2012, and published on September 26, 2013 as US 2013/0252533. U.S. Application No. 13/720,830 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/579,233 filed on December 22, 2011. U.S. Application No. 13/720,830, filed December 19, 2012, is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Application No. 12/652,040, filed January 5, 2010, and issued on February 26, 2013 as US 8,383,202, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Application No. 12/139.391, filed June 13, 2008, and published on December 18, 2008 as US 2008/0311307. U.S. Application No. 12/652,040 also claims the rights of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/142,575 filed on January 5, 2009. All cross-referenced applications listed herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

The present teachings relate to various specific embodiments of a gas packaging system having an inert, substantially low-particle environment for manufacturing OLED panels on a variety of substrate sizes and substrate materials.

Interest in the potential of organic light emitting diode (OLED) display technology has been driven by the properties of OLED display technology, including display panels that exhibit highly saturated colors, are high contrast, are ultra-thin, have fast response times, and are energy efficient. In addition, a wide variety of substrate materials, including flexible polymeric materials, can be used in the manufacture of OLED display technology. While the demonstration of displays for small screen applications (primarily for cellular phones) has been sufficient to highlight the potential of the technology, challenges remain in scaling high volume manufacturing across a range of substrate formats at high yields.

With respect to scaling of formats, a Gen 5.5 substrate has dimensions of approximately 130 cm x 150 cm and can produce approximately eight 26" flat panel displays. In comparison, larger format substrates may include the use of Gen 7.5 and Gen 8.5 mother glass substrate sizes. Gen 7.5 mother glass has dimensions of approximately 195 cm x 225 cm and can be cut into eight 42" or six 47" flat panel displays per substrate. The mother glass used in Gen 8.5 is approximately 220 cm x 250 cm and can be cut into six 55" or eight 46" flat panel displays per substrate. One of the challenges that remain in scaling OLED display manufacturing to larger formats is that manufacturing OLED displays in large quantities at high yields on substrates larger than Gen 5.5 substrates has proven to be very challenging.

In principle, OLED devices can be manufactured by printing various organic thin films and other materials on substrates using an OLED printing system. These organic materials can be susceptible to oxidation and other chemical process damage. Accommodating an OLED printing system in a manner that can be scaled for various substrate sizes and can be performed in an inert, substantially low-particle printing environment can present a variety of engineering design challenges. Manufacturing tools for high-throughput large-format substrate printing (e.g., printing of Gen 7.5 and Gen 8.5 substrates) require substantially large facilities. Therefore, maintaining large facilities under an inert atmosphere, requiring gas purification to remove reactive atmospheric species (e.g., water vapor and oxygen) and organic solvent vapors, and maintaining a substantially low-particle printing environment have proven to be significantly challenging.

Thus, challenges remain in the high volume manufacturing of OLED display technology that scales across a range of substrate formats at high yields. Therefore, there exists a need for various specific embodiments of the present teachings of gas packaging systems that can house an OLED printing system in an inert, substantially low particle environment, and that can be easily scaled to provide for the manufacture of OLED panels on a variety of substrate sizes and substrate materials. Additionally, various gas packaging systems of the present teachings can provide easy external access to the OLED printing system during processing, and easy internal access for maintenance with minimal downtime.

The present teachings disclose various embodiments of gas encapsulation assemblies that can house OLED printing systems. Various embodiments of gas encapsulation assemblies can be sealably constructed and integrated with various components that provide particle control systems, gas circulation and filtration systems, gas purification systems, and the like to form various embodiments of gas encapsulation systems that can maintain a substantially low-particle inert gas environment for processes that require such an environment.

Manufacturing tools that in principle can allow printing of a variety of substrate sizes including large format substrate sizes can require substantially large facilities for housing such OLED manufacturing tools. Therefore, maintaining the entire large facility under an inert atmosphere presents engineering design challenges, such as the continuous purification of large amounts of inert gas. According to the present teachings, an inert gas can be any gas that does not undergo a chemical reaction under a set of defined conditions. Some common non-limiting examples of inert gases can include any of nitrogen, noble gases, and any combination thereof. In addition, providing a large facility that is substantially hermetically sealed to prevent contamination by various reactive atmospheric source gases (such as water vapor and oxygen) and organic solvent vapors generated from various printing processes creates engineering design challenges. According to the present teachings, an OLED printing facility can maintain the content of each of various reactive species (including various reactive atmospheric source gases such as water vapor and oxygen, and organic solvent vapor) at 100 ppm or less, for example, at 10 ppm or less, at 1.0 ppm or less, or at 0.1 ppm or less.

Additional challenges are also created by continually maintaining large facilities that require an inert environment. For example, a manufacturing facility may require substantial lengths of various service bundles that are operably connected from various systems and assemblies to provide the optical, electrical, mechanical, and fluid connections required to operate (for example, but not limited to) a printing system. In accordance with the present teachings, a service bundle may include, by way of non-limiting example, optical cables, electrical cables, wires, and tubing, and the like. As a result of the large amount of void space created by bundling the various cables, wires, and tubing, and the like together in a service bundle, various specific examples of service bundles in accordance with the present teachings may have a significant total dead volume. The total dead volume resulting from the large void spaces in the service bundles can result in the entrapment of large amounts of reactive gaseous species that become trapped therein. This large amount of trapped reactive gaseous species can create challenges for effectively meeting gas packaging regulations for the content of reactive atmosphere constituents (e.g., oxygen and water vapor) as well as organic vapors. Additionally, such service bundles used in the operation of the printing system can be a source of ongoing particulate matter.

In this regard, providing and maintaining a substantially inert and low-particle environment in an OLED manufacturing facility presents additional challenges not present in processes conducted in atmospheric conditions, for example, outdoors under a high-flow laminar flow filter hood. Thus, various embodiments of the systems and methods of the present teachings address challenges present in OLED printing of OLED substrates of a variety of sizes and materials in an inert, substantially low-particle environment.

With respect to maintaining a substantially low-particle environment, various embodiments of the gas circulation and filtration systems may be designed to provide a low-particle inert gas environment with respect to airborne particles in accordance with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14644-1:1999, “Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments—Part 1: Classification of air cleanliness” (as designated by Class 1 to Class 5). However, controlling airborne particulate matter alone is not sufficient for providing a low particle environment proximate to a substrate during, for example but not limited to, a printing process, because particles generated proximate to the substrate during such a process may accumulate on the substrate surface before they can be swept by the gas circulation and filtration system.

Thus, various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings may have a particle control system that, in addition to the gas circulation and filtration system, may also include components that may provide a low particle zone proximate to the substrate during processing in the printing step. According to various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a particle control system for various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings may include a gas circulation and filtration system, a low particle generation X-axis linear bearing system for moving the print head assembly relative to the substrate, a service bundle enclosure exhaust system, and a print head assembly exhaust system. In this regard, in addition to a circulation and filtration system for maintaining substantially low particle specifications for airborne particulate matter, various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings may also have a particle control system that may include additional components for maintaining substantially low particle specifications for particulate matter deposited on a substrate.

Various embodiments of the systems and methods of the present teachings can maintain a substantially low particle environment to provide an average on-substrate distribution of particles of a particular size range of interest that does not exceed an on-substrate deposition rate specification. The on-substrate deposition rate specification can be set for each of the particle size ranges of interest between about 0.1 μm and greater to about 10 μm and greater. In various embodiments of the systems and methods of the present teachings, the on-substrate particle deposition rate specification can be expressed as a limit on the number of particles deposited per square meter of substrate per minute for each of the target particle size ranges.

Various specific examples of particle deposition rate specifications on substrates can be easily converted from limits on the number of particles deposited per minute per square meter of substrate to limits on the number of particles deposited per minute per substrate for each of the target particle size range. This conversion can be easily performed via a known relationship between a substrate (e.g., a substrate of a specific generation size) and the area corresponding to that substrate generation. For example, Table 1 below summarizes the aspect ratio and area for some substrates of known generation sizes. It should be understood that slight variations in aspect ratios and therefore sizes can be seen between manufacturers. However, regardless of this variation, a conversion factor for a substrate of a specific generation size and the area in square meters can be obtained for any of a variety of generation sizes of substrates. Generation ID X (mm) Y (mm) Area (m ² ) Gen 3.0 550 650 0.36 Gen 3.5 610 720 0.44 Gen 3.5 620 750 0.47 Gen 4 680 880 0.60 Gen 4 730 920 0.67 Gen 5 1100 1250 1.38 Gen 5 1100 1300 1.43 Gen 5.5 1300 1500 1.95 Gen 6 1500 1850 2.78 Gen 7.5 1950 2250 4.39 Gen 8 2160 2400 5.18 Gen 8 2160 2460 5.31 Gen 8.5 2200 2500 5.50 Gen 9 2400 2800 6.72 Gen 10 2850 3050 8.69 Table 1: Correlation between area and substrate size

In addition, the particle deposition rate specification on the substrate expressed as a limit of the number of particles deposited per square meter of substrate per minute can be easily converted to any of a variety of unit time expressions. It will be readily understood that the particle deposition rate specification on the substrate normalized to minutes can be easily converted to any other time expression, such as (but not limited to), seconds, hours, days, etc., via a known time relationship. In addition, time units specifically related to the process can be used. For example, a printing cycle can be associated with a time unit. For various specific examples of a gas packaging system according to the present teachings, a printing cycle can be the time period used to move a substrate into a gas packaging system for printing and then remove it from the gas packaging system after printing is completed. For various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system according to the present teachings, a print cycle can be the time period from the start of alignment of the substrate and the print head assembly to the time when the last drop of ejected ink is delivered to the substrate. In the technical field of processing, the total average cycle time or TACT can be an expression of the time unit for a specific process cycle. According to various specific embodiments of the system and method of the present teachings, the TACT for a print cycle can be about 30 seconds. For various specific embodiments of the system and method of the present teachings, the TACT for a print cycle can be about 60 seconds. In various specific embodiments of the system and method of the present teachings, the TACT for a print cycle can be about 90 seconds. For various specific examples of the systems and methods of the present teachings, the TACT for a printing cycle can be about 120 seconds. In various specific examples of the systems and methods of the present teachings, the TACT for a printing cycle can be about 300 seconds.

With respect to airborne particulate matter and particle deposition within a system, a large number of variables may affect the development of a general model that can adequately calculate, for example, an approximation of the particle shedding rate on a surface (e.g., a substrate) for any particular manufacturing system. Variables such as particle size, distribution of particles of a particular size, surface area of the substrate, and exposure time of the substrate within the system may vary depending on the various manufacturing systems. For example, particle size and distribution of particles of a particular size may be substantially affected by the source and location of the particle generating components in the various manufacturing systems. Calculations based on various specific examples of gas packaging systems of the present teachings indicate that, without various particle control systems of the present teachings, for particles in the size range of 0.1 μm and larger, the deposition of particles on the substrate per printing cycle may be between greater than about 1 million and greater than about 10 million particles per square meter of substrate. Such calculations indicate that, without various particle control systems of the present teachings, for particles in the size range of about 2 μm and larger, the deposition of particles on the substrate per printing cycle may be between greater than about 1000 and greater than about 10,000 particles per square meter of substrate.

Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets a substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 10 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets a substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 5 μm. In various specific embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low-particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 2 μm. In various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low-particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 1 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 0.5 μm. For various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low-particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 0.3 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per minute per square meter of substrate for particles greater than or equal to 0.1 μm in size.

As discussed previously herein, manufacturing OLED displays in large quantities at high yield on substrates larger than Gen 5.5 substrates has proven to be substantially challenging. To provide a clearer understanding of the substrate sizes that may be used in the manufacture of various OLED devices, several generations of mother glass substrate sizes have evolved since approximately the early 1990s for flat panel displays manufactured using methods other than OLED printing. The first generation of mother glass substrates, designated Gen 1, was approximately 30 cm x 40 cm, and thus could produce 15" panels. Around the mid-1990s, the existing technology for producing flat panel displays had evolved to a Gen 3.5 mother glass substrate size, which had dimensions of approximately 60 cm x 72 cm. In comparison, the Gen 5.5 substrate had dimensions of approximately 130 cm x 150 cm.

As the generations progress, for manufacturing processes other than OLED printing, Gen 7.5 and Gen 8.5 mother glass sizes are being produced. Gen 7.5 mother glass has dimensions of approximately 195 cm x 225 cm and can be cut into eight 42'' or six 47'' panels per substrate. The mother glass used in Gen 8.5 is approximately 220 cm x 250 cm and can be cut into six 55'' or eight 46'' panels per substrate. While the promise of OLED flat panel displays in terms of qualities such as truer colors, higher contrast, thinness, flexibility, transparency, and energy efficiency has been recognized, OLED manufacturing has been practically limited to G 3.5 and smaller. Currently, OLED printing is believed to be the best manufacturing technology that breaks this limitation and allows for OLED panel manufacturing not only at Gen 3.5 and smaller mother glass sizes, but also at the largest mother glass sizes (e.g., Gen 5.5, Gen 7.5, and Gen 8.5). One of the characteristics of OLED panel display technology includes the ability to use a variety of substrate materials, such as (but not limited to) a variety of glass substrate materials, as well as a variety of polymeric substrate materials. In this regard, the size described in terms arising from the use of glass-based substrates can be applied to substrates of any material suitable for use in OLED printing.

It is contemplated that a wide variety of ink formulations may be printed within the inert, substantially low-particle environment of various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings. During the manufacture of an OLED display, an OLED pixel may be formed to include an OLED film stack that may emit light of a specific peak wavelength when a voltage is applied. The OLED film stack structure between the anode and the cathode may include a hole injection layer (HIL), a hole transport layer (HTL), an emission layer (EL), an electron transport layer (ETL), and an electron injection layer (EIL). In some specific embodiments of the OLED film stack structure, an electron transport layer (ETL) may be combined with an electron injection layer (EIL) to form an ETL/EIL layer. According to the present teachings, various ink formulations for EL can be printed using inkjet printing for various color pixel EL films of an OLED film stack. In addition, for example (but not limited to) HIL, HTL, EML, and ETL/EIL layers can have ink formulations that can be printed using inkjet printing.

It is further contemplated that the organic encapsulation layer may be printed on the OLED panel using inkjet printing. It is contemplated that the organic encapsulation layer may be printed using inkjet printing because inkjet printing may offer several advantages. First, a series of vacuum processing operations may be eliminated because such inkjet-based manufacturing may be performed under atmospheric pressure. Additionally, during the inkjet printing process, the organic encapsulation layer may be localized to the capping portion of the OLED substrate over and proximate the active area to effectively encapsulate the active area, including the lateral edges of the active area. Targeted patterning using inkjet printing results in the elimination of material waste, as well as the elimination of additional processing typically required to achieve patterning of the organic layer. The encapsulating ink may include polymers including, for example, but not limited to, acrylates, methacrylates, urethanes, or other materials, as well as copolymers and mixtures thereof, which may be cured using thermal treatment (eg, baking), UV exposure, and combinations thereof.

With respect to OLED printing, in accordance with the present teachings, it has been discovered that maintaining substantially low levels of reactive species, such as, but not limited to, atmospheric constituents such as oxygen and water vapor, and the vapors of various organic solvents used in OLED inks, is relevant to providing OLED flat panel displays that meet the necessary lifetime specifications. The lifetime specification is of particular importance for OLED panel technology as it is directly related to display product life, which is a product specification for all panel technologies that OLED panel technology has historically struggled to meet. In order to provide a panel that meets the necessary service life specifications, through various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system taught herein, the content of each of reactive species such as water vapor, oxygen, and organic solvent vapor can be maintained at 100 ppm or less, for example, at 10 ppm or less, at 1.0 ppm or less, or at 0.1 ppm or less.

The need for printing OLED panels in facilities that can maintain levels of each of reactive species such as water vapor, oxygen, and organic solvent vapor at 100 ppm or less (e.g., at 10 ppm or less, at 1.0 ppm or less, or at 0.1 ppm or less) can be illustrated in reviewing the information summarized in Table 2. The data summarized in Table 2 is generated from testing of each of the attached coupons containing organic thin film compositions for each of red, green, and blue fabricated in a large pixel, spin-on device format. These attached coupons are physically easier to manufacture and test for the purpose of rapid evaluation of various formulations and processes. Although attached coupon testing should not be confused with lifetime testing of printed panels, it can indicate the effects of various formulations and processes on lifetime. The results presented in the table below represent the changes in process steps in the fabrication of the attached coupons, where only the spin coating environment was changed for attached coupons fabricated in a nitrogen environment with less than 1 ppm of reactive species, compared to attached coupons similarly fabricated in air rather than a nitrogen environment.

By examining the data in Table 2 (particularly in the case of red and blue) of coated coupons produced under different processing environments, it is apparent that printing in an environment that effectively reduces exposure of the organic thin film composition to reactive species can have a substantial impact on the stability, and therefore the shelf life, of the various ELs. color Process environment V Cd/A CIE (x, y) T95 T80 T50 @ 10 mA/ ^cm2 @ 1000 Cd/ ^m2 red nitrogen 6 9 (0.61, 0.38) 200 1750 10400 Air 6 8 (0.60, 0.39) 30 700 5600 Green nitrogen 7 66 (0.32, 0.63) 250 3700 32000 Air 7 61 (0.32, 0.62) 250 2450 19700 Blue nitrogen 4 5 (0.14, 0.10) 150 750 3200 Air 4 5 (0.14, 0.10) 15 250 1800 Table 2: Impact of inert gas treatment on the usage restrictions of OLED panels

Additionally, maintaining a substantially low particle environment for OLED printing is of particular importance, as even very small particles can cause visible defects on an OLED panel. In this regard, the systems and methods of the present teachings provide for maintaining low levels of each of reactive species such as water vapor, oxygen, and organic solvent vapor, and additionally provide for maintaining a sufficiently low particle environment for high quality OLED panel manufacturing. Various specific examples of gas encapsulation systems may have a particle control system that may include components in addition to gas circulation and filtration systems to provide a low particle zone proximate to the substrate during processing in the printing step.

Various embodiments of the gas encapsulation system of the present teachings may have a particle control system that provides a low particle zone proximate to the substrate, whereby various particle generating components proximate to the substrate may be contained and vented to prevent particle accumulation on the substrate during the printing process. In various embodiments of the gas encapsulation system, the particle control system may include a gas circulation and filtration system for maintaining airborne particle levels that meet the standards of the International Organization for Standardization Standards (ISO) 14644-1:1999 (as specified by Class 1 to Class 5), both within the gas encapsulation system and proximate to the substrate. Various embodiments of the particle control system may include a gas circulation and filtration system in fluid communication with the confined particle generating components, so that such confined particle generating components can be exhausted into the gas circulation and filtration system. For various embodiments of the particle control system, the confined particle generating components can be exhausted into a dead space, thereby preventing such particulate matter from being recirculated within the gas packaging system. Various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings may have a particle control system so that various components can be inherently low in particle generation, thereby preventing particles from accumulating on the substrate during the printing process. Various components of the particle control system of the present teachings can utilize the containment and exhaust of the particle generating components, as well as selecting components that are inherently low in particle generation to provide a low-particle zone closest to the substrate.

For various specific embodiments of low-particle gas packaging systems of the present teachings, maintaining a substantially low-particle environment in a packaged system (e.g., a packaged OLED printing system) provides additional challenges not presented by particle reduction for processes that may be conducted in atmospheric conditions (e.g., outdoors under a high-flow laminar flow filter hood). Various embodiments of gas containment systems can provide a substantially low particle environment by, for example, but not limited to, the following operations: 1) by eliminating the area closest to the substrate in which particles can collect, 2) by enclosing and exhausting particle generating components within various embodiments of the particle control system of the present teachings, such as, for example, service bundles that can include bundled cables, wires and tubing, and the like, and various devices, assemblies and systems that, for example, utilize components such as fans or linear motion systems using friction bearings, and 3) by using a variety of pneumatically operated components that are inherently low particle generating, such as, but not limited to, substrate floatation tables, air bearings, and pneumatically operated robots and the like. According to various specific embodiments of a gas encapsulation system according to the present teachings, a substantially low particle environment can include a particle control system including components for providing a low particle zone proximate to a substrate during printing.

As will be discussed in greater detail later herein, direct control of particle generation proximate to the substrate to provide a low particle zone proximate to the substrate can be implemented by containing particle generation elements, by using low particle generation components, and by a combination of containing particle generation and using low particle generation components. Thus, various embodiments of a gas encapsulation system can have a particle control system that can include a gas circulation and filtration system in fluid communication with a low particle generation X-axis linear bearing system for moving a print head assembly relative to a substrate, a service bundle enclosure exhaust system, and a print head assembly exhaust system. For various embodiments of the service bundle enclosure exhaust system and the print head assembly exhaust system, particles trapped in these systems can be exhausted into the gas circulation and filtration system. In various specific examples of service bundle enclosure exhaust systems and print head assembly exhaust systems, particles contained in such systems may be exhausted into dead space, thereby causing such particulate matter to be exhausted into the dead space and not be available for circulation within the gas enclosure system.

Additionally, system validation and ongoing system monitoring can be performed for both airborne and on-substrate particle monitoring. Airborne particle determination can be performed for various instances of gas packaging systems as a quality check prior to the printing process using, for example, a portable particle counting device. In various instances of gas packaging systems, airborne particle determination can be performed in situ while the substrate is being printed as an ongoing quality check. For various instances of gas packaging systems, airborne particle determination can be performed prior to printing the substrate and additionally in situ while the substrate is being printed as a quality check. Determination of the on-substrate distribution of particles on a substrate can be performed for various embodiments of a gas packaging system, for example, using a test substrate prior to printing the substrate for system validation. In various embodiments of a gas packaging system, determination of the on-substrate distribution of particles can be performed in situ while printing the substrate, for example, using a camera assembly mounted on an X-axis carriage assembly, as an ongoing quality check. Determination of the on-substrate distribution of particles can be performed for various embodiments of a gas packaging system, for system validation, prior to printing the substrate and additionally in situ while printing the substrate.

Various embodiments of the gas packaging system can have a particle control system that can maintain a substantially low particle environment, thereby providing an on-substrate particle specification for particles between about 0.1 μm or greater to about 10 μm or greater. For each of the target particle size ranges, various embodiments of the on-substrate particle specification can be easily converted from an average on-substrate particle distribution per square meter of substrate per minute to an average on-substrate particle distribution per substrate per minute. As previously discussed herein, this conversion can be easily performed via a known relationship between a substrate (e.g., a substrate of a particular generation size) and the corresponding area of that substrate generation. In addition, the average on-substrate particle distribution per square meter of substrate per minute can be easily converted to any of a variety of unit time expressions. For example, in addition to conversions between standard time units (e.g., seconds, minutes, and days), process-specific time units may also be used. For example, as discussed previously herein, a print cycle may be associated with a time unit.

Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets a substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 10 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets a substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 5 μm. In various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 2 μm. In various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 1 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 0.5 μm. For various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low-particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 0.3 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per minute per square meter of substrate for particles greater than or equal to 0.1 μm in size.

In addition, it is contemplated that the gas packaging system will have properties including, for example but not limited to, a gas packaging assembly that can be easily scaled to provide an optimized workspace for an OLED printing system while providing a minimized inert gas volume, and additionally provide easy access to the OLED printing system from the outside during processing while providing access to the inside for maintenance with minimal downtime. In this regard, various specific examples of gas packaging assemblies that can be used for various air-sensitive processes requiring an inert environment can include a plurality of wall frames and ceiling frame components that can be sealed together. In some specific examples, the plurality of wall frames and ceiling frame components can be fastened together using reusable fasteners (e.g., screws and threaded holes). For various specific embodiments of a gas packaging assembly according to the present teachings, a plurality of frame members (each frame member including a plurality of panel frame sections) may be constructed to define a gas packaging frame assembly. Various specific embodiments of the gas packaging assembly may include an auxiliary package constructed as a section of the gas packaging assembly, which may be sealably isolated from the working volume of the gas packaging system (e.g., printing system package). This physical isolation of the auxiliary package from (e.g.) the printing system package may enable various procedures (e.g., but not limited to, various maintenance procedures for the print head assembly) to be performed with little or no interruption to the printing process, thereby minimizing or eliminating gas packaging system downtime.

The gas encapsulation assembly of the present teachings can be designed to house a printing system (e.g., an OLED printing system) in a manner that minimizes the volume of the package surrounding the system. Various specific embodiments of the gas encapsulation assembly can be constructed in a manner that minimizes the internal volume of the gas encapsulation assembly while optimizing the working space to accommodate various footprints of various OLED printing systems. OLED printing systems according to various embodiments of the gas encapsulation system of the present teachings may include, for example, a granite substrate, a movable bridge that can support OLED printing devices, one or more devices and apparatuses that operate in various embodiments of a self-pressurized inert gas recirculation system, such as a substrate floating stage, air bearings, rails, rails, an inkjet printer system (including an OLED ink supply subsystem and an inkjet printing head) for depositing OLED film-forming materials onto a substrate, one or more robots, and the like. Considering the various components that can make up an OLED printing system, various embodiments of an OLED printing system may have a variety of footprints and external dimensions. Various embodiments of the gas packaging assembly so constructed additionally provide for easy external access to the interior of the gas packaging assembly during processing and easy access to the interior for maintenance while minimizing downtime. In this regard, various embodiments of the gas packaging assembly according to the present teachings may have various footprint profiles for various OLED printing systems. According to various embodiments, once the contoured frame member is constructed to form the gas packaging frame assembly, various types of panels may be sealably installed in the plurality of panel sections that make up the frame member to complete the installation of the gas packaging assembly. In various embodiments of the gas packaging assembly, a plurality of frame members including, for example but not limited to, a plurality of wall frame members and at least one ceiling frame member and a plurality of panels for installation in the panel frame section can be manufactured at one or more locations and then constructed at another location. In addition, considering the transportable nature of the components used to construct the gas packaging assembly of the present teachings, various embodiments of the gas packaging assembly can be repeatedly installed and removed through cycles of construction and deconstruction.

In order to ensure that the gas package is hermetically sealed, various specific examples of the gas package assembly of the present teaching provide for joining each frame member to provide a frame seal. The interior can be fully sealed (e.g., hermetically sealed) by a close fit intersection between various frame members (which may include gaskets or other seals). Once fully constructed, the sealed gas package assembly may include an interior and a plurality of interior corner edges, at least one interior corner edge being located at the intersection of each frame member and an adjacent frame member. One or more of the frame members (e.g., at least half of the frame members) may include one or more compressible gaskets fixed along one or more of their respective edges. The one or more compressible gaskets may be configured to create an airtight gas-enclosed assembly once the plurality of frame members are joined together and the airtight panels are installed. A sealed gas-enclosed assembly having corner edges of frame members sealed by the plurality of compressible gaskets may be formed. For each frame member, for example (but not limited to), the interior wall frame surface, the top wall frame surface, the vertical side wall frame surface, the bottom wall frame surface, and combinations thereof may be provided with one or more compressible gaskets.

For various specific examples of gas encapsulation assemblies, each frame member may include a plurality of sections that are framed and manufactured to accommodate any of a variety of panel types that can be sealably installed in each section to provide an airtight panel seal for each panel. In various specific examples of gas encapsulation assemblies of the present teachings, each section frame may have a section frame gasket that, together with selected fasteners, ensures that each panel installed in each section frame can provide an airtight seal for each panel and therefore for the fully constructed gas encapsulation. In various specific examples, the gas encapsulation assembly may have one or more of a window panel or a maintenance window in each of the wall panels; wherein each window panel or maintenance window may have at least one glove port. During assembly of the gas encapsulation assembly, each glove port may have an attached glove so that the glove can extend to the interior. According to various embodiments, each glove port may have hardware for mounting a glove, wherein the hardware utilizes a gasket seal around each glove port that provides an airtight seal to minimize leakage or molecular diffusion through the glove port. For various embodiments of the gas containment assembly of the present teachings, the hardware is further designed to provide ease of capping and uncapping of the glove ports for the end user.

Various embodiments of a gas packaging system according to the present teachings may include a gas packaging assembly formed from a plurality of frame members and panel sections and a gas circulation, filtering and purification assembly. For various embodiments of a gas packaging system, a duct system may be installed during the assembly process. According to various embodiments of the present teachings, a duct system may be installed in a gas packaging frame assembly that has been constructed from a plurality of frame members. In various embodiments, the duct system may be installed on the frame members before the plurality of frame members are joined to form the gas packaging frame assembly. The piping system for various embodiments of the gas packaging system can be configured so that substantially all gas drawn into the piping system from one or more piping system inlets is moved through various embodiments of a gas filtration loop for removing particulate matter within the gas packaging system. In addition, the piping system for various embodiments of the gas packaging system can be configured to separate the inlet and outlet of the gas purification loop outside the gas packaging assembly from the gas filtration loop inside the gas packaging assembly. According to various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, the gas circulation and filtration system can be fluidly connected to components of (for example, but not limited to) a particle control system. For various embodiments of the gas packaging assembly, the gas circulation and filtration system can be in fluid communication with a service bundle enclosure exhaust system. For various embodiments of the gas packaging assembly, the gas circulation and filtration system can be in fluid communication with a print head assembly exhaust system. In various embodiments of the gas packaging system, various components of the particle control system in fluid communication with the gas circulation and filtration system can provide a low particle zone proximate to a substrate positioned in a printing system.

For example, a gas packaging system may have a gas circulation and filtering system inside the gas packaging assembly. This internal filtering system may have a plurality of fan filter units inside, and may be configured to provide laminar flow of gas inside. The laminar flow may be in the direction from the top of the inside to the bottom of the inside, or in any other direction. Although the flow of gas produced by the circulation system does not need to be laminar, the laminar flow of gas can be used to ensure thorough and complete renewal of the gas inside. The laminar flow of gas can also be used to minimize turbulence, which is undesirable because it can cause particles in the environment to collect in these turbulent areas, thereby preventing the filtering system from removing those particles from the environment. Additionally, in order to maintain the desired temperature inside, a thermal regulation system utilizing a plurality of heat exchangers may be provided, for example, operating in conjunction with, adjacent to, or in combination with a fan or another gas circulation device. The gas purification loop may be configured to circulate gas from the interior of the gas packaging assembly through at least one gas purification assembly outside the package. In this regard, a circulation and filtration system within the gas packaging assembly combined with a gas purification loop outside the gas packaging assembly may provide continuous circulation of a substantially low-particle inert gas having a substantially low content of reactive species throughout the gas packaging system. Various embodiments of gas containment systems having gas purification systems can be configured to maintain very low levels of undesirable components, such as organic solvents and their vapors, as well as water, water vapor, oxygen, and the like.

