JP4370408B2 - Laser ablation deposition system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a laser ablation film forming apparatus.

The laser ablation film forming method is a film forming method in which a target, which is a thin film base material, is irradiated with a pulsed laser to ablate the surface of the target, and a group of emitted particles is deposited on a substrate.
The gas type in the chamber and its pressure can be adjusted widely, and it is suitable for film formation of inorganic and organic materials including metal oxides and nitrides. Since the composition of the target is easily reflected in the composition of the thin film as it is and crystal control is simple, it has been attracting attention mainly as a film forming technique for research. Since the target and the substrate heater are installed, the chamber used for film formation has a relatively large capacity. In particular, in the production of a laminated film, a plurality of targets are arranged side by side. In addition, many of them are equipped with many observation ports and are relatively expensive.
A general laser ablation film forming apparatus is a multi-processing type, and an example is shown in FIG . The laser ablation film forming apparatus of FIG. 4 is a large-sized apparatus in which an exhaust apparatus 16 and a reactive gas introduction apparatus 14 are connected to a relatively large and expensive chamber 10 having a diameter of about 1 m, and is called one target in the chamber 10. A base material 13 is placed on a mounting table, and a heater 12 with a substrate 11 set at the opposite position is disposed. After that, the chamber 10 is set to a predetermined degree of vacuum by an exhaust device 16, and a reaction gas is introduced in some cases. The target gas is deposited from the apparatus 14 to the required concentration, and the target 13 is irradiated with a pulse laser from the laser irradiation apparatus 15 to form a film on the surface of the substrate 11.
Thus, although it depends on the pressure in the chamber, the film formation area is usually less than 10 cm in diameter, and the size of the chamber is too large for this actual film formation region. Further, this film forming operation requires a great amount of time, labor, and cost for taking out and replacing the target and the substrate, exhausting, and adjusting the pressure.
In addition, in the case of the formation of a laminated thin film that generates multiple films on one substrate, a plurality of targets are placed side by side in the single large chamber and ablated in order, so that other target components are mixed as impurities into the thin film. there's a possibility that.
The large chamber 10 is provided with a port for observing the state of film formation. For example, the chamber shape is complicated, and the internal cleaning is troublesome and troublesome.

In view of the above, there has been a strong demand for laser ablation film forming apparatuses to be automated by semi-automating and miniaturizing film forming operations by arbitrarily replacing targets and substrates while controlling the environment in the chamber 10.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and is characterized in that an exhaust device is attached to one of the vacuum cylinders, a reactive gas introduction device is attached to the other, and a laser ablation chamber is detachable in the middle part. An elevator apparatus is installed in a projecting manner so that it can be detachably attached to the small chamber, and a laser introduction window is closely attached to the laser ablation chamber and formed on the upper part. This is a laser ablation film forming apparatus equipped with a substrate holding and exchanging device for inserting and removing a substrate to be filmed.

In the laser ablation film-forming apparatus having the above-described configuration according to the present invention, the exhaust device is attached to one of the vacuum cylinders, the reaction gas introduction device is attached to the other, and the laser ablation chamber is detachably protruded from the middle part. Since the vacuum cylinder and the laser ablation chamber can be functionally differentiated, it is possible to advantageously reduce the volume of each. As a result, exhaust gas and gas pressure can be adjusted instantaneously.
In addition, since the laser ablation chamber and the elevator device that inserts / inserts the target into / from the small chamber are detachably opposed to each other in the middle of the vacuum cylinder, the substrate and target can be exchanged at the same time or continuously or semi-continuously. Is something that can be done.
Since the laser ablation chamber can be attached to and detached from the middle part of the vacuum cylinder, an optimized shape (sphere, cylinder, square tube) and volume are prepared in advance according to the scattering state of the ablation particles from the target material. The replacement is easy.
Further, since it is specialized for one kind of thin film by one laser ablation and mixing of impurities such as other target components can be suppressed, a thin film with high purity can be formed on the substrate.
In addition, the substrate holding chamber forms an opening through which particles emitted from the target pass, and the opening is made to have an arbitrary shape and size to form a film from a micro area to a large area. Up to this, film formation with an area according to the purpose is possible.

In the laser ablation film forming apparatus of the present invention, the shape of the laser ablation chamber may be a spherical shape, a cylindrical shape, a rectangular tube shape, or the like, and the material may be a metal such as stainless steel or a quartz that also serves as a window. The volume can be appropriately designed in consideration of the interaction between the target material and the laser and the collision between the ablation particles and the atmospheric gas. Further, when the material is made of metal, a laser introduction window body made of quartz or the like for introducing a laser is provided.
The substrate holding chamber may be a dedicated holding unit specialized for holding a single substrate, or it is possible to easily install a substrate exchange device for inserting and setting a substrate from the outside and inserting it to the outside on the holding unit. is there.
The substrate holding chamber forms an opening through which a group of particles emitted from the target passes, and the opening has an arbitrary shape and size necessary for film formation, from a film to a small area to a large area area. Until this film formation, film formation with an area and shape according to the purpose is possible.
If heating is required, a heater for heating the substrate is attached to the holding portion.
The heater is preferably a bolt-on type cartridge that can be easily replaced and can withstand the base vacuum, and the material is preferably covered with a heat insulating material such as porous ceramics for the purpose of minimizing radiant heat to the laser ablation chamber with a small capacity.
The elevator device may be a dedicated device specialized for one type of target material, or a target that inserts and mounts the target material from the outside on the lifting stage at the lower limit position of the lifting stage of the elevator device and inserts it outside. It is easy to install a material exchange device.

