JPH03219073A - Method and apparatus for forming a thin film by evaporation in a gas stream - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Production 5! FIELD OF APPLICATION] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for forming a thin film on a substrate.

[Prior Art] When a thin film material is evaporated in a gas, the vapor of the evaporated thin film material quickly turns into fine particles. The fine particles are carried toward the base material by a gas flow, the gas is turned into plasma near the base material, the plasma evaporates the fine particles, the vapor is deposited on the base material, and the vapor is deposited on the base material. Form a thin film on the surface. There are methods for forming such thin films.

[Problem H to be Solved by the Invention] In this conventional thin film forming method, the vapor evaporated from the thin film material becomes fine particles in the close vicinity of the thin film material. Therefore, in order to form a thin film by depositing the vapor of a thin film material on a substrate, it is necessary to perform the troublesome operation of forming plasma as described above and using the plasma to evaporate the fine particles into vapor. There was a problem.

The present invention was made in order to solve the problems (technical problems) of the prior art described above, and it is possible to make the section where the evaporated thin film material f1 reaches f'l as a vapor very long, and as a result, Thin film formation by evaporation in a gas stream has made it possible to form thin films all over a number of substrates, to form thin films on long objects, and also to form thin films of compounds. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus.

[1% Means to Solve the Problem] In order to achieve the above-mentioned [1], the present invention takes the measures as described in the claims above, and its effects are as follows.

[Operation] A gas flow is formed that flows from one side to the other. Thin film material is evaporated in an upstream portion of the gas stream. The vapor of the evaporated thin film material flows downstream and adheres to the surface of the substrate placed thereon, forming a thin film thereon.

[Example] The drawings showing the example of the present application will be described below. In FIG. 1, which shows an overview of the entire thin film forming apparatus, numeral 1 denotes a thin film forming cylinder, which is used for forming a gas flow inside. For example, a quartz tube is used, but a thin film material t
Other materials may be used as long as they do not hinder the evaporation of No. 1 or the formation of a thin film on the substrate. In addition, as described later, when converting gas into plasma, it is best to use a material I'I that is capable of transmitting microphone 17 wave energy and high frequency energy for plasma conversion. 2 is for thin film formation. A gas supply port provided at one end of the cylinder 1 is connected to a gas supply means 3.The gas supply means 3 is composed of, for example, a gas supply source 4 and a pipe line 5. A gas flow meter 6 having a function of adjusting the gas flow rate and a valve 7 are interposed in the valve 5. On the other hand, the other end of the thin film forming cylinder l is connected to a pump for evacuation via the valve 8. It is connected to 9.Next, 11 shows an evaporation tank interposed in the middle of the thin film forming cylinder 1, and an evaporation place 12 of the thin film material is defined inside the evaporation tank.

I3 is a material support for supporting the thin film material T1, for example, a tungsten basket is used. The tungsten basket also serves as a means for heating the thin film material, and is capable of heating the supported thin film material 14 by generating heat by energizing itself. 15 is a power source for electrical heating. Note that 16 is a pressure gauge attached to the evaporation tank 11, and 18 is a vacuum pump (for example, a diffusion pump) connected to the evaporation tank 11 via an open valve 17. Next, reference numeral 20 denotes a film forming location located downstream of the evaporation location 12 in the thin film forming cylinder 1, where a vapor region of the thin film material is formed as described later. Reference numeral 21 indicates a base material located at the film forming location.

Next, the formation of a thin film using the above apparatus will be explained. First, the inside of the thin film forming cylinder 1 and the evaporation tank 11 are purified by evacuation using the vacuum pump 9.18.

Next, gas is fed from the gas feeding means 3 to the gas feeding port 2, and a gas flow is formed in the one-film forming cylinder I from the gas feeding port 2 toward the opening valve 8. In this case, the opening valve 17 is naturally opened. In the above state, the thin film material 14
Heat and evaporate. Since the evaporation takes place in the gas stream, the vapor of the thin film material is immediately carried downstream by the gas stream. As a result, evaporation place! Where is the film forming location 20 on the downstream side of 2? This becomes a vapor region where the vapor of the thin film material that has been subjected to AE exists. The area is very wide because the vapor of the thin film material 11 is carried by the gas flow as described above. As mentioned above, when the vapor of the thin film material H reaches the film forming location 20 due to the gas flow, the vapor is transferred to the base material 21.
When a thin film is formed on the surface of the base material 21 as described above, the thin film material L-114
Since the vapor generated from the gas flow is immediately carried away by the gas flow, the evaporation rate of the thin film material is high (vapors are formed one after another), and as a result, the rate of film formation on the surface of the base material 21 at the film forming location 20 is low. It gets expensive.

- The higher the velocity of the gas flow in the case of forming a thin film as described above, the wider (longer) the vapor region.
Become. Therefore, it is preferable to set the temperature so that a vapor region of a necessary and sufficient size is formed. Generally lom7/sec~10
It is about 0 m/sec (for example, 40 m/sec).

]-The range of gas pressure in the thin film forming cylinder 1 in the case of forming the thin film is as follows. The lower limit is a size that satisfies the formation of the gas flow as described above. The upper limit is a size that allows formation of a vapor region of sufficient size. This is also related to the flow rate of the gas flow, and if the flow rate is high, a sufficiently large vapor region can be formed even if the gas pressure is relatively high. The above range is generally I x IQ-'
Torr to 1×In2Torr is considered to be appropriate.