In addition to providing gas circulation, filtering and purification components, the piping system may also be sized and shaped to accommodate at least one service bundle therein. According to the present teachings, the service bundle may include, for example but not limited to, optical cables, electrical cables, wires, and various fluid-containing piping and the like. Various specific examples of the service bundle of the present teachings may have a considerable dead volume created by the void spaces formed between the various components of the service bundle. The substantial dead volume that may be created in the bundles of various optical cables, electrical cables, wires, and fluid-containing piping may have a large amount of reactive atmospheric material (e.g., water, water vapor, oxygen, and the like) trapped in the void spaces. This large amount of clogged reactive atmospheric material may be difficult to remove quickly by the purification system. Additionally, these service bundles are a definite source of particulate matter. In some embodiments, any combination of cables, wires and wire bundles and tubing containing fluids may be substantially disposed within the duct system and may be operatively associated with at least one of the optical system, electrical system, mechanical system, and cooling system contained within the gas enclosure system, respectively. Because the gas circulation, filtering and purification components may be configured so that substantially all of the circulating inert gas is drawn through the duct system, particulate matter arising from such bundles, as well as atmospheric constituents trapped in the dead volume of various bundled materials, may be effectively removed by substantially enclosing such bundled components within the duct system.

Various embodiments of gas packaging systems according to the present teachings may include gas packaging assemblies formed from a plurality of frame members and panel sections, as well as various embodiments of particle control systems, gas circulation, filtering and purification components, and pressurized inert gas recirculation systems. Such pressurized inert gas recirculation systems may be used in the operation of OLED printing systems for various pneumatically driven devices and apparatuses, as will be discussed in greater detail later herein.

According to the present teachings, several engineering design challenges are solved in order to provide various specific examples of a pressurized inert gas recirculation system in a gas packaging system. First, in typical operation of a gas packaging system without a pressurized inert gas recirculation system, the gas packaging system can be maintained at an internal pressure that is slightly positive relative to the external pressure to prevent external gas or air from entering the interior in the event of any leak in the gas packaging system. For example, under typical operation, for various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, the interior of the gas packaging system can be maintained at a pressure of, for example, at least 2 mbarg relative to the surrounding atmosphere outside the packaging system, such as at least 4 mbarg, at least 6 mbarg, at least 8 mbarg, or more. Maintaining a pressurized inert gas recirculation system within a gas packaging system can be challenging because it presents a dynamic and ongoing balancing act regarding maintaining a slightly positive internal pressure of the gas packaging system while continuously introducing pressurized gas into the gas packaging system. Additionally, the varying demands of various devices and installations can create irregular pressure distributions for the various gas encapsulation assemblies and systems of the present teachings. Maintaining a dynamic pressure balance of the gas encapsulation system, which is kept at a slightly positive pressure relative to the external environment under these conditions, can improve the integrity of the ongoing OLED printing process.

For various embodiments of the gas packaging system, the pressurized inert gas recirculation system according to the present teachings may include various embodiments of a pressurized inert gas loop that may utilize at least one of a compressor, an accumulator, and a blower, and combinations thereof. Various embodiments of the pressurized inert gas recirculation system including various embodiments of the pressurized inert gas loop may have a specially designed pressure-controlled bypass loop that can provide an internal pressure of the inert gas in the gas packaging system of the present teachings at a stable defined value. In various specific examples of the gas packaging system, the pressurized inert gas recirculation system can be configured to recirculate the pressurized inert gas through a pressure-controlled bypass loop when the pressure of the inert gas in the reservoir of the pressurized inert gas loop exceeds a preset critical pressure. The critical pressure can be, for example, in the range from about 25 psig to about 200 psig, or more specifically, in the range from about 75 psig to about 125 psig, or more specifically, in the range from about 90 psig to about 95 psig. In this regard, the gas enclosure system of the present teachings having a pressurized inert gas recirculation system of various embodiments with a specially designed pressure-controlled bypass loop can maintain a balance of the pressurized inert gas recirculation system in a hermetically sealed gas enclosure.

According to the present teachings, various devices and apparatus may be disposed within and in fluid communication with various embodiments of a pressurized inert gas recirculation system having various pressurized inert gas loops that may utilize a variety of pressurized gas sources (e.g., at least one of a compressor, a blower, and combinations thereof). For various embodiments of the gas packaging and systems of the present teachings, the use of various pneumatically operated devices and apparatus may provide low particle yield performance, as well as be low maintenance. Exemplary devices and apparatus that may be disposed within the interior of a gas packaging system and in fluid communication with various pressurized inert gas loops may include, for example but not limited to, one or more of a pneumatic robot, a substrate floatation stage, an air bearing, an air bushing, a compressed gas tool, a pneumatic actuator, and combinations thereof. The substrate floatation stage and the air bearings may be used to operate various aspects of an OLED printing system in accordance with various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings. For example, a substrate floatation stage utilizing air bearing technology may be used to transport a substrate to a position in a print head chamber and to support the substrate during an OLED printing process.

FIG. 1A is a right front perspective view of a gas packaging assembly 100 according to various embodiments of the present teachings. The gas packaging assembly 100 can be integrated with various components to provide various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings. The gas packaging system of the present teachings may contain one or more gases for maintaining an inert environment inside the gas packaging assembly, and components for maintaining a substantially low particle environment. By way of non-limiting example, various embodiments of the gas packaging system may have a particle control system that may include a gas circulation and filtration system and a purification component for removing reactive substances from the recycled inert gas, and may have various embodiments of a pressurized inert gas recycling system. Thus, various embodiments of the gas containment system taught herein may be adapted for maintaining an inert, substantially low-particle gas atmosphere within an interior.

For example, Figure 1B is a left front perspective view of various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system 500. Figure 1B depicts a gas packaging system 500 that may include various specific embodiments of the gas packaging assembly 100. The gas packaging system 500 may have a load-locked inlet chamber 1110, which may have an inlet gate 1112. The gas packaging system 500 of Figure 1B may include a gas purification system 3130, which is used to provide the gas packaging assembly 100 with a constant supply of an inert gas having a substantially low content of reactive atmospheric species (e.g., water vapor and oxygen) and organic solvent vapor generated from the OLED printing process. According to the present teachings, an inert gas can be any gas that does not undergo a chemical reaction under a set of defined conditions. Some general non-limiting examples of inert gases may include any of nitrogen, noble gases, and any combination thereof. Various specific examples of gas purification systems according to the present teachings (e.g., gas purification system 3130 of FIG. 1B ) may maintain the content of each of various reactive substances including various reactive atmospheric source gases (e.g., water vapor and oxygen) and organic solvent vapor at 100 ppm or less, for example, at 10 ppm or less, at 1.0 ppm or less, or at 0.1 ppm or less.

The gas packaging system 500 of FIG. 1B may also have a controller system 1130 for system control functions. For example, the system controller 1130 may include one or more processor circuits (not shown) in communication with one or more memory circuits (not shown). The system controller 1130 may also be in communication with a load-locked entrance chamber 1110, an exit chamber (not shown), and ultimately a print nozzle of an OLED printing system, which may be housed in the gas packaging system 500. In this way, the system controller 1130 may coordinate the opening of a gate 1112 in, for example, a load-locked entrance chamber 1110 to allow a substrate to enter the gas packaging system 500. The system controller 1130 can control a variety of system functions, such as controlling the ink dispensed to the print nozzle of the OLED printing system. The gas encapsulation system 500 of Figure 1B is configured to contain and protect air sensitive processes, such as the printing of a variety of inks suitable for creating OLED stacks using an industrial printing system. Examples of atmospheric source gases that are reactive to OLED inks include water vapor and oxygen, as well as a variety of organic vapors from organic solvents used as, for example, carriers for various OLED inks. As previously discussed herein, the gas encapsulation assembly 100 can be configured to maintain a sealed atmosphere and allow the assembly or printing system to operate efficiently, while the gas encapsulation system 500 can provide all components necessary to maintain an inert environment. In addition, the gas package 500 may have a particle control system that provides a low particle zone closest to the substrate, which system may include components such as (by way of non-limiting example) the following: a gas circulation and filtration system, a low particle generating X-axis linear bearing system for moving the print head assembly relative to the substrate, a service bundle enclosure exhaust system, and a print head assembly exhaust system.

As depicted in FIG. 1A , various embodiments of the gas encapsulation assembly 100 may include component parts including a front or first wall panel 210 ′, a left or second wall panel (not shown), a right or third wall panel 230 ′, a rear or fourth wall panel (not shown), and a top panel 250 ′, which may be attached to a chassis 204 resting on a substrate (not shown). As will be discussed in more detail later herein, various embodiments of the gas encapsulation assembly 100 of FIG. 1A may be constructed from a front or first wall frame 210, a left or second wall frame (not shown), a right or third wall frame 230, a rear or fourth wall panel (not shown), and a top frame 250. Various specific examples of the top panel frame 250 may include a fan filter unit cover 103, and a first top panel frame duct 105 and a first top panel frame duct 107. According to specific examples of the present teachings, various types of section panels may be installed in any of the plurality of panel sections that make up the frame member. In various specific examples of the gas package 100 of FIG. 1 , the sheet metal panel section 109 may be welded to the frame member during construction of the frame. For various specific embodiments of the gas enclosure assembly 100, the types of segment panels that can be repeatedly installed and removed through the cycle of construction and deconstruction of the gas enclosure assembly may include an insertion panel 110 (as indicated for the wall panel 210') and a window panel 120 and an easily removable maintenance window 130 (as indicated for the wall panel 230').

While the easily removable maintenance window 130 can provide easy access to the interior of the package 100, any removable panel can be used to provide access to the interior of the gas enclosure system for the purpose of repair and periodic maintenance. This access for maintenance or repair is distinguished from the access provided by panels such as the window panel 120 and the easily removable maintenance window 130, which can provide the end user with gloved access to the interior of the gas enclosure assembly from the outside of the gas enclosure assembly during use. For example, any of the gloves such as glove 142 attached to glove port 140 (as shown in FIG. 1A for panel 230) can provide the end user with access to the interior during use of the gas containment system.

FIG2 depicts an exploded view of various embodiments of the gas package assembly as depicted in FIG1A. Various embodiments of the gas package assembly may have a plurality of wall panels, including an exterior perspective view of a front wall panel 210', an exterior perspective view of a left wall panel 220', an interior perspective view of a right wall panel 230', an interior perspective view of a rear wall panel 240', and a top perspective view of a top panel 250', as shown in FIG1A, which may be attached to a chassis 204 resting on a substrate 202. An OLED printing system may be mounted on the chassis 204, the printing process being known to be sensitive to atmospheric conditions. According to the present teachings, a gas enclosure assembly may be constructed from frame members (e.g., wall frame 210 of wall panel 210', wall frame 220 of wall panel 220', wall frame 230 of wall panel 230', wall frame 240 of wall panel 240', and ceiling frame 250 of ceiling panel 250'), into which a plurality of segment panels may then be installed. In this regard, it may be desirable to streamline the design of segment panels that may be repeatedly installed and removed through a cycle of construction and deconstruction of various specific embodiments of the gas enclosure assembly of the present teachings. Furthermore, the contours of the gas package assembly 100 may be configured to accommodate the footprint of various specific embodiments of OLED printing systems so as to minimize the volume of inert gas required in the gas package assembly during use of the gas package assembly and during maintenance, as well as to provide easy access to the end user.

Using the front wall panel 210' and the left wall panel 220' as examples, various specific examples of the frame member may have a metal sheet panel section 109 welded to the frame member during the construction of the frame member. Insert panels 110, window panels 120, and easily removable maintenance windows 130 may be installed in each of the wall frame members, and may be repeatedly installed and removed through the cycle of construction and deconstruction of the gas encapsulation assembly 100 of Figure 2. As can be seen, in the examples of the wall panels 210' and the wall panels 220', the wall panels may have the window panels 120 closest to the easily removable maintenance windows 130. Similarly, as depicted in the example rear wall panel 240', the wall panel may have a window panel (e.g., window panel 125) having two adjacent glove ports 140. For various specific examples of wall frame members according to the present teachings, and as seen with respect to the gas enclosure assembly 100 of FIG. 1A , this configuration of gloves allows for easy access to component parts within the enclosed system from the outside of the gas enclosure. Thus, various specific examples of the gas enclosure may provide two or more glove ports so that an end user may extend a left glove and a right glove to the interior and operate one or more items within the interior without interfering with the composition of the gaseous atmosphere within the interior. For example, either of the window panel 120 and the maintenance window 130 may be positioned to facilitate easy access to adjustable components within the interior of the gas enclosure assembly from the outside of the gas enclosure assembly. Depending on the various specific embodiments of the window panels (e.g., window panel 120 and maintenance window 130), these windows may not include glove ports and glove port assemblies when it is not indicated that the end user can access the glove through the glove port.

Various specific examples of wall and ceiling panels as depicted in FIG. 2 may have a plurality of insert panels 110. As can be seen in FIG. 2, the insert panels may have a variety of shapes and aspect ratios. In addition to the insert panels, the ceiling panel 250' may have a fan filter unit cover 103 and a first ceiling frame duct 105 and a second ceiling frame duct 107 mounted, screwed, threaded, fixed or otherwise secured to the ceiling frame 250. As will be discussed in more detail later herein, a duct system in fluid communication with the duct 107 of the ceiling panel 250' may be installed inside the gas enclosure assembly. According to the present teachings, this piping system can be part of a gas circulation system inside the gas enclosure assembly and provide separation of the gas flow exiting the gas enclosure assembly for circulation in at least one gas purification assembly outside the gas enclosure assembly.

Fig. 3 is the exploded front perspective view of the frame member assembly 200, in which a wall frame 220 can be constructed to include a full set of panels. Although not limited to the design shown, for various specific examples of the frame member assembly according to this teaching, the frame member assembly 200 using the wall frame 220 can be used as an exemplary. According to this teaching, the various specific examples of the frame member assembly can include various frame members and section panels installed in various frame panel sections of the various frame members.

According to various specific examples of various frame member assemblies of the present teachings, the frame member assembly 200 may include a frame member, such as a wall frame 220. For various specific examples of gas packaging assemblies (such as the gas packaging assembly 100 of FIG. 1A ), the process of the equipment contained in the gas packaging assembly may not only require a gas-tight package that provides an inert environment, but also require an environment that is substantially free of particles. In this regard, according to the frame member of the present teachings, metal tube materials of various sizes may be used for the construction of various specific examples of the frame. These metal tube materials address the desired material properties, including, but not limited to, high integrity materials that do not degrade to produce particulate matter and produce frame members with high strength yet optimal weight, thereby providing convenient transportation, construction, and deconstruction of gas enclosure assemblies including various frame members and panel sections from one point to another. According to the present teachings, any material that meets these requirements can be used to create various frame members according to the present teachings.

For example, various embodiments of frame members according to the present teachings (e.g., frame member assembly 200) can be constructed from extruded metal tubing. According to various embodiments of frame members, aluminum, steel, and various metal composite materials can be used to construct the frame members. In various embodiments, metal tubing having dimensions of, for example but not limited to, 2''w×2''h, 4''w×2''h, and 4''w×4''h and having a wall thickness of 1/8'' to 1/4'' can be used to construct various embodiments of frame members according to the present teachings. Additionally, a variety of reinforced fiber polymer composite materials in the form of tubes or other forms are available having material properties including, but not limited to, the following: high integrity materials that do not degrade to produce particulates and produce frame members with high strength yet optimal weight, thereby providing convenient transportation, construction, and deconstruction from one point to another.

With respect to the construction of various frame components from metal tube materials of various sizes, it is expected that welding can be performed to create various specific examples of frame welded parts. In addition, various frame components can be constructed from construction materials of various sizes using appropriate industrial adhesives. It is expected that the construction of various frame components should be performed in a manner that will not inherently create leakage paths through the frame components. In this regard, for various specific examples of gas packaging assemblies, any method that does not inherently create leakage paths through the frame components can be used to perform the construction of various frame components. In addition, various specific examples of frame components according to the present teachings (e.g., wall frame 220 of Figure 2) can be painted or coated. For various specific examples of frame members made from metal piping materials that are susceptible to (for example) oxidation, where the material formed at the surface can create particles, painting or coating or other surface treatment (e.g., anodizing) can be performed to prevent the formation of particles.

A frame member assembly (e.g., frame member assembly 200 of FIG. 3 ) may have a frame member, e.g., a wall frame 220. The wall frame 220 may have a top 226 to which a top wall frame spacer 227 may be fixed and a bottom 228 to which a bottom wall frame spacer 229 may be fixed. As will be discussed in more detail later herein, the spacer mounted on the surface of the frame member is part of a gasket sealing system that, together with the gasket sealing of the panels mounted in the frame member section, provides a gas seal according to various specific embodiments of the gas enclosure assembly of the present teachings. The frame member (e.g., the wall frame 220 of the frame member assembly 200 of FIG. 3 ) may have a plurality of panel frame sections, each of which may be manufactured to receive various types of panels, such as (but not limited to) an insert panel 110, a window panel 120, and an easily removable maintenance window 130. Various types of panel sections may be formed in the construction of the frame member. The types of panel sections may include, for example, but not limited to, an insert panel section 10 for receiving the insert panel 110, a window panel section 20 for receiving the window panel 120, and a maintenance window panel section 30 for receiving the easily removable maintenance window 130.

Each type of panel section may have a panel section frame to receive a panel, and each panel may be sealably fixed to each panel section according to the present teachings for constructing an airtight gas-tight assembly. For example, in FIG. 3 depicting a frame assembly according to the present teachings, the display insert panel section 10 has a frame 12, the display window panel section 20 has a frame 22, and the display maintenance window panel section 30 has a frame 32. For various specific examples of the wall frame assembly of the present teachings, the various panel section frames may be sheet metal materials welded to the panel sections by continuous weld beads to provide an airtight seal. For various specific examples of wall frame assemblies, various panel section frames can be made from a variety of sheet materials including building materials selected from reinforced fiber polymer composite materials, and the panel section frames can be installed in the panel sections using suitable industrial adhesives. As will be discussed in more detail in the subsequent teachings on sealing, each panel section frame can have a compressible gasket disposed thereon to ensure that an airtight seal is formed for each panel installed and fixed in each panel section. In addition to the panel section frame, each frame member section can also have hardware related to positioning the panel and fixing the panel firmly in the panel section.

Various specific examples of the insert panel 110 and the panel frame 122 for the window panel 120 can be constructed from metal sheet materials such as (but not limited to) aluminum, various alloys of aluminum, and stainless steel. The properties of the panel material can be the same as the properties of the structural material of the various specific examples of the frame member. In this regard, materials with properties for various panel members include (but not limited to) high integrity materials that do not degrade to produce particles and produce panels with high strength but optimal weight, so as to provide convenient transportation, construction, and deconstruction from one point to another. Various specific examples of (for example) honeycomb core sheet materials can have the necessary properties for the panel material used to construct the insert panel 110 and the panel frame 122 of the window panel 120. The honeycomb core sheet material can be made from a variety of materials - metals and metal composites and polymers, as well as polymer composite honeycomb core sheet materials. Various embodiments of the removable panel when made from metal materials can have a ground connection included in the panel to ensure that the entire structure is grounded when the gas enclosure assembly is constructed.

Given the transportable nature of the components used to construct the gas enclosure assembly of the present teachings, any of the various embodiments of the segment panels of the present teachings may be repeatedly installed and removed during use of the gas enclosure system to provide access to the interior of the gas enclosure assembly.

For example, the panel section 30 for receiving the easily removable maintenance window panel 130 may have a set of four spacers, one of which is indicated as the window guide spacer 34. In addition, the panel section 30 constructed for receiving the easily removable maintenance window panel 130 may have a set of four clamping clips 36, which can be used to clamp the maintenance window 130 to the maintenance window panel section 30 using a set of four reverse-acting toggle clips 136 mounted on the maintenance window frame 132 for each of the easily removable maintenance windows 130. In addition, two of each of the window handles 138 may be mounted on the easily removable maintenance window frame 132 to make it easy for the end user to remove and install the maintenance window 130. The number, type and placement of the removable maintenance window handles can be varied. In addition, the maintenance window panel section 30 for housing the easily removable maintenance window panel 130 can have at least two of the window clips 35 selectively installed in each maintenance window panel section 30. Although depicted as being in the top and bottom of each of the maintenance window panel sections 30, at least two window clips can be installed in any manner to secure the maintenance window 130 in the panel section frame 32. Tools can be used to remove and install the window clips 35 to allow the maintenance window 130 to be removed and reinstalled.

The reverse acting toggle clip 136 of the maintenance window 130 and the hardware (including the clamping clip 36, the window guide spacer 34 and the window clip 35) installed in the panel section 30 can be constructed of any suitable material and combination of materials. For example, one or more of these components can include at least one metal, at least one ceramic, at least one plastic and a combination thereof. The removable maintenance window handle 138 can be constructed of any suitable material and a combination of materials. For example, one or more of these components can include at least one metal, at least one ceramic, at least one plastic, at least one rubber and a combination thereof. The encapsulated window (e.g., the window 124 of the window panel 120 or the window 134 of the maintenance window 130) can include any suitable material and a combination of materials. According to various specific examples of gas encapsulation assemblies of the present teachings, the encapsulation window may include transparent and translucent materials. In various specific examples of gas encapsulation assemblies, the encapsulation window may include silica-based materials (such as, but not limited to, glass and quartz) and various types of polymer-based materials (such as, but not limited to, various types of polycarbonates, acrylics, and vinyls). According to the systems and methods of the present teachings, the transparent and translucent properties of various composites and combinations thereof are desirable properties for exemplary window materials.

As will be discussed in the following teachings with respect to FIGS. 8A to 9B , the wall and ceiling frame member seals together with the airtight section panel frame seals provide various specific examples of airtight gas packaging assemblies for air sensitive processes requiring an inert environment. Components of a gas packaging system having an effect of providing substantially low concentrations of reactive materials and a substantially low particle environment may include, but are not limited to, airtight gas packaging assemblies, and highly effective gas circulation and particle filtering systems (including ductwork). Providing effective airtight seals for gas packaging assemblies can be challenging, particularly where three frame members come together to form a three-side joint. Thus, three-side joint seals present a particularly difficult challenge with respect to providing an easily installable gas seal for a gas enclosure assembly that can be assembled and disassembled through a cycle of construction and deconstruction.

In this regard, various embodiments of gas packaging assemblies according to the present teachings provide gas sealing of a fully constructed gas packaging system via an effective gasket seal at the joint, as well as providing an effective gasket seal around the load-bearing built assembly. Unlike conventional joint seals, the joint seal according to the present teachings: 1) includes uniform parallel alignment of adjacent gasket segments from orthogonally oriented gasket lengths at the top and bottom terminal frame joint joints joining three frame members, thereby avoiding angled gap alignment and sealing, 2) provides adjacent lengths across the entire width of the joint, thereby increasing the sealing contact area at the three-side joint joint, 3) is designed with a spacer that provides uniform compression across all vertical and horizontal and top and bottom three-side joint gasket seals. In addition, the choice of gasket material can affect the effectiveness of providing an airtight seal, which will be discussed later in this article.

Figures 4A to 4C are top schematic diagrams depicting a comparison of a known three-side joint seal and a three-side joint seal according to the present teaching. According to various specific examples of the gas packaging assembly of the present teaching, there may be (for example but not limited to) at least four wall frame members, a top plate frame member and a chassis (which can be joined to form a gas packaging assembly), thereby creating a plurality of vertical, horizontal and three-side joints that require airtight sealing. In Figure 4A, a top schematic diagram of a known three-side gasket seal formed from a first gasket I (which is oriented orthogonally to gasket II in the XY plane). As shown in Figure 4A, the gap formed in the XY plane with an orthogonal orientation has a contact length _W1 between two segments defined by the width dimension of the gasket. In addition, the terminal portion of gasket III (which is a gasket oriented orthogonally to both gasket I and gasket II in the vertical direction) may be adjacent to gasket I and gasket II, as indicated by hatching. In FIG. 4B , a top schematic diagram of a known three-side joint gasket seal formed from a first gasket length I, the first gasket length I is orthogonal to a second gasket length II, and a gap having two lengths joins a 45° face, wherein the gap has a contact length W ₂ between the two segments that is greater than the width of the gasket material. Similar to the configuration of Figure 4A, the terminal portion of pad III (which is orthogonal to both pads I and II in the vertical direction) can be adjacent to pads I and II, as indicated by the hatching. Assuming that the pad width is the same in Figures 4A and 4B, the contact length _W2 of Figure 4B is greater than the contact length _W1 of Figure 4A.

FIG4C is a top schematic diagram of a three-sided joint gasket seal according to the present teachings. A first gasket length I may have a gasket segment I' formed orthogonally to the direction of the gasket length I, wherein the gasket segment I' has a length that may be approximately the size of the width of the structural assembly being joined (e.g., a 4''w×2''h or 4''w×4''h metal tube used to form various wall frame components of the gas enclosure assembly of the present teachings). Gasket II is orthogonal to gasket I in the XY plane and has a gasket segment II', which has an overlapping length with gasket segment I' that is approximately the width of the structural assembly being joined. The width of gasket segments I' and II' is the width of the selected compressible gasket material. Gasket III is oriented orthogonally to both gasket I and gasket II in the vertical direction. Gasket segment III' is the end portion of gasket III. Gasket segment III' is formed from the orientation of gasket segment III' orthogonal to the vertical length of gasket III. Gasket segment III' can be formed so that it has approximately the same length as gasket segments I' and II', and a width that is the thickness of the selected compressible gasket material. In this regard, the contact length _W3 for the three aligned segments shown in Figure 4C is greater than the known three-corner joint seal shown in Figure 4A or Figure 4B (which have contact lengths _W1 and _W2 , respectively).

In this regard, the three-sided joint gasket seal according to the present teachings creates uniform parallel alignment of the gasket segments at the terminal joint joint point, rather than the original orthogonal alignment of the gasket (as shown in the case of Figures 4A and 4B). This uniform parallel alignment of the three-sided joint gasket seal segments provides for the application of uniform lateral sealing forces on each segment to promote an airtight three-sided joint seal at the top and bottom corners of the joint formed from the wall frame member. In addition, each segment of the uniformly aligned gasket segments used for each three-sided joint seal is selected to be approximately the width of the structural assembly being positively engaged, thereby providing a maximum contact length of the uniformly aligned segments. In addition, the joint seal according to the present teachings is designed with a spacer that provides uniform compression across all vertical, horizontal and three-sided gasket seals of the built joint. It can be demonstrated that the width of the gasket material selected for the known three-sided seal given for the example of Figures 6A and 6B can be at least the width of the structural assembly being joined.

The exploded perspective view of Fig. 5A depicts the sealing assembly 300 according to this teaching before all frame members have been engaged, so that the gasket in the uncompressed state is depicted. In Fig. 5A, a plurality of wall frame members (e.g., wall frame 310, wall frame 350 and top plate frame 370) can be sealably engaged in the first step of constructing a gas package from various assemblies of the gas package assembly. The sealing of the frame member according to this teaching is to make the gas package assembly once fully constructed, and to provide a substantial part of the sealing that can be implemented through the cycle of construction and deconstruction of the gas package assembly. Although the examples given in the following teachings with respect to FIGS. 7A-7B are directed to sealing a portion of a gas enclosure assembly, such teachings are also applicable to the entirety of any of the gas enclosure assemblies of the present teachings.

The first wall frame 310 described in Fig. 5A can have an inner side 311, a vertical side 314 and a top surface 315 on which a spacer 312 is installed. The first wall frame 310 can have a first gasket 320 that is placed in the space formed from the spacer 312 and is attached to the space. After the first gasket 320 is placed in the space formed from the spacer 312 and is attached to the space, the remaining gap 302 can stretch along the vertical length of the first gasket 320, as shown in Fig. 5A. As depicted in FIG. 5A , a flexible gasket 320 may be disposed in and attached to the space formed from a spacer 312 and may have a vertical gasket length 321, a curved gasket length 323, and a gasket length 325 formed in a plane at 90° to the vertical gasket length 321 on the interior frame member 311 and terminating at a vertical side 314 of the wall frame 310. In FIG. 5A , a first wall frame 310 may have a top surface 315 on which a spacer 316 is mounted, thereby forming a space on the surface 315 where a second gasket 340 is disposed and attached at an inner edge 317 closest to the wall frame 310. The remaining gap 304 after the second gasket 340 is placed in the space formed by the spacer 316 and attached to the space can extend along the horizontal length of the second gasket 340, as shown in Figure 5A. In addition, as indicated by the hatching, the length 345 of the gasket 340 is evenly parallel and adjacently aligned with the length 325 of the gasket 320.

The second wall frame 350 described in Fig. 5A can have an outer frame side 353, a vertical side 354 and a top surface 355 on which a spacer 356 is installed. The second wall frame 350 can have a first gasket 360 that is placed in the space formed from the spacer 356 and is attached to the space. The remaining gap 306 after the first gasket 360 is placed in the space formed from the spacer 356 and is attached to the space can be stretched along the horizontal length of the first gasket 360, as shown in Fig. 5A. As described in Fig. 5A, the flexible gasket 360 can have a horizontal length 361, a curve length 363 and a length 365 formed by 90 ° and terminated at the outer frame member 353 in the plane on the top surface 355.

As indicated in the exploded perspective view of Fig. 5A, the inner frame member 311 of the wall frame 310 can be joined to the vertical side 354 of the wall frame 350 to form a building joint of the gas enclosure frame assembly. Regarding the sealing of the building joint thus formed, in various specific examples of the gasket seal at the terminal joint joint of the wall frame member according to the present teaching as described in Fig. 5A, the length 325 of the gasket 320, the length 365 of the gasket 360 and the length 345 of the gasket 340 are all adjacent and evenly aligned. Additionally, as will be discussed in greater detail later herein, various embodiments of the spacer plates of the present teachings can provide uniform compression of the compressible gasket material with a deflection of between about 20% and about 40% for hermetically sealing various embodiments of the gas enclosure assemblies of the present teachings.