The laser ablation film forming apparatus of this embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 2 mainly includes a small horizontal vacuum cylinder 100, a small laser ablation chamber 200, and an elevator apparatus 300.
The vacuum cylinder body 100 is made of cylindrical stainless steel, and one side is provided with a leak valve 101 and a suction pipe 103 of a vacuum pump 102, and the other side is provided with a gas introduction valve 104 with a flange. The laser ablation chamber 200 is detachably flanged at the intermediate portion connected to the introducing device 105, and the elevator device 300 for inserting / removing the target T into / from the small chamber 200 is detachably flanged at the opposite portion.
The laser ablation chamber 200 has a main body made of cylindrical stainless steel, a quartz laser introduction window 201 closely attached to a side wall, and a substrate holding chamber 400 for holding a substrate M mounted thereon.
In the substrate holding chamber 400, a heater 404 is arranged so as to be able to move up and down, an opening 401 through which particles discharged from the target material T pass is formed, a thermal insulating cartridge 402 made of porous ceramics is lined, and the substrate M is placed in the chamber. An open / close sealing lid 403 is set to be inserted and set from the outside. An example in which a substrate exchanging device for inserting and placing a substrate from the outside and installing it to the outside is installed in Example 2 of FIG.

The elevator apparatus 300 for inserting / removing the target material T supplies the placed target material T to a predetermined position in the laser ablation chamber 200, and this example is a dedicated apparatus specialized for one target material. Thus, an elevating stage 301 (target holder) on which the target material T is placed, an elevating / rotating device 302 for elevating / rotating driving and adjusting the target, and a target material on the elevating stage at the lower limit position of the elevating stage. An open / close sealing lid 303 is provided for inserting and mounting T from the outside and for inserting it to the outside. An example in which a target material exchanging device for inserting and placing the target material from the outside and inserting it to the outside is installed will be introduced in Example 2 of FIG.

In the present embodiment, as described above, an example is provided in which a substrate exchange device that inserts and places a substrate from the outside and inserts the substrate outside and a target material exchange device that inserts and places a target material from the outside and inserts it to the outside are installed. The same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. In addition, the substrate exchange device and the target material exchange device have the same mechanism in this example, the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the substrate exchange device and the target material exchange device are simply referred to as an exchange device, and the substrate and the target material are The exchanged body K will be collectively referred to as a collective term.
The exchange device includes a donut board-like or belt-like carrier 500 in which a pallet 501 that contacts and supports only the front and rear end faces and both side edges of the exchanged body K is arranged in the moving direction, and this pallet. The unit includes a transfer driving device (not shown) for stepping and moving to the substrate holding chamber 400 or the lower limit position of the lift stage 301 of the elevator apparatus 300 in units. The carrier 500 moves through the through-holes 406 and 306 provided in the front and rear walls 400a and 400b of the substrate holding chamber 400 of the laser ablation chamber 200 or in the front and rear walls 300a and 300b at the lower limit of the lift stage of the elevator apparatus 300.
The pallet 501 is formed with a notch 800 at the bottom for insertion of the lifting stage and the opening 401.
As the vacuum state holding mechanism during the exchange movement of the exchanged object K, the vertical and horizontal left and right edges of the front and rear end surfaces of the pallet 501 coincide with each through-hole 406.306 when the step movement is stopped. Here, shutters 601 and 602 are provided to seal the tip by tightly inserting it into the seal groove 700 at the top, bottom, left and right edges. Further, on the lower side of the substrate holding chamber 400 and the upper side of the lower limit position of the lift stage, open / close valves 603 and 604 that are closed only during the exchange movement of the member to be exchanged are provided.

The laser ablation film forming apparatus of the present invention can advantageously form a large amount of high-quality functional thin film / laminated thin film in a pinpoint or relatively narrow region, and thus various cards, mobile phone displays, portable displays. Film formation / printing on paper, small board type, etc. can be carried out quickly and accurately, and this type of industrial applicability is enormous.

It is explanatory drawing of the partial cross section which shows Example 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the cross section shown in the partial detail of FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the principal part side cross section shown in Example 2 of this invention. Simplified explanatory diagram of an example of a conventional deposition and laminating apparatus using laser ablation

Explanation of symbols

100 vacuum cylinder
102 vacuum pump
101 Leak valve
104 Gas introduction valve
105 Reaction gas introduction device
200 Laser ablation chamber
201 Laser introduction window
300 elevator equipment
303 Opening and closing lid
400 Substrate holding chamber
403 Open / close sealing lid
601 and 602 shutters
603, 604 On-off valve
K exchanged object

Claims (1)

A horizontal vacuum cylinder (100) with an exhaust device on one side and a reactive gas introduction device on the other;
A cylinder that communicates with the middle part of the vacuum cylinder (100) and that is detachably connected to the lower part, has a substrate holding chamber (400) in the upper part, and has a laser introduction window (201) closely attached to the lower wall thereof Shaped laser ablation chamber (200),
An upper part communicates with an intermediate part of the vacuum cylindrical body (100) in a facing part below the laser ablation chamber (200) and is detachably connected to a substrate holding chamber (400) in the laser ablation chamber (200). An elevator apparatus (300) for inserting and inserting the target material (T) of the film forming material below,
A substrate exchanging device for inserting / removing a substrate to be formed in the upper substrate holding chamber (400) in the laser ablation chamber (200) from the outside;
A laser ablation film forming apparatus characterized by comprising:

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