JPH0196367A - Carbon ion plating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To stabilize the arc discharge of an ionization electrode and to form a high-quality carbon ion plating layer on a substrate by forming an ionization electrode of carbon and keeping the electrode at a specific high temp. in a carbon ion plating apparatus. CONSTITUTION:A substrate 6 to be subjected to vapor deposition is attached to the inside of a vacuum tank 1, and this tank 1 is evacuated via an outlet 2 and a reactant gas, such as Ar, is introduced via a gas inlet 13. Carbon 5 in an evaporation source is heated by means of an electron beam 4 from an electron gun and evaporated, and an Ar gas is ionized by means of thermions from a filament 9 made of W to carry out arc discharge, and a high electric current is sent to an ionization electrode 7 made of carbon to keep the electrode at >=1,000 deg.C, by which carbon vapor is ionized and vapor-deposited onto the substrate on which bias voltage is impressed as a carbon film. In this case, the ionization electrode 7 is made of carbon and held at high temp. and, as a result, no peeling occurs even if carbon vapor is allowed to adhere and stable arc discharge is continued, so that the high-quality carbon film can be formed on the substrate 6.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an apparatus for evaporating a coating material in a vacuum and depositing it on the surface of an object to be evaporated. The present invention relates to an apparatus for vapor deposition on the surface of an object to be vapor deposited.

[Conventional technology]

The object to be deposited is placed facing the evaporation source of the coating material in a high vacuum, and the evaporator is placed close to the evaporation source near the path of the coating material vapor from the evaporation source to the object to be deposited. An ion plating apparatus comprising an ionizing electrode configured to produce an arc discharge through an overcoat material between the source and the overcoating material is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 59-404
This is shown in Publication No. 5.

Furthermore, in the case where arc discharge is difficult to occur between the evaporation source and the ionization device, it is also disclosed in the above publication that a filament for thermionic emission may be placed between the two in order to facilitate the occurrence of arc discharge. It is shown.

The above-mentioned ionizing electrode is heated by strong electron bombardment during arc discharge, and if left unattended, undesirable phenomena such as evaporation of electrode constituent materials occur.

To this end, we used thick-walled molybdenum material with good thermal conductivity as the electrode material, and water-cooled it to keep the electrode temperature at 1.
I was careful not to exceed 000℃.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In recent years, it has been discovered that carbon ion plating layers have high hardness and wear resistance, and attempts have been made to layer them using the conventional ion plating described above. In that case,
The stability of the operation of the device greatly influences the quality of the carbon layer produced.

In the type of ion plating apparatus having an ionization electrode as shown in the above-mentioned Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 59-4045, during operation, the coating material evaporated from the evaporation source is deposited on the ionization electrode. When the material is metal, the arc discharge continues without any problem, so it is possible to continuously send the vapor to the object to be deposited. However, when the coating material is carbon, the carbon deposited on the ionization electrode occasionally peels off, and each time an abnormal current flows through the 4-ionization electrode, the power supply protection circuit operates and the current is frequently cut off. Furthermore, depending on the temperature conditions of the ionization electrode, an insulating carbon film may be formed, making arc discharge unstable.

All of these situations significantly impair the quality of the carbon layer produced on the deposition target.

Therefore, even when carbon is used as a coating material, the present invention aims to stably perform arc discharge of an ionizing electrode and generate high-quality carbon ion plating/i.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention relates to an ion plating apparatus having an ionizing electrode for generating arc discharge, such as that disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 59-4045.

The present invention is characterized in that the ionization electrode is made of carbon, and that means for maintaining the ionization electrode at 1000° C. or higher is provided.

There are two ways to maintain the ionization electrode at 1000 tE or higher: forming the ionization electrode into a thin rod shape and heating it with electricity, and forming the ionization electrode into a rod or thin plate shape that does not have good thermal conductivity and causing arc discharge. There is a method of raising the temperature by generating heat.

[For production]

As mentioned above, the carbon layer ionization electrode maintained at a temperature of 1000°C or higher does not peel off even if carbon evaporated from the evaporation source is deposited, does not become insulating, and remains stable for a long time. Continues to maintain arc discharge in a multi-stable manner. Therefore, a high-quality carbon layer can be formed with sufficient thickness on the object to be deposited.

〔Example〕

In FIG. 1, there is an exhaust port 2 at the bottom of the vacuum chamber 1, and a vacuum pump is connected to the exhaust port 2.

The inside of tank 1 is constantly evacuated to a high vacuum. An evaporation source 3 is located in the lower part of the tank 1, and the carbon 5 for coating is evaporated by the impact of the electron beam 4 emitted from the sterilization gun. At the upper part of the tank 1, directly above the evaporation source 3, a deposition target 6 is placed.

A 4-on electrode 7 made of a carbon rod is located close to and diagonally above the evaporation source 3, both ends of which are connected to a heating power source 8 outside the tank 1 and heated to 1000 to 2000°C. A thermionic emission filament 9 made of, for example, tungsten is located between the evaporation source 3 and the ionization electrode 7, and both ends thereof are connected to a heating power source 10 outside the tank 1. Both the evaporation source 3 and the filament 9 are grounded, and a power source 11 for arc discharge is interposed between the ionization electrode 7 and the ground. The object to be evaporated 6 is connected to a direct current or high frequency bias power source 12 outside the tank 1 . Note that 13 is an inlet for introducing a reaction gas when necessary.

The embodiment shown in the first diagram is suitable for a case where the discharge current flowing through the ionizing electrode 7 is small, for example, less than 1 IOA. Heating makes it possible to raise the temperature to a predetermined temperature.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment suitable for such a case where the discharge current is large, in which numeral 17 is an ionization electrode made of a graphite thin plate, and the rest of the structure is the same as in FIG.

In this embodiment, the temperature increase that occurs at one discharge site of the ionizing electrode 17 easily reaches the required temperature of 1000 to 2000°C, partly because the heat is difficult to conduct and diffuse due to the thin wall. It is possible to perform a certain action.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the carbon vapor to be treated is deposited on the 4-ion electrode, causing an abnormality in the arc discharge current when it is peeled off, and the insulating carbon layer is deposited on the 4-ion electrode. It can effectively prevent arcing from interfering with arc discharge and maintain multi-stable arc discharge for a long time, producing a high quality and desired thickness carbon ion plating layer. can be done.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the invention. 1... Vacuum chamber, 3... Evaporation source, 6... Deposited object,
7 and 17... Ionization electrode, 8... Heating power source, 1
1... Arc discharge power supply. Patent applicant Shinko Seiki Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Place the object to be evaporated in a high vacuum facing a carbon evaporation source, and place the evaporator at a position close to the evaporation source near the path of carbon vapor from the evaporation source to the object to be evaporated. In an ion plating apparatus comprising an ionization electrode configured to cause arc discharge through the carbon vapor between the ionization source and the evaporation source, the ionization electrode is formed of carbon, and the ionization electrode is heated at 1000°C.
A carbon ion plating apparatus characterized by being provided with means for maintaining the above.