Fig. 5 B describes the sealing assembly 300 according to this teaching after all frame members have been engaged, so that the gasket in the compressed state is described. Fig. 5 B is a perspective view showing the details (it shows with a phantom diagram) of the corner seal of the three side joints formed at the top terminal joint joint point between the first wall frame 310, the second wall frame 350 and the top plate frame 370. As shown in FIG. 5B , the gasket space defined by the spacers can be determined to be of a width such that after the wall frame 310, the wall frame 350 and the top plate frame 370 (shown in phantom view) are joined, uniform compression of the compressible gasket material used to form the vertical, horizontal and three-sided gasket seals with a deflection of between about 20% and about 40% ensures that the gasket seals at all surfaces of the joints sealed to the wall frame members can provide an airtight seal. Additionally, the gasket gaps 302, 304, and 306 (not shown) are sized so that after optimal compression of the compressible gasket material with a deflection between about 20% and about 40%, each gasket can fill the gasket gap, as shown for gasket 340 and gasket 360 in Figure 5B. Thus, in addition to providing uniform compression by defining a space in which each gasket can be placed and attached, various embodiments of the spacers designed to provide the gaps also ensure that each compressed gasket can conform within the space defined by the spacers without wrinkling or expanding or otherwise forming irregularly in the compressed state in a manner that can form a leak path.

According to various specific examples of the gas packaging assembly of the present teachings, various types of segment panels can be sealed using compressible gasket materials disposed on each of the panel segment frames. Together with the frame member gasket seal, the location and material of the compressible gasket used to form the seal between the various segment panels and the panel segment frame can provide a gas packaging assembly with an airtight seal with little or no gas leakage. In addition, the sealing design for all types of panels (e.g., the insert panel 110, the window panel 120, and the easily removable maintenance window 130 of FIG. 3) can provide a durable panel seal after repeated removal and installation of such panels, which may be required to access the interior of the gas packaging assembly, for example, for maintenance.

For example, FIG. 6A is an exploded view depicting a maintenance window panel section 30 and an easily removable maintenance window 130. As previously discussed herein, the maintenance window panel section 30 can be manufactured to accommodate an easily removable maintenance window 130. For various specific examples of gas enclosure assemblies, a panel section such as a removable service panel section 30 can have a panel section frame 32 and a compressible gasket 38 disposed on the panel section frame 32. In various specific examples, the hardware associated with securing the easily removable maintenance window 130 in the removable maintenance window panel section 30 can provide ease of installation and reinstallation for the end user, while ensuring that the easily removable maintenance window 130 is installed and reinstalled in the panel section 30 as needed by the end user who needs direct access to the interior of the gas enclosure assembly. The easily removable maintenance window 130 may include a rigid window frame 132, which may be constructed from (for example, but not limited to) metal tube materials as described for constructing any of the frame members of the present teachings. The maintenance window 130 may utilize quick-acting fixing hardware (for example, but not limited to, reverse-acting toggle clamps 136) to make it easy for the end user to remove and reinstall the maintenance window 130.

As shown in the front view of the removable maintenance window panel section 30 of FIG. 6A , the easily removable maintenance window 130 may have one set of four toggle clips 136 secured to the window frame 132. The maintenance window 130 may be positioned within the panel section frame 30 at a defined distance for ensuring proper compression against the gasket 38. A set of four window guide spacers 34 as shown in FIG. 6B , which may be installed in each corner of the panel section 30, is used to position the maintenance window 130 in the panel section 30. A set of clamping clips 36 may be provided to each of the reverse acting toggle clips 136 of the easily removable maintenance window 130. According to various specific embodiments of the airtight seal of the maintenance window 130, through the cycle of installation and removal, the mechanical strength of the maintenance window frame 132 combined with the defined position of the maintenance window 130 provided by the collection of window guide spacers 34 relative to the compressible gasket 38 can ensure that once the maintenance window 130 is tightened in the appropriate position by (for example but not limited to) using a reverse-acting toggle clamp 136 fixed in a respective clamping clip 36, the maintenance window frame 132 can provide uniform force on the panel section frame 32 by a defined compression as set by the collection of window guide spacers 34. The set of window guide spacers 34 are positioned so that the compressive force of the window 130 on the gasket 38 causes the compressible gasket 38 to deflect between about 20% and about 40%. At this point, the construction of the maintenance window 130 and the manufacture of the panel section 30 provide an airtight seal of the maintenance window 130 in the panel section 30. As previously discussed herein, the window clip 35 can be installed in the panel section 30 after the maintenance window 130 is secured therein, and the window clip 35 can be removed when it is desired to remove the maintenance window 130.

The reverse acting toggle clip 136 may be fastened to the easily removable maintenance window frame 132 using any suitable means and combinations of means. Examples of suitable fastening means that may be used include at least one adhesive (such as, but not limited to, epoxy or adhesive), at least one screw, at least one screw, at least one other fastener, at least one groove, at least one track, at least one weld, and combinations thereof. The reverse acting toggle clip 136 may be directly connected to the removable maintenance window frame 132 or indirectly connected via an adapter plate. The reverse acting toggle clip 136, the clamping clip plate 36, the window guide spacer 34, and the window clip 35 may be constructed of any suitable materials and combinations of materials. For example, one or more of these components may include at least one metal, at least one ceramic, at least one plastic, and combinations thereof.

In addition to sealing a maintenance window that can be easily removed, an airtight seal can also be provided for insert panels and window panels. Other types of segment panels that can be repeatedly installed and removed in the panel section include (for example but not limited to) insert panels 110 and window panels 120, as shown in Figure 3. As can be seen in Figure 3, the panel frame 122 of the window panel 120 is constructed similarly to the insert panel 110. Therefore, according to various specific examples of the gas encapsulation assembly, the manufacture of the panel section for accommodating the insert panel and the window panel can be the same. At this point, the same principle can be used to implement the sealing of the insert panel and the window panel.

Referring to Figures 7A and 7B, and in accordance with various specific examples of the present teachings, any of the panels of a gas package (e.g., the gas package assembly 100 of Figure 1) may include one or more insert panel sections 10, which may have a frame 12 configured to accommodate individual insert panels 110. Figure 7A is a perspective view indicating the expanded portion shown in Figure 9B. In Figure 7A, an insert panel 110 is depicted positioned relative to the insert frame 12. As can be seen in Figure 7B, the insert panel 110 is attached to the frame 12, wherein the frame 12 may be constructed of metal, for example. In some specific examples, the metal may include aluminum, steel, copper, stainless steel, chromium, alloys, combinations thereof, and the like. A plurality of blind threaded holes 14 may be made in the insert panel section frame 12. The panel section frame 12 is constructed so as to include a gasket 16 between the insert panel 110 and the frame 12, in which a compressible gasket 18 can be placed. The blind threaded holes 14 can be of the M5 variety. The screws 15 can be received by the blind threaded holes 14, compressing the gasket 16 between the insert panel 110 and the frame 12. Once secured in place against the gasket 16, the insert panel 110 forms an airtight seal within the insert panel section 10. As previously discussed herein, this panel seal can be implemented for a variety of section panels, including, but not limited to, the insert panel 110 and the window panel 120, as shown in Figure 3.

According to various specific examples of compressible gaskets according to the present teachings, the compressible gasket materials used for frame member sealing and panel sealing can be selected from a variety of compressible polymer materials, such as (but not limited to), any of the categories of closed air cell polymer materials, also known as expanded rubber materials or expanded polymer materials in this technical field. Briefly, closed air cell polymers are prepared in a manner of gas encapsulation in discrete air cells, wherein each discrete air cell is encapsulated by a polymer material. The properties of compressible closed-cell polymeric gasket materials that are desirable for use in hermetic sealing of frame and panel assemblies include, but are not limited to, their chemical corrosion resistance to a wide range of chemicals, their excellent moisture barrier properties, their resilience over a wide temperature range, and their resistance to permanent compression deformation. In general, closed-cell polymeric materials have higher dimensional stability, lower moisture absorption coefficients, and higher strength than open-cell polymeric materials. Various types of polymeric materials from which closed cell polymeric materials may be made include, for example but not limited to, silicones, neoprene, ethylene-polypropylene-diene terpolymers (EPT); polymers and compounds made using ethylene-polypropylene-diene monomer (EPDM), vinyl nitrile, styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), and various copolymers and blends thereof.

The desirable material properties of closed cell polymers can only be maintained if the air cells comprising the block remain intact during use. In this regard, use of such materials in a manner that may exceed the material specifications set for the closed cell polymers (e.g., exceeding the specifications for use within a specified temperature or compression range) may result in degradation of the gasket seal. In various specific examples of closed cell polymer gaskets used to seal frame members and segment panels in frame panel segments, compression of such materials should not exceed deflections of between about 50% and about 70%, and for optimal performance, may be between about 20% and about 40%.

In addition to closed-cell compressible gasket materials, another example of a class of compressible gasket materials having desirable properties for use in constructing specific examples of gas enclosure assemblies according to the present teachings includes the class of hollow extruded compressible gasket materials. Hollow extruded gasket materials as a class of materials have desirable properties including, but not limited to, their chemical erosion stability to a wide range of chemicals, their excellent moisture barrier properties, their resilience over a wide temperature range, and their resistance to permanent compression deformation. These hollow extruded compressible gasket materials can be in a wide variety of external dimensions, such as (but not limited to), any of a U-shaped air chamber, a D-shaped air chamber, a square air chamber, a rectangular air chamber, and a variety of custom external dimensions of hollow extruded gasket materials. Various hollow extruded gasket materials can be made from polymeric materials used in the manufacture of closed air chamber compressible gaskets. For example (but not limited to), various specific examples of hollow extruded gaskets can be made from the following: polysilicone, neoprene, ethylene-polypropylene-diene terpolymer (EPT); polymers and composites made using ethylene-polypropylene-diene monomer (EPDM), vinyl nitrile, styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and various copolymers and blends thereof. Compression of such hollow cell gasket materials should not exceed about 50% deflection in order to maintain the desired properties. Although the classes of closed cell compressible gasket materials and the classes of hollow extrusion compressible gasket materials have been given as examples, any compressible gasket material having the desired properties may be used to seal structural components (e.g., various wall and ceiling frame members) and to seal various panels in panel section frames as provided by the present teachings.

FIG8 is a top view of various specific examples of the ceiling panel (e.g., ceiling panel 250' of the gas packaging assembly 100 of FIG1A) of the present teaching. According to various specific examples of the present teaching for assembly of gas packaging, lighting equipment can be installed on the inner top surface of the ceiling panel (e.g., ceiling panel 250' of the gas packaging assembly 100 of FIG1A). As depicted in FIG8, a ceiling frame 250 having an inner portion 251 can have lighting equipment installed on the inner portions of various frame members. For example, the ceiling frame 250 can have two ceiling frame sections 40, which together have two ceiling frame beams 42 and 44. Each top frame section 40 may have a first side 41 positioned toward the interior of the top frame 250 and a second side 43 positioned toward the exterior of the top frame 250. For various specific examples according to the present teachings for providing illumination of a gas enclosure, several pairs of lighting elements 46 may be installed. Each pair of lighting elements 46 may include a first lighting element 45 closest to the first side 41 of the top frame section 40, and a second lighting element 47 closest to the second side 43. The number, positioning, and grouping of lighting elements shown in FIG. 8 are exemplary. The number and grouping of lighting elements may be varied in any desired or appropriate manner. In various specific examples, the lighting elements may be mounted flat, and in other specific examples, they may be mounted so that they can be moved to a variety of positions and angles. The placement of the lighting elements is not limited to the top panel 433, but may be located on (in addition or in the alternative) any other interior surface, exterior surface, and combination of surfaces of the gas enclosure assembly 100 shown in Figure 1A.

The various lighting elements may include any number of lamps, any type of lamp, or any combination of lamps, such as halogen lamps, white lamps, incandescent lamps, arc lamps, or light emitting diodes or devices (LEDs). For example, each lighting element may include 1 LED to about 100 LEDs, about 10 LEDs to about 50 LEDs, or more than 100 LEDs. The LEDs or other lighting devices may emit any color or combination of colors in the color spectrum, outside the color spectrum, or a combination thereof. According to various specific examples of gas encapsulation assemblies for inkjet printing of OLED materials, because some materials are sensitive to light of certain wavelengths, the wavelength of light used for lighting devices installed in the gas encapsulation assembly can be specifically selected to avoid material degradation during processing. For example, a 4X cool white LED may be used as a 4X yellow LED or any combination thereof. An example of a 4X cool white LED is the LF1B-D4S-2THWW4 available from IDEC Corporation of Sunnyvale, California. An example of a 4X yellow LED that may be used is the LF1B-D4S-2SHY6 also available from IDEC Corporation. The LED or other lighting element may be positioned on the inner portion 251 of the top panel frame 250 or on another surface of the gas encapsulated assembly or suspended from any location on the inner portion or on the other surface. The lighting element is not limited to an LED. Any suitable lighting element or combination of lighting elements may be used. FIG. 9 is a graph of the IDEC LED spectrum and shows an X-axis corresponding to the intensity when the peak intensity is 100% and a Y-axis corresponding to the wavelength (in nanometers). Spectra for LF1B yellow type, yellow fluorescent lamp, LF1B white type LED, LF1B cool white type LED and LF1B red type LED are shown. Other spectra and combinations of spectra can be used according to various specific examples of the present teachings.

Recall that various embodiments of gas encapsulation assemblies are constructed in a manner that minimizes the internal volume of the gas encapsulation assembly while optimizing the workspace to accommodate various footprints of various OLED printing systems. Various embodiments of gas encapsulation assemblies so constructed additionally provide easy external access to the interior of the gas encapsulation assembly during processing and easy access to the interior for maintenance while minimizing downtime. In this regard, various embodiments of gas encapsulation assemblies according to the present teachings may have various footprints for various OLED printing systems.

According to the systems and methods of the present teachings, the construction of frame components, panel construction, frame and panel sealing, and gas packages (e.g., gas package 100 of Figure 1A) can be applied to gas packages of various sizes and designs. Various specific embodiments of the gas package assembly can have various frame components constructed to provide the outline of the gas package assembly. Various specific embodiments of the gas package assembly of the present teachings can accommodate an OLED printing system while optimizing the working space to minimize the inert gas volume, and also allow easy access to the OLED printing system from the outside during processing. In this regard, the various gas package assemblies of the present teachings can vary in outline topology and volume. As a non-limiting example, various embodiments of contoured gas packages according to the present teachings may have a gas package volume between about 6 m ³ and about 95 m ³ for accommodating various embodiments of printing systems capable of printing substrate sizes from Gen 3.5 to Gen 10. By way of yet another non-limiting example, various embodiments of contoured gas packages according to the present teachings may have a gas package volume between about 15 m ³ and about 30 m ³ for accommodating various embodiments of printing systems capable of printing, for example, Gen 5.5 to Gen 8.5 substrate sizes. These embodiments of contoured gas packages may have a volume savings of between about 30% and about 70% compared to a non-contoured package having non-contoured dimensions for width, length, and height.

The gas packaging assembly 1000 of FIG. 9 may have all the features described in the present teachings for the exemplary gas packaging assembly 100 of FIG. 1A. For example, but not limited to, the gas packaging assembly 1000 may utilize a seal according to the present teachings that provides an airtight package in a cycle of construction and deconstruction. Various specific examples of gas packaging systems based on the gas packaging assembly 1000 may have a gas purification system that can maintain the content of each of various reactive substances including various reactive atmospheric source gases (e.g., water vapor and oxygen) and organic solvent vapor at 100 ppm or less, for example, at 10 ppm or less, at 1.0 ppm or less, or at 0.1 ppm or less.

In addition, as will be discussed in greater detail later herein, various embodiments of gas packaging systems based on, for example but not limited to, the gas packaging assembly 100 of FIG. 1A and the gas packaging assembly 1000 of FIG. 9 may have a circulation and filtration system that may provide a laminar flow environment that minimizes turbulence and may create a substantially low-particle environment by maintaining an airborne particle content that complies with the standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14644-1:1999, as specified by Class 1 through Class 5. Airborne particulate matter determination may be performed for various embodiments of the gas packaging system prior to a printing process using, for example, a portable particle counting device for system validation. In various embodiments of gas packaging systems, airborne particle determination can be performed in situ while printing substrates as an ongoing quality check. In various embodiments of gas packaging systems, airborne particle determination can be performed in situ before printing substrates and also while printing substrates for system validation.

Additionally, for various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a substantially low particle environment can provide a substantially low particle substrate surface. Modeling based on various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings indicates that, without various particle control systems of the present teachings, for particles in the size range of 0.1 μm and larger, the deposition on the substrate per printing cycle can be between greater than about 1 million and greater than about 10 million particles per square meter of substrate. Such calculations indicate that, without various particle control systems of the present teachings, for particles in the size range of about 2 μm and larger, the deposition on the substrate per printing cycle can be between greater than about 1000 and greater than about 10,000 particles per square meter of substrate. Determination of the on-substrate distribution of particles on a substrate can be performed for various embodiments of a gas packaging system using, for example, a test substrate before printing the substrate for system validation. In various embodiments of a gas packaging system, determination of the on-substrate distribution of particles can be performed in situ while printing the substrate as an ongoing quality check. For various embodiments of a gas packaging system, determination of the on-substrate distribution of particles can be performed in situ before printing the substrate and additionally while printing the substrate for system validation.

Various embodiments of the gas packaging system can have a particle control system that can maintain a substantially low particle environment, thereby providing an on-substrate particle specification for particles between about 0.1 μm or greater to about 10 μm or greater. For each of the target particle size ranges, various embodiments of the on-substrate particle specification can be easily converted from an average on-substrate particle distribution per square meter of substrate per minute to an average on-substrate particle distribution per substrate per minute. As previously discussed herein, this conversion can be easily performed via a known relationship between a substrate (e.g., a substrate of a particular generation size) and the corresponding area of that substrate generation. In addition, the average on-substrate particle distribution per square meter of substrate per minute can be easily converted to any of a variety of unit time expressions. For example, in addition to conversions between standard time units (e.g., seconds, minutes, and days), process-specific time units may also be used. For example, as discussed previously herein, a print cycle may be associated with a time unit.

Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets a substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 10 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets a substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 5 μm. In various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 2 μm. In various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 1 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 0.5 μm. For various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low-particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 0.3 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per minute per square meter of substrate for particles greater than or equal to 0.1 μm in size.

FIG9 depicts a perspective view of a gas package assembly 1000 according to various specific examples of a gas package assembly of the present teachings. The gas package assembly 1000 may include a front panel assembly 1200', a middle panel assembly 1300', and a rear panel assembly 1400'. The front panel assembly 1200' may include a front top panel assembly 1260', a front wall panel assembly 1240' that may have an opening 1242 for receiving a substrate, and a front base panel assembly 1220'. The rear panel assembly 1400' may include a rear top panel assembly 1460', a rear wall panel assembly 1440', and a rear base panel assembly 1420'. The middle panel assembly 1300' may include a first middle package panel assembly 1340', a middle wall and ceiling panel assembly 1360', a second middle package panel assembly 1380' and a middle base panel assembly 1320'.

Additionally, the middle panel assembly 1300' may include a first printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1330' and a second printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly (not shown). As previously discussed herein, various specific instances of an auxiliary package constructed as a section of a gas package assembly may be sealably isolated from a working volume of a gas package system. This physical isolation of the auxiliary package from, for example, a printing system package may enable various procedures (such as, but not limited to, various maintenance procedures on the printhead assembly) to be performed with little or no interruption to the printing process, thereby minimizing or eliminating gas package system downtime.

As depicted in FIG10A , the gas package assembly 1000 may include a front substrate panel assembly 1220′, a middle substrate panel assembly 1320′, and a rear substrate panel assembly 1420′, which when fully constructed form an adjacent substrate or chassis upon which the OLED printing system 2000 may be mounted. In a manner similar to that described for the gas package assembly 100 of FIG1A , the various frame components and panels of the gas package assembly 1000 including the front panel assembly 1200′, the middle panel assembly 1300′, and the rear panel assembly 1400′ may be joined around the OLED printing system 2000 to form a printing system package. Thus, a fully constructed gas packaging assembly (e.g., gas packaging assembly 1000) when integrated with various environmental control systems can form various embodiments of gas packaging systems including various embodiments of OLED printing system 2000. According to various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings as previously described, environmental control of the internal volume defined by the gas packaging assembly can include control of lighting (e.g., by the number and placement of lamps of a particular wavelength), control of particulate matter using various embodiments of a particle control system, control of reactive gas species using various embodiments of a gas purification system, and temperature control of the gas packaging assembly using various embodiments of a thermal control system.

The OLED inkjet printing system shown in the expanded view of FIG10B (e.g., OLED printing system 2000 of FIG10A) may include a number of components and devices that allow ink droplets to be reliably placed at specific locations on a substrate. Such components and devices may include, but are not limited to, a printhead assembly, an ink delivery system, a motion system for providing relative movement between the printhead assembly and the substrate, a substrate support device, a substrate loading and unloading system, and a printhead management system.

The print head assembly may include at least one inkjet head having at least one orifice capable of ejecting ink droplets at a controlled rate, speed, and size. The inkjet head is fed by an ink supply system that provides ink to the inkjet head. As shown in the expanded view of FIG. 10B , the OLED inkjet printing system 2000 may have a substrate (e.g., substrate 2050) that may be supported by a substrate support device, such as a chuck, for example (but not limited to) a vacuum chuck, a substrate floating chuck with a pressure port, and a substrate floating chuck with a vacuum and pressure port. In various specific examples of the systems and methods of the present teachings, the substrate support device may be a substrate floating table. As will be discussed in more detail later herein, the substrate floatation stage 2200 of FIG. 10B can be used to support a substrate 2050 and, together with a Y-axis motion system, can be part of a substrate transport system that provides frictionless transport of the substrate 2050. The Y-axis motion system of the present teachings can include a first Y-axis track 2351 and a second Y-axis track 2352, which can include a clamping system (not shown) for holding the substrate. The Y-axis motion can be provided by a linear air bearing or a linear mechanical system. The substrate floatation stage 2200 of the OLED inkjet printing system 2000 shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B can define the travel of the substrate 2050 through the gas encapsulation assembly 1000 of FIG. 9 during the printing process.

Printing requires relative motion between the printhead assembly and the substrate. This is accomplished by a motion system, typically an overhead or split-axis XYZ system. The printhead assembly may move over a stationary substrate (overhead), or in the case of a split-axis configuration, both the printhead and substrate may move. In another specific example, the printhead assembly may be substantially stationary (e.g., in the X and Y axes), and the substrate may move in the X and Y axes relative to the printhead, with Z-axis motion provided by a substrate support device or by a Z-axis motion system associated with the printhead assembly. As the printhead moves relative to the substrate, ink drops are ejected at the correct time to be deposited in the desired location on the substrate. Substrates may be inserted and removed from the printer using a substrate loading and unloading system. Depending on the printer configuration, this may be accomplished by a mechanical conveyor, a substrate float table with a conveyor assembly, or a substrate transfer robot with an end effector. The print head management system may include several subsystems that allow such metrology tasks (e.g., checking nozzle firing and measuring drop volume, velocity, and trajectory from each nozzle in the print head) and maintenance tasks (e.g., wiping or blotting excess ink from the inkjet nozzle surface, priming and cleaning the print head by ejecting ink from an ink supply through the print head and into a waste basin, and replacing the print head). Given the variety of components that may make up an OLED printing system, various specific embodiments of an OLED printing system may have a variety of footprints and physical sizes.

10B, the printing system substrate 2100 may include a first riser (not visible) and a second riser 2122, with a bridge 2130 mounted thereon. For various embodiments of the OLED printing system 2000, the bridge 2130 may support a first X-axis carriage assembly 2301 and a second X-axis carriage assembly 2302, which may control the movement of a first printhead assembly 2501 and a second printhead assembly 2502 across the bridge 2130, respectively. For various embodiments of the printing system 2000, the first X-axis carriage assembly 2301 and the second X-axis carriage assembly 2302 may utilize a linear air bearing motion system that is inherently low in particle generation. According to various embodiments of the printing system of the present teachings, the X-axis carriage may have a Z-axis translation plate mounted thereon. In FIG. 10B , a first X-axis carriage assembly 2301 is depicted having a first Z-axis translation plate 2310, and a second X-axis carriage assembly 2302 is depicted having a second Z-axis translation plate 2312. Although FIG. 10B depicts two carriage assemblies and two printhead assemblies, for various embodiments of the OLED inkjet printing system 2000, there may be a single carriage assembly and a single printhead assembly. For example, any one of the first print head assembly 2501 and the second print head assembly 2502 may be mounted on an X, Z axis bracket assembly, and a camera system for inspecting features of the substrate 2050 may be mounted on the second X, Z axis bracket assembly. Various specific examples of the OLED inkjet printing system 2000 may have a single print head assembly, for example, any one of the first print head assembly 2501 and the second print head assembly 2502 may be mounted on an X, Z axis bracket assembly, and a UV lamp for curing an encapsulation layer printed on the substrate 2050 may be mounted on the second X, Z axis bracket assembly. For various specific examples of the OLED inkjet printing system 2000, there may be a single print head assembly, for example, either the first print head assembly 2501 or the second print head assembly 2502 may be mounted on an X, Z axis bracket assembly, and a heat source for curing the encapsulation layer printed on the substrate 2050 may be mounted on the second bracket assembly.

10B , a first X, Z axis carriage assembly 2301 may be used to position a first print head assembly 2501, which may be mounted on a first Z axis translation plate 2310, on a substrate 2050, which is shown supported on a substrate float table 2200. A second X, Z axis carriage assembly 2302 having a second Z axis translation plate 2312 may be similarly configured to control X-Z axis translation of the second print head assembly 2502 relative to the substrate 2050. Each of the first printhead assembly 2501 and the second printhead assembly 2502 of FIG. 10B can have a plurality of printheads mounted in at least one printhead device, as depicted in the partial view for the first printhead assembly 2501, which depicts a plurality of printheads 2505. The printhead device can include, for example but not limited to, fluid and electronic connections to at least one printhead; each printhead has a plurality of nozzles or orifices capable of ejecting ink at a controlled rate, speed, and size. For various specific examples of the printing system 2000, the printhead assembly can include between about 1 and about 60 printhead devices, wherein each printhead device can have between about 1 and about 30 printheads in each printhead device. A printhead (e.g., an industrial inkjet head) may have between about 16 and about 2048 nozzles that may discharge droplet volumes between about 0.1 pL and about 200 pL.

According to various specific examples of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, purely considering the number of printhead devices and printheads, the first printhead management system 2701 and the second printhead management system 2702 can be housed in an auxiliary package that can be isolated from the printing system package during the printing process to perform various measurement and maintenance tasks with little or no interruption to the printing process. As can be seen in Figure 10B, it can be seen that the first printhead assembly 2501 is positioned relative to the first printhead management system 2701 to facilitate the execution of various measurement and maintenance procedures that can be performed by the first printhead management system devices 2707, 2709 and 2711. Devices 2707, 2709, and 2011 may be any of a variety of subsystems or modules for performing various print head management functions. For example, devices 2707, 2709, and 2011 may be any of a drop measurement module, a print head replacement module, a cleaning basin module, and an ink absorber module.

FIG. 10C depicts an expanded view of the first printhead management system 2701 housed in the first printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1330' according to various specific examples of gas packaging assemblies and systems of the present teachings. As depicted in FIG. 10C, the auxiliary panel assembly 1330' is shown as a cutaway view to more clearly see the details of the first printhead management system 2701. According to various specific examples of the printhead management system of the present teachings (e.g., the first printhead management system 2701 of FIG. 10C), devices 2707, 2709, and 2011 can be a variety of subsystems or modules for performing various functions. For example, devices 2707, 2709, and 2011 can be a drop measurement module, a printhead cleaning basin module, and an ink absorber module. As depicted in FIG. 10C , the printhead replacement module 2713 may provide a location for docking at least one printhead device 2505. In various specific embodiments of the first printhead management system 2701, the first printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1330' may be maintained in the same environmental specifications as the gas enclosure assembly 1000 (see FIG. 19 ). The first printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1330' may have a handle 2530 positioned for performing tasks associated with various printhead management procedures. For example, each subsystem may have various parts that are inherently consumable and need to be replaced, such as replacement blotters, inks, and waste reservoirs. The various consumable parts may be packaged for easy insertion in a fully automated mode using a handle. As a non-limiting example, blotting paper may be packaged in a cartridge format that can be easily inserted for use in a blotting module. By way of another non-limiting example, ink may be packaged in a replaceable reservoir and in a cartridge format for use in a printing system. Various specific examples of waste reservoirs may be packaged in a cartridge format that can be easily inserted for use in a wash basin module. In addition, parts of various components of a continuously used printing system may require periodic replacement. During the printing process, convenient management of the print head assembly (such as, but not limited to, replacement of print head devices or print heads) may be desirable. A print head replacement module may have parts such as print head devices or print heads that are easily inserted into the print head assembly for use. A drop measurement module for checking nozzle emission and measurements based on optical detection of drop volume, velocity and trajectory from each nozzle may have a source and a detector that may require periodic replacement after use. Various consumable and high-utilization parts may be packaged for easy insertion of the handle, such as in a fully automated mode. The handle 2530 may have an end effector 2536 mounted to an arm 2534. Various specific examples of end effector configurations may be used, such as blade-type end effectors, fixture-type end effectors, and claw-type end effectors. Various specific examples of end effectors may include mechanical gripping and clamping as well as pneumatic or vacuum assisted assemblies to actuate portions of the end effector or otherwise retain a printhead device or a printhead from a printhead device.

