JP5246542B2 - Vacuum deposition system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vacuum film forming apparatus for forming a thin film made of an evaporable material on an object to be deposited, and in particular, evaporates an evaporable material made of a high melting point metal material or a non-sublimable material which is difficult to evaporate. The present invention also relates to a vacuum film forming apparatus capable of forming the evaporated vapor deposition material on a film formation target.

  Conventionally, in order to form a thin film made of a vapor deposition material on a deposition target, a vacuum chamber in which the deposition target is disposed, a plasma gun that generates a plasma beam and sends the plasma beam into the vacuum chamber, 2. Description of the Related Art A vacuum film forming apparatus including a converging coil that converges a plasma beam generated from a plasma gun is used.

In such a vacuum film forming apparatus, a plasma beam generated from a plasma gun is sent into a vacuum chamber and irradiated onto a vapor deposition material in a crucible installed in the vacuum chamber. The vapor deposition material irradiated with the plasma beam evaporates, and then vapor-deposits on the deposition target to form a thin film.
JP 05-33124 A JP 2000-219961 A JP 2006-124731 A

  By the way, in a conventional vacuum film forming apparatus, as a vapor deposition material, a metal material having a relatively high melting point such as titanium or silicon, or a non-sublimation property such as silicon oxynitride, titanium nitride, or aluminum nitride is used. It is difficult to use materials. That is, when it is going to form a thin film on a to-be-deposited body using such a vapor deposition material, vapor deposition material does not fully evaporate. Alternatively, if the vapor deposition material is rapidly evaporated, bumping occurs in the vapor deposition material. For this reason, it is difficult to stably form a thin film made of a vapor deposition material on the deposition target.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of such points, and even a vapor deposition material made of a high-melting-point metal material or a non-sublimation material that is difficult to evaporate can be reliably evaporated. An object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum film forming apparatus capable of stably forming a thin film of such a vapor deposition material on a film formation target.

  The present invention relates to a vacuum chamber having a short tube portion projecting outwardly, in which a film formation target for forming a thin film is disposed, a crucible provided in the vacuum chamber and containing a vapor deposition material, and a vacuum chamber A pressure gradient type plasma gun that generates a plasma beam and irradiates the plasma beam toward the vapor deposition material housed in the crucible, and surrounds the short tube portion of the vacuum chamber, And a converging coil for controlling the trajectory and / or shape of the plasma beam, and a crucible containing the vapor deposition material is provided with a heating mechanism capable of heating the vapor deposition material within a range of 150 ° C. to 2000 ° C. In the vicinity of the crucible, a material supply device for supplying the vapor deposition material into the crucible is provided, and the vapor deposition material in which the plasma beam is stored in the crucible in the vacuum chamber. Led to the surface, a vacuum deposition apparatus, and forming a thin film on a deposition target object in a vacuum chamber.

  The present invention is the vacuum film forming apparatus characterized in that the heating mechanism includes an infrared heater, an LED lamp, a xenon lamp, or a deuterium lamp.

  The present invention is the vacuum film forming apparatus characterized in that the heating mechanism is in an electrically floating state.

  The present invention is the vacuum film forming apparatus characterized in that the magnetic force of the magnetic field generated from the focusing coil is 100 gauss or more, preferably 200 gauss or more, more preferably 300 gauss or more.

  The present invention is the vacuum film forming apparatus characterized in that the vapor deposition material is supplied from the material supply apparatus to the crucible in an amount of 1 g / min to 250 g / min.

  The present invention is a vacuum film forming apparatus provided with a monitor device for monitoring the amount of a vapor deposition material supplied from a material supply device to a crucible.

  The present invention is characterized in that an anode electrode is provided below the crucible, the vapor deposition material is made of an insulating material, the crucible is made of a material having a melting point of 2000 ° C. or more, and the crucible and the anode electrode are in direct contact. This is a vacuum film forming apparatus.

