Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Giga Tech Inc.

Ohkawa & Co., Ltd.

Kanto Kagaku Kabushiki Kaisha

Yoshitaka Kinomura

Teruo Hiraoka

Kojiro Ohkawa

Norio Ishikawa

Hideki Hijiya

The invention provides a cleaning apparatus which can remove an organic material for an organic EL element attaching to a mask made of a thin metal film. The cleaning apparatus of the invention includes first and second cleaning tanks cleaning a mask with a predetermined cleaning solution at room temperature, first and second rinse tanks rinsing the mask with a predetermined rinse solution at room temperature, and a carrying device holding the mask at a predetermined angle other than horizontally and carrying the mask held at the predetermined angle to the first and second cleaning tanks and the first and second rinse tanks without damage occurring to the thin metal film of the mask by stress caused by gravity. The carrying device holds the mask horizontally at first, stands up in a vertical direction while holding the mask to hold the mask at the predetermined angle.

Cleaning apparatus

The cleaning apparatus of the invention includes first and second cleaning tanks cleaning a mask with a predetermined cleaning solution, a vacuum evaporator vacuum-distilling the cleaning solution of the first and second cleaning tanks, a first cooler cooling the vacuum-distilled cleaning solution to room temperature, a first return pipe returning the cleaning solution cooled by the first cooler to the second cleaning tank, first and second rinse tanks rinsing the mask with a predetermined rinse solution, an atmospheric evaporator distilling the rinse solution of the first and second rinse tanks at atmospheric pressure, a second cooler cooling the rinse solution distilled at atmospheric pressure to room temperature, and a second return pipe returning the rinse solution cooled by the second cooler to the second rinse tank.

A cleaning solution for a mask used in a vacuum vapor deposition step in the production of a low molecular weight organic EL device is provided, the cleaning solution including one type or two or more types of aprotic polar solvent. There is also provided a cleaning method for a mask used in a vacuum vapor deposition step in the production of a low molecular weight organic EL device, wherein cleaning is carried out by immersion or jet flow using the cleaning solution.

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Gifu, Japan

Yoshitaka Kinomura