With respect to replacement of a printhead device or printhead, a printhead replacement module 2713 of the printhead management system 2701 of FIG. 10C may include a docking station for a printhead device having at least one printhead, and a storage container for the printhead. Because each printhead assembly (see FIG. 10B ) may include between about 1 and about 60 printhead devices, and each printhead device may have between about 1 and about 30 printheads, various embodiments of the printing system of the present teachings may have between about 1 and about 1800 printheads. In various embodiments of the printhead replacement module 2713, when a printhead device is docked, each printhead mounted to the printhead device may be maintained in an operable condition when not in use in the printing system. For example, when placed in a docking station, the printhead on each printhead device can be connected to an ink supply and electrical connections. Power can be provided to each printhead on each printhead device so that periodic firing pulses can be applied to each nozzle of each printhead when docked to ensure that the nozzles remain primed and unobstructed. The handle 2530 of Figure 10C can be positioned proximate to the printhead assembly 2500. The printhead assembly 2500 can be docked on the first printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1330', as depicted in Figure 10C. During a procedure for exchanging printheads, the handle 2530 can remove a target part - a printhead or a printhead device having at least one printhead - from the printhead assembly 2500. The handle 2530 can pick up a replacement part (e.g., a print head device or a print head) from the print head replacement module 2713 and complete the replacement process. The removed part can be placed in the print head replacement module 2713 for picking up.

For various specific examples of a gas encapsulation assembly having an auxiliary encapsulation that can seal a first working volume and can be hermetically isolated from the first working volume (e.g., a printing system encapsulation), refer again to Figure 10A. As depicted in Figure 10B, there can be four isolators on the OLED printing system 2000; a first isolator set 2110 (the second is not shown on the opposite side) and a second isolator set 2112 (the second is not shown on the opposite side) supporting the substrate floating stage 2200 of the OLED printing system 2000. For the gas packaging assembly 1000 of FIG. 10A , the first isolator set 2110 and the second isolator set 2112 may be mounted on each of the respective isolator well panels (e.g., the first isolator well panel 1325 ' and the second isolator well panel 1327 ' of the middle base panel assembly 1320 '). For the gas packaging assembly 1000 of FIG. 10A , the middle base panel assembly 1320 ' may include a first printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1330 ' and a second printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1370 '. FIG. 10A of the gas packaging assembly 1000 depicts the first printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1330 ' which may include a first back wall panel assembly 1338 '. Similarly, so described is a second printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1370' which may include a second rear wall panel assembly 1378'. The first rear wall panel assembly 1338' of the first printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1330' may be constructed in a manner similar to that shown for the second rear wall panel assembly 1378'. The second rear wall panel assembly 1378' of the second printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1370' may be constructed from a second rear wall frame assembly 1378 having a second seal support panel 1375 sealably mounted to the second rear wall frame assembly 1378. The second seal support panel 1375 may have a second passage 1365 proximate a second end (not shown) of the substrate 2100. A second seal 1367 may be mounted on a second seal support panel 1375 about the second passage 1365. A first seal may be similarly positioned and mounted about a first passage for the first printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1330'. Each passage in the auxiliary panel assembly 1330' and the auxiliary panel assembly 1370' may accommodate each maintenance system platform, such as the first maintenance system platform 2703 and the second maintenance system platform 2704 of FIG. 10B, passing through the passage. As will be discussed in more detail later herein, in order to sealably isolate the auxiliary panel assembly 1330' and the auxiliary panel assembly 1370', the passages (e.g., the second passage 1365 of FIG. 10A) must be sealable. It is contemplated that a variety of seals (e.g., inflatable seals, bellows seals, and lip seals) may be used to seal a passage (e.g., second passage 1365 of FIG. 10A ) around a maintenance platform attached to a printing system substrate.

The first printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1330' and the second printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1370' may include a first printhead assembly opening 1342 of the first bottom panel assembly 1341' and a second printhead assembly opening 1382 of the second bottom panel assembly 1381', respectively. The first bottom panel assembly 1341' is depicted in FIG. 10A as part of the first middle package panel assembly 1340' of the middle panel assembly 1300'. The first bottom panel assembly 1341' is a panel assembly common to the first middle package panel assembly 1340' and the first printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1330'. The second bottom panel assembly 1381' is depicted in Figure 10A as part of the second middle package panel assembly 1380' of the middle panel assembly 1300'. The second bottom panel assembly 1381' is a common panel assembly with the second middle package panel assembly 1380' and the second printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1370'.

As previously discussed herein, first printhead assembly 2501 may be housed in first printhead assembly package 2503, and second printhead assembly 2502 may be housed in second printhead assembly package 2504. In accordance with the systems and methods of the present teachings, first printhead assembly package 2503 and second printhead assembly package 2504 may have an opening at the bottom that may have a rim (not shown) so that various printhead assemblies may be positioned for printing during a printing process. Additionally, portions of first printhead assembly package 2503 and second printhead assembly package 2504 that form the housing may be constructed as previously described for various panel assemblies so that the frame assembly components and panels can provide an airtight package.

As previously described with respect to the air seals of the various frame components, a compressible gasket may be affixed around each of the first printhead assembly opening 1342 and the second printhead assembly opening 1382, or alternatively, around the rims of the first printhead assembly package 2503 and the second printhead assembly package 2504.

As depicted in FIG10A , the first printhead assembly anchor pad 1345 and the second printhead assembly anchor pad 1385 may be attached around the first printhead assembly opening 1342 and the second printhead assembly opening 1382, respectively. During various printhead measurement and maintenance procedures, the first printhead assembly 2501 and the second printhead assembly 2502 may be positioned on the first printhead assembly opening 1342 of the first bottom panel assembly 1341′ and the second printhead assembly opening 1382 of the second bottom panel assembly 1381′, respectively, by the first X, Z axis bracket assembly 2301 and the second X, Z axis bracket assembly 2302, respectively. In this regard, for various printhead measurement and maintenance procedures, the first printhead assembly 2501 and the second printhead assembly 2502 may be positioned on the first printhead assembly opening 1342 of the first bottom panel assembly 1341' and the second printhead assembly opening 1382 of the second bottom panel assembly 1381', respectively, without covering or sealing the first printhead assembly opening 1342 and the second printhead assembly opening 1382. The first X, Z axis bracket assembly 2301 and the second X, Z axis bracket assembly 2302 may respectively couple the first printhead assembly package 2503 and the second printhead assembly package 2504 to the first printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1330' and the second printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1370', respectively. During various printhead measurement and maintenance procedures, this coupling can effectively close the first printhead assembly opening 1342 and the second printhead assembly opening 1382 without the need to seal the first printhead assembly opening 1342 and the second printhead assembly opening 1382. For various printhead measurement and maintenance procedures, the coupling can include a gasket seal formed between each of the printhead assembly packages and the printhead management system panel assembly. Together with sealably closable passages (e.g., second passage 1365 and complementary first passage in FIG. 10A ), when first printhead assembly package 2503 and second printhead assembly package 2504 are coupled to first printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1330' and second printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1370' to sealably close first printhead assembly opening 1342 and second printhead assembly opening 1382, the combined structure thus formed is hermetically sealed.

In addition, according to the present teachings, the auxiliary package can be isolated from, for example, another internal package volume (e.g., a printing system package) and the exterior of the gas package assembly by using a structural closure to sealably close a passage, such as the first printhead assembly opening 1342 and the second printhead assembly opening 1382 of Figure 10A. According to the present teachings, the structural closure can include a variety of sealable covers for openings or passages; such openings or passages include non-limiting examples of package panel openings or passages. According to the systems and methods of the present teachings, the gate can be any structural closure that can be used to reversibly cover or reversibly sealably close any opening or passage using pneumatic, hydraulic, electrical, or manual actuation. Thus, the gates may be used to reversibly cover or reversibly sealably close the first printhead assembly opening 1342 and the second printhead assembly opening 1382 of FIG. 10A.

In the expanded view of the OLED printing system 2000 of FIG. 10B , various specific examples of the printing system may include a substrate floating stage 2200 supported by a substrate floating stage base 2220. The substrate floating stage base 2220 may be mounted on the printing system base 2100. The substrate floating stage 2200 of the OLED printing system may support the substrate 2050 and define a stroke that the substrate 2050 may move through the gas encapsulation assembly 1000 during the printing of the OLED substrate. The Y-axis motion system of the present teaching may include a first Y-axis track 2351 and a second Y-axis track 2352, which may include a clamping system (not shown) for holding the substrate. The Y-axis motion may be provided by a linear air bearing or a linear mechanical system. In this regard, the substrate float stage 2200, in conjunction with a motion system (as depicted in FIG. 10B , a Y-axis motion system), can provide frictionless transport of the substrate 2050 through the printing system.

FIG. 11 depicts a floating table according to various embodiments of the present teachings for frictionless support and, together with a transport system, for stable transport of a load (e.g., substrate 2050 of FIG. 10B ). Various embodiments of the floating table may be used in any of the various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings. As previously discussed herein, various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings may process a range of sizes of OLED flat panel display substrates starting from less than a Gen 3.5 substrate (which has dimensions of approximately 61 cm×72 cm) and progressively larger generation sizes. It is expected that various embodiments of the gas packaging system can handle substrate sizes of Gen 5.5, which has dimensions of approximately 130 cm×150 cm, and Gen 7.5 substrates, which have dimensions of approximately 195 cm×225 cm, and can be cut into eight 42" or six 47" panels per substrate and larger. Gen 8.5 substrates are approximately 220 cm×250 cm, and can be cut into six 55" or eight 46" panels per substrate. However, substrate generation sizes continue to increase, such that the currently available Gen 8.5 substrates have dimensions of approximately 285 cm×305 cm. 10 substrate is far from the final generation of substrate size. In addition, the size described in the terminology resulting from the liberal use of glass-based substrates can be applied to substrates of any material suitable for use in OLED printing. For various specific embodiments of OLED inkjet printing systems, a variety of substrate materials (such as but not limited to a variety of glass substrate materials, and a variety of polymeric substrate materials) can be used for substrate 2050. Therefore, in various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, there are a variety of substrate sizes and materials that require stable transport during printing.

As depicted in FIG. 11 , a substrate floatation platform 2200 according to various specific examples of the present teachings may have a floatation platform base 2220 for supporting a plurality of floatation platform zones. The substrate floatation platform 2200 may have a zone 2210 to which pressure and vacuum may be applied via a plurality of ports. This zone with pressure and vacuum control may effectively provide a fluid spring between the zone 2210 and a substrate (not shown). The zone 2210 with pressure and vacuum control is a fluid spring with bidirectional stiffness. The gap between the load and the surface of the floatation platform is referred to as the flying height. A zone such as zone 2210 of substrate floatation stage 2200 of FIG. 11 (using a plurality of pressure and vacuum ports to create a fluid spring with bidirectional stiffness therein) can provide a controllable flying height for a load (e.g., a substrate).

Proximally to the zone 2210 are the first transition zone 2211 and the second transition zone 2212, respectively, and proximally to the first transition zone 2211 and the second transition zone 2212 are the pressure-only zones 2213 and 2214, respectively. In the transition zones, the ratio of pressure to vacuum nozzles gradually increases toward the pressure-only zones to provide a gradual transition from the zone 2210 to the zones 2213 and 2214. For various specific examples of the substrate floatation stage (e.g., as depicted in FIG. 11 ), the pressure-only zones 2213, 2214 are depicted as including rail structures. For various specific examples of substrate floating platforms, only the pressure zone (e.g., only the pressure zones 2213, 2214 of FIG. 11) may include a continuous plate, such as the continuous plate depicted with respect to the pressure vacuum zone 2210 of FIG. 11.

For various specific embodiments of the floating platform as depicted in FIG. 11 , there may be substantially uniform heights between the pressure vacuum zone, the transition zone, and the pressure-only zone, such that within tolerance, the three zones are substantially in one plane and may vary in length. By way of example, but not limitation, to provide a sense of calibration and proportion, for various specific embodiments of the floating platform of the present teachings, the transition zone may be approximately 400 mm, while the pressure-only zone may be approximately 2.5 m, and the pressure vacuum zone may be approximately 800 mm. In FIG. 11 , the pressure-only zones 2213 and 2214 do not provide a fluid spring with bidirectional stiffness, and therefore do not provide the control that the zone 2210 may provide. Thus, the flight altitude of a load may typically be greater over a pressure-only zone than the flight altitude of a substrate over a pressure-vacuum zone, in order to allow sufficient altitude so that the load will not collide with the floatation platform in the pressure-only zone. For example, but not limitation, it may be desirable to process an OLED panel substrate to have a flight altitude of between about 150 μ to about 300 μ over pressure-only zones (e.g., zones 2213 and 2214), and then have a flight altitude of between about 30 μ to about 50 μ over a pressure-vacuum zone (e.g., zone 2210).

In addition to the gas circulation and filtration system, various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings may also utilize a variety of devices, apparatuses, and systems to maintain a controlled gas packaging environment. For example, in addition to the gas circulation and filtration system for providing thorough and complete renewal of the gas in the interior of the gas package, a thermal regulation system utilizing a plurality of heat exchangers may also be provided to maintain the desired temperature in the interior of the gas package. For example, a plurality of heat exchangers may be provided that are operated by, adjacent to, or used in conjunction with a fan or another gas circulation device. The gas purification loop can be configured to circulate gas from the interior of the gas packaging assembly through at least one gas purification assembly outside the package. In this regard, the circulation and filtration system inside the gas packaging assembly combined with the gas purification loop outside the gas packaging assembly can provide a continuous circulation of a substantially low-particle inert gas with a substantially low content of reactive substances throughout the gas packaging system. According to the present teachings, an inert gas can be any gas that does not undergo a chemical reaction under a set of defined conditions. Some general non-limiting examples of inert gases can include any of nitrogen, rare gases, and any combination thereof. Various embodiments of gas containment systems having gas purification systems can be configured to maintain very low levels of undesirable components (e.g., organic solvents and their vapors, as well as water, water vapor, oxygen, and the like). Such embodiments of gas containment systems can maintain the content of each of various reactive species (including various reactive atmospheric source gases such as water vapor and oxygen, and organic solvent vapors) at 100 ppm or less, for example, at 10 ppm or less, at 1.0 ppm or less, or at 0.1 ppm or less.

FIG12 is a schematic diagram showing a gas packaging system 501. Various specific examples of the gas packaging system 501 according to the present teachings may include a gas packaging assembly 1101 for accommodating a printing system, a gas purification circuit 3130 in fluid communication with the gas packaging assembly 1101, and at least one thermal regulation system 3140. In addition, various specific examples of the gas packaging system 501 may have a pressurized inert gas recycling system 3000, which can be used to operate inert gas for various devices (e.g., a substrate floating stage for an OLED printing system). Various embodiments of the pressurized inert gas recirculation system 3000 may use a compressor, a blower, and a combination of the two as the source of various embodiments of the pressurized inert gas recirculation system 3000, as will be discussed in more detail later herein. In addition, the gas packaging system 501 may have a circulation and filtration system (not shown) inside the gas packaging system 501.

As depicted in FIG. 12 , for various embodiments of a gas packaging assembly according to the present teachings, the design of the piping system can separate the inert gas circulating through a gas purification loop 3130 from the inert gas continuously filtered and circulated internally of various embodiments of the gas packaging assembly. The gas purification loop 3130 includes an outlet line 3131 from the gas packaging assembly 1101 to a solvent removal assembly 3132 and then to a gas purification system 3134. The inert gas purified of solvents and other reactive gas species (e.g., oxygen and water vapor) is then returned to the gas packaging assembly 1101 via an inlet line 3133. The gas purification loop 3130 may also include appropriate piping and connections and sensors (e.g., oxygen, water vapor, and solvent vapor sensors). A gas circulation unit such as a fan, blower, or motor and the like may be provided separately or integrated into (e.g.) the gas purification system 3134 to circulate gas through the gas purification loop 3130. According to various specific examples of the gas packaging assembly, although the solvent removal system 3132 and the gas purification system 3134 are shown as separate units in the schematic diagram shown in FIG. 12, the solvent removal system 3132 and the gas purification system 3134 may be housed together as a single purification unit.

The gas purification loop 3130 of FIG12 may have a solvent removal system 3132 disposed upstream of the gas purification system 3134 such that the inert gas circulating from the gas packaging assembly 1101 passes through the solvent removal system 3132 via the outlet line 3131. According to various specific examples, the solvent removal system 3132 may be a solvent capture system based on adsorption of solvent vapors from the inert gas passing through the solvent removal system 3132 of FIG12. One or more beds of adsorbents (such as, but not limited to, activated carbon, molecular sieves, and the like) may effectively remove a wide variety of organic solvent vapors. For various embodiments of the gas packaging system, cold capture techniques may be used to remove solvent vapors in the solvent removal system 3132. As previously discussed herein, for various embodiments of the gas packaging system according to the present teachings, sensors (e.g., oxygen, water vapor, and solvent vapor sensors) may be used to monitor the effective removal of these species from the inert gas that is continuously circulated through the gas packaging system (e.g., gas packaging system 501 of FIG. 12 ). Various embodiments of the solvent removal system may indicate when an adsorbent (e.g., activated carbon, molecular sieves, and the like) has reached capacity so that the bed or beds of the adsorbent may be regenerated or replaced. Regeneration of molecular sieves may involve heating the molecular sieve, contacting the molecular sieve with a forming gas, combinations thereof, and the like. Molecular sieves configured to intercept various species, including oxygen, water vapor, and solvents, may be regenerated by heating and exposure to a forming gas comprising hydrogen (e.g., a forming gas comprising about 96% nitrogen and 4% hydrogen, where these percentages are by volume or by weight). Physical regeneration of activated carbon may be performed using a similar procedure of heating in an inert environment.

Any suitable gas purification system may be used for the gas purification system 3134 of the gas purification loop 3130 of FIG. 12 . Gas purification systems available from, for example, MBRAUN Inc. of Statham, New Hampshire, or Innovative Technology of Amesbury, Massachusetts, may be suitable for integration into various specific embodiments of gas packaging assemblies according to the present teachings. The gas purification system 3134 may be used to purify one or more inert gases in the gas packaging system 501, for example, to purify the entire gas atmosphere within the gas packaging assembly. As previously discussed herein, in order to circulate the gas through the gas purification loop 3130, the gas purification system 3134 may have a gas circulation unit, such as a fan, blower or motor and the like. At this point, the gas purification system can be selected depending on the volume of the package, which can define the volume flow rate at which the inert gas is moved through the gas purification system. For various specific examples of gas packaging systems having a gas packaging assembly with a volume of up to about 4 ^m3 , a gas purification system that can move about 84 ^m3 per hour can be used. For various embodiments of gas containment systems having a gas containment assembly having a volume of up to about 10 m ³ , a gas purification system that can move about 155 m ³ per hour can be used. For various embodiments of gas containment assemblies having a volume between about 52 m ³ and 114 m ³ , more than one gas purification system can be used.

Any suitable gas filter or purification device may be included in the gas purification system 3134 of the present teachings. In some embodiments, the gas purification system may include two parallel purification devices, so that one of the devices can be taken offline for maintenance and the other device can be used to continue system operation without interruption. For example, in some embodiments, the gas purification system may include one or more molecular sieves. In some embodiments, the gas purification system may include at least one first molecular sieve and one second molecular sieve, so that when one of the molecular sieves becomes saturated with impurities or is otherwise deemed to be operating inefficiently, the system can switch to another molecular sieve while regenerating the saturated or inefficient molecular sieve. A control unit may be provided for determining the operating efficiency of each molecular sieve, for switching between the operation of different molecular sieves, for regenerating one or more molecular sieves, or for combinations thereof. As previously discussed herein, molecular sieves may be regenerated and reused.

The thermal conditioning system 3140 of FIG. 12 may include at least one cooler 3142, which may have a fluid outlet line 3141 for circulating coolant into the gas packaging assembly, and a fluid inlet line 3143 for returning the coolant to the cooler. At least one fluid cooler 3142 may be provided for cooling the gas atmosphere within the gas packaging system 501. For various specific examples of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, the fluid cooler 3142 delivers the cooled fluid to a heat exchanger within the package, wherein an inert gas is delivered over a filter system inside the package. At least one fluid cooler may also be provided with the gas packaging system 501 to cool the heat released from the device encapsulated in the gas packaging system 501. For example (but not limited to), at least one fluid cooler may also be provided for the gas packaging system 501 to cool the heat released from the OLED printing system. The thermal regulation system 3140 may include a heat exchange or Peltier device and may have various cooling capacities. For example, for various specific instances of the gas packaging system, the cooler may provide a cooling capacity between about 2 kW and about 20 kW. Various specific instances of the gas packaging system may have a plurality of fluid coolers that can cool one or more fluids. In some embodiments, the fluid cooler can use a variety of fluids as coolants (such as, but not limited to, water, antifreeze, refrigerant, and combinations thereof) as heat exchange fluids. Appropriate leak-free, locking connections can be used in connecting associated piping and system components.

As discussed herein, the present teachings disclose various specific instances of a gas packaging system that may include a printing system package defining a first volume and an auxiliary package defining a second volume. Various specific instances of the gas packaging system may have an auxiliary package that may be sealably constructed as a section of a gas packaging assembly. According to the systems and methods of the present teachings, the auxiliary package may be sealably isolated from the printing system package and may be open to the environment outside the gas packaging assembly without exposing the printing system package to the external environment. This physical isolation of the auxiliary package may be performed to perform (for example, but not limited to) various print head management procedures to eliminate or minimize the exposure of the printing system package to contamination (e.g., air and water vapor and various organic vapors and particulate contamination). Various printhead management procedures, which may include metrology and maintenance procedures for the printhead assembly, may be performed with little or no interruption to the printing process, thereby minimizing or eliminating gas packaging system downtime.

For various specific examples of the systems and methods of the present teachings, the auxiliary packaging may be less than or equal to about 1% of the packaging volume of the gas packaging system. In various specific examples of the systems and methods of the present teachings, the auxiliary packaging may be less than or equal to about 2% of the packaging volume of the gas packaging system. For various specific examples of the systems and methods of the present teachings, the auxiliary packaging may be less than or equal to about 5% of the packaging volume of the gas packaging system. In various specific examples of the systems and methods of the present teachings, the auxiliary packaging may be less than or equal to about 10% of the packaging volume of the gas packaging system. In various specific examples of the systems and methods of the present teachings, the auxiliary packaging may be less than or equal to about 20% of the packaging volume of the gas packaging system. If, for example, a maintenance procedure dictates that the auxiliary package be opened to an ambient environment containing reactive gases, isolating the auxiliary package from the working volume of the gas package prevents contamination of the entire volume of the gas package. Additionally, given the relatively small volume of the auxiliary package compared to the printing system package portion of the gas package, the recovery time of the auxiliary package can be much less than the recovery time of the entire printing system package.

For a gas packaging system having a printing system package defining a first volume and an auxiliary package defining a second volume, the two volumes can be easily integrated with gas circulation, filtering and purification components to form a gas packaging system that can maintain an inert, substantially low-particle environment (for processes requiring such an environment) with little or no interruption to the printing process. According to various systems and methods of the present teachings, a printing system package can be introduced with an amount of contamination that is low enough that a purification system can remove the contamination before it can affect the printing process. Various specific examples of auxiliary packaging can be a substantially small volume of the total volume of the gas packaging assembly, and can be easily integrated with gas circulation, filtering and purification components to form an auxiliary packaging system that can quickly restore an inert, low-particle environment after exposure to the external environment, thereby with little or no interruption to the printing process.

According to the systems and methods of the present teachings, various specific examples of printing system packages and auxiliary packages constructed as sections of gas packaging assemblies can be constructed in a manner that provides separate volatile functions of frame assembly sections. In addition to having all disclosed elements, by way of non-limiting example, for gas packaging systems 500 and 501, the gas packaging system 502 of FIG. 13 can have a first gas packaging assembly section 1101-S1 of the gas packaging assembly 1101 that defines a first volume and a second gas packaging assembly section 1101-S2 of the gas packaging assembly 1101 that defines a second volume. If all valves _V1 , _V2 , _V3 , and _V4 are open, the gas purification loop 3130 operates substantially as previously described with respect to the gas package assembly and system 1101 of FIG. 12. With _V3 and _V4 closed, only the first gas package assembly section 1101-S1 is in fluid communication with the gas purification loop 3130. This valve state may be used, for example, but not limited to, when the second gas package assembly section 1101-S2 may be hermetically closed and thereby isolated from the first gas package assembly section 1101-S1 during various measurement and maintenance procedures that require the second gas package assembly section 1101-S2 to be open to atmosphere. With _V1 and _V2 closed, only the second gas package assembly section 1101-S2 is in fluid communication with the gas purification loop 3130. This valve state may be used, for example (but not limited to), during the recovery of the second gas package assembly section 1101-S2 after the section has been opened to the atmosphere. As previously discussed herein with respect to the present teachings in connection with FIG. 12, the total volume of the gas package assembly 1101 specifies the requirements for the gas purification loop 3130. Therefore, by dedicating the resources of the gas purification system to the recovery of a gas package assembly segment (e.g., the second gas package assembly segment 1101-S2, which for the gas package system 502 of Figure 13 is depicted as being significantly smaller in volume than the total volume of the gas package 1101), the recovery time can be substantially reduced.

In addition, various specific instances of the auxiliary package can be easily integrated with a set of dedicated environmental conditioning system components (e.g., lighting, gas circulation and filtration, gas purification and constant temperature components). In this regard, various specific instances of a gas packaging system including an auxiliary package that can be sealably isolated as a section of a gas packaging assembly can have a controlled environment that is configured to be consistent with a first volume defined by a gas packaging assembly that accommodates a printing system. In addition, various specific instances of a gas packaging system including an auxiliary package that can be sealably isolated as a section of a gas packaging assembly can have a controlled environment that is configured to be different from the controlled environment of the first volume defined by a gas packaging assembly that accommodates a printing system.

Recall that various embodiments of the gas encapsulation assembly utilized in embodiments of the gas encapsulation system of the present teachings may be constructed in a contoured manner that minimizes the internal volume of the gas encapsulation assembly while optimizing the working volume for accommodating various footprints of OLED printing system designs. For example, various embodiments of the contoured gas encapsulation assembly according to the present teachings may have a gas encapsulation volume of between about 6 m ³ and about 95 m ³ for various embodiments of the gas encapsulation assembly of the present teachings covering substrate sizes ranging from, for example, Gen 3.5 to Gen 10. Various embodiments of contoured gas packaging assemblies according to the present teachings may have, for example but not limited to, gas packaging volumes between about 15 m ³ and about 30 m ³ , which may be suitable for OLED printing on, for example, Gen 5.5 to Gen 8.5 substrate sizes. Various embodiments of the auxiliary package may be constructed as a section of the gas packaging assembly and readily integrated with gas circulation and filtration and purification components to form a gas packaging system that can maintain an inert, substantially low-particle environment for processes requiring such an environment.

As shown in Figures 12 and 13, various embodiments of the gas packaging system may include a pressurized inert gas recirculation system 3000. Various embodiments of the pressurized inert gas recirculation loop may utilize a compressor, a blower, and combinations thereof.

For example, as shown in Figures 14 and 15, various embodiments of gas packaging systems 503 and 504 may have an external gas loop 3200 for integrating and controlling an inert gas source 3201 and a clean dry air (CDA) source 3203 for use in various operating modes of gas packaging systems 503 and 504. Gas packaging systems 503 and 504 may also include various embodiments of internal particle filtration and gas circulation systems, as well as various embodiments of external gas purification systems as previously described. Such embodiments of gas packaging systems may include gas purification systems for purifying various reactive substances from inert gases. Some general non-limiting examples of inert gases may include any of nitrogen, noble gases, and any combination thereof. Various specific embodiments of gas purification systems according to the present teachings may maintain the content of each of various reactive species (including various reactive atmospheric source gases such as water vapor and oxygen, and organic solvent vapors) at 100 ppm or less, for example, at 10 ppm or less, at 1.0 ppm or less, or at 0.1 ppm or less. In addition to the external loop 3200 for integrating and controlling the inert gas source 3201 and the CDA source 3203, the gas packaging system 503 and the gas packaging system 504 may have a compressor loop 3250, which can be used to operate the inert gas of various devices and equipment that can be placed inside the gas packaging system 503 and the gas packaging system 504.

The compressor loop 3250 of FIG. 14 may include a compressor 3262, a first accumulator 3264, and a second accumulator 3268 configured to be fluidly connected. The compressor 3262 may be configured to compress the inert gas extracted from the gas packaging assembly 1101 to a desired pressure. The inlet side of the compressor loop 3250 may be fluidly connected to the gas packaging assembly 1101 via a line 3254 (having a valve 3256 and a check valve 3258) via a gas packaging assembly outlet 3252. The compressor loop 3250 may be in fluid communication with the gas package assembly 1101 on the outlet side of the compressor loop 3250 via the external gas loop 3200. An accumulator 3264 may be disposed between the compressor 3262 and the junction of the compressor loop 3250 and the external gas loop 3200 and may be configured to produce a pressure of 5 psig or more. A second accumulator 3268 may be in the compressor loop 3250 to provide a damping fluctuation due to the compressor piston cycle at about 60 Hz. For various embodiments of the compressor loop 3250, the first accumulator 3264 may have a capacity between about 80 gallons and about 160 gallons, and the second accumulator may have a capacity between about 30 gallons and about 60 gallons. According to various embodiments of the gas packaging system 503, the compressor 3262 may be a zero ingress compressor. Various types of zero ingress compressors may operate without leaking atmospheric source gas into various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings. Various embodiments of the zero-inlet compressor may be operated continuously, for example, during OLED printing processes utilizing various devices and apparatuses that require compressed inert gases.