  In the present invention, an anode electrode is provided below the crucible, the vapor deposition material is made of a conductive material, the crucible is made of a nonconductive material having a melting point of 2000 ° C. or higher, and an opening is provided at the bottom of the crucible. The vacuum film forming apparatus is characterized in that an underlayer made of graphite is provided between the anode electrode and the anode electrode.

  The present invention is a vacuum film forming apparatus characterized in that the vapor-depositable material supplied to the crucible from the material supply apparatus has a powder shape, the particle diameter is 1 mm or less, or the bulk density is 50% or less. is there.

  The present invention is the vacuum film forming apparatus characterized in that the vapor deposition material is made of titanium, silicon, silicon oxynitride, titanium nitride, or aluminum nitride.

  According to the present invention, the crucible for storing the vapor-depositable material is provided with a heating mechanism that can heat the vapor-depositable material within the range of 150 ° C. to 2000 ° C. Therefore, high thermal energy is directly applied to the vapor-depositable material. The vapor deposition material can be reliably evaporated and a thin film made of the vapor deposition material can be stably formed on the film formation target.

  Further, according to the present invention, since the heating mechanism is in an electrically floating state, it is possible to prevent charged plasma particles from going to the heating mechanism and to prevent the heating mechanism from being electrically damaged.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the magnetic force of the magnetic field generated from the focusing coil is 100 gauss or more, preferably 200 gauss or more, more preferably 300 gauss or more, the plasma drawn from the pressure gradient plasma gun converges and the plasma density is increased. can do.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the vapor deposition material is supplied from the material supply device to the crucible in an amount of 1 g / min to 200 g / min, the vapor deposition material can be supplied to the crucible little by little. The bumping of the material can be reliably prevented.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the monitor device for monitoring the amount of the evaporable material supplied from the material supply device to the crucible is provided, the supply amount of the evaporable material can be appropriately controlled, and the evaporation The bumping of the functional material can be prevented more reliably.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.
Here, FIG. 1 is a view showing a vacuum film forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a crucible periphery in a vacuum chamber, and FIG. 3 is a modified example of a crucible. FIG.

  First, an outline of the vacuum film forming apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a vacuum film forming apparatus 10 includes a vacuum chamber 12 having a short tube portion 12A that has a substrate (film formation target) 13 on which a thin film 20a is formed disposed inside and projects outward from a side portion. And a crucible 19 which is provided in the vacuum chamber 12 and accommodates the vapor deposition material 20. Further, a pressure gradient type plasma gun 11 that generates a plasma beam 22 and irradiates the vapor deposition material 20 accommodated in the crucible 19 is attached to the short tube portion 12 </ b> A of the vacuum chamber 12. .

Further, a vacuum pump 30 is connected to the vacuum chamber 12, and the inside of the vacuum chamber 12 is sucked by the vacuum pump 30 and maintained at a predetermined reduced pressure state (for example, 5 × 10 ⁻⁵ Pa to 1.5 × 10 ⁻³ Pa). Yes.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the plasma gun 11 includes an annular cathode 15 connected to the negative side of the discharge power source 14, an annular first intermediate electrode 16 connected to the positive side of the discharge power source 14 via a resistor, and a first intermediate electrode 16. 2 intermediate electrodes 17. Further, a discharge gas (Ar) is supplied from the cathode 15 side, and the plasma gun 11 is caused to flow out from the second intermediate electrode 17 into the vacuum chamber 12 in a plasma state.