1- The gas functions as a carrier of vapor C. b
'C' uses a thin film of four types and a gas that does not cause a reaction. The thin film material 14 is an inert gas such as helium, argon, neon, xenon, clear gas, etc.
can be either a metal or a compound.

The base material 21 can be made of metal, glass, ceramic, or the like.

Next, FIG. 2 shows a different embodiment of the present application, and shows an example in which a thin film of a compound can be formed. 23 is a cavity resonator attached to the thin film forming tube 1, into which the microphone +7 waves are applied.
As a result, a plasma region 2 is formed in the thin film forming cylinder 1.
4 can be formed. The plasma generation region 24 is defined so that a part or the whole thereof overlaps with the film forming location 20. Reference numeral 25 denotes a compound-forming gas supply means, which is capable of injecting the compound-forming gas to a location upstream of the plasma generation region 24 and downstream of the evaporation location in the thin film formation@1. .

When forming a thin film of a compound on the surface of the substrate 21 in the configuration described in -1-, a compound forming gas is supplied.
Stage 25 feeds into the gas stream. Then, a compound of the compound-forming gas and the thin film material is formed in the plasma region, and a thin film of the compound is formed on the surface of the base material 21.

Next, when a thin film of a compound is deposited as described in "-", the following materials are appropriately used as the thin film depending on the type of the compound. That is, A1, Ti, Zl-11
1", V, Nb, Ta, Cr, 14o, W, In,
Si, Fe and so on.

Further, as the gas for forming the compound, gases are used depending on the type of compound to be formed. For example, nitrogen when producing nitrides, oxygen when producing oxides, methane (CI+4>) when producing carbides, hydrogen sulfide (11□S) when producing sulfides, and oxygen when producing borides. BCI,,82
116 etc. are used.

Thin films of compounds formed as described above include the following.

(a) Nitride: AIN, TiN, ZrN, old N, VN
, NbN, Ta2NCrN, 14°2N, W2N, In
N, 5ilN4. Fe2-3N, Fe4N (b) carbonization'
Plj: TiC, ZrC, 1lfc, VClNbC
lTaC, CrlC2MoCWC5iC (c) Acid Ihi @: A1201. TiO
2, ZrO2, 5i02 (d) Sulfide/Ti52 (e) Boride TiB2. ZrJ Next, in the case of forming a thin film of a compound as described above, if the gas for forming the compound is a gas that does not have an adverse effect such as inhibiting the evaporation of the thin film material at the evaporation site, the gas for forming the compound is used as a thin film. A place before the material evaporation place, for example, thin film forming cylinder 1
It may also be injected into the gas inlet with the gas for forming the surface scum rAE.

In addition, in the example of FIG. 2, the parts that are considered to have the same or uniform 1r configuration in terms of function as those in FIG. (The same concept applies to other parts as well, and the same reference numerals are used to omit redundant explanations.) Next, FIG. In the above apparatus, a very wide film forming area 20 can be set, so a large number of base materials 21 can be placed there as shown in the figure, and thin films can be formed on all of them. ′、■ can be given.

Next, FIG. 4 shows examples of different forms of the base material 21.
This figure shows a situation in which a thin film is formed on the outer circumferential surface and inner circumferential surface of a cylindrical base material 21. The above-mentioned base material may have various complicated shapes other than the above-mentioned cylinder.

[Effects of the Invention] As described below, in the present invention, the thin film material 14 is evaporated in a gas flow moving from one direction to the other.
The base material 21 located in the gas flow on the 10-stream side has the feature that the vapor of the thin film material adheres to the base material 21 to form a thin film. This evaporation in the gas stream and the deposition of vapor in the gas stream produce the following effects.

First of all, by increasing the flow rate of the gas flow, the section where the evaporated thin film material reaches f'l as a vapor can be made very long, and a long substrate or a large number of substrates placed along that section can be made very long. This has the effect of forming a thin film over the entire array of substrates.

Second, when the base material is cylindrical, a thin film can be formed over the entire length of its inner surface.

Thirdly, when a gas for compound formation is used as the gas, a thin film of the compound can also be formed, and a partial diagram showing an outline of an apparatus capable of forming a film with an effect of 9%. 7I, No. 4U
'A represents a different example of the form of the group H +W.

1. Thin film forming cylinder, 12.. Evaporation location, 20.. Film forming location, 21. Base material.

As described above, the present invention is useful as it can be used for 7% of solutions to many problems.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a gas stream moving from one side to the other, the thin film material is evaporated in the upstream gas stream, while
By evaporation in a gas flow, which is characterized by locating a base material in a gas flow downstream of the evaporation location, and depositing vapor of a thin film material on the base material to form a thin film on the base material. Thin film formation method. 2. A gas inlet for forming a gas flow inside the thin film forming cylinder is biased at one end of the thin film forming cylinder, and a thin film material is evaporated at a part of the inside of the thin film forming cylinder. While determining the evaporation location of the above-mentioned evaporation location, the vapor of the thin-film material evaporated from the above-mentioned thin-film material is attached to the base material at a position downstream of the gas flow from the evaporation location to form a thin film on the base material. A thin film forming apparatus characterized in that a film forming location is determined.