The accumulator 3264 can be configured to receive and accumulate compressed inert gas from the compressor 3262. The accumulator 3264 can supply compressed inert gas in the gas packaging assembly 1101 as needed. For example, the accumulator 3264 can provide gas to maintain pressure for various components used in the gas packaging assembly 1101 (such as, but not limited to, one or more of a pneumatic robot, a substrate floatation table, an air bearing, an air bushing, a compressed gas tool, a pneumatic actuator, and combinations thereof). As shown in FIG. 14 for the gas packaging system 503, the gas packaging assembly 1101 can have an OLED printing system 2000 packaged therein. As schematically depicted in FIG. 14 , the inkjet printing system 2000 may be supported by a printing system base 2100, which may be a granite platform. The printing system base 2100 may support a substrate support device, such as a chuck, such as, but not limited to, a vacuum chuck, a substrate floating chuck with a pressure port, and a substrate floating chuck with a vacuum and pressure port. In various specific examples of the present teachings, the substrate support device may be a substrate floating table, such as, for example, a substrate floating table 2200 indicated in FIG. 14 . The substrate floating table 2200 may be used for frictionless support of a substrate. In addition to the low particle generation floating stage, the printing system 2000 may have a Y-axis motion system utilizing air bushings for frictionless Y-axis transport of substrates. Additionally, the printing system 2000 may have at least one X, Z axis carriage assembly, wherein motion control is provided by a low particle generation X-axis air bearing assembly. Various components of the low particle generation motion system (e.g., an X-axis air bearing assembly) may be used in place of, for example, various particle generation linear mechanical bearing systems. For various specific embodiments of the gas packaging and systems of the present teachings, the use of a variety of pneumatically operated devices and apparatus may provide low particle generation performance, as well as being low maintenance. The compressor loop 3250 can be configured to continuously supply pressurized inert gas to various components and devices of the gas packaging system 503. In addition to the supply of pressurized inert gas, the substrate floatation stage 2200 of the inkjet printing system 2000 utilizing air bearing technology also utilizes a vacuum system 3270, which is connected to the gas packaging assembly 1101 via line 3272 when valve 3274 is in the open position.

A pressurized inert gas recirculation system according to the present teachings may have a pressure controlled bypass loop 3260 as shown in FIG. 14 for the compressor loop 3250 to compensate for the variable demand for pressurized gas during use, thereby providing a dynamic balance for various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings. For various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system according to the present teachings, the bypass loop can maintain a constant pressure in the accumulator 3264 without disrupting or changing the pressure in the package 1101. The bypass loop 3260 may have a first bypass inlet valve 3261 on the inlet side of the bypass loop that is closed unless the bypass loop 3260 is used. The bypass loop 3260 may also have a back pressure regulator 3266 that may be used when the second valve 3263 is closed. The bypass loop 3260 may have a second accumulator 3268 disposed at the outlet side of the bypass loop 3260. For the specific example of the compressor loop 3250 utilizing a zero inlet compressor, the bypass loop 3260 may compensate for small drifts in pressure that may occur over time during use of the gas packaging system. When the bypass inlet valve 3261 is in the open position, the bypass loop 3260 can be in fluid communication with the compressor loop 3250 on the inlet side of the bypass loop 3260. When the bypass inlet valve 3261 is open, if the inert gas from the compressor loop 3250 is not needed inside the gas packaging assembly 1101, the inert gas diverted through the bypass loop 3260 can be recirculated to the compressor. The compressor loop 3250 is configured to divert the inert gas through the bypass loop 3260 when the pressure of the inert gas in the accumulator 3264 exceeds a preset critical pressure. The preset threshold pressure for accumulator 3264 may be between about 25 psig and about 200 psig at a flow rate of at least about 1 cubic foot per minute (cfm), or between about 50 psig and about 150 psig at a flow rate of at least about 1 cubic foot per minute (cfm), or between about 75 psig and about 125 psig at a flow rate of at least about 1 cubic foot per minute (cfm), or between about 90 psig and about 95 psig at a flow rate of at least about 1 cubic foot per minute (cfm).

Various specific embodiments of the compressor loop 3250 may utilize a variety of compressors other than a zero-inlet compressor, such as a variable speed compressor or a compressor that can be controlled to be in an on or off state. As previously discussed herein, a zero-inlet compressor ensures that no atmospheric reactive substances can be introduced into the gas packaging system. Thus, any compressor configuration that prevents atmospheric reactive substances from being introduced into the gas packaging system can be used for the compressor loop 3250. According to various specific embodiments, the compressor 3262 of the gas packaging system 503 can be housed in, for example, but not limited to, an airtight housing. The interior of the housing can be configured to be in fluid communication with a source of an inert gas (e.g., the same inert gas that forms the inert gas atmosphere for the gas enclosure assembly 1101). For various embodiments of the compressor loop 3250, the compressor 3262 can be controlled at a constant speed to maintain a constant pressure. In other embodiments of the compressor loop 3250 that do not utilize a zero inlet compressor, the compressor 3262 can be turned off when the maximum critical pressure is reached and turned on when the minimum critical pressure is reached.

15 , for the gas packaging system 504, a blower circuit 3280 utilizing a vacuum blower 3290 is shown for operating a substrate floatation stage 2200 of an inkjet printing system 2000 housed in a gas packaging assembly 1101. As previously discussed herein with respect to the compressor circuit 3250, the blower circuit 3280 can be configured to continuously supply pressurized inert gas to the substrate floatation stage 2200 of the printing system 2000.

Various specific examples of gas packaging systems that can utilize a pressurized inert gas recirculation system can have various loops that utilize a variety of pressurized gas sources, such as at least one of a compressor, a blower, and a combination thereof. In Figure 15, for the gas packaging system 504, the compressor loop 3250 can be fluidly connected to the external gas loop 3200 (which can be used to supply inert gas for use in the high consumption manifold 3225 and the low consumption manifold 3215). For various specific examples of gas packaging systems according to the present teachings, such as shown in Figure 15 for gas packaging system 504, high consumption manifold 3225 can be used to supply inert gas to various devices and equipment, such as (but not limited to), substrate floatation table, pneumatic robot, air bearing, air bushing and compressed gas tool and one or more of the combination thereof. For various specific examples of gas packaging systems according to the present teachings, low consumption 3215 can be used to supply inert gas to various devices and equipment, such as (but not limited to), isolators and pneumatic actuators and one or more of the combination thereof.

For various specific instances of the gas packaging system 504 of Figure 15, the blower loop 3280 can be used to supply pressurized inert gas to various specific instances of the substrate floating platform 2200, and the compressor loop 3250 fluidly connected to the external gas loop 3200 can be used to supply pressurized inert gas to (for example but not limited to) one or more of a pneumatic robot, an air bearing, an air bushing, and a compressed gas tool and a combination thereof. In addition to the supply of pressurized inert gas, the substrate floatation stage 2200 of the OLED inkjet printing system 2000 utilizing air bearing technology also utilizes a blower vacuum 3290, which communicates with the gas packaging assembly 1101 via line 3292 when valve 3294 is in the open position. The housing 3282 of the blower loop 3280 can maintain a first blower 3284 for supplying a pressurized inert gas source to the substrate floatation stage 2200, and a second blower 3290 (which is housed in the inert gas environment in the gas packaging assembly 1101) serving as a vacuum source for the substrate floatation stage 2200. Attributes that make the blower suitable for use as a source of pressurized inert gas or vacuum for various embodiments of the substrate floatation table include, for example, but not limited to, making it highly reliable; making it low maintenance, having variable speed control, and having a wide range of flow rates; various embodiments are capable of providing volumetric flow rates between about 100 m³/h and about 2,500 m³/h. Various embodiments of the blower loop 3280 may additionally have a first isolation valve 3283 at the inlet end of the blower loop 3280 and a check valve 3285 and a second isolation valve 3287 at the outlet end of the blower loop 3280. Various specific examples of the blower loop 3280 may have an adjustable valve 3286 (which may be, for example, but not limited to, a gate valve, a butterfly valve, a needle valve, or a ball valve) and a heat exchanger 3288 (for maintaining the inert gas from the blower loop 3280 to the substrate floating table 2200 at a defined temperature).

FIG. 15 depicts an external gas loop 3200 (also shown in FIG. 14 ) for integrating and controlling an inert gas source 3201 and a clean dry air (CDA) source 3203 for use in various operating modes of the gas packaging system 503 of FIG. 14 and the gas packaging system 504 of FIG. 15 . The external gas loop 3200 of FIGS. 14 and 15 may include at least four mechanical valves. These valves include a first mechanical valve 3202, a second mechanical valve 3204, a third mechanical valve 3206, and a fourth mechanical valve 3208. These various valves are located at locations in various flow lines that allow control of inert gas and air sources such as clean dry air (CDA). According to the present teachings, an inert gas can be any gas that does not undergo a chemical reaction under a set of defined conditions. Some general non-limiting examples of inert gases can include any of nitrogen, noble gases, and any combination thereof. An indoor inert gas line 3210 extends from an indoor inert gas source 3201. The indoor inert gas line 3210 continues to extend linearly as a low-consumption manifold line 3212 that is fluidly connected to a low-consumption manifold 3215. A cross-line first section 3214 extends from a first flow junction 3216 located at the intersection of the indoor inert gas line 3210, the low-consumption manifold line 3212, and the cross-line first section 3214. The cross-line first section 3214 extends to a second flow junction 3218. The compressor inert gas line 3220 extends from the accumulator 3264 of the compressor loop 3250 and terminates at the second flow junction 3218. The CDA line 3222 extends from the CDA source 3203 and continues as a high consumption manifold line 3224 in fluid communication with the high consumption manifold 3225. The third flow junction 3226 is located at the intersection of the crossover line second section 3228, the clean dry air line 3222, and the high consumption manifold line 3224. The crossover line second section 3228 extends from the second flow junction 3218 to the third flow junction 3226. During maintenance, CDA can be supplied to various components of high consumption via the high consumption manifold 3225. Isolating compressors with valves 3204, 3208 and 3230 prevents reactive materials such as oxygen and water vapor from contaminating the inert gas in the compressor and accumulator.

Continuous circulation and filtration of an inert gas in various embodiments of a gas containment assembly is part of a particle control system that provides for maintaining a substantially low particle environment within various embodiments of a gas containment system. Various embodiments of the gas circulation and filtration system may be designed to provide a low particle environment for airborne particles in accordance with the standards of the International Organization for Standardization Standards (ISO) 14644-1:1999, "Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments—Part 1: Classification of air cleanliness" (as designated by Class 1 through Class 5). Additionally, various components of the particle control system may exhaust particulates to the gas circulation and filtration system in order to maintain a low particle zone proximal to the substrate. Airborne particle determination may be performed for various embodiments of the gas packaging system prior to the printing process using, for example, a portable particle counting device for system validation. In various embodiments of the gas packaging system, airborne particle determination may be performed in situ while the substrate is being printed as an ongoing quality check. For various embodiments of the gas packaging system, airborne particle determination may be performed prior to printing the substrate and additionally in situ while the substrate is being printed for system validation.

Various specific examples of the gas circulation and filtration system are depicted in Figures 16 to 18. According to various specific examples of the gas circulation and filtration system of the present teachings, the duct system can be installed in the inner part formed by joining the wall frame and the top frame member. For various specific examples of the gas packaging assembly, the duct system can be installed during the construction process. According to various specific examples of the present teachings, the duct system can be installed in the gas packaging frame assembly that has been constructed from a plurality of frame members. In various specific examples, the duct system can be installed on the frame member before joining a plurality of frame members to form the gas packaging frame assembly. The piping system for various embodiments of the gas packaging system can be configured so that substantially all gas drawn into the piping system from one or more piping system inlets is moved through various embodiments of the gas filtration circuit inside the gas packaging assembly for removing particulate matter. In addition, the piping system for various embodiments of the gas packaging system can be configured to separate the inlet and outlet of the gas purification circuit outside the gas packaging assembly from the gas filtration circuit for removing particulate matter inside the gas packaging assembly. Various embodiments of the piping system according to the present teachings can be manufactured from metal sheets (for example, but not limited to, aluminum sheets having a thickness of approximately 80 mils).

FIG. 16 depicts a right front phantom perspective view of a circulation and filtration system 1500 that may include a ductwork assembly 1501 and a fan filter unit assembly 1502 of a gas enclosure assembly 100. The enclosure ductwork assembly 1501 may have a front wall panel ductwork assembly 1510. As shown, the front wall panel ductwork assembly 1510 may have a front wall panel inlet duct 1512, a first front wall panel riser 1514, and a second front wall panel riser 1516, both of which are in fluid communication with the front wall panel inlet duct 1512. The first front wall panel riser 1514 is shown having an outlet 1515 that sealably engages with the ceiling duct 1505 of the fan filter unit cover 103. In a similar manner, a second front wall panel riser 1516 is shown having an outlet 1517 that sealably engages with the ceiling duct 1507 of the fan filter unit cover 103. In this regard, the front wall panel duct system assembly 1510 provides for circulating an inert gas from the bottom through each front wall panel riser 1514 and 1516 within the gas enclosure using the front wall panel inlet duct 1512 and delivering air through outlets 1505 and 1507, respectively, so that the air can be filtered by, for example, the fan filter unit 1552 of the fan filter unit assembly 1502. Proximally located to the fan filter unit 1552 is a heat exchanger 1562 which serves as part of a thermal regulation system to maintain the inert gas circulating through the gas enclosure assembly 100 at a desired temperature.

The right wall panel duct system assembly 1530 may have a right wall panel inlet duct 1532 in fluid communication with a right wall panel upper duct 1538 via a right wall panel first riser 1534 and a right wall panel second riser 1536. The right wall panel upper duct 1538 may have a first duct inlet end 1535 and a second duct outlet end 1537 in fluid communication with a rear wall panel upper duct 1546 of the rear wall duct system assembly 1540. The left wall panel duct system assembly 1520 may have the same components as described for the right wall panel assembly 1530, with the left wall panel inlet duct 1522 and the first left wall panel riser 1524 in fluid communication with the left wall panel upper duct (not shown) via the first left wall panel riser 1524 being apparent in FIG. 16 . The rear wall panel duct system assembly 1540 may have a rear wall panel inlet duct 1542, which is in fluid communication with the left wall panel assembly 1520 and the right wall panel assembly 1530. In addition, the rear wall panel duct system assembly 1540 may have a rear wall panel bottom duct 1544, which may have a rear wall panel first inlet 1541 and a rear wall panel second inlet 1543. The rear wall panel bottom duct 1544 may be in fluid communication with the rear wall panel upper duct 1546 via a first bulkhead 1547 and a second bulkhead 1549, which bulkhead structures may be used to feed (for example, but not limited to) services from the outside of the gas enclosure assembly 100 to the inside. According to the present teachings, the service bundle may include (for example, but not limited to) optical cables, electrical cables, wires and piping and the like. Recall that a manufacturing facility may require substantial lengths of various service bundles that are operably connected from various systems and assemblies to provide the optical, electrical, mechanical, and fluid connections required to operate the printing system. Duct opening 1533 provides for removal of at least one service bundle out of the rear wall panel upper duct 1546, allowing the at least one service bundle to pass through the rear wall panel upper duct 1546 via bulkhead 1549. Bulkhead 1547 and bulkhead 1549 may be hermetically sealed externally using a removable insert panel, as previously described. The rear wall panel upper duct is in fluid communication with, for example but not limited to, a fan filter unit 1554 via vent 1545, one corner of which is shown in FIG. 16 . In this regard, the left wall panel duct system assembly 1520, the right wall panel duct system assembly 1530, and the rear wall panel duct system assembly 1540 provide for circulating inert gas from the bottom within the gas enclosure assembly using wall panel inlet ducts 1522, 1532, and 1542, respectively, and the rear panel lower duct 1544, which are in fluid communication with the vent 1545 via various risers, ducts, bulkhead passages, and the like as previously described. Thus, air can be filtered by, for example, the fan filter unit 1554 of the fan filter unit assembly 1502 of the circulation and filtration system 1500. Proximally located to the fan filter unit 1554 is a heat exchanger 1564 which, as part of a thermal regulation system, maintains at a desired temperature the inert gas circulating through the gas enclosure assembly 100. As will be discussed in greater detail later herein, the number, size, and shape of the fan filter units of a fan filter unit assembly (e.g., fan filter unit assembly 1502 of the circulation and filtering system 1500 including fan filter units 1552 and 1554) may be selected based on the physical location of the substrate in the printing system during processing. The number, size and shape of the fan filter units of the fan filter unit assembly selected with respect to the physical path of the substrate can be elements of a low particle gas packaging system that can provide a low particle zone closest to the substrate during the substrate manufacturing process.

In Figure 16, a cable feed is shown through opening 1533. As will be discussed in more detail later herein, various specific embodiments of the gas packaging assembly of the present teachings provide for passing a service bundle through a duct system. In order to eliminate leak paths formed around such service bundles, various methods for sealing cables, wires, and ducts of different sizes in the service bundle using conformal materials can be used. Also shown in Figure 16 for the packaged duct system assembly 1501 are duct I and duct II, which are shown as part of the fan filter unit cover 103. duct I provides an outlet for inert gas to an external gas purification system, while duct II returns the purified inert gas to the circulation and filtering loop inside the gas packaging assembly 100.

In FIG. 17 , a top phantom perspective view of the packaged ductwork assembly 1501 is shown. The symmetrical nature of the left wall panel ductwork assembly 1520 and the right wall panel ductwork assembly 1530 can be seen. For the right wall panel ductwork assembly 1530, the right wall panel inlet duct 1532 is in fluid communication with the right wall panel upper duct 1538 via the right wall panel first riser 1534 and the right wall panel second riser 1536. The right wall panel upper duct 1538 may have a first duct inlet end 1535 and a second duct outlet end 1537, which is in fluid communication with the rear wall panel upper duct 1546 of the rear wall ductwork assembly 1540. Similarly, the left wall panel duct system assembly 1520 may have a left wall panel inlet duct 1522, which is in fluid communication with the left wall panel upper duct 1528 via the left wall panel first riser 1524 and the left wall panel second riser 1526. The left wall panel upper duct 1528 may have a first duct inlet end 1525 and a second duct outlet end 1527, which is in fluid communication with the rear wall panel upper duct 1546 of the rear wall duct system assembly 1540. In addition, the rear wall panel duct system assembly may have a rear wall panel inlet duct 1542, which is in fluid communication with the left wall panel assembly 1520 and the right wall panel assembly 1530. In addition, the rear wall panel duct system assembly 1540 may have a rear wall panel bottom duct 1544, which may have a rear wall panel first inlet 1541 and a rear wall panel second inlet 1543. The rear wall panel bottom duct 1544 can be in fluid communication with the rear wall panel upper duct 1546 via the first bulkhead 1547 and the second bulkhead 1549. The duct system assembly 1501 as shown in Figures 16 and 17 can provide effective circulation of inert gas from the front wall panel duct system assembly 1510, which circulates inert gas from the front wall panel inlet duct 1512 to the ceiling panel ducts 1505 and 1507 via the forearm panel outlets 1515 and 1517, respectively, and circulates inert gas from the left wall panel assembly 1520, the right wall panel assembly 1530 and the rear wall panel duct system assembly 1540 which circulate air from the inlet ducts 1522, 1532 and 1542, respectively, to the vent 1545. Once the inert gas is exhausted into the enclosure area beneath the fan filter unit cover 103 of the enclosure 100 via the ceiling panel ducts 1505 and 1507 and the vents 1545, the inert gas so exhausted may be filtered by the fan filter units 1552 and 1554 of the fan filter unit assembly 1502. Additionally, the circulating inert gas may be maintained at a desired temperature by heat exchangers 1562 and 1564 which are part of a thermal conditioning system.

FIG. 18 is a bottom phantom view of the package duct system assembly 1501. The inlet duct system assembly 1509 includes the front wall panel inlet duct 1512, the left wall panel inlet duct 1522, the right wall panel inlet duct 1532, and the rear wall panel inlet duct 1542 that are in fluid communication with each other. As previously discussed herein, the duct I provides inert gas to the outlet of the external gas purification system, and the duct II returns the purified inert gas to the circulation and filtering loop inside the gas package assembly 100.

For each inlet duct included in the inlet duct system assembly 1509, there are distinct openings evenly distributed across the bottom of each duct, and for purposes of the present teachings, the collection of openings are specifically highlighted as opening 1511 of the front wall panel inlet duct 1512, opening 1521 of the left wall panel inlet duct 1522, opening 1531 of the right wall panel inlet duct 1532, and opening 1541 of the back wall panel inlet duct 1542. As evident across the bottom of each inlet duct, these openings provide for effective draw of inert gas within the package 100 for ongoing circulation and filtering. Continuous circulation and filtration of an inert gas of various embodiments of a gas containment assembly is part of a particle control system that can provide a substantially low particle environment maintained within various embodiments of a gas containment system. Various embodiments of the gas circulation and filtration system can be designed to provide a low particle environment for maintaining airborne particle levels that meet standards of International Standards Organization Standard (ISO) 14644-1:1999 (as designated by Class 1 through Class 5). In addition, service bundles that can include bundles of cables, wires, and tubing and the like can serve as a source of particulate matter. Therefore, feeding the service bundle through the piping system can contain the identified particle source within the piping system and discharge the particulate matter through the circulation and filtration system.

Various embodiments of the gas packaging system can have a particle control system that can maintain a substantially low particle environment, thereby providing an on-substrate particle specification for particles between about 0.1 μm or greater to about 10 μm or greater. For each of the target particle size ranges, various embodiments of the on-substrate particle specification can be easily converted from an average on-substrate particle distribution per square meter of substrate per minute to an average on-substrate particle distribution per substrate per minute. As previously discussed herein, this conversion can be easily performed via a known relationship between a substrate (e.g., a substrate of a particular generation size) and the corresponding area of that substrate generation. In addition, the average on-substrate particle distribution per square meter of substrate per minute can be easily converted to any of a variety of unit time expressions. For example, in addition to conversions between standard time units (e.g., seconds, minutes, and days), process-specific time units may also be used. For example, as discussed previously herein, a print cycle may be associated with a time unit.

Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets a substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 10 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets a substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 5 μm. In various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 2 μm. In various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 1 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 0.5 μm. For various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low-particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 0.3 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per minute per square meter of substrate for particles greater than or equal to 0.1 μm in size.

A manufacturing facility may require substantial lengths of various service bundles that are operably connected from various devices and systems to provide, for example, the optical, electrical, mechanical, and fluid connections required to operate a printing system. In accordance with the present teachings, a service bundle may include, for example but not limited to, optical cables, electrical cables, wires, and tubing, and the like. Various specific examples of service bundles in accordance with the present teachings may have a significant total dead volume as a result of the large amounts of void space created by bundling the various cables, wires, and tubing, and the like together in the service bundle. The total dead volume resulting from the large amounts of void space in the service bundle may result in the stagnation of large amounts of reactive gaseous materials that become stuck therein. This substantial source of reactive atmospheric source gas can significantly increase the recovery time of a gas package assembly, for example, after maintenance.

Thus, in addition to providing a component of a particle control system, feeding the service bundle through the ductwork can reduce the recovery time of a gas package assembly with respect to reactive species; thereby more quickly bringing the gas package assembly back into specification for use in performing air sensitive processes. For various specific embodiments of the presently taught gas package system for printed OLED devices, each of the various reactive species, including various reactive atmospheric source gases such as water vapor and oxygen, and organic solvent vapors, can be maintained at 100 ppm or less, e.g., at 10 ppm or less, at 1.0 ppm or less, or at 0.1 ppm or less.

To understand how cabling fed through ductwork can result in reduced time spent purging reactive bulk gas from dead volume created by void space in a service bundle (created as a result of bundling various optical cables, electrical cables, wires, fluid tubing, and the like), reference is made to Figures 19A, 19B, and 20. Figure 19A depicts an expanded view of a service bundle I, which can be a bundle that can include tubing such as tubing A, which can be used, for example, to deliver various inks, solvents, and the like to a printing system (e.g., printing system 1050 of Figure 13A). The service bundle I of FIG. 19A may additionally include electrical wiring (e.g., wire B) or cables (e.g., cable C), which may be coaxial cables or optical cables. Such tubing, wires, and cables included in the service bundle may be routed from the outside to the inside to connect to the various devices and apparatus that make up the OLED printing system. As seen in the hatched area of FIG. 19A , the void space in the service bundle may create a significant dead volume D. In the schematic perspective view of FIG. 19B , an inert gas III may be continuously swept through the bundle as it is fed into the service bundle I via conduit II. The expanded cross-sectional view of Figure 20 depicts how an inert gas continuously sweeping through bundled tubing, wires, and cables can effectively increase the removal rate of plugged reactive species from a dead volume formed in a service bundle. The diffusion rate of reactive species A out of the dead volume as indicated by the aggregated area occupied by species A in Figure 20 is inversely proportional to the concentration of reactive species outside the dead volume as indicated by the aggregated area occupied by inert gas species B in Figure 20. That is, if the concentration of reactive species is high in the volume just outside the dead volume, the diffusion rate decreases. If the concentration of the reactive substance in this area is continuously reduced from the volume just outside the dead volume space due to the flow of the inert gas, the diffusion rate of the reactive substance from the dead volume increases by mass effect. In addition, by the same principle, when the blocked reactive substance is effectively removed from those spaces, the inert gas can diffuse into the dead volume.

FIG. 21A is a perspective view of the rear corner of various embodiments of the gas encapsulation assembly 101, and also has a phantom view of the interior of the gas encapsulation assembly 101 through the return duct 1605. For various embodiments of the gas encapsulation assembly 101, the rear wall panel 1640 may have an insert panel 1610 configured to provide access to, for example, an electrical bulkhead. The service bundle may be fed through the bulkhead to a cable routing duct (e.g., duct 1632 shown in the right wall panel 1630), for which the removable insert panel has been removed to reveal the service bundle routed to the first service bundle duct entry 636. From there, the service bundle can be fed into the interior of the gas package assembly 101 and is shown as being inside the gas package assembly 101 in the phantom view through the return duct 1605. Various specific embodiments of the gas package assembly for service bundle cabling can have more than one service bundle inlet, such as shown in Figure 21A, which depicts a first service bundle duct inlet 1634 and a second service bundle duct inlet 1636 for another service bundle. Figure 21B depicts an expanded view of the first service bundle duct inlet 1634 for a cable, wire and tubing bundle. The first service bundle duct inlet 1634 can have an opening 1631 designed to form a seal with a sliding cover 1633. In various specific examples, the opening 1631 can accommodate a flexible sealing module (e.g., a flexible sealing module provided by Roxtec Company for cable entry seals) that can accommodate cables, wires, pipes, and the like of various diameters in a service bundle. Alternatively, the top 1635 of the sliding cover 1633 and the upper portion 1637 of the opening 1631 can have a conformal material disposed on each surface so that the conformal material can form a seal around cables, wires, pipes, and the like of various sizes of diameters in a service bundle fed through an entry (e.g., the first service bundle duct entry 1634).

As depicted in Figures 22 and 23, one or more fan filter units may be configured to provide a substantial upper flow of gas through the interior of the gas encapsulation assembly. According to various specific embodiments of the circulation and filtration system for the gas encapsulation assembly of the present teachings, one or more fan units are disposed adjacent to a first interior surface of the gas encapsulation assembly, and one or more duct system inlets are disposed adjacent to a second opposing interior surface of the gas encapsulation assembly. For example, the gas enclosure assembly may include an inner top plate and a bottom inner periphery, the one or more fan units may be positioned adjacent to the inner top plate, and the one or more duct system inlets may include a plurality of inlet openings positioned adjacent to the bottom inner periphery, the inlet openings being part of the duct system, as shown in Figures 16 to 18.

FIG22 is a cross-sectional view taken along the length of a gas packaging system 505 according to various specific examples of the present teachings. The gas packaging system 505 of FIG22 may include a gas packaging assembly 1100 that may house an OLED inkjet printing system 2001 as well as a circulation and filtration system 1500, a gas purification system 3130 (FIGS. 12 and 13), and a thermal conditioning system 3140. The circulation and filtration system 1500 may include a duct system assembly 1501 and a fan filter unit assembly 1502. The thermal conditioning system 3140 may include a fluid cooler 3142 that is in fluid communication with a cooler outlet line 3141 and with a cooler inlet line 3143. The cooled fluid can exit the fluid cooler 3142, flow through the cooler outlet line 3141, and be passed to the heat exchanger, which can be located closest to each of the plurality of fan filter units for various specific examples of the gas packaging system, as shown in Figure 22. The fluid can be returned to the cooler 3142 from the heat exchanger closest to the fan filter unit via the cooler inlet line 3143 to maintain a constant desired temperature. As previously discussed herein, the cooler outlet line 3141 and the cooler inlet line 3143 are in fluid communication with a plurality of heat exchangers including the first heat exchanger 1562, the second heat exchanger 1564, and the third heat exchanger 1566. According to various specific examples of the gas packaging system 505 as shown in Figure 22, the first heat exchanger 1562, the second heat exchanger 1564 and the third heat exchanger 1566 are thermally connected to the first fan filter unit 1552, the second fan filter unit 1554 and the third fan filter unit 1556 of the fan filter unit assembly 1502 of the circulation and filtering system 1500, respectively.

In FIG22 , a number of arrows depict air flow in the circulation and filtration system 1500 to provide low-particle filtered air within the gas packaging assembly 1100. In FIG22 , the duct system assembly 1501 may include a first duct system line 1573 and a second duct system line 1574, as depicted in the simplified schematic diagram of FIG22 . The first duct system line 1573 may receive gas via a first duct system inlet 1571 and may discharge via a first duct system outlet 1575. Similarly, the second duct system line 1574 may receive gas via a second duct system inlet 1572 and discharge via a second duct system outlet 1576. In addition, as shown in Figure 22, the duct system assembly 1501 separates the inert gas that is recirculated internally through the fan filter unit assembly 1502 by effectively defining a space 1580 that can be fluidly connected to the gas purification system 3130 through the gas purification outlet line 3131 and the gas purification inlet line 3133. This circulation system, including various specific examples of the duct system as described for Figures 16 to 18, provides substantial top flow, minimizes turbulence, promotes circulation, renewal and filtering of particulate matter in the gas atmosphere inside the package, and provides circulation through the gas purification system outside the gas package assembly.

