• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.22-26
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• 2021

Thin-film encapsulation (TFE) technology is most effective in preventing water vapor and oxygen permeation in the organic light emitting diodes (OLED). Of those, a laminated structure of Al₂O₃ and MgO were applied to provide efficient barrier performance for increasing the stability of devices in air. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) method is known as the most promising technology for making the laminated Al₂O₃/MgO and is used to realize a thin film encapsulation technology in organic light-emitting diodes. Atomic layer deposited inorganic films have superior barrier performance and have advantages of excellent uniformity over large scales at relatively low deposition temperatures. In this study, the control system of the MgCP₂ precursor for the atomic layer deposition of MgO was established in order to deposit the MgO layer stably by the injection time of second level and the stable heating temperature. The deposition rate was obtained stably to be from 4 to 10 Å/cycle using the injection pulse times ranging from 3 to 12 sec and a substrate temperature ranging from 80 to 150 ℃.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.67-70
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• 2022

In order to prevent water vapor and oxygen permeation in the organic light emitting diodes (OLED), Al₂O₃ thin-film encapsulation (TFE) technology were investigated. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) method was used for making the Al₂O₃ TFE layer because it has superior barrier performance with advantages of excellent uniformity over large scales at relatively low deposition temperatures. In this study, the thickness of the Al₂O₃ layer was varied by controlling the numbers of the unit pulse cycle including Tri Methyl Aluminum(Al(CH₃)₃) injection, Ar purge, and H₂O injection. In this case, several process parameters such as injection pulse times, Ar flow rate, precursor temperature, and substrate temperatures were fixed for analysis of the effect only on the thickness of the Al₂O₃ layer. As results, at least the thickness of 39 nm was required in order to obtain the minimum WVTR of 9.04 mg/m²day per one Al₂O₃ layer and a good transmittance of 90.94 % at 550 nm wavelength.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.234.2-234.2
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• 2014

Organic light emitting diode (OLED) is considered as the next generation flat panel displays due to its advantages of low power consumption, fast response time, broad viewing angle and flexibility. For the flexible application, it is essential to develop thin film encapsulation (TFE) to protect oxidation of organic materials from oxidative species such as oxygen and water vapor [1]. In many TFE research, the inorganic film by atomic layer deposition (ALD) process demonstrated a good barrier property. However, extremely low throughput of ALD process is considered as a major weakness for industrial application. Recently, there has been developed a high throughput ALD, called 'spatial ALD' [2]. In spatial ALD, the precursors and reactant gases are supplied continuously in same chamber, but they are separated physically using a purge gas streams to prevent mixing of the precursors and reactant gases. In this study, the $Al_2O_3$ thin film was deposited by spatial ALD process. We characterized various process variables in the spatial ALD such as temperature, scanning speed, and chemical compositions. Water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) was determined by calcium resistance test and less than $10-^3g/m^2{\cdot}day$ was achieved. The samples were analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM).

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.23-27
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• 2023

Organic light-emitting diode(OLED) is very thin organic films which are hundreds of nanometers. Unlike bottom-emission OLED(BEOLED), top-emission OLED(TEOLED) emits light out the front, opaque moisture absorbents or metal foils can't be used to prevent moisture and oxygen. And it is difficult to have flexible characteristics with glass encapsulation, so thin film encapsulation which can compensate for those two disadvantages is mainly used. In this study, Al₂O₃ thin films by atomic layer deposition(ALD) were examined by changing the argon gas purge flow rate and we applied this Al₂O₃ thin films to the encapsulation of TEOLED. Ag / ITO / N,N'-Di-[(1-naphthyl)-N,N'-diphenyl]-1,1'-biphenyl-4,4'-diamine / tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum/ LiF / Mg:Ag (1:9) were used to fabricate OLED device. The characteristics such as brightness, current density, and power efficiency are compared. And it was confirmed that with a thickness of 40 nm Al₂O₃ thin film encapsulation process did not affect OLED properties. And it was enough to maintain a proper OLED operation for about 9 hours.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.95-95
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• 2014

An OLED(Organic Light-Emitting Diode) device based on the emissive electroluminescent layer a film of organic materials. OLED is used for many electronic devices such as TV, mobile phones, handheld games consoles. ULVAC's mass production systems are indispensable to the manufacturing of OLED device. ULVAC is a manufacturer and worldwide supplier of equipment and vacuum systems for the OLED, LCD, Semiconductor, Electronics, Optical device and related high technology industries. The SMD Series are single-substrate sputtering systems for deposition of films such as metal films and TCO (Transparent Conductive Oxide) films. ULVAC has delivered a large number of these systems not only Organic Evaporating systems but also LTPS CVD systems. The most important technology of thin-film encapsulation (TFE) is preventing moisture($H_2O$) and oxygen permeation into flexible OLED devices. As a polymer substrate does not offer the same barrier performance as glass substrate, the TFE should be developed on both the bottom and top side of the device layers for sufficient lifetimes. This report provides a review of promising thin-film barrier technologies as well as the WVTR(Water Vapor Transmission Rate) properties. Multilayer thin-film deposition technology of organic and inorganic layer is very effective method for increasing barrier performance of OLED device. Gases and water in the organic evaporating system is having a strong influence as impurities to OLED device. CRYO pump is one of the very useful vacuum components to reduce above impurities. There for CRYO pump is faster than conventional TMP exhaust velocity of gases and water. So, we suggest new method to make a good vacuum condition which is CRYO Trap addition on OLED evaporator. Alignment accuracy is one of the key technologies to perform high resolution OLED device. In order to reduce vibration characteristic of CRYO pump, ULVAC has developed low vibration CRYO pumps to achieve high resolution alignment performance between Metal mask and substrate. This report also includes ULVAC's approach for these issues.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.198.1-198.1
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• 2016