  A converging coil 18 is provided outside the short tube portion 12A between the vacuum chamber 12 and the second intermediate electrode 17 so as to surround the short tube portion 12A. The focusing coil 18 controls the trajectory and / or shape of the plasma beam 22 by a magnetic field. As such control, control such as convergence of the cross section of the plasma beam 22, flattening, and drawing into the crucible 19 can be considered. The magnetic force of the magnetic field generated from the focusing coil 18 is 100 gauss or more, preferably 200 gauss or more, more preferably 300 gauss or more. Thereby, since the plasma drawn out from the pressure gradient type plasma gun 11 is converged and the plasma density is increased, an effect that the energy per unit area irradiated to the vapor deposition material 20 can be improved. Further, as described above, the crucible 19 is disposed in the lower part of the vacuum chamber 12, and the crucible 19 stores the vapor deposition material 20 as the material of the thin film 20a as described above.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, an insulating tube 31 protrudes from the outlet of the plasma gun 11 in the short tube portion 12A. The insulating tube 31 surrounds the periphery of the plasma beam 22 and is electrically floating from the plasma gun 11. In addition, an electron feedback that surrounds the outer peripheral side of the insulating tube 31 in the short tube portion 12A connected to the vacuum chamber 12 and is connected to the positive side of the discharge power source 14 and is in a higher potential state than the outlet portion of the plasma gun 11 An electrode 32 is provided. As the insulating tube 31, for example, a ceramic short tube is employed.

  Next, the configuration around the crucible 19 provided in the vacuum chamber 12 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, an anode electrode 23 made of, for example, copper is provided below the crucible 19, and this anode electrode 23 is connected to the positive side of the discharge power supply 14 described above. Also, a crucible magnet 21 for drawing the plasma beam 22 into the vapor deposition material 20 in the crucible 19 is embedded in the anode electrode 23.

  A heating mechanism 40 for heating the vapor deposition material 20 is provided above the anode electrode 23 and around the crucible 19. The heating mechanism 40 is composed of a ring-shaped infrared heater disposed so as to surround the crucible 19, and can heat the crucible 19 from the outer periphery of the crucible 19 substantially uniformly. Alternatively, as the heating mechanism 40, an LED lamp, a xenon lamp, a deuterium lamp, or the like may be used. Moreover, it is preferable that the heating mechanism 40 has a structure capable of heating to a predetermined temperature that is equal to or higher than the boiling point of the vapor deposition material 20 and equal to or lower than the melting point of the crucible 19. Those that can be heated within the range of 2000 to 2000 ° C., more preferably those that can be heated within the range of 800 to 1800 ° C. are used. Here, the electrically floating state means that the terminal is not connected to the ground. The heating mechanism 40 is preferably in an electrically floating state. Thus, the heating mechanism 40 is in an electrically floating state, so that it is not damaged by the influence of plasma particles, and an effect is obtained that the temperature is stabilized without the heater temperature being modulated or broken.

  Further, in FIG. 2, a material supply device 50 is provided in the vacuum chamber 12 and in the vicinity of the crucible 19 to supply the vapor deposition material 20 into the crucible 19 little by little. The material supply device 50 includes a tank 41 that stores the vapor deposition material 20, and a material supply pipe 43 that supplies the vapor deposition material 20 from the tank 41 to the crucible 19. Among these, the material supply pipe 43 has one end connected to the tank 41 via a valve (connecting portion) 42 and the other end arranged on the crucible 19.

  Further, in order to monitor the amount of the vapor deposition material 20 supplied from the tank 41 of the material supply device 50 to the crucible 19, a monitor device 44 made of, for example, an infrared sensor is provided between one end of the material supply pipe 43 and the upper surface of the crucible 19. Is provided. The monitor device 44 and the above-described valve (connector) 42 are electrically connected to a control device 45 provided outside the vacuum chamber 12, respectively. The control device 45 controls the valve 42 based on the signal regarding the supply amount of the vapor deposition material 20 transmitted from the monitor device 44 and adjusts the amount of the vapor deposition material 20 supplied into the crucible 19. Note that the amount of the vapor deposition material 20 supplied to the crucible 19 from the tank 41 of the material supply device 50 in this way is relatively small and depends on the size of the vacuum film formation device 10, for example, 1 g / min. It is preferable to set it to about 250g / min.

  In addition, the tank 41 and the material supply pipe 43 described above are coated with an insulating material on the surface, thereby obtaining an effect that a stable plasma discharge can be obtained without the plasma particles going to the tank 41 and the material supply pipe 43. .