FIG23 is a cross-sectional view taken along the length of a gas packaging system 506 according to various specific examples of the gas packaging system according to the present teachings. Like the gas packaging system 505 of FIG22 , the gas packaging system 506 of FIG23 may include a gas packaging assembly 1100 that may house an OLED inkjet printing system 2001 as well as a circulation and filtration system 1500, a gas purification system 3130 ( FIG15 ), and a thermal conditioning system 3140. The circulation and filtration system 1500 may include a duct system assembly 1501 and a fan filter unit assembly 1502. For various specific examples of the gas packaging system 506, a thermal conditioning system 3140, which may include a fluid cooler 3142 in fluid communication with the cooler outlet line 3141 and with the cooler inlet line 3143, may be in fluid communication with a plurality of heat exchangers (e.g., the first heat exchanger 1562 and the second heat exchanger 1564 as depicted in FIG23). According to various specific examples of the gas packaging system 506 as shown in FIG22, various heat exchangers such as the first heat exchanger 1562 and the second heat exchanger 1564 may be in thermal communication with the circulating inert gas by being positioned proximate to a duct outlet (e.g., the first duct outlet 1575 and the second duct outlet 1576 of the duct assembly 1501). At this point, the inert gas returned for filtering from the duct inlet (e.g., duct inlet, e.g., first duct system inlet 1571 and second duct system inlet 1572 of duct system assembly 1501) can be thermally conditioned before circulating through, for example, the first fan filter unit 1552, the second fan filter unit 1554 and the third fan filter unit 1556 of the fan filter unit assembly 1502 of FIG. 23, respectively.

As can be seen from the arrows showing the direction of inert gas circulation through the package in Figures 22 and 23, the fan filter unit can be configured to provide a substantial upper flow from the top of the package downward toward the bottom. Fan filter units available from, for example, Flanders Corporation of Washington, North Carolina or Envirco Corporation of Sanford, North Carolina may be suitable for integration into various embodiments of gas package assemblies according to the present teachings. Various embodiments of fan filter units may exchange between about 350 cubic feet per minute (CFM) and about 700 CFM of inert gas through each unit. As shown in Figures 22 and 23, when fan-filter units are configured in parallel and not in series, the amount of inert gas that can be exchanged in a system containing multiple fan-filter units is proportional to the number of units used.

Near the bottom of the package, the gas flow is directed toward a plurality of duct system inlets (schematically indicated in Figures 22 and 23 as first duct system inlet 1571 and second duct system inlet 1572 of duct system assembly 1501). As previously discussed herein with respect to Figures 16-18, positioning the duct inlets substantially at the bottom of the package and causing a downward gas flow from the upper fan filter unit facilitates good renewal of the gas atmosphere within the package and promotes thorough renewal and movement of the entire gas atmosphere through the gas purification system used in conjunction with the package. By circulating the gas atmosphere through a piping system and using a circulation and filtering system 1500 (the piping system assembly 1501 separates the inert gas flow for circulation through the gas purification loop 3130) to promote laminar flow and thorough renewal of the gas atmosphere in the package, in various specific embodiments of the gas package assembly, the content of each of the reactive substances such as water and oxygen and each of the solvents can be maintained at 100 ppm or less, for example, 1 ppm or less, for example, at 0.1 ppm or less.

FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of the front portion of a gas encapsulation system 507, which may be a schematic diagram of the front portion of the gas encapsulation system 505 of FIG. 22. In FIG. 24, more details of the printing system 2001 depicted as encapsulated in the gas encapsulation system 507 can be seen. Various specific embodiments of the gas encapsulation system of the present teachings with a particle control system can provide a low particle zone proximate to a substrate (e.g., substrate 2050 of FIG. 24), which can be supported by a substrate support device 2200. The substrate support device 2200 of the printing system 2001 of various specific embodiments of the printing system can be a chuck or a floating table. As discussed previously herein, various specific examples of gas circulation and filtering systems according to the present teachings may include a duct system assembly (e.g., duct system assembly 1501 of FIG. 24 ) and a fan filter unit assembly (e.g., fan filter unit assembly 1502 , wherein fan filter unit 1552 is shown in the front schematic of FIG. 24 ) that may have a plurality of fan filter units. The gas flow indicated by the arrows depicts the laminar flow of the filtered gas proximate to the substrate 2050 . Recall that a laminar flow environment minimizes turbulence and creates a substantially low-particle environment that maintains airborne particle levels consistent with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14644-1:1999 (as designated by Class 1 through Class 5).

As will be discussed in more detail later herein, for various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, an effective gas circulation and filtration system may be part of the particle control system. However, the various particle control systems of the present teachings also prevent particle generation proximate to the substrate during the printing process. As depicted in FIG. 24 for the gas packaging assembly 1100 of the gas packaging system 507, the substrate 2050 may be proximate to the various components of the printing system 2001 that may generate particles. For example, the X, Z carriage assembly 2300 may include components such as a linear bearing system that may generate particles. The service bundle housing 2410 may contain a particle generation service bundle that is operably connected from various devices and systems to the gas packaging system including the printing system. Various specific examples of service bundles may include bundles of optical fibers, electrical cables, wires, tubing, and the like used to provide optical, electrical, mechanical, and fluidic functions for various components and systems housed within the interior of a gas enclosure system.

The gas packaging system of the present teachings may have various components that provide a particle control system. Various specific examples of the particle control system may include a gas circulation and filtration system that is fluidly connected to the trapped particle generation components, so that such trapped particle components can be exhausted into the gas circulation and filtration system. For various specific examples of the particle control system, the trapped particle generation components can be exhausted into the dead space, thereby rendering such particulate matter unavailable for recirculation within the gas packaging system. Various specific examples of the gas packaging system of the present teachings may have a particle control system, and various components used in the particle control system may be inherently low-particle generating, thereby preventing particles from accumulating on the substrate during the printing process. Various components of the particle control system of the present teachings may utilize containment and exhaust of particle generating components, as well as selection of components that are inherently low in particle generation, to provide a low particle zone proximate to the substrate.

According to various specific embodiments of a gas packaging system for an OLED printing system, the number of fan filter units may be selected according to the physical location of the substrate in the printing system during processing. Thus, the number of fan filter units may vary according to the travel of the substrate through the gas packaging system. For example, FIG. 25 is a cross-sectional view taken along the length of a gas packaging system 508 (which is a gas packaging system similar to the gas packaging system depicted in FIG. 9 ). The gas packaging system 508 may include a gas packaging assembly 1100 that houses an OLED inkjet printing system 2001 supported on a gas packaging assembly base 1320. The substrate float stage 2200 of the OLED printing system defines the path through which a substrate may move in the gas packaging system 508 during processing of the substrate. Thus, the fan filter unit assembly 1502 of the gas packaging system 508 has an appropriate number of fan filter units (shown as 1551-1555) corresponding to the physical path through which a substrate may move in the inkjet printing system 2001 during processing. In addition, the schematic cross-sectional view of Figure 25 depicts the outlines of various specific examples of gas packaging, which can effectively reduce the volume of inert gas required during the OLED printing process, while also making it easy to access the interior of the gas packaging assembly 1100 remotely (for example) during processing using gloves installed in various glove ports or directly through various removable panels during maintenance operations.

FIG. 26 depicts a printing system 2002 according to various embodiments of printing systems of the present teachings. The printing system 2002 can have many of the features previously described with respect to the printing system 2000 of FIG. 10B . The printing system 2002 can be supported by a printing system base 2101 . Orthogonal to and mounted on the printing system base 2101 can be a first riser 2120 and a second riser 2122 to which a bridge 2130 can be mounted. For various embodiments of the inkjet printing system 2002 , the bridge 2130 can support at least one X-axis carriage assembly 2300 that can move in the X-axis direction relative to the substrate support 2250 through the service bundle carrier extension 2401 . As will be discussed in greater detail later herein, for various embodiments of the printing system 2002, the X-axis carriage assembly 2300 can utilize a linear air bearing motion system that is inherently low in particle generation. In accordance with various embodiments of the printing system of the present teachings, the X-axis carriage can have a Z-axis translation plate mounted thereon. In FIG. 26 , the X-axis carriage assembly 2300 is depicted having a first Z-axis translation plate 2315. In various embodiments of the printing system 2002, a second X-axis carriage assembly can be mounted on the bridge 2130, which can also have a Z-axis translation plate mounted thereon. At this point, similar to the printing system 2000 of FIG. 10B , for various specific examples of the OLED inkjet printing system 2002, there may be two carriage assemblies, each having a print head assembly, such as the print head assembly 2500 of FIG. 26 , and a second print head assembly mounted on a second X, Z axis carriage assembly (not shown). In various specific examples of the printing system 2002, the first print head assembly (such as the print head assembly 2500 of FIG. 26 ) may be mounted on the first X, Z axis carriage assembly, and a camera system for inspecting features of the substrate 2050 may be mounted on the second X, Z axis carriage assembly (not shown). In various specific examples of the printing system 2002 of Figure 26, a print head assembly (e.g., print head assembly 2500 of Figure 26) can be mounted on an X, Z axis bracket assembly, and a UV lamp or heat source for curing the encapsulation layer printed on the substrate 2050 can be mounted on a second X, Z axis bracket assembly (not shown).

According to various embodiments of the printing system 2002, the substrate support device 2250 can be a floating table, which is similar to the floating table 2200 of the printing system 2000 of Figure 10B, wherein a substrate can be contained in the X, Y plane, and the floating table can be used to fix a stable Z-axis flying height. In various embodiments of the printing system 2002, the substrate support device 2250 can be a chuck. In various embodiments of the printing system 2002, the chuck can have a top surface 2252 for mounting the substrate. In various embodiments of the printing system 2002, the top surface 2252 can support a replaceable top plate, thereby achieving easy interchangeability between different substrate sizes and types. In various embodiments of the printing system 2002, the top plate can accommodate multiple substrates of different sizes and types. In various embodiments of the printing system 2002 that can utilize a chuck as a substrate support device, the substrate can be securely held on the chuck during the printing process using vacuum, magnetic, or mechanical means known in the art. The precision XYZ motion system can have various components for positioning a substrate mounted on the substrate support device 2250 relative to the printhead assembly 2500, which can include a Y-axis motion assembly 2355, and an X, Z carriage assembly 2300. The substrate support device 2250 can be mounted on a Y-axis motion assembly 2355 and can move on a rail system 2360 using, for example but not limited to, a linear bearing system (using mechanical bearings or air bearings). For various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system, the air bearing motion system facilitates frictionless transport of the substrate placed on the substrate support device 2250 in the Y-axis direction. The Y-axis motion system 2355 can also use dual rail motion, again, provided by a linear air bearing motion system or a linear mechanical bearing motion system, as appropriate. Other precision XYZ motion systems can be used in accordance with the present teachings, such as, but not limited to, various specific embodiments of a 3-axis overhead system. For example, various embodiments of a 3-axis overhead system may have an X, Z carriage assembly mounted on an overhead bridge for precise X, Z axis movement, wherein the overhead may be precisely moved in the Y axis direction.

In addition to the gas circulation and filtration systems for maintaining a low particle environment within the gas encapsulation system, various embodiments of the printing system (e.g., the printing system 2000 of FIG. 10B and the printing system 2002 of FIG. 26 ) may also have additional components integrated into the gas encapsulation system that prevent particle generation proximate to the substrate during the printing process. For example, the printing system 2000 of FIG. 10B and the printing system 2002 of FIG. 26 may have an inherently low particle generation X-axis motion system in which a linear air bearing system 2320 may be used to mount and position the X, Z carriage assembly 2300 on the bridge 2130. In addition, the printing system 2000 of FIG. 10B and the printing system 2002 of FIG. 26 may have a service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 for confining and exhausting particles generated from the service bundle.

In accordance with the present teachings, a service bundle may include (by way of non-limiting example) optical cables, electrical cables, wires, tubing, and the like. Various specific embodiments of the service bundle of the present teachings may be operably connected to various components and devices in a gas packaging system to provide the optical, electrical, mechanical, and fluid connections required in the operation of various components and devices associated with (for example, but not limited to) a printing system. In view of the size and complexity of various service bundles, various motion systems often require a service bundle carrier to manage the service bundle as the service bundle is moved with the motion system. For various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, the service bundle carrier may be a flexible band for tying bundles of cables, wires, tubing, and the like together at regular intervals. For various embodiments of the gas encapsulation system of the present teachings, the service bundle carrier can be a sheath or jacket of the service bundle that can cover a bundle of cables, wires, tubing, and the like. In various embodiments of the gas encapsulation system of the present teachings, the service bundle carrier can be molded together with the bundle of cables, wires, tubing, and the like of the service bundle. In various embodiments, the service bundle carrier can be a segmented or flexible chain that can support and carry the bundle of cables, wires, tubing, and the like.

Various specific examples of gas encapsulation systems according to the present teachings may include a service bundle managed using a service bundle carrier, wherein a service bundle enclosure may contain particulate matter generated from the service bundle and the service bundle carrier within the service bundle enclosure. Additionally, as will be discussed in greater detail later herein, the movement of the service bundle carrier may compress the volume of air in a piston-like manner as it moves within the service bundle enclosure, thereby creating a positive pressure differential between the interior service bundle enclosure and the surrounding environment outside the service bundle enclosure, which may allow particulate matter generated from a particle generating component associated with the service bundle carrier to escape through an opening formed, for example, by an extension of the carrier. Such particles in close proximity to the substrate have a high probability of contaminating the substrate surface before being swept away into the circulation and filtration system. Therefore, the service bundle enclosure exhaust system can be a component of various embodiments of a particle control system that can contain and exhaust the gas packaging system of the service bundle enclosure to ensure a substantially low particle printing environment.

As shown in FIG26 and indicated by the dotted line, for various specific examples of the service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400, the service bundle enclosure 2410 and the service bundle enclosure exhaust space 2420 can be an integral assembly. For these specific examples, the service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 can ensure that a positive pressure difference between the inlet portion and the outlet portion of the service bundle enclosure can be maintained for exhausting particles generated in the service bundle enclosure 2410 into the gas circulation and filtering system via the service bundle enclosure exhaust space first duct 2422 and the service bundle enclosure exhaust space second duct 2424. Alternatively, for various specific examples, the service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 may include a service bundle enclosure exhaust space 2420 that may be mounted to the service bundle enclosure 2410 and in fluid communication with the service bundle enclosure. The service bundle enclosure 2410 may contain particles generated by the service bundle, which may include bundled optical cables, electrical cables, wires, and tubing, and the like. Various specific examples of the service bundle of the present teachings may provide a gas packaging system, which may include a printing system, wherein at least one of the optical, electrical, mechanical, and fluid functions for various assemblies and systems is disposed within the interior of the gas packaging. For various specific examples of the printing system 2002, the service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 can ensure that a positive pressure difference can be maintained between the inlet and outlet portions of the service bundle enclosure, so as to discharge particles trapped in the service bundle enclosure 2410 into the service bundle enclosure exhaust space 2420. The service bundle enclosure exhaust space 2420 can be fluidly connected to the gas circulation and filtering system via the service bundle enclosure exhaust space first pipe 2422 and the service bundle enclosure exhaust space second pipe 2424. Alternatively, the service bundle enclosure exhaust space first pipe 2422 and the service bundle enclosure exhaust space second pipe 2424 may be equipped with flexible exhaust hoses so that particles enclosed by the service bundle enclosure may be discharged through the service bundle enclosure exhaust space and guided into the target dead space through the flexible exhaust hoses.

Furthermore, in addition to maintaining a positive pressure differential between an inlet portion and an outlet portion of a service beam enclosure exhaust system, for various specific embodiments of the service beam enclosure exhaust system, a relatively neutral or negative pressure differential between the interior of the service beam enclosure exhaust system and the surrounding environment may be further maintained. This relatively neutral or negative pressure differential that may be maintained between the interior of the service beam enclosure exhaust system and the surrounding environment may prevent particles from leaking from the service beam enclosure exhaust system through cracks, gaps, and the like. Particles that leak through cracks, gaps, and the like in close proximity to a substrate have a high probability of contaminating the surface of the substrate before being swept away into the circulation and filtration system.

FIG. 27A depicts a side cross-sectional view of a low particle generation X-axis motion system 2320 according to various specific examples of the present teachings. In FIG. 27A , the low particle generation X-axis motion system 2320 is depicted in relation to a service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400, which, as shown in FIG. 27A , can have a service bundle enclosure 2410 and a service bundle enclosure exhaust space 2420 in fluid communication with a service bundle enclosure exhaust space first conduit 2422. The printing system 2002 can include a base 2101 on which a substrate support device 2250 can be mounted. The X, Z bracket assembly 2300 can be mounted to the bridge 2130. As can be seen in the cross-sectional view presented in FIG27A, the X-axis motion system 2320 can be a linear air bearing motion system that is inherently low in particle generation. The X-axis motion system 2320 can include a plurality of air bearing discs 2330 and a brushless linear motor 2340. The service bundle carrier 2430 can be mounted to the X, Z bracket assembly 2300 and can be housed in the service bundle enclosure 2410. As depicted in FIG27A, the service bundle enclosure exhaust space 2420 can be in fluid communication with the service bundle enclosure 2410, and in fluid communication with a gas circulation and filtration system via a duct system (e.g., a service bundle enclosure exhaust space first duct 2422). In this regard, the service bundle housing 2410 can exhaust particles generated by various embodiments of the service bundle. A service bundle according to the present teachings can be a bundle that can include, for example, but not limited to, optical cables, electrical cables, wires, and tubing, and the like, and various embodiments of the service bundle carrier 2430 can be used to manage the bundle. Various embodiments of the service bundle of the present teachings can be operably connected to a printing system to provide various optical, electrical, mechanical, and fluid connections required to operate, for example, but not limited to, the printing system. For various embodiments of the gas package of the present teachings, the service bundle carrier (e.g., service bundle carrier 2430) can be supported by the bottom side 2404 of the service bundle housing. For various specific embodiments of gas packaging of the present teachings, a service bundle carrier (e.g., service bundle carrier 2430) can be supported by a tray or a rack.

FIG. 27B is an expanded view of FIG. 27A, which depicts in more detail the low particle generation X-axis motion system 2320 of the printing system 2002. A plurality of air bearing discs 2330 may be mounted to the inner surface of the X, Z axis carriage assembly 2300. In this regard, various specific embodiments of the low particle generation X-axis motion system 2320 may provide frictionless travel of the X, Z axis carriage assembly 2300 on the bridge 2130. In FIG. 27A, a first disc 2332 and a second disc 2334 are shown closest to the first side 2132 of the bridge 2130. The third disk 2336 of FIG. 27B may be closest to the top surface 2133 of the bridge 2130, and the fourth disk 2338 may be closest to the second side 2134 of the bridge 2130. The brushless linear motor may include an X, Z axis bracket assembly magnet track 2342 that may be mounted on the bridge 2130 and a linear motor winding 2344 that may be mounted to the X, Z axis bracket assembly 2300. An encoder reading head 2346 may be associated with the linear motor winding 2344 for positioning the linear motor 2340. In various specific examples of the brushless linear motor 2340, the encoder reading head 2346 may be an optical encoder. As will be discussed in greater detail later herein, various embodiments of the low particle X-axis motion system 2320 utilizing a frictionless air bearing disc may be integrated with various embodiments of the compressor loop, as shown and described with respect to FIGS. 33 and 34. Finally, as shown in FIG. 27B, a service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 may include a service bundle enclosure 2410 that may house a service bundle carrier 2430. The service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 may contain and exhaust particles from the service bundle enclosure 2410 that may be generated in the service bundle, and a service bundle carrier (e.g., service bundle carrier 2430) may be used to manage the service bundle.

FIG. 28A is a front perspective view of a printing system 2003 shown with a service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 mounted on a bridge 2130. Various specific examples of the printing system 2003 can have many of the features previously described with respect to the printing system 2000 of FIG. 10B and the printing system 2002 of FIG. 26. For example, the printing system 2003 can be supported by a printing system base 2101. Orthogonal to and mounted on the printing system base 2101 can be a first riser 2120 and a second riser 2122, to which the bridge 2130 can be mounted. For various embodiments of the inkjet printing system 2003, the bridge 2130 can support at least one X-axis carriage assembly 2300 that can move in the X-axis direction relative to the substrate support device 2250 through the service bundle carrier extension 2401. According to various embodiments of the printing system of the present teachings, the X-axis carriage 2300 can have a Z-axis translation plate 2310 mounted thereon. In this regard, various embodiments of the carriage assembly 2300 can provide accurate X, Z positioning of the printhead assembly 2500 with respect to the substrate support device 2250. In various specific examples of the printing system 2003, a second X-axis carriage assembly can be mounted on the bridge portion 2130, and the second X-axis carriage can have a Z-axis moving plate mounted thereon. For specific examples of the printing system 2003 having two X-axis carriage assemblies, a print head assembly can be mounted on each X, Z-axis carriage, or various other devices (e.g., such as cameras, UV lamps, and heat sources, as described for the printing system 2000 of FIG. 10B and the printing system 2002 of FIG. 26) can be mounted on the two X, Z-axis carriage assemblies. According to various specific examples of the printing system 2003, the substrate support device 2250 for supporting the substrate may be a floating table (similar to the floating table 2200 of the printing system 2000 of FIG. 10B), or it may be a chuck, as previously described for the printing system 2002 of FIG. 26. The printing system 2003 of FIG. 28A may have an inherently low particle generation X-axis motion system, in which the X, Z carriage assembly 2300 may be mounted and positioned on the bridge 2130 using an air bearing linear slider assembly. For various printing systems of the present teachings, an air bearing linear slider assembly may surround the entire bridge portion 2130, thereby allowing frictionless movement of the X, Z carriage assembly 2300 on the bridge portion 2130, and providing a three-point mount that maintains the accuracy of the travel of the X, Z carriage assembly 2300, and resists deflection.

With respect to precise movement of the substrate relative to the printhead assembly, various embodiments of the printing system 2003 of FIG. 28A may have a precise XYZ motion system that may include a Y-axis motion assembly 2355 in addition to the X, Z carriage assembly 2300. The substrate support 2250 may be mounted on the Y-axis motion assembly 2355 and may be moved on a rail system 2360 using, for example but not limited to, a linear bearing system (using mechanical bearings or air bearings). For various embodiments of the gas packaging system, the air bearing motion system facilitates frictionless transport of the substrate placed on the substrate support 2250 in the Y-axis direction. The Y-axis motion system 2355 may also use dual rail motion, again, provided by a linear air bearing motion system or a linear mechanical bearing motion system, as appropriate. Other precision XYZ motion systems may be used in accordance with the present teachings, such as, but not limited to, various embodiments of a 3-axis overhead system. For example, various embodiments of a 3-axis overhead system may have an X, Z carriage assembly mounted on an overhead bridge for precise X, Z axis movement, wherein the overhead may be precisely moved in the Y axis direction.

As depicted in FIG. 28A , for various embodiments of the printing system 2003, a service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 may be mounted on the bridge 2130. The service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 may include a service bundle enclosure exhaust space 2420 that may be mounted to and in fluid communication with a service bundle enclosure 2410. The service bundle enclosure 2410 may contain particles generated by a service bundle that may include bundled optical cables, electrical cables, wires, and tubing. Various embodiments of the service bundle of the present teachings may provide at least one of optical, electrical, mechanical, and fluidic functions for various components and systems disposed therein for a gas packaging system including a printing system. For various specific examples of the printing system 2003, the service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 can ensure that a positive pressure difference can be maintained between the inlet and outlet parts of the service bundle enclosure exhaust system, so as to discharge the particles trapped in the service bundle enclosure 2410 into the service bundle enclosure exhaust space 2420. The service bundle enclosure exhaust space 2420 can be fluidly connected to the gas circulation and filtering system through the service bundle enclosure exhaust space first pipe 2422 and the service bundle enclosure exhaust space second pipe 2424. Alternatively, the service bundle enclosure exhaust space first pipe 2422 and the service bundle enclosure exhaust space second pipe 2424 may be equipped with flexible exhaust hoses so that particles enclosed by the service bundle enclosure may be discharged through the service bundle enclosure exhaust space and guided into the target dead space through the flexible exhaust hoses.

For various specific examples of the service beam enclosure exhaust system, in addition to maintaining a positive pressure differential between an inlet portion and an outlet portion of the service beam enclosure exhaust system, a relatively neutral or negative pressure differential between the interior of the service beam enclosure exhaust system and the surrounding environment may be further maintained. This relatively neutral or negative pressure differential that may be maintained between the interior of the service beam enclosure exhaust system and the surrounding environment may prevent particles from leaking from the service beam enclosure exhaust system through cracks, gaps, and the like. Particles that leak through cracks, gaps, and the like in close proximity to the substrate have a high probability of contaminating the substrate surface before being swept away into the circulation and filtration system.

FIG28B depicts an expanded, partially cut-away, front perspective view of the printing system 2003. In FIG28B, the X, Z carriage assembly 2300 may utilize an air bearing linear slider assembly for positioning the X, Z carriage assembly 2300 on the bridge 2130. Movement of the X, Z carriage assembly 2300 is in the X-axis direction over a distance defined by the service bundle carrier extension 2401. The service bundle carrier extension 2401 is an opening that allows movement of optical cables, electrical cables, wires, tubing, and the like bundled into a service bundle that is housed in the service bundle housing 2410 and that may be connected, for example but not limited to, to the printhead assembly 2500. Given the size and complexity of various service bundles, various motion systems often require a service bundle carrier to manage the service bundle as it is moved with the motion system. In this regard, a service bundle carrier 2430 is shown housed in a service bundle housing 2410 of FIG. 28B. During printing, the movement of the service bundle, which may include cables, wires, tubing, and the like, as well as the movement of the service bundle carrier itself, can create particles in close proximity to a substrate positioned beneath the service bundle housing as the carriage assembly moves to accurately position the printhead assembly in the X-axis direction relative to a substrate positioned beneath it. Additionally, the movement of the service beam carrier can compress the air volume in a piston-like manner as it moves within the service beam enclosure, thereby creating a positive pressure that can allow particulate matter formed from particle generation components associated with the service beam carrier to escape through, for example, the carrier extension 2401. Such particulate matter in close proximity to the substrate has a high probability of contaminating the substrate surface before being swept away into the circulation and filtration system. Thus, the service beam enclosure exhaust system can be a component of various embodiments of a particle control system of a gas packaging system that can ensure a substantially low-particle printing environment.

In Figure 28B, the service bundle enclosure top surface 2402 is shown with a set of grooves 2414, thereby forming a grooved top surface. For various specific examples of the service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 of Figure 28B, there are two requirements for this system in order to ensure that particulate matter generated from the particle generation components associated with the service bundle carrier is blown into the circulation and filtration system: 1) the exhaust flow through the service bundle enclosure exhaust system should be greater than the volume change on the gas compression side of the service bundle carrier as the service bundle carrier moves in the service bundle enclosure; and 2) there should be a uniform distribution of constant exhaust flow to effectively blow the service bundle enclosure volume. Various specific embodiments of the service bundle enclosure exhaust system of the present teachings ensure that these two requirements are met.

For example, as depicted in FIG29A, various embodiments of a service bundle enclosure exhaust system may include a service bundle enclosure 2410 that may be used to house a service bundle carrier 2430. In FIG29A, the service bundle carrier 2430 is depicted as a segmented flexible chain type service bundle carrier, and various other types of service bundle carriers that may be used may have similar performances, thereby requiring the use of various embodiments of the service bundle enclosure exhaust system of the present teachings. The service bundle carrier extension 2401 is an opening that may allow particulate matter formed from a particle generation component associated with the service bundle carrier to escape from the service bundle enclosure as a result of the positive pressure created by the movement of the service bundle carrier. The service bundle enclosure exhaust space 2420 can be maintained at a positive pressure, which ensures that the particle generation components associated with the service bundle carrier can be exhausted through the service bundle enclosure exhaust space first duct 2422 and the service bundle enclosure exhaust space second duct 2424 and into the circulation and filtration system. A set of service bundle enclosure slots 2412 formed in the service bundle enclosure top surface 2402 (as shown in FIG. 29A ) can ensure uniform distribution of a constant exhaust flow to effectively sweep the volume of the service bundle enclosure 2410.

Although the service bundle enclosure slots 2412 are shown in FIG. 29A as being formed across the service bundle enclosure top side 2402, it is understood that a set of slots may be located on various surfaces of the service bundle enclosure, as depicted in FIG. 29B. As depicted in FIG. 29B, a set of slots may be located on the service bundle enclosure bottom side 2404 (Group I), the service bundle enclosure first side 2406 (Group II), and the service bundle enclosure second side 2408 (Group III). Further, as depicted in FIG. 29C, although the slots may be a type of opening used to promote uniform distribution of a constant exhaust flow to effectively sweep the service bundle enclosure volume, openings having a variety of shapes, aspect ratios, and locations may be used. As shown in Figure 29C, substantially circular openings such as the first service bundle enclosure opening 2411 and the second service bundle enclosure opening 2413 depicted as formed in the service bundle enclosure top side 2402 may be used to promote uniform distribution of the constant exhaust flow to effectively sweep the service bundle enclosure volume. As depicted in Figure 29C, an alternative placement of the substantially circular openings may be on the ends of the service bundle enclosure. In FIG29C, the first service bundle housing opening 2411 and the second service bundle housing opening 2413, which are respectively formed in the first end 2415 and the second end 2417 of the service bundle housing, can be used to promote the uniform distribution of the constant exhaust flow to effectively sweep the service bundle housing volume. In addition, various specific examples of the service bundle housing can have a first service bundle carrier extension 2401 and a second service bundle carrier extension 2407. The service bundle housing top surface 2402 may have a first set of grooves 2412 and a second set of grooves 2414, respectively, proximate the first service bundle carrier extension 2401 and the second service bundle carrier extension 2407, which may be used to promote uniform distribution of a constant exhaust flow to effectively sweep the service bundle housing volume. Finally, as shown in FIG. 27B , when the service bundle housing exhaust system is included as a single housing, uniform distribution of a constant exhaust flow may be promoted by considering the effective exhaust gas flow rate.

Various specific examples of the gas encapsulation system of the present teaching as described in Figures 30A/30B to 32A/32B may have the features of a gas circulation and filtration system that promotes laminar flow and a thorough renewal of the gas atmosphere in the encapsulation to ensure that a substantially low-particle environment for airborne particulate matter can be maintained as previously discussed herein with respect to Figures 22, 23, and 24. As previously discussed herein, a circulation and filtration system for maintaining low-air particle specifications is a part of a particle control system for various specific examples of the gas encapsulation system of the present teaching. The particle control system of the present teaching may also include a low-particle generation X-axis motion system utilizing air bearings and utilizing a service beam outer shell exhaust system. Various embodiments of low particle generation X-axis motion systems utilizing air bearings can substantially eliminate particle generation. Additionally, various embodiments of a service bundle enclosure exhaust system can be utilized to ensure that particles generated in close proximity to the substrate during the printing process can be contained and then swept into a circulation and filtration system for removal. Additionally, various embodiments of the particle control system of the present teachings can have a print head assembly exhaust system in order to control particles generated by various devices, apparatus, service bundles, and the like that can be positioned proximate to the substrate during the printing process, as depicted in FIGS. 30A/30B to 32A/32B.

