JPS6230875A - Evaporating source housing chamber for batch-operated vacuum deposition device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce working time and to execute vapor deposition with stable quality by moving an evaporating source via a sluice valve between a vacuum evaporation chamber and evaporating source housing chamber and introducing an inert gas into the evaporating source housing chamber. CONSTITUTION:The sluice valve 2 between the vacuum deposition chamber 3 and the evaporating source housing chamber 1 is opened upon ending of the vacuum deposition operation in the chamber 3. Conveying rollers 5 are driven to eject the evaporating source 4 positioned in the chamber 3 to the chamber 1 in the high-temp. vacuum state. The inert gas is introduced from a carrier gas introducing device 10 into the chamber to prevent the evaporation and contamination of the evaporating source 4. The valve 2 is thereafter closed and the chamber 3 is opened to the atm., then the material to be treated is taken out. Another material to be treated is mounted into the chamber 3 and the sluice valve 2 is closed to restart the vapor deposition. The wear of the evaporating source 4 is suppressed according to the above-mentioned mechanism.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an evaporation source storage device for batch-type vacuum evaporation 'IA'.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, various types of batch-type vacuum evaporation apparatuses have been proposed.
Publicly known examples include those described in Publication No. 3032 and Publication No. 1135B-17829.

In all of these known devices, the object to be processed and the evaporation source are placed facing each other in a vapor deposition chamber consisting of a vacuum container, the substance is heated in vacuum to evaporate, and the vapor is condensed on the object to be processed. The structure is such that a 7Ii film is formed.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Incidentally, in such a batch type vacuum evaporation apparatus, when the evaporation work is completed, it is necessary to open the evaporation chamber to the public and replace the objects to be processed. In this case, if the atmosphere is introduced immediately after the evaporation process is completed, the evaporation source will be rapidly cooled and may be lost.
It is necessary to wait until the evaporation source has cooled down to some extent before opening the deposition chamber to the atmosphere. As a result, the opening required per batch becomes longer, resulting in poor productivity.

Furthermore, since the evaporation source is exposed to the atmosphere every time the evaporation work is completed, oxidation and the like occur, leading to rapid wear and tear, which tends to increase maintenance costs.

- Two chambers with separate evaporation chambers and evaporation source chambers separated by large-diameter valves so that the evaporation source chamber is always maintained in a vacuum state and only the evaporation chamber is at atmospheric pressure. A type vacuum evaporation apparatus δ has also been proposed, but since the object to be processed in the evaporation chamber and the evaporation source in the evaporation source chamber must be positioned opposite each other, the configuration of the apparatus is naturally limited, and the evaporation Since it is necessary to provide a large-diameter valve between the deposition chamber and the evaporation source chamber, there are also restrictions on the distance between the object to be processed in the evaporation chamber and the evaporation source in the evaporation source chamber.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the conventional technology, significantly shortens the working time per batch, and prevents unnecessary evaporation and contamination without exposing the evaporation source to the atmosphere every time. It is an object of the present invention to provide an evaporation source storage device for a batch-type vacuum evaporation device that can be used in a batch-type vacuum evaporation device.

Means for Solving the Problem] In order to achieve the above object, the seafood source storage V for a batch type vacuum evaporation apparatus according to the present invention has a substrate and an evaporation source inserted therein, and A vacuum evaporation chamber configured to perform evaporation by condensing the evaporation material vapor evaporated from the evaporation source onto the substrate, and an evaporation chamber connected to the vacuum evaporation chamber via a gate valve to maintain a vacuum. a carrier gas introduction device for introducing a carrier gas into the evaporation source storage chamber to prevent evaporation and contamination of the evaporation source in the evaporation source storage chamber; The device is characterized in that the evaporation source can be moved between storage chambers.

[Function] In the evaporation source storage device for batch type vacuum and R deposition equipment according to the present invention, a separate evaporation source storage chamber is provided which is connected to the vacuum evaporation chamber via a gate valve, and the evaporation source storage chamber is connected to the vacuum evaporation chamber via a gate valve. The source is carried from the evaporation source storage chamber in a carrier gas atmosphere to a position that faces and covers the object to be processed in the vacuum evaporation chamber, and when the object to be processed is taken out after the completion of the evaporation process, it is stored in the evaporation source storage chamber again.
It is maintained in an inert gas atmosphere introduced by a carrier gas introduction device.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the main parts of an evaporation source storage device for a batch-type vacuum evaporator head according to an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes an evaporation source storage chamber, inside of which a heat insulating material 1a is applied. Therefore, it constitutes an insulating room.

