Systems and methods for drying patterned OLED formulations
AssigneeKateeva, Inc.
InventorsConor F. Madigan, Alexander Sou-Kang Ko
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A drying chamber for drying a substrate patterned with display areas wetted by OLED materials dissolved or suspended in a volatile carrier liquid and separated from one another by dry boundary regions. A mask adjusts drying rate of the carrier liquid during vacuum extraction using vapor-transmissive areas opposite the wet areas and vapor-barrier regions opposite the dry boundary regions, or by confining the wet areas collectively in a chamber volume small enough to quickly saturate with the carrier liquid before vacuum extraction.
Claims13
A drying chamber comprising:
- a substrate support disposed within an enclosure, the substrate support having a support surface;
- a gas source coupled to the enclosure;
- a vacuum source coupled to a ceiling of the enclosure;
- a movable mask having vapor-transmissive areas and vapor-barrier regions disposed across the support surface of the substrate support within the enclosure and spaced apart from a ceiling of the enclosure to provide an adjustable distance between the mask and the support surface;
- and
- a gas distribution element disposed between the mask and the vacuum source, the gas distribution element comprising a vapor barrier surrounding a gap between the mask and the gas distribution element.
A method for drying a substrate having wet areas wet with a carrier liquid separated by dry boundary regions, the method comprising:
- orienting a mask and a gas distribution element having a vapor barrier relative to the substrate within an enclosure, the mask having vapor-transmissive areas and vapor-barrier regions;
- supporting the mask on movable mask supports located on opposite sides of the mask to vary a gap between the mask and a ceiling of the enclosure;
- positioning the vapor barrier to surround a gap between the mask and the gas distribution element;
- and
- drawing the carrier liquid from the wet areas of the substrate through the vapor-transmissive areas of the mask using a vacuum port coupled to the ceiling of the enclosure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.