  By the way, the crucible 19 is made of a material having a melting point of 2000 ° C. or higher, such as graphite (C), boron nitride (BN), tungsten (W), or niobium (Nb). On the other hand, the vapor deposition material 20 is a metal material such as titanium (Ti) or silicon (Si), or a non-sublimable material such as silicon oxynitride (SiON), titanium nitride (TiN), or aluminum nitride (AlN). It is made up of. The vapor deposition material 20 preferably has a powder shape. Furthermore, it is preferable that the particle size of the powder of the vapor deposition material 20 is 1 mm or less, or the bulk density thereof is 50% or less. In addition, the bulk density here means the ratio of the numerical value measured by the method described in 3.1 of JISK1201-1 with respect to the theoretical density. By reducing the particle size or bulk density in this way, the vapor-depositable material 20 can be supplied to the crucible 19 little by little, and it is possible to reliably prevent bumping when the vapor-depositable material 20 is heated at a high temperature. be able to.

  When the vapor deposition material 20 is made of an insulating material (for example, silicon oxynitride, aluminum nitride, etc.), as shown in FIG. 2, the crucible 19 is made of a conductive material having a melting point of 2000 ° C. or higher (for example, graphite, tungsten, niobium, etc.). It is preferable that the crucible 19 and the anode electrode 23 are in direct contact with each other.

  On the other hand, when the vapor deposition material 20 is made of a conductive material (for example, titanium, silicon, etc.), as shown in FIG. 3, the crucible 19 is made of a non-conductive material (for example, boron nitride) having a melting point of 2000 ° C. or higher. In addition, an opening 19 a may be provided at the bottom of the crucible 19, and an underlayer 24 made of graphite may be provided between the crucible 19 and the anode electrode 23.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment having such a configuration will be described.
First, the vapor deposition material 20 having a powder shape is stored in the tank 41 of the material supply device 50 in advance. Next, the inside of the vacuum chamber 12 is decompressed using the vacuum pump 30, and the inside of the vacuum chamber 12 is set to a predetermined pressure.

  Next, the substrate 13 is introduced into the vacuum chamber 12. Further, the vapor deposition material 20 having a powder shape is supplied little by little from the tank 41 of the material supply device 50 into the crucible 19. During this time, the vapor deposition material 20 from the tank 41 is continuously supplied in small amounts into the crucible 19 by 1 g / min to 250 g / min via the material supply pipe 43. In this case, the monitor device 44 measures the amount of the vapor deposition material 20 supplied into the crucible 19 from the material supply pipe 43 and transmits this supply amount (per unit time) to the control device 45 as a signal. The controller 45 receives this signal and controls the valve 42 to keep the supply amount of the vapor deposition material 20 at a constant amount.

  Next, the plasma gun 11 is operated by the discharge power source 14, and a plasma beam 22 is formed from the second intermediate electrode 17 of the plasma gun 11 toward the vapor deposition material 20. The plasma beam 22 from the plasma gun 11 is guided to the surface of the vapor deposition material 20 and irradiated onto the vapor deposition material 20.

  The crucible 19 is heated by the heating mechanism 40 simultaneously with the irradiation of the plasma beam 22 onto the vapor deposition material 20. Thereby, the vapor deposition material 20 in the crucible 19 is heated to a predetermined temperature, for example, 150 ° C. to 2000 ° C. In this way, the vapor deposition material 20 in the crucible 19 evaporates. The evaporated vapor deposition material 20 is ionized and deposited on the lower surface of the substrate 13, and a thin film 20 a made of the vapor deposition material 20 is formed on the lower surface of the substrate 13. During this time, the focusing coil 18 acts to shrink the cross section of the plasma beam 22 with respect to the plasma beam 22, and the crucible magnet 21 acts to focus the plasma beam 22 and bend the plasma beam 22.