30A/30B depicts a gas encapsulation system 509, while FIG. 31A/31B depicts a gas encapsulation system 510, and FIG. 32A/32B depicts a gas encapsulation system 511, all of which may have features as previously described with respect to FIG. 22 and FIG. 23 as shown. The gas encapsulation systems 509-511 may have a circulation and filtration system 1500, a gas purification system 3130, and a thermal conditioning system 3140. The circulation and filtration system 1500 may include a ductwork assembly 1501 and a fan filter unit assembly 1502. The ductwork assembly 1501 can separate the inert gas recirculated internally through the fan filter unit assembly 1502 and the inert gas recirculated externally to the gas purification system 3130 by effectively defining a space 1580 that is actually a pipe in fluid communication with the gas purification system 3130. The space 1580 can be in fluid communication with the gas purification system 3130 (FIGS. 12 and 13) via a gas purification outlet line 3131 and a gas purification inlet line 3133. This circulation system, including various specific embodiments of the piping system as described with respect to Figures 16 to 18, provides substantial overlying flow, minimizes turbulence, promotes circulation, renewal and filtration of particulate matter in the gas atmosphere within the gas package, and provides circulation through a gas purification system external to the gas package assembly.

Additionally, the gas encapsulation systems 509-511 as depicted in FIGS. 30A/30B to 32A/32B, respectively, may have a printhead assembly exhaust system 2600 that may be used to contain and exhaust particles generated by various components associated with the printing system 2003. For various specific examples of gas encapsulation systems 509, 510, and 511, the printhead assembly exhaust system 2600 may house, for example but not limited to, a carriage assembly 2300 to which the printhead assembly 2500 may be attached, as depicted in FIGS. 30A/30B, 31A/31B, and 32A/32B, respectively. This moving plate may utilize friction bearings, which, as previously discussed herein, may generate particles during operation of the OLED printing system. Additionally, as discussed previously herein, the bracket assembly can be used to mount a device such as a UV light assembly or a heat source assembly for curing the encapsulation layer. The UV light or heat source may require the use of a fan for cooling.

Thus, the printhead assembly exhaust system 2600 of the gas packaging systems 509, 510, and 511 can be part of a particle control system for containing and exhausting particulate matter generated by various devices, equipment, service bundles, and the like that can be positioned proximate to a substrate during a printing process. Various specific examples of the printhead assembly exhaust system (e.g., the printhead assembly exhaust system 2600 of the gas packaging systems 509, 510, and 511) can ensure that a positive pressure differential can be maintained between an inlet portion and an outlet portion of a printhead assembly exhaust housing for exhausting particles generated by various components of the printhead assembly into a gas circulation and filtration system. For various specific examples of printhead assembly exhaust systems, a positive pressure differential between an inlet portion and an outlet portion of a printhead assembly exhaust housing may be maintained for exhausting particles generated by various components of the printhead assembly into the dead space. As will be discussed in more detail later herein, the positive pressure differential for exhausting particles generated by various components of the printhead assembly may be created by using a fan and other system components such as, but not limited to, providing fluid communication between the printhead assembly exhaust housing and a circulation and filtration system.

For various specific examples of print head assembly exhaust systems, in addition to maintaining a positive pressure differential between the inlet and outlet portions of the print head exhaust assembly, a relatively neutral or negative pressure differential between the interior of the print head exhaust assembly and the surrounding environment may be further maintained. This relatively neutral or negative pressure differential that may be maintained between the interior of the print head exhaust assembly and the surrounding environment may prevent particles from leaking from the print head exhaust assembly through cracks, gaps, and the like. Particles that leak through cracks, gaps, and the like in close proximity to the substrate have a high probability of contaminating the substrate surface before being swept away into the circulation and filtration system.

As depicted in Figures 30A and 30B, the service bundle housing 2410 can be supported on the bridge portion 2130 of the printing system 2003. As previously discussed herein with respect to the printing system 2000 of Figure 10B, the carriage assembly 2300 can have components for controlling X-Z axis movement, including a Z axis movement plate to which the printhead assembly 2500 can be attached. The printhead assembly exhaust system housing 2610 can be in fluid communication with the service bundle housing 2410 (e.g., but not limited to, the printhead assembly exhaust system first conduit 2612). The service bundle enclosure 2410 may be in fluid communication with the ductwork assembly 1501 via, for example but not limited to, a printhead assembly exhaust system second line 2614, which may be in fluid communication with the second ductwork line 1574. The printhead assembly exhaust system 2600 of FIGS. 30A and 30B, which may contain components that are at risk of generating particles (e.g., a moving plate), may have at least one fan (e.g., fan 2620) for facilitating movement of gas through the printhead assembly exhaust system 2600 and into the service bundle enclosure 2410. At this point, all of the air trapped within the printhead assembly exhaust system 2600 and the service bundle enclosure 2410 may be effectively filtered by the circulation and filtration system 1500, as depicted in FIG. 30A.

According to the present teachings, particulate matter collected in a dead space region remote from a substrate mounted on a substrate support device cannot be recirculated within a gas packaging system. In this regard, various specific embodiments of the gas packaging system depicted in FIG. 31A/31B and FIG. 32A/32B may utilize directing particulate matter into a duct system and into the dead space. During regular gas packaging system maintenance, such particulate matter may be removed from the dead space.

In this regard, for various specific examples of gas packaging systems (e.g., gas packaging system 510 of FIGS. 31A and 31B ), service bundle housing 2410 may be in fluid communication with circulation and filtration system 1500. As depicted in FIG. 31B , printhead assembly exhaust system housing 2610 may be in fluid communication with service bundle housing 2410 (e.g., but not limited to, printhead assembly exhaust system first conduit 2612). Service bundle housing 2410 may be in fluid communication with printhead assembly exhaust system second conduit 2614 which may have an outlet end proximate to second duct system inlet 1572 of duct system assembly 1501. In this regard, the printhead assembly exhaust system second line 2614 may be in fluid communication with the ductwork assembly via the second ductwork line 1574. The printhead assembly exhaust system first line 2612 may have a fan (e.g., fan 2620) for facilitating the movement of gas through the printhead assembly exhaust system first line 2612. Additionally, the printhead assembly exhaust system second line 2614 may have a fan 2622 for facilitating the movement of gas through the printhead assembly exhaust system 2614 so that particles enclosed by the printhead assembly exhaust system 2600 and the service bundle enclosure 2410 may be effectively filtered by the circulation and filtration system 1500, as depicted in FIG. 31A . For various specific embodiments of gas encapsulation systems (e.g., gas encapsulation system 510 of Figures 31A and 31B), any particles that do not flow into the second conduit system inlet 1572 will have a trajectory toward the dead space 1590.

As depicted for the gas encapsulation system 511 of Figures 32A and 32B, the service bundle housing 2410 can be in fluid communication with the circulation and filtration system 1500. As depicted in Figure 32B, the printhead assembly exhaust system housing 2610 can be in fluid communication with the service bundle housing 2410 (for example, but not limited to, the printhead assembly exhaust system first line 2612), which can have a fan (e.g., fan 2620) for facilitating the movement of gas through the printhead assembly exhaust system first line 2612. The service bundle housing 2410 can be in fluid communication with the printhead assembly exhaust system second line 2614, which can have a filter head 2616. The filter head 2616 can filter particulate matter emitted from the print head assembly exhaust system 2600 and into the service bundle housing 2410, and direct the low-particle gas flow flowing from the filter head 2616 directly into the gas packaging system 511. At this point, the print head assembly exhaust system second line 2614 can exhaust the low-particle gas into the gas packaging system 511, and then the low-particle gas can be circulated through the circulation and filtering system 1500 of the gas packaging system 511, as depicted in Figure 32A.

The various gas packaging systems (e.g., gas packaging system 501 of FIG. 12 and gas packaging system 502 of FIG. 13 ) of the present teachings may utilize various gas packages, such as (but not limited to), gas package 100 of FIG. 1A and gas package 1000 of FIG. 9 . In addition, the various gas packages (e.g., gas package 100 of FIG. 1A and gas package 1000 of FIG. 9 ) may house various printing systems, such as, printing system 2000 of FIG. 10B , printing system 2002 of FIG. 26 , and printing system 2003 of FIG. 28A . For the gas packaging systems and methods of the present teachings, monitoring the controlled environment of the gas package is an important aspect of maintaining the controlled environment of the gas package.

One parameter of the controlled environment that can be monitored is the effectiveness of particulate control. System validation can be performed for both airborne and on-substrate particle monitoring as well as ongoing in-situ system monitoring.

Airborne particle determination can be performed for various embodiments of gas packaging systems prior to the printing process using, for example, a portable particle counting device for system validation. In various embodiments of gas packaging systems, airborne particle determination can be performed in situ while the substrate is being printed as an ongoing quality check. For various embodiments of gas packaging systems, airborne particle determination can be performed prior to printing the substrate and additionally in situ while the substrate is being printed for system validation.

FIG. 33 depicts a device for measuring airborne particulate matter. Various specific embodiments of the particle counter 800 of FIG. 33 may be handheld or otherwise portable in accordance with the present teachings. As depicted in FIG. 33 , the particle counter 800 may have a power button 810, and a display 812 for real-time visual monitoring of various parameters, such as the particle size being monitored, and the current count of particles of that size. The portable particle counter of the present teachings may have multiple channels for monitoring several particle size ranges during analysis. By way of non-limiting example, a display 812 of a particle counter 800 monitoring three distinct particle size ranges is depicted. For various embodiments of the systems and methods of the present teachings, monitoring particles in a size range of approximately ≥ 0.3 μm can be useful for monitoring system quality, as a sudden increase in particles in that size range can be an early indication of a malfunction in the filtration system of, for example, a gas containment system. Various embodiments of a particle counter according to the present teachings can have a cable or wireless connection (not shown) from the particle counter to (by way of non-limiting example) a computer (which can provide ongoing collection and storage of data from the particle counter). The particle counter 800 can have an inlet nozzle 814 for drawing an air sample into the particle counter 800. Various embodiments of a particle counter for measuring airborne particulate matter may have an isokinetic sampling probe (e.g., sampling probe 816 of FIG. 33 ) that reduces counting errors associated with sample flow velocity and the aerodynamics of particles, particularly small particles. In order to obtain accurate results regarding particulate matter in an airflow, the flow of the sample through the sampling system should be such that the velocity at the inlet of the sampling point is the same as the velocity of the airflow at that point. The isokinetic sampling probe may have an inlet probe 815 that may be attached to an inlet nozzle 814 using a sampling probe connector 817. For various embodiments of sampling probe 816, sampling probe connector 817 may be a section of a flexible tubing system. For sampling in various specific embodiments of the gas containment system of the present teachings, the inlet probe 815 of the sampling probe 816 can be directly facing the air flow.

Although various commercial particle counters can be based on a variety of measurement principles that may include light obstruction, direct imaging, and light scattering, measurements based on light scattering from particles are well suited to yield information of interest including particle size. In principle, particle sizes down to about 1 nm can be determined using light scattering.

FIG34 is a schematic depiction of a light scattering based particle counter detector 830. The light scattering based particle counter detector may have a source of electromagnetic radiation of a known wavelength and a known wavelength range, such as a light source 820. For various specific embodiments of the particle counter detector 830, the light source 820 may be a laser source that emits light of a known wavelength. For various specific embodiments of the particle counter, particularly (but not exclusively) for handheld and portable particle counting devices, the light source 820 may be a light emitting diode (LED) that emits light of a known wavelength between about 600 nm and about 850 nm. The emitted source light 821 may be focused at a detection region 822 of a flow path 824 (which is depicted as a top cross-sectional view in FIG34). Any particle in the detection region 822 may scatter light, creating forward scattered light 823 or light scattered in many angular directions, including orthogonal to the direction of emitted source light 821, as depicted for light path 825. Light scattered orthogonally by particles in the detection region 822 may be focused using a focusing lens 826, and may be filtered using at least one optical filter (e.g., a spatial or optical bandpass filter or a combination thereof) before being detected by a detector 828, which may be various types of photometric detectors, for example based on photodiode technology. Various specific examples of particle counters can be calibrated using calibration standards, such as particulate aerosols having a defined distribution of particles in various size ranges, with each size range having a defined concentration.

For example, various commercial particle counters based on light scattering can detect airborne particle sizes in the range of about ≥ 0.3 μm to about ≥ 10 μm and report the number of particles of a specified size per volume of air (usually cubic feet or cubic meters). Various commercial particle counters can count up to about 1 million to about 3 million particles of a specified size. In this regard, various commercial calibration standards can have a particle distribution covering about ≥ 0.3 μm to about ≥ 10 μm, for example, a bimodal or trimodal distribution of materials covering that range, wherein each population of particles has a defined concentration that can be up to a detection limit of about 1 million to about 3 million particles. As discussed previously herein, various particle counters for determining airborne particulate matter may have multiple channels for monitoring a wide range of particle sizes. Although shown as having one light source and one detector, various specific embodiments of a particle counter for determining airborne particulate matter may have more than one light source and multiple detectors at various locations for monitoring light scattered at various angles. Such an airborne particle counter may monitor and report over a large dynamic particle size range of about ≥ 0.1 μm to about ≥ 10.0 μm for airborne particulate matter.

FIG. 35 is a schematic representation of using particle counter diagrams 800A to 800D and is intended to convey where various specific examples of particle counting devices may be located relative to the low particle zone of the printing system closest to the substrate. The gas packaging system 512 of FIG. 35 may have components as previously described herein for gas packaging systems 500-511, including (but not limited to) gas packaging assembly 1100, thermal regulation system 3140 that may be integrated with a circulation and filtering system (as indicated by fan filter unit 1552 closest to heat exchanger 1562). The gas packaging system 512 of FIG. 35 may have an outlet line 3131 and an inlet line 3133 to a gas purification system (not shown), and an enclosure printing system 2004. The printing system 2004 may have a base 2101 on which the substrate support device 2200 may be mounted. The printing system 2004 may further have a bridge portion 2130, which may have a first bracket assembly 2300A and a second bracket assembly 2300B mounted thereon. The printing system 2004 may also have a service cable housing 2410 for housing a service cable (not shown).

35, at least one particle counter may be positioned or mounted, for example, on the service bundle housing 2410, as indicated by the particle counter diagram 800A depicted in the laminar airflow of the fan filter unit 1552. A particle counter so positioned in the laminar airflow from the fan filter unit may allow monitoring of the effectiveness of the filtration system of the gas enclosure system. Additionally, the bridge 2130 of the printing system 2004 may support a first X, Z axis carriage assembly 2300A to which the print head assembly 2500 may be mounted. The second X, Z axis carriage assembly 2300B may have at least one particle counter mounted thereon, as indicated by the particle counter diagram 800B. Monitoring at locations proximate to various printing devices and apparatus such as carriage assemblies may be useful for monitoring various sources of particle generation, such as service bundles. An installed particle counter as depicted by particle counter diagram 800C may be useful for process development and gas packaging system validation operations. An installed particle counter as depicted by particle counter diagram 800D may be useful for process development, and gas packaging system validation operations and in situ monitoring of airborne particulates during the printing process.

According to various systems and methods of the present teachings, a particle counting device may be mounted or placed on a substrate support to measure particles under defined conditions in an immediate area where a substrate may be located during printing. For example, as depicted in FIG. 35 , a particle counter may be placed or mounted on a substrate support 2200 as indicated by the location of particle counter icon 800C. In various specific embodiments of the systems and methods of the present teachings, particle monitoring using a particle counter placed or mounted on a substrate support may be performed for various types of process development or gas packaging system validation operation studies. By way of another non-limiting example, the particle counter may be mounted on a side of the substrate support device 2200, as indicated by the location of the particle counter diagram 800D. By using a particle counter with a sampling probe having a flexible connector (e.g., particle counter 800 of FIG. 33 with sampling probe 816), a particle counter mounted to the side of the substrate support device may have the sampling probe placed exactly at the height of the substrate.

A particle counter mounted on one side of the substrate support device (as indicated by particle counter diagram 800D) can be used for process development, and gas packaging system verification operation and in-situ monitoring of airborne particles during the printing process. For example, in FIG. 36, the printing system 2003 as previously described with respect to FIG. 26 and FIG. 28A can have an X-axis carriage assembly 2300 mounted on a bridge 2130, which can also include a Z-axis translation plate 2310 for Z-axis positioning of a print head assembly 2500. In this regard, various specific embodiments of the carriage assembly 2300 can provide accurate X, Z positioning of the print head assembly 2500 relative to the substrate 2050. For various specific examples of the printing system 2003, the X-axis carriage assembly 2300 may utilize a linear air bearing motion system that is inherently low in particle generation. The printing system 2003 of FIG. 36 may have a service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 for containing and exhausting particles generated from the service bundle, which may include a service bundle enclosure 2410 for housing the service bundle. According to the present teachings, the service bundle may be operably connected to the printing system to provide various optical, electrical, mechanical, and fluid connections required to operate various devices and apparatuses in the gas enclosure system (such as, but not limited to, various devices and apparatuses associated with the printing system). The printing system 2003 of Figure 36 may have a substrate support device 2250 for supporting a substrate 2050, and the substrate may be accurately positioned in the Y-axis direction using a Y-axis positioning system 2355. Both the substrate support device 2250 and the Y-axis positioning system 2355 are supported by the printing system base 2101.

For the printing system 2003 of FIG. 36 , the precision XYZ motion system may have various components for positioning a substrate mounted on the substrate support device 2250 relative to the print head assembly 2500, which may include a Y-axis motion assembly 2355, and an X-axis carriage assembly 2300. The substrate support device 2250 may be mounted on the Y-axis motion assembly 2355, and may be moved on a rail system 2360 using, for example but not limited to, a linear bearing system (using mechanical bearings or air bearings). For various specific examples of the gas packaging system, the air bearing motion system facilitates frictionless transport of the substrate placed on the substrate support device 2250 in the Y-axis direction. The Y-axis motion system 2355 may also use dual rail motion, as appropriate, again provided by a linear air bearing motion system or a linear mechanical bearing motion system. Other precision XYZ motion systems may be used in accordance with the present teachings, such as, but not limited to, various embodiments of a 3-axis overhead system. For example, various embodiments of a 3-axis overhead system may have an X, Z carriage assembly mounted on an overhead bridge for precise X, Z axis movement, wherein the overhead can be precisely moved in the Y axis direction.

According to various systems and methods of the present teachings, the printing system 2003 of FIG. 36 can have a particle counter 800 mounted to one side of the substrate support device 2250 so that the isokinetic sampling probe 816 is at approximately the same height as the substrate 2050. Although FIG. 36 depicts the particle counter 800 on the front side of the substrate support device, one or more particle counters can be mounted at various locations of the substrate support device to effectively monitor airborne particulate matter proximate to the substrate. In addition, for various specific examples of the systems and methods, additional particle counters can be mounted or placed in other locations, as described with respect to FIG. 35.

According to various embodiments of the gas circulation and filtration systems contained in various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, continuous measurement of airborne particles can be performed in the gas packaging system. In various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, these measurements can be performed in a fully automated mode and continuously reported to the end user, for example, via a graphical user interface (GUI). In various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, measurements of airborne particulate matter can be performed in a target location of interest, as depicted in Figure 35. The output from each of the particle counters located in the gas package can be reported to the end user, for example, via a GUI. For example, the target region of interest may be airborne particles in close proximity to a substrate on a substrate support device (e.g., a chuck or a float table, as depicted in FIG. 36 ).

In this regard, constant monitoring of various embodiments of the gas encapsulation systems of the present teachings has confirmed that particles of approximately ≥ 2 μm in size can be maintained at less than approximately 1 particle of that size range over a printing cycle. For various embodiments of the gas encapsulation systems of the present teachings, particles of approximately ≥ 2 μm in size can be maintained at less than approximately 1 particle of that size range over a period of at least approximately 24 hours. For various embodiments of the gas encapsulation systems of the present teachings, particles of approximately ≥ 0.3 μm in size can be maintained at less than approximately 3 particles of that size range over a printing cycle. For various embodiments of the gas encapsulation systems of the present teachings, particles of approximately ≥ 0.3 μm in size can be maintained at less than approximately 3 particles of that size range over a period of at least approximately 24 hours. According to the present teachings, measurements of particulate matter taken from various locations in various embodiments of the gas containment system of the present teachings over a duration of at least about a 24 hour period have been reported as an average of 0.001 particles ≥ 2 μm and 0.02 particles ≥ 0.5 μm.

For example, Figures 37A and 37B depict the results of long-term measurements performed in various specific examples of the gas packaging system of the present teachings. In Figure 37A, two tests performed on different days are depicted. These tests are performed in a gas packaging system maintained in an inert nitrogen environment (e.g., the gas packaging system shown in Figures 12 and 13). The measurements are performed closest to the substrate support device (e.g., a chuck or a floating table, as depicted in Figure 36). During the test cycle, the gas packaging system is continuously used in a sequence including printing, maintenance, and idleness. In Test 1, the duration of the real-time measurement was approximately 16 hours. During that cycle, a total of 2 particles of about ≥ 2 μm in size were measured, 1 measured at about 5 hours and 1 measured near the end of the test cycle. For Test 2 (which had a duration of about 10 hours), no particles of this size range were measured. In FIG. 37B , measurements of Test 3 performed on the system on another day over a cycle of more than 8 hours are depicted for particles of about ≥ 0.5 μm in size. During this test cycle, the gas enclosure assembly window (e.g., window 130 of FIG. 1A ) was periodically opened at about 2 hours (reference number I.), at about 6.5 hours (reference number II.), and at about 7 hours (reference number III.). During these periods of transient exposure of the gas containment system to the ambient environment, an increase in particle counts can be observed and then quickly reestablished to a baseline value of approximately ≤ 1 particle in that size range.

For various embodiments of the systems and methods of the present teachings, airborne particulate matter measured in a gas containment system may be less than about 3 particles/ft ³ for particles about ≥ 0.3 μm, less than about 1 particle/ft ³ for particles about ≥ 0.5 μm, and less than about 0 particles/ft ³ for particles about ≥ 1.0 μm. In this regard, various embodiments of the gas circulation and filtration systems may be designed to provide a low-particle inert gas environment with respect to airborne particles that meets the standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14644-1:1999 “Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments—Part 1: Classification of air cleanliness” as designated by Classes 1 through 5, and may even meet or exceed the standards set by Class 1.

As demonstrated in the data presented with respect to FIG. 37B , this rapid system recovery of various specific embodiments of the circulation and filtering system of the present teachings is further depicted in the graph of FIG. 38 . In FIG. 38 , particles of a size of approximately ≥ 2 μm are monitored closest to the substrate support device (e.g., a chuck or a floating table). As can be seen in the graph of FIG. 38 , recovery back to a baseline level of approximately ≤ 1 particle in that size range occurs in less than 3 minutes.

Determination of the on-substrate distribution of particles on a substrate can be performed for various embodiments of a gas packaging system using, for example, a test substrate before printing the substrate for system validation. In various embodiments of a gas packaging system, determination of the on-substrate distribution of particles can be performed in situ while printing the substrate as an ongoing quality check. For various embodiments of a gas packaging system, determination of the on-substrate distribution of particles can be performed in situ before printing the substrate and additionally while printing the substrate for system validation.

FIG. 39 depicts an on-substrate detection scheme based on light scattering that may have substantially the same components as previously described with respect to the particle counter detector 830 of FIG. 34 in connection with a detection system for airborne particulate matter.

In FIG. 39 , a light scattering based on-substrate particle counter detection system 860 may have a source of electromagnetic radiation of a known wavelength and a known range of wavelengths, such as a light source 850. For various specific embodiments of the on-substrate particle counter detection system 860, the light source 850 may be a laser source that emits light having a known wavelength between about 600 nm and about 850 nm. The emitted source light 851 is profiled by ray tracing to interact with particles 852 on a substrate 854. For various specific embodiments of the systems and methods of the present teachings, the substrate may be a test substrate, such as a silicon wafer. Given the history of on-substrate particle determination that has evolved within the semiconductor industry, particle determination on silicon wafers is a widely accepted testing method. Additionally, silicon wafers may have properties such as having a reflective surface which is preferred for on-substrate detection systems based on light scattering. Additionally, silicon wafers are substantially conductive materials, allowing them to be grounded. Having a neutrally charged substrate surface is important for unbiased sampling of particle deposition on substrates. Because particles carry a non-unusual charge, a charged surface may thereby result in a false positive or false negative result depending on whether the interaction between the charged particle and the charged surface is attractive or repulsive.

With respect to substrates having reflective surfaces (e.g., silicon wafer test substrates), emitted source light 851 can be reflected (as shown by reflected light 853), and it can also interact with particles 852 on substrate surface 854 to produce scattered light, as depicted by scattered light 855. As discussed previously herein for the case of airborne particle detection based on light scattering (e.g., particle counter detector 830 of FIG. 34 ), light can be scattered in many angled directions, including orthogonal to the direction of emitted source light 851, as depicted for scattered light 855 falling within optical path I. Focusing lens 856 can focus light scattered by particles 852 orthogonal to the direction of emitted source light 851, as depicted in optical path II toward at least one optical filter, such as filter 857. The optical filter 857 can be, for example, a spatial or optical bandpass filter, or additional filters can be added to provide a combination thereof. Finally, light scattered orthogonally to the direction of the emitted source light 851 can be detected by a detector 858, which can be various types of photometric detectors, for example, based on photodiode technology. According to various specific examples of the systems and methods of the present teachings, using an on-substrate particle counter detection system (e.g., on-substrate particle counter detection system 860 of FIG. 39 ), a report including the number of particles having a particle size and the position of each particle detected on a surface can be provided to an end user.

For test protocols used for particle determination on a substrate (for example, but not limited to, for system validation), silicon test wafers that have been analyzed and then sealed are available, along with a report of the size and location of the particles determined for each test wafer. The test wafers may be obtained individually sealed or in a box. In accordance with various systems and methods of the present teachings, a box of witness wafers may be sealed within a box housing, and the box housing may then be sealed with a removable sealing material (e.g., a sealed polymeric pouch). For various test protocols used for particle determination on a substrate for gas packaging system validation, a box of witness wafers may be placed into a gas packaging system by an end user or by a robot. For example, the cassette may be placed in a secondary package by an end user or a robot, as previously described herein, and the secondary package may be subjected to a recovery process until the gas environment is brought to specifications for reactive gases. The cassette may be transferred by the end user or a robot into a printing system package. Once the sealed cassette is in the gas packaging system, the cassette of witness wafers may be unsealed and the cassette housing may be opened for easy access to the wafers.

40, the depicted printing system 2003 with the test wafer 854 may have all of the elements previously described with respect to the printing system 2002 of FIG. 26 and the printing system 2003 of FIG. 28A and FIG. 36. By way of example (but not limitation), in FIG. 40, the printing system 2003 as previously described with respect to FIG. 26, FIG. 28A and FIG. 36 may have an X-axis carriage assembly 2300 mounted on a bridge 2130, which may also include a Z-axis translation plate 2310 for Z-axis positioning of a printhead assembly 2500. In this regard, various specific embodiments of the carriage assembly 2300 may provide for precise X, Z positioning of the printhead assembly 2500 relative to a substrate positioned on a substrate support 2250. For various specific examples of the printing system 2003, the X-axis carriage assembly 2300 may utilize a linear air bearing motion system that is inherently low in particle generation. The printing system 2003 of FIG. 40 may have a service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 for containing and exhausting particles generated from the service bundle, which may include a service bundle enclosure 2410 for housing the service bundle. The printing system 2003 of FIG. 40 may have a substrate support device 2250 for supporting a substrate, which may be precisely positioned in the Y-axis direction using a Y-axis positioning system 2355. The substrate support device 2250 and the Y-axis positioning system 2355 are supported by the printing system base 2101. The substrate support device 2250 can be mounted on a Y-axis motion assembly 2355 and can move on a rail system 2360 using, for example but not limited to, a linear bearing system (using mechanical bearings or air bearings). For various specific examples of gas packaging systems, the air bearing motion system facilitates frictionless transport of substrates placed on the substrate support device 2250 in the Y-axis direction. The Y-axis motion system 2355 can also use dual rail motion, again provided by a linear air bearing motion system or a linear mechanical bearing motion system, as appropriate.

The test wafer 854 of FIG. 40 may be placed on a substrate support device 2250 of the printing system 2003. The substrate support device 2250 may be positioned proximate the bridge 2130 in a variety of positions that may simulate the position in which the substrate may be positioned during the printing process. The test wafer may have an edge exclusion zone in which particle determination is not performed after testing because the edge exclusion zone is a zone in which treatments are performed that may introduce contamination at the edge of the wafer. The edge exclusion zone may be between about 1 cm and about 2 cm wide around the perimeter of the wafer and measured from the edge of the wafer according to various test protocols used for on-substrate particle determination for gas packaging system validation. For various test protocols used for on-substrate particle determination for gas packaging system validation, a series of on-substrate particle determinations can be performed to evaluate the status of the gas packaging system that houses the printing system. First, a background test can be performed, in which a statistical number of test wafers can be removed by treating the test substrate just at the edge exclusion zone, and then the test wafers are placed back into the box. In the next static test, a statistical number of test wafers can be removed by treating the test substrate just at the edge exclusion zone, and then the test wafers are exposed to the tool environment for a set duration (e.g., for the duration of the printing process) without any actuation of any device or component within the gas packaging system. At this point, the test wafers in the static set of test wafers are in the static printing environment. A set of test wafers used for static testing can then be moved back into the box housing. In a print test, a statistical number of test wafers can be removed by positioning the test substrate just at the edge exclusion zone, and then exposed to the tool environment for the duration of the printing process without any actuation of ink ejection, but with full actuation of the devices or components within the gas packaging system. For example, a print head assembly 2500 mounted on a bracket assembly 2300 can be moved relative to a test wafer 854 mounted on a substrate support device of the printing system 2003 depicted in Figure 40, thereby simulating a real printing cycle. At this point, the test wafers in the print set of test wafers are in a static print environment. The set of test wafers for print testing can then be moved back into the cassette housing.