This evaporation source storage chamber 1 is connected to a vacuum deposition chamber 3 via a partition valve 2. Conveyance rollers 5 for conveying the evaporation sources 4 are arranged on one plane in the evaporation source storage chamber 1, and each conveyance roller 5 is connected to an external drive system 6 (see FIG. 2). (only one of which is shown) is driven and controlled via the IJ. Although not shown in the drawings, conveyance rollers similar to the conveyance roller 5 are arranged in the vacuum deposition chamber 3 on substantially the same plane as the conveyance roller 5 and in the same direction. Two heaters 7 are provided in the upper part of the evaporation source storage chamber 1 along the longitudinal direction, and are connected to an external power source (not shown) via a power source 1 to a terminal 8.
In combination with this, a thermocouple 9 (only one of which is shown in FIG. 1) for temperature control is provided on the earthen wall of the evaporation source storage chamber 1. By the action of these heaters 7 and thermocouples 9, the temperature of the evaporation source 4 can be maintained at a constant temperature. On the other hand, a carrier gas introduction device 1o is disposed at the lower part of the evaporation source storage chamber 1, and this carrier gas introduction device 1o is connected to an appropriate external carrier gas supply source (not shown), and is supplied with an inert gas. is supplied into the evaporation source storage v1 to suppress the evaporation of the evaporation substance in the evaporation source 4 and to protect the evaporation source 4 from contamination from the surroundings. Further, the evaporation source storage chamber 1 is connected to a live system through an exhaust port 11 provided at its upper portion, and can be maintained at a predetermined vacuum level at all times.

In the operation of the illustrated apparatus configured in this way, C first starts from the vacuum evaporation chamber 3 and the evaporation source storage chamber 1 as soon as the required evaporation work on the object to be processed (not shown) is completed in the vacuum evaporation chamber 3. The evaporation source 4 located in the vacuum evaporation chamber 3 is driven by the external drive system 6 to drive the evaporation source storage chamber 1 J3 and the transport roller 5 in the vacuum evaporation chamber 3. It is carried out to the evaporation source storage chamber 1 which is kept in a high-temperature vacuum state. (Close the partition valve 2 and close the vacuum deposition chamber 3.)
Is the deposition process in the vacuum deposition chamber 3 completed by opening it to the atmosphere?
! 11198 Take out the physical object. Thereafter, another 98 objects to be treated are placed in the vacuum deposition chamber 3, and the vacuum deposition chamber 3 is evacuated again. After the exhaust is finished, the partition valve 2 is opened, the transport roller 5 is driven in the opposite direction to carry the evaporation source 4 maintained at a high temperature into the vacuum deposition chamber 3, and the partition valve 2 is closed to restart the vapor deposition work. do.

By repeating this process, a series of vapor deposition operations can be performed.

In the illustrated embodiment, the carrier gas introduction pipe 10 is arranged at the lower part of the evaporation source storage chamber 1, but it may be provided at the upper part or both left and right sides of the evaporation source storage chamber 1 instead. The number and position of these can also be changed as appropriate. Also, other suitable conveyance mechanisms may be used instead of the conveyance rollers.
For example, a conveying means such as a belt type or a chain type may be used.

Also, in the illustrated embodiment, two evaporation sources are used, but of course there are 11'l! Depending on the situation, a plurality of evaporation sources may be used, and the method can be similarly applied to various types of evaporation sources. Furthermore, the operation of each part may be controlled automatically or manually.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, a substrate and an evaporation source are placed inside, and the vapor deposition material vapor evaporated from the evaporation source is condensed on the substrate. A vacuum deposition chamber configured to perform vapor deposition, and the above-mentioned [′! An evaporation source storage chamber is connected to an empty evaporation chamber through a gate valve to maintain a vacuum, and a carrier gas is supplied to the evaporation source storage chamber to prevent evaporation and contamination of the evaporation source in the evaporation source storage chamber. Since the evaporation source is configured to be able to be moved between the vacuum evaporation chamber and the evaporation source storage chamber, it is possible to move the evaporation source between the vacuum evaporation chamber and the evaporation source storage chamber. cooling can be omitted, the working time per batch can be shortened, and productivity can be improved accordingly. In addition, since the evaporation source is not exposed to the atmosphere after each evaporation and is kept in the carrier gas atmosphere, evaporation can always be performed with stable quality, and the consumption of the evaporation source can be reduced to about 1/1 of that of conventional methods. , thereby reducing running cost 1
Not only can this reduce the amount of damage, but also the maintenance time can be significantly reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus shown in FIG. In the figure, 1: Evaporation source storage chamber, 1a: Heat insulating material, 2: Partition valve, 3: Vacuum deposition chamber, 4: Evaporation source, 5: Conveyance roller, 1
0: Carrier gas introduction device. Ko 2 diagram

Claims (1)

[Claims] A vacuum evaporation chamber in which a substrate and an evaporation source are inserted, and a vapor deposition material vapor evaporated from the evaporation source is condensed onto the substrate to perform evaporation, and a gate valve is connected to the vacuum evaporation chamber. an evaporation source storage chamber that is connected to the evaporation source storage chamber to maintain a vacuum, and a carrier gas introduction device that introduces a carrier gas into the evaporation source storage chamber to prevent evaporation and contamination of the evaporation source in the evaporation source storage chamber. An evaporation source storage device for a batch type vacuum evaporation apparatus, characterized in that the evaporation source is movable between the vacuum evaporation chamber and the evaporation source storage chamber.