  In this way, the thin film 20 a of the vapor deposition material 20 can be formed on the substrate 13.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the crucible 19 that stores the vapor deposition material 20 is provided with the heating mechanism 40 that can heat the vapor deposition material 20 within a range of 150 ° C. to 2000 ° C. Thereby, high thermal energy can be directly applied to the vapor deposition material 20, and the vapor deposition material 20 can be reliably evaporated. In this way, the thin film 20a made of the vapor deposition material 20 can be stably formed on the substrate 13. In particular, even when the vapor deposition material 20 is made of a high melting point metal material made of titanium, silicon, or the like, or a non-sublimation material made of silicon oxynitride, titanium nitride, aluminum nitride, or the like, the thin film 20a is formed on the substrate 13. Can be formed stably.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, the vapor deposition material 20 is supplied from the tank 41 of the material supply device 50 to the crucible 19 at an amount of 1 g / min to 250 g / min, so that the vapor deposition material 20 is supplied little by little. Thus, bumping of the vapor deposition material 20 can be reliably prevented. In addition, the monitoring device 44 monitors the amount of the vapor deposition material 20 supplied from the tank 41 to the crucible 19 and the control device 45 controls the valve 42 to adjust the supply amount of the vapor deposition material 20. The supply amount of 20 can be controlled appropriately.

The figure which shows one Embodiment of the vacuum film-forming apparatus by this invention. The enlarged view which shows the crucible periphery in the vacuum chamber in the vacuum film-forming apparatus by this invention. The figure which shows the modification of a crucible.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Vacuum film-forming apparatus 11 Plasma gun 12 Vacuum chamber 12A Short tube part 13 Substrate (film formation object)
18 Converging coil 19 Crucible 20 Evaporable material 20a Thin film 21 Magnet for crucible 22 Plasma beam 23 Anode electrode 30 Vacuum pump 40 Heating mechanism 44 Monitor device 45 Control device 50 Material supply device

Claims (9)

A vacuum chamber having a short tube portion in which a film formation target for forming a thin film is disposed inside and projecting outward;
A crucible provided in a vacuum chamber and containing a vapor deposition material;
A pressure gradient type plasma gun that is attached to a short tube portion of a vacuum chamber, generates a plasma beam, and irradiates the plasma beam toward a vapor deposition material housed in a crucible;
A focusing coil that surrounds the short tube portion of the vacuum chamber and controls the trajectory and / or shape of the plasma beam;
A crucible containing the vapor deposition material is provided with a heating mechanism capable of heating the vapor deposition material within a range of 150 ° C. to 2000 ° C.,
A material supply apparatus having a material supply pipe for supplying a vapor deposition material into the crucible is provided in the vicinity of the crucible in the vacuum chamber.
Between the one end of the material supply pipe and the upper surface of the crucible, a monitor device comprising an infrared sensor for monitoring the amount of the vapor deposition material supplied from the material supply device to the crucible is provided.
A vacuum film forming apparatus characterized in that a plasma beam is guided to the surface of a vapor deposition material housed in a crucible in a vacuum chamber, and a thin film is formed on a film formation target in the vacuum chamber.   2. The vacuum film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heating mechanism comprises an infrared heater, an LED lamp, a xenon lamp, or a deuterium lamp.   The vacuum film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heating mechanism is in an electrically floating state.   The vacuum film-forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the magnetic force of the magnetic field generated from the focusing coil is 100 gauss or more.   5. The vacuum film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vapor deposition material is supplied from the material supply apparatus to the crucible in an amount of 1 g / min to 250 g / min. An anode electrode is provided below the crucible, the vapor deposition material is made of an insulating material, the crucible is made of a material having a melting point of 2000 ° C or higher, and the crucible and the anode electrode are in direct contact with each other. The vacuum film-forming apparatus according to any one of 5 . An anode electrode is provided below the crucible, the vapor deposition material is made of a conductive material, the crucible is made of a non-conductive material having a melting point of 2000 ° C. or higher, and an opening is provided at the bottom of the crucible. vacuum film forming apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that underlay layer made of graphite is provided between. Depositing material from the material supply device is supplied to the crucible has a powder form, one a particle diameter of 1mm or less, or any one of claims 1 to 7 that the bulk density is equal to or less than 50% The vacuum film forming apparatus according to item.   2. The vacuum film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vapor deposition material is made of titanium, silicon, silicon oxynitride, titanium nitride, or aluminum nitride.

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