Once the test protocol including background testing, static testing, and printing testing has been completed, the box housing can be resealed and the box can be removed from the printing system package for testing. For example, the sealed box with the series of test wafers can be placed in a secondary package. When the printing system package can be sealably isolated from the secondary package (as previously described herein), the secondary package can be opened to the surrounding environment and the sealed box with the test wafers can be captured and sent for analysis. All process steps for various specific examples of the particle on substrate determination test protocol of the present teachings can be performed by an end user or a robot or a combination thereof. Finally, the secondary package can be closed and allowed to go through a recovery process until the gas environment meets the specifications for reactive gases.

Various imaging systems and methods of the present teachings may be used for in situ on-substrate particle determination, and for performing system validation procedures. Referring to FIG. 41 , a printing system 2004 may have all of the elements previously described for the printing system 2002 of FIG. 26 and the printing system 2003 of FIG. 28A , FIG. 36 , and FIG. 40 . By way of example, but not limitation, the printing system 2004 of FIG. 41 may have a service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 for containing and exhausting particles generated from a service bundle. The service bundle enclosure exhaust system 2400 of the printing system 2004 may include a service bundle enclosure 2410 that may house a service bundle. According to the present teachings, a service bundle can be operably connected to a printing system to provide various optical, electrical, mechanical, and fluid connections required to operate various devices and apparatuses in a gas packaging system (such as, but not limited to, various devices and apparatuses associated with the printing system). The printing system 2004 of FIG. 41 can have a substrate support device 2250 for supporting a substrate 2050, which can be precisely positioned in the Y-axis direction using a Y-axis positioning system 2355. The substrate support device 2250 and the Y-axis positioning system 2355 are supported by the printing system base 2101. The substrate support device 2250 can be mounted on a Y-axis motion assembly 2355 and can move on a rail system 2360 using, for example but not limited to, a linear bearing system (using mechanical bearings or air bearings). For various specific examples of gas packaging systems, the air bearing motion system facilitates frictionless transport of substrates placed on the substrate support device 2250 in the Y-axis direction. The Y-axis motion system 2355 can also use dual rail motion, again provided by a linear air bearing motion system or a linear mechanical bearing motion system, as appropriate.

With respect to the motion system supporting various carriage assemblies, the printing system 2004 of FIG. 41 may have a first X-axis carriage assembly 2300A (depicted as having a print head assembly 2500 mounted thereon) and a second X-axis carriage assembly 2300B (depicted as having a camera assembly 2550 mounted thereon). The substrate 2050 on the substrate support device 2250 (e.g., during a printing process) may be in various positions proximate to the bridge 2130. The substrate support device 2250 may be mounted on the printing system base 2101. In FIG41 , the printing system 2004 may have a first X-axis carriage assembly 2300A and a second X-axis carriage assembly 2300B mounted on the bridge 2130. The first X-axis carriage assembly 2300A may also include a first Z-axis moving plate 2310A for Z-axis positioning of the print head assembly 2500, and the second X-axis carriage assembly 2300B may have a second Z-axis moving plate 2310B for Z-axis positioning of the camera assembly 2550. In this regard, various specific examples of the carriage assemblies 2300A and 2300B may provide accurate X, Z positioning of the print head assembly 2500 and the camera assembly 2550, respectively, relative to a substrate positioned on the substrate support 2250. For various specific embodiments of the printing system 2004, the first X-axis carriage assembly 2300A and the second X-axis carriage assembly 2300B may utilize a linear air bearing motion system that is inherently low in particle generation.

The camera assembly 2550 of FIG. 41 may be a high-speed, high-resolution camera. The camera assembly 2550 may include a camera 2552, a camera bracket assembly 2554, and a lens assembly 2556. The camera assembly 2550 may be mounted on the Z-axis moving plate 2310B of the motion system 2300B via the camera bracket assembly 2556. The camera 2552 may be any image sensor device that converts an optical image into an electronic signal, such as (by way of non-limiting example), a charge coupled device (CCD), a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) device, or an N-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) device. The various image sensor devices may be configured as a sensor array for an area scan camera or a single sensor row for a line scan camera. The camera assembly 2550 can be connected to an image processing system, which can include, for example, a computer for storing, processing, and presenting results. As previously discussed herein with respect to the printing system 2004 of FIG. 41 , the Z-axis translation plate 2310B can controllably adjust the Z-axis position of the camera assembly 2550 relative to the substrate 2050. The X-axis motion system 2300B and the Y-axis motion system 2355 can be used to controllably position the substrate 2050 relative to the camera assembly 2550 during various processes (e.g., printing and data collection).

Thus, the split axis motion system of FIG. 41 can provide for precise positioning of the camera assembly 2550 and the substrate 2050 relative to each other in three dimensions so as to capture image data about any portion of the substrate 2050 at any desired focal point and/or height. In addition, precise XYZ motion of the camera relative to the substrate can be performed for area scanning or line scanning processes. As previously discussed herein, other motion systems such as overhead motion systems can also be used to provide, for example, precise movement of the print head assembly and/or camera assembly relative to the substrate in three dimensions. In addition, the lighting device can be mounted in various positions, either on the X-axis motion system or on the substrate support device closest to the substrate, and combinations thereof. At that point, the lighting device can be positioned based on performing various bright field and dark field analyses and combinations thereof. Various embodiments of the motion system may use continuous or step-wise motion or a combination thereof to position the camera assembly 2550 relative to the substrate 2050 to capture a series of one or more images of the surface of the substrate 2050. Each image may cover an area of the OLED substrate associated with one or more pixel wells, associated electronic circuit components, paths, and connectors. By using image processing, images of the particles may be obtained, and the size and number of particles of a particular size may be determined. In various embodiments of the systems and methods of the present teachings, a line scan camera having approximately 8192 pixels may be used, having a working height of approximately 190 mm, and capable of scanning at approximately 34 kHz. In addition, for various specific embodiments of a printing system substrate camera assembly, more than one camera may be mounted on an X-axis carriage assembly, wherein each camera may have different specifications regarding field of view and resolution. For example, one camera may be a line scan camera for in situ particle inspection, while a second camera may be used for routine manipulation of substrates in a gas packaging system. Such a camera suitable for routine manipulation may be an area scan camera having a field of view ranging from approximately 5.4 mm×4 mm when the magnification is approximately 0.9X to approximately 10.6 mm×8 mm when the magnification is approximately 0.45X. In yet other specific embodiments, one camera may be a line scan camera for in situ particle inspection, while a second camera may be used for precise manipulation of substrates in a gas packaging system, for example, for substrate alignment. Such a camera suitable for precise manipulation may be an area scanning camera having a field of view of approximately 0.7 mm x 0.5 mm at a magnification of approximately 7.2X.

With respect to in-situ inspection of OLED substrates, various specific instances of the printing system substrate camera assembly (e.g., camera assembly 2550 of printing system 2004 depicted in FIG. 41 ) may be used to inspect panels without significant impact on the total average cycle time (TACT). For example, a Gen 8.5 substrate may be scanned in less than 70 seconds to find particles on the substrate. In addition to in-situ inspection of OLED substrates, the printing system substrate camera assembly may also be used for system validation studies by using test substrates to determine whether a sufficiently low particle environment of a gas packaging system may be validated before the gas packaging system is used in a printing process.

With respect to airborne particulate matter and particle deposition within a system, a large number of variables may affect the development of a general model that can adequately approximate the value of the particle shedding rate on a surface (e.g., a substrate) for, for example, any particular manufacturing system. Variables such as the size of the particles, the distribution of particles of a particular size, the surface area of the substrate, and the exposure time of the substrate within the system may vary depending on the various manufacturing systems. For example, the size of the particles and the distribution of particles of a particular size may be substantially affected by the source and location of the particle generating components in the various manufacturing systems. Calculations based on various specific examples of gas packaging systems of the present teachings indicate that, without various particle control systems of the present teachings, for particles in the size range of 0.1 μm and larger, the deposition on the substrate per printing cycle may be between greater than about 1 million and greater than about 10 million particles per square meter of substrate. Such calculations indicate that, without various particle control systems of the present teachings, for particles in the size range of about 2 μm and larger, the deposition on the substrate per printing cycle may be between greater than about 1000 and greater than about 10,000 particles per square meter of substrate.

By using the test protocol as described for various embodiments of the on-substrate particle determination test protocol of the present teachings, various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 10 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 5 μm. In various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 2 μm. In various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 100 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 1 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 0.5 μm. For various embodiments of the gas packaging system of the present teachings, a low-particle environment can be maintained to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per square meter of substrate per minute for particles with a size greater than or equal to 0.3 μm. Various embodiments of the low-particle gas packaging system of the present teachings can maintain a low-particle environment to provide an average on-substrate particle distribution that meets an on-substrate deposition rate specification of less than or equal to about 1000 particles per minute per square meter of substrate for particles greater than or equal to 0.1 μm in size.

All publications, patents, and patent applications mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication, patent, or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.

Although specific examples of the present invention have been shown and described herein, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these specific examples are provided by way of example only. Numerous variations, changes, and substitutions will now occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention.

It should be understood that various alternatives to the specific embodiments of the invention described herein may be used in practicing the invention. For example, a large number of different technical fields such as chemistry, biotechnology, high technology and pharmaceutical technology can benefit from the present teachings. OLED printing is used to illustrate the utility of various specific embodiments of gas packaging systems according to the present teachings. Various specific embodiments of gas packaging systems that can accommodate an OLED printing system can provide features such as (but not limited to): sealing (thereby providing airtight packaging during construction and deconstruction cycles), minimization of packaging volume, and easy access to the interior from the outside during processing and during maintenance. Such features of various specific embodiments of gas packaging systems can have an impact on functionality such as, but not limited to, structural integrity (thus facilitating low levels of reactive species during processing), and rapid package volume renewal to minimize downtime during maintenance cycles. Thus, the various features and specifications that provide utility for OLED panel printing can also provide benefits to a variety of technical fields. It is intended that the following claims define the scope of the present invention and that the methods and structures within the scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered thereby.

10: Insert panel section 12: Frame 14: Blind threaded hole 15: Screw 16: Gasket 18: Compressible gasket 20: Window panel section 22: Frame 30: Panel section 32: Panel section frame 34: Window guide spacer 35: Window clip 36: Clamping clip 38: Compressible gasket 40: Top panel frame section 41: First side 42: Top panel frame beam 43: Second side 44: Top panel frame beam 45: First lighting element 46: Lighting element pair 47: Second lighting element 100: Gas encapsulated assembly 101: Gas encapsulated assembly 103: fan filter unit cover 105: first top plate frame duct 107: second top plate frame duct 109: metal sheet panel section 110: insert panel 120: window panel 122: panel frame 124: window 125: window panel 130: easily removable maintenance window 132: maintenance window frame 134: window 136: elbow clip 138: window handle 140: glove port 142: glove 200: frame component assembly 202: base 204: chassis 210: first wall frame 210': first wall panel 220 : Wall frame 220': Left wall panel 226: Top 227: Top wall frame partition 228: Bottom 229: Bottom wall frame partition 230: Third wall frame 230': Third wall panel 240: Wall frame 240': Rear wall panel 250: Top panel frame 250': Top panel panel 251: Inner portion 300: Sealing assembly 302: Gap 304: Gap 306: Gap 310: Wall frame 311: Inner side 312: Partition 314: Vertical side 315: Top surface 316: Partition 317: Inner Edge 320: First gasket 321: Vertical gasket length 323: Curved gasket length 325: Gasket length 340: Second gasket 345: Gasket length 350: Wall frame 353: Frame side 354: Vertical side 355: Top surface 356: Spacer 360: First gasket 361: Horizontal length 363: Curved length 365: Length 370: Top frame 500: Gas encapsulation system 501: Gas encapsulation system 502: Gas encapsulation system 503: Gas encapsulation system 504: Gas encapsulation system 50 5: Gas packaging system 506: Gas packaging system 507: Gas packaging system 508: Gas packaging system 509: Gas packaging system 510: Gas packaging system 511: Gas packaging system 512: Gas packaging system 800: Particle counter 800A: Particle counter icon 800B: Particle counter icon 800C: Particle counter icon 800D: Particle counter icon 810: Power button 812: Display 814: Inlet nozzle 815: Inlet probe 816: Sampling probe 81 7: Sampling probe connector 820: Light source 821: Emitted source light 822: Detection area 823: Forward scattered light 824: Flow path 825: Light path 826: Focusing lens 828: Detector 830: Particle counter detector 850: Light source 851: Emitted source light 852: Particle 853: Reflected light 854: Substrate 855: Scattered light 856: Focusing lens 857: Optical filter 858: Detector 860: Particle counter detection system on substrate 1000: Gas packaging Assembly 1100: Gas Encapsulation Assembly 1101: Gas Encapsulation Assembly 1101-S1: First Gas Encapsulation Assembly Section 1101-S2: Second Gas Encapsulation Assembly Section 1110: Load Locked Inlet Chamber 1112: Inlet Gate 1130: System Controller 1200': Front Panel Assembly 1220': Front Base Panel Assembly 1240': Front Wall Panel Assembly 1242: Opening 1260': Front Top Panel Assembly 1300': Middle Panel Assembly 13 20: Gas packaging assembly base 1320': Intermediate base panel assembly 1325': First isolator well panel 1327': Second isolator well panel 1330': First printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1338': First rear wall panel assembly 1340': First intermediate packaging panel assembly 1341': First bottom panel assembly 1342: First printhead assembly opening 1345: First printhead assembly joint pad 1360': Intermediate wall and top panel assembly 1365: Second passage 1367: second seal 1370': second printhead management system auxiliary panel assembly 1375: second seal support panel 1378: second rear wall frame assembly 1378': second rear wall panel assembly 1380': second intermediate packaging panel assembly 1381': second bottom panel assembly 1382: second printhead assembly opening 1385: second printhead assembly joint pad 1400': rear panel assembly 1420': rear base panel assembly 1440': rear 1460': Rear top panel assembly 1500: Circulation and filter system 1501: Duct system assembly 1502: Fan filter unit assembly 1505: Top duct 1507: Top duct 1509: Inlet duct system assembly 1510: Front panel duct system assembly 1511: Opening 1512: Front panel inlet duct 1514: First front panel riser 1515: Outlet 1516: Second front panel riser 1517: Outlet 1520: Left Wall panel assembly 1521: opening 1522: left wall panel inlet pipe 1524: left wall panel first riser pipe 1525: first pipe inlet end 1526: left wall panel second riser pipe 1527: second pipe outlet end 1528: left wall panel upper pipe 1530: right wall panel assembly 1531: opening 1532: right wall panel inlet pipe 1533: pipe opening 1534: right wall panel first riser pipe 1535: first pipe inlet end 1536: right wall panel second riser pipe 1537 : Second duct outlet 1538: Right wall panel upper duct 1540: Rear wall panel duct system assembly 1541: Rear wall panel first inlet 1542: Rear wall panel inlet duct 1543: Rear wall panel second inlet 1544: Rear wall panel bottom duct 1545: Ventilation hole 1546: Rear wall panel upper duct 1547: First partition wall 1549: Second partition wall 1551: Fan filter unit 1552: Fan filter unit 1553: Fan filter unit 1554: Fan filter unit 1 555: fan filter unit 1556: fan filter unit 1562: first heat exchanger 1564: second heat exchanger 1566: third heat exchanger 1571: first duct system inlet 1572: second duct system inlet 1573: first duct system pipeline 1574: second duct system pipeline 1575: first duct system outlet 1576: second duct system outlet 1580: space 1590: dead space 1605: return duct 1610: insert panel 1630: right wall panel 1631: opening 1632: duct 1633: sliding cover 1634: first service bundle duct inlet 1635: top 1636: second service bundle duct inlet 1637: upper portion 1640: rear wall panel 2000: OLED printing system 2001: OLED inkjet printing system 2002: printing system 2003: printing system 2004: printing system 2050: substrate 2100: printing system substrate 2101: printing system substrate 2110: first isolator set 2112: Second isolator set 2120: first riser 2122: second riser 2130: bridge 2132: first side 2133: top surface 2134: second side 2200: substrate floating platform 2210: zone 2211: first transition zone 2212: second transition zone 2213: pressure-only zone 2214: pressure-only zone 2220: substrate floating platform base 2250: substrate support device 2252: top surface 2300: X, Z bracket assembly 2300A: first bracket assembly 23 00B: second bracket assembly 2301: first X-axis bracket assembly 2302: second X-axis bracket assembly 2310: first Z-axis moving plate 2310A: first Z-axis moving plate 2310B: second Z-axis moving plate 2312: second Z-axis moving plate 2315: first Z-axis moving plate 2320: linear air bearing system 2330: air bearing disc 2332: first disc 2334: second disc 2336: third disc 2338: fourth disc 2340: linear motor 2342: X, Z-axis bracket assembly magnet track 2344: linear motor winding 2346: encoder reading head 2351: first Y-axis track 2352: second Y-axis track 2355: Y-axis motion assembly 2360: track system 2400: service beam housing exhaust system 2401: first service beam carrier extension 2402: service beam housing top surface 2404: service beam housing bottom side 2406: service beam housing first side 2407: second service beam Bundle carrier extension 2408: second side of service bundle housing 2410: service bundle housing 2411: first service bundle housing opening 2412: first set of slots 2413: second service bundle housing opening 2414: second set of slots 2415: first end of service bundle housing 2417: second end of service bundle housing 2420: exhaust space of service bundle housing 2422: first duct of exhaust space of service bundle housing 2424: second duct of exhaust space of service bundle housing 24 30: Service bundle carrier 2500: Print head assembly 2501: First print head assembly 2502: Second print head assembly 2503: First print head assembly package 2504: Second print head assembly package 2505: Print head 2530: Handle 2536: End effector 2550: Camera assembly 2552: Camera 2554: Camera bracket assembly 2556: Lens assembly 2600: Print head assembly exhaust System 2610: Print head assembly exhaust system housing 2612: Print head assembly exhaust system first pipeline 2614: Print head assembly exhaust system second pipeline 2616: Filter head 2620: Fan 2622: Fan 2701: First print head management system 2702: Second print head management system 2703: First maintenance system platform 2704: Second maintenance system platform 2707: First print head management system device 2709 :First print head management system device 2711:First print head management system device 2713:Print head replacement module 3000:Pressurized inert gas recirculation system 3130:Gas purification system 3131:Gas purification outlet line 3132:Solvent removal assembly 3133:Gas purification inlet line 3134:Gas purification system 3140:Heat regulation system 3141:Fluid outlet line 3142:Fluid cooler 3143: Cooler inlet line 3200: External gas loop 3201: Inert gas source 3202: First mechanical valve 3203: Clean dry air (CDA) source 3204: Second mechanical valve 3206: Third mechanical valve 3208: Fourth mechanical valve 3210: Indoor inert gas line 3212: Low consumption manifold line 3214: Crossover line first section 3215: Low consumption manifold 3216: First flow junction 3218: Second flow Dynamic junction 3220: Compressor inert gas line 3222: CDA line 3225: High consumption manifold 3226: Third flow junction 3228: Crossover line second section 3230: Valve 3250: Compressor loop 3252: Gas packaging assembly outlet 3254: Line 3256: Valve 3258: Check valve 3260: Pressure controlled bypass loop 3261: First bypass inlet valve 3262: Compressor 3263: Second valve 3264: First accumulator 3266: Rear pressure regulator 3268: Second accumulator 3270: Vacuum system 3272: Line 3274: Valve 3280: Blower circuit 3282: Housing 3283: First isolation valve 3284: First blower 3285: Check valve 3286: Adjustable valve 3287: Second isolation valve 3288: Heat exchanger 3290: Vacuum blower 3292: Line 3294: Valve V ₁ : Valve V ₂ : Valve V ₃ : Valve V ₄ : Valve

A better understanding of the features and advantages of the present invention will be obtained by referring to the accompanying drawings, which are intended to illustrate (not limit) the present teachings. [FIG. 1] is a right front perspective view of a gas encapsulation assembly according to various specific examples of the present teachings. [FIG. 2] depicts an exploded view of a gas encapsulation assembly according to various specific examples of the present teachings. [FIG. 3] is an exploded front perspective view of a frame member assembly depicting various panel frame sections and section panels according to various specific examples of the present teachings. [FIG. 4] A to 4C are top schematic views of various specific examples of gasket seals for forming joints. [FIG. 5] A and 5B are various perspective views depicting the sealing of frame members according to various specific examples of gas encapsulation assemblies according to the present teachings. [FIG. 6] A and 6B are various views of the sealing of segment panels for receiving easily removable maintenance windows according to various specific examples of gas encapsulation assemblies according to the present teachings. [FIG. 7] A and 7B are enlarged perspective cross-sectional views of the sealing of segment panels for receiving insert panels or window panels according to various specific examples of the present teachings. [FIG. 8] is a view of a top panel of a lighting system including various specific examples of gas encapsulation systems according to the present teachings. [FIG. 9] is a front perspective view of a gas encapsulation assembly according to various specific examples of the present teachings. [FIG. 10]A depicts an exploded view of a gas packaging assembly as depicted in FIG. 9 and various specific examples of related printing according to various specific examples of the present teachings. FIG. 10B depicts an enlarged isometric perspective view of the printing system depicted in FIG. 10A. FIG. 10C shows an enlarged isometric perspective view of the auxiliary package depicted in FIG. 10A. [FIG. 11] Describes a perspective view of a floating table according to various specific examples of the present teachings. [FIG. 12] is a schematic diagram of various specific examples of the gas packaging assembly and related system components of the present teachings. [FIG. 13] is a schematic diagram of various specific examples of the gas packaging assembly and related system components of the present teachings. [FIG. 14] is a schematic diagram of a gas packaging system according to various specific examples of the present teachings. [Figure 15] is a schematic diagram of a gas packaging system according to various specific examples of the present teachings. [Figure 16] is a phantom front perspective view of a gas packaging assembly according to various specific examples of the present teachings, which depicts a piping system installed in the interior of the gas packaging assembly. [Figure 17] is a phantom top perspective view of a gas packaging assembly according to various specific examples of the present teachings, which depicts a piping system installed in the interior of the gas packaging assembly. [Figure 18] is a phantom bottom perspective view of a gas packaging assembly according to various specific examples of the present teachings, which depicts a piping system installed in the interior of the gas packaging assembly. [Figure 19] A is a schematic representation showing a service bundle according to various specific examples of the present teachings. FIG. 19B depicts a gas sweep through a service bundle fed through various embodiments of a conduit system according to the present teachings. [FIG. 20] is a schematic representation showing how reactive material (A) clogged in the dead space of a service bundle is effectively purged as an inert gas (B) sweeps through the conduit through which the bundle is wired. [FIG. 21] A is a phantom perspective view of cables and tubing wired through a conduit system according to various embodiments of a gas packaging system according to the present teachings. FIG. 21B is an expanded view of the opening shown in FIG. 21A of various embodiments of a gas packaging system according to the present teachings showing details of a cover for closing over the opening. [FIG. 22] is a schematic side sectional view of a gas packaging system according to various specific examples of the present teachings, depicting a specific example of gas circulation through a gas packaging assembly. [FIG. 23] is a schematic side sectional view of a gas packaging system according to various specific examples of the present teachings, depicting a specific example of gas circulation through a gas packaging assembly. [FIG. 24] is a schematic front sectional view of a gas packaging according to various specific examples of the present teachings, depicting a specific example of gas circulation through a gas packaging assembly. [FIG. 25] is a schematic cross-sectional view of a gas packaging assembly with system components according to various specific examples of the present teachings. [FIG. 26] is a perspective view of a printing system depicting various specific examples of the particle control system of the present teaching, which printing system may include a low-particle X-axis motion system and a service bundle housing exhaust system. [FIG. 27] A and FIG. 27B are cross-sectional views of a low-particle X-axis motion system according to various specific examples of the present teaching. [FIG. 28] A and FIG. 28B are various perspective views of a service bundle housing exhaust system for a printing system according to various specific examples of the present teaching. [FIG. 29] A is a schematic view of a service bundle housing exhaust system according to various specific examples of the present teaching. FIG. 29B, FIG. 29C, and FIG. 29D are schematic views of various specific examples of ventilating a service bundle housing according to various specific examples of the present teaching. [Figure 30] A and Figure 30B are schematic diagrams of a gas packaging system according to various specific examples of the present teachings, which is a specific example of gas circulation and particle collection around a print head assembly in a gas packaging assembly. [Figure 31] A and Figure 31B are schematic diagrams of a gas packaging system according to various specific examples of the present teachings, which is a specific example of gas circulation and particle collection around a print head assembly in a gas packaging assembly. [Figure 32] A and Figure 32B are schematic diagrams of a gas packaging system according to various specific examples of the present teachings, which is a specific example of gas circulation and particle collection around a print head assembly in a gas packaging assembly. [Figure 33] is a specific example of a portable airborne particle counting device according to the present teachings. [FIG. 34] is a schematic representation of the operating principle of various portable airborne particle counting devices based on the scattering of electromagnetic radiation. [FIG. 35] is a schematic representation depicting various areas where portable airborne particle counting devices may be located in various printing systems of the present teachings. [FIG. 36] is an isometric perspective view of a portable airborne particle counting device located closest to a substrate support device according to various specific examples of the present teachings. [FIG. 37]A and FIG. 37B are graphs depicting long-term test results of particle counts in various specific examples of gas packaging systems of the present teachings. [FIG. 38] is a graph depicting recovery test results of particle counts before and after the gas packaging system window is opened. [FIG. 39] is a schematic representation of the operating principle of various particle detection devices for particle detection on a substrate based on scattering of electromagnetic radiation. [FIG. 40] is an isometric perspective view of the placement of a test substrate closest to a printing area according to various specific examples of the present teachings. [FIG. 41] is an isometric perspective view of the placement of a substrate closest to a printing area in a printing system equipped with a camera according to various specific examples of the present teachings.

100: Gas packaging assembly

103: Fan filter unit cover

105: First top plate frame pipeline

107: Second top plate frame pipe

109: Metal sheet panel section

110: Insert panel

120: Window panel

130: Easily removable maintenance window

140: Glove port

142: Gloves

204: Chassis

210: First wall frame

210': First wall panel

230: Third wall frame

230': Third wall panel

250: Top frame

250': Roof panel

Claims (20)

A gas packaging system, comprising: a gas package defining an interior, the gas package being configured to maintain a controlled gas environment in the interior; a printing system disposed in the interior of the gas package; a substrate support device disposed in the interior of the gas package; and a gas circulation system operably coupled to the gas package, the gas circulation system comprising: a gas moving device disposed to move gas in the gas package. The gas moves along a path from the top of the printing system downward toward the substrate support device within the interior of the gas package; and a plurality of pipeline system assemblies disposed within the interior of the gas package and in fluid communication with the gas moving device, each pipeline system assembly comprising an inlet pipe coupled to at least one riser pipe to recirculate the gas from the closest substrate support device along its periphery within the interior of the gas package and return it to the gas moving device. A gas packaging system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a particle filter device downstream of the gas moving device. The gas packaging system of claim 1 further comprises a gas purification system fluidly connected to the gas packaging to provide purified gas to the interior of the gas packaging. The gas packaging system of claim 1 further comprises a thermal regulation system thermally connected to the gas circulation system. A gas packaging system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the thermal regulation system includes at least one of a heat exchanger and a fluid cooler. A gas packaging system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gas circulation system is configured to provide a laminar flow of the gas in the gas packaging. A gas packaging system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gas moving device is a fan. A gas packaging system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the printing system comprises: a bridge portion extending across the substrate support device; a bracket assembly movably mounted to the bridge portion, the bracket assembly being movable along the bridge portion in an X-axis direction; a plurality of air bearings providing a bearing surface between the bracket assembly and the bridge portion; and a printing head coupled to the bracket assembly. The gas packaging system of claim 8 further comprises a Z-axis motion plate coupled to the bracket assembly, and the print head is mounted on the Z-axis motion plate. The gas packaging system of claim 8, further comprising a brushless linear motor operably coupled to the bracket assembly to move the bracket assembly along the bridge portion. The gas packaging system of claim 8 further comprises a Y-axis motion system configured to move the substrate support device in a Y-axis direction. The gas packaging system of claim 1 further comprises: an exhaust housing that encapsulates a print head assembly of the printing system; and a filter that is fluidly connected to the exhaust housing. The gas packaging system of claim 12, further comprising another gas moving device positioned to move the gas from the exhaust housing through a service bundle duct system, the service bundle duct system wiring a service bundle of the print head assembly. A gas packaging system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the printing system comprises an inkjet printing assembly. A gas packaging system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the printing system is configured to deposit an organic material on a surface of a substrate supported by the substrate support device. A gas packaging system, comprising: a gas package defining an interior, the gas package being configured to maintain a controlled gas environment in the interior; a printing system disposed in the interior of the gas package; a substrate support device disposed in the interior of the gas package; and a gas circulation system operably coupled to the gas package, the gas circulation system comprising: a gas moving device disposed to move gas in the interior of the gas package along a path from The printing system flows in a path from top to bottom toward the substrate support device; and a plurality of pipeline system assemblies disposed in the interior of the gas package and in fluid communication with the gas moving device, each pipeline system assembly comprising an inlet pipe located at a periphery of the interior of the gas package and fluidly coupled to at least one riser pipe, so as to recirculate the gas from the closest substrate support device along the periphery in the interior of the gas package and return it to the gas moving device. The gas packaging system of claim 16 further comprises a cover for the gas moving device, the cover comprising a gas inlet and a gas outlet for circulating the inert gas to a gas purification system. A gas enclosure system as claimed in claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of duct system assemblies is attached to an inner wall of the gas enclosure. A gas packaging system as claimed in claim 18, wherein at least one of the plurality of piping system assemblies houses a service bundle within an interior of the at least one piping system assembly. A gas packaging system as in claim 16, wherein each inlet conduit has a plurality of openings along a bottom surface thereof.

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