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays have promising potential to replace liquid crystal displays (LCDs) due to their advantages of low power consumption, fast response time, broad viewing angle and flexibility. Organic light emitting materials are vulnerable to moisture and oxygen, so inorganic thin films are required for barrier substrates and encapsulations.[1-2]. In this work, the silicon-based inorganic thin films are deposited on plastic substrates by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at low temperature. It is necessary to deposit thin film at low temperature. Because the heat gives damage to flexible plastic substrates. As one of the transparent diffusion barrier materials, silicon oxides have been investigated. $SiO_x$ have less toxic, so it is one of the more widely examined materials as a diffusion barrier in addition to the dielectric materials in solid-state electronics [3-4]. The $SiO_x$ thin films are deposited by a PECVD process in low temperature below $100^{\circ}C$. Water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) was determined by a calcium resistance test, and the rate less than $10.^{-2}g/m^2{\cdot}day$ was achieved. And then, flexibility of the film was also evaluated.

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.253-257
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• 2021

Among various thin film encapsulation (TFE) methods, thin films prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD) have been shown to provide superior protection against the permeation of moisture and oxygen. This technique has numerous of advantages such as excellent uniformity, precise thickness control, and strong adhesion. Therefore, with ozone-based ALD, we conducted the influence of the thickness of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) on moisture barrier properties. From the results of an electrical calcium test, Al2O3 had two distinctly different permeation regimes. Between 10 and 25 nm of Al2O3 thickness, the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) decreased exponentially from 6.3 × 10-3 to 1.0 × 10-4 g m-2 day-1 (1/60 times). In contrast, as thickness increased from 25 to 100 nm, the WVTR values decreased by only two-thirds, from 1.0 × 10-4 to 6.6 × 10-5 g·m-2·day-1. To better understand the change from an exponential to a sub-exponential regime, defect density and refractive index of Al2O3 were measured. The thickness dependence on defect density and refractive index was analogous with one of moisture barrier performance. These results confirmed the existence of a critical thickness at which the WVTR decreased drastically.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.180-180
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• 2016

최근 디스플레이 시장의 주요 키워드는 flexible organic light emitting diode (OLED) 이다. OLED 소자의 수명을 결정하는 가장 큰 요인 중의 하나는 공기 중의 O2와 H2O에 의한 유기물의 열화이다. 따라서 공기 중의 O2나 H2O가 유기물에 쉽게 침투하는 것을 막는 것은 소자의 수명 향상을 위하여 필수적이라 할 수 있다[1-3]. SiNx 박막은 경질로 투과성이 우수하며, 화학적 불활성인 특성으로 이러한 Barrier 역할로 연구되어 산업분야에 다양하게 응용되고 있다[4]. SiNx 박막은 일반적으로 plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) 기술을 이용하여 증착되는데 기존의 PECVD 기술을 이용한 SiNx 박막은 낮은 water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) 등의 문제점들로 인해 한계점이 들어났다. 본 연구에서는, flexible display의 thin film encapsulation (TFE) 공정에서의 적용을 알아보기 위해 $370{\times}470$ size를 증착할 수 있는 In-line 장비를 이용하였으며, 기존의 PECVD 기술의 문제점으로 지적되고 있는 낮은 WVTR을 해결하기 위하여 저온 (<$100^{\circ}C$) 선형 PECVD 기술을 이용하여 WVTR을 개선하고자 하였다. 공정가스로는 SiH4와 NH3를 사용하였으며, SiH4 Carrier 가스로 He을 추가적으로 사용하였다. 또한 공정 압력은 100mTorr를 유지하였다. 증착된 SiNx 박막의 물리적, 화학적 특성 분석을 위해 분광엘립소메타, field emission electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) 등을 이용하여 측정하였으며, 박막에 투습되는 수분의 양은 MOCON사의 AQUATRAN 2(W)로 측정하였다. OLED 소자를 구현하기 위해서는 기본적으로 봉지층에 투습되는 양을 $10-6g/m2{\cdot}day$ 이하로 막아줘야 한다고 알려져 있으나, 기존의 PECVD 기술을 이용하여 제작된 SiNx 박막의 WVTR은 $10-2{\sim}10-3g/m2{\cdot}day$ 레벨의 WVTR 결과를 보이고 있다. 본 연구에서 사용된 저온 선형 PECVD 기술을 이용하여 제작된 SiNx 박막의 WVTR은 $5.0{\times}10-5g/m2{\cdot}day$ 이하의 개선된 결과를 확인 할 수 있었다. 또한 flexible display에 적용하기 위해 SiNx 박막의 두께를 최소화한 100nm의 두께에서도 WVTR은 $5.0{\times}10-5g/m2{\cdot}day$ 이하의 결과가 유지됨을 알 수 있었다.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.92-96
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• 2024

The application of the technology for forming Al₂O₃ thin films using ALD(atomic layer deposition) method is rapidly increasing in the semiconductor and display fields. In order to increase the efficiency of the ALD process in a mass production line, metallic by-products generated from the ALD process chamber must be effectively collected. By collecting by-products flowing out of the chamber with a cold trap device before they go to the vacuum pump, damage to the vacuum pump can be prevented and the work room can be maintained stably, resulting in increased process flow rate. In this study, a cold trap was installed between the ALD process chamber and the dry pump to measure and analyze by-products generated during the Al₂O₃ thin film deposition process. As a result, it was confirmed that Al and O elements were discharged, and the collection forms were two types: bulk and powder. And the binding energy peaked at 73.7 ~ 74.3 eV, the binding energy of Al 2p, and 530.7 eV, the binding energy of O 1s, indicating that the binding structure was Al-O.