JPH0670234U - Thin film forming equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Modified) [Purpose] While increasing the yield of thin film relative to the raw material,
A thin film with few defects such as pinholes can be formed, and it is possible to simultaneously form thin films of the same quality on both sides of a substrate, and the floor installation area of the entire device is reduced. A substrate transport path 4 is formed along the same direction to transport a substrate a in the vertical direction.
The film forming chambers 2 are formed on both sides of the substrate a transported by. The film forming chamber 2 is provided with heaters 13, 23, 33 for heating the substrate a passing through the film forming chamber 2, and further, an inlet 27 for introducing a mist-like or gaseous thin film raw material into the film forming chamber 2 A discharge port 29 for discharging the raw material from inside 2 is provided.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to an apparatus for forming a thin film on a substrate by applying vaporized or atomized raw material to the surface of a heated substrate.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 An example of this type of conventional thin film forming apparatus is shown in FIG. In this apparatus, the substrate a on which a thin film is formed is sequentially conveyed from left to right in the figure in the direction indicated by the arrow on the mesh belt conveyor 15. A film forming chamber 2 is formed on the transfer path of the substrate a by the mesh belt conveyor 15, and the film forming chamber 2 has heaters 23, 23 ... For heating the substrate a passing therethrough from below. Is provided. Further, on the mesh belt conveyer 15, from a raw material supply source (not shown) provided outside the film forming chamber 2 toward the film forming surface (the upper surface in FIG. 4) of the substrate a in the film forming chamber 2. A material supply duct 20 for supplying a gas or atomized material and exhaust ducts 22, 22 for exhausting the material from the film forming chamber 2 are provided.

In this thin film forming apparatus, when the substrate a carried on the mesh belt conveyor 15 is introduced into the film forming chamber 2, it is heated by the heater 23 provided below the substrate a. The substrate a is heated to a predetermined temperature required for film formation before reaching the position just below the tip of the raw material supply duct 20. When the raw material is applied from the tip of the raw material supply duct 20 to the film forming surface of the substrate a, the raw material is decomposed by the heat of the substrate a, and the decomposed raw material reacts with oxygen in the air. A thin film of oxide or the like is formed on the film formation surface of the substrate a. After that, the temperature of the substrate a is gradually lowered, and the substrate a is discharged from the thin film forming apparatus. In the apparatus shown in FIG. 4, the raw material is sprayed onto the substrate a from the upper side. However, the atomized or gaseous raw material is gently flown from the lower side of the substrate a to form a thin film on the lower surface side of the substrate a. Devices that do this are also known.

[0004]

[Problems that the device is trying to solve]

 However, the conventional thin film forming apparatus has the following problems. First, when spraying a mist or gaseous raw material onto the substrate a from above, after the raw material hits the substrate a, it immediately rises due to convection in the film forming chamber 2 and leaves the film forming surface of the substrate a. Therefore, the rate at which the raw material comes into contact with the surface of the substrate a to form a film is low, and the yield of the thin film is poor. Further, the film material is likely to be deposited on the wall surface of the film forming chamber 2. Therefore, the film material is easily peeled off from the film forming chamber 2 and adheres to the film forming surface of the substrate a, which easily causes pinholes in the thin film.

On the other hand, when the atomized or gaseous raw material is supplied from below the substrate a, the raw material is likely to be stagnated in the film forming chamber 2 and the yield of the thin film with respect to the used amount of the raw material is good. Since the film material is likely to be deposited on the wall surface of the film chamber 2 or the like, the film material is easily peeled off from the film forming chamber 2 and adheres to the film forming surface of the substrate a to easily form a pinhole in the thin film.

Secondly, the state in which the raw material hits the surface of the substrate a is completely different between when the raw material is applied from above the substrate a and when it is applied from below due to the effects of gravity and convection. Therefore, it is not possible to form thin films of substantially the same quality from above and below the substrate a at the same time. Therefore, when forming a thin film on both surfaces of the substrate a, it is necessary to form a film on each surface, resulting in poor efficiency. Thirdly, there is a problem in that the floor occupying area of the entire apparatus is large because the distance for carrying the substrate a must be set to a certain length.

In view of the above problems of the conventional thin film forming apparatus, the present invention can increase the yield of the thin film with respect to the raw material and can form the thin film with few defects such as pinholes. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thin film forming apparatus capable of simultaneously forming a thin film of the same quality on a substrate and having a small floor installation area of the entire apparatus.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 That is, according to the present invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a substrate transport path 4 for transporting a substrate a on which a thin film is formed, and a film formed on the front surface side of the substrate a transported by the substrate transport path 4. The chamber 2, the heaters 13, 23 and 33 for heating the substrate a passing through the film forming chamber 2 along the substrate transport path 4, and the raw material of the mist or gas thin film are provided in the film forming chamber 2. In the thin film forming apparatus having the inlet 27 for introducing and the outlet 29 for discharging the raw material from the inside of the film forming chamber 2, the substrate transfer path 4 is in the same direction as the substrate a is transferred in the vertical direction. Provided is a thin film forming apparatus characterized in that the thin film forming apparatus is formed along the same. In this case, it is advisable to provide the film forming chamber 2 having the material inlet 27 and the material outlet 27 on both sides of the substrate a transported by the substrate transport path 4.

[0009]

[Action]

 In the above-mentioned thin film forming apparatus, since the substrate transfer path 4 is formed along the same direction so as to transfer the substrate a in the vertical direction, a mist-like or gas-like raw material is allowed to flow along the surface of the substrate a. You can Therefore, the raw material is likely to come into contact with the surface of the substrate a to form a thin film, and the yield of the thin film with respect to the amount of the raw material used can be improved. Further, the deposition of the film material on the wall surface of the film forming chamber 2 can be reduced, and at the same time, the film material is peeled off and defects such as thin film pinholes caused by the adhesion of the film material to the film forming surface of the substrate a are caused. Is less likely to occur. Further, since the substrate transfer path 4 is vertically arranged, that is, a so-called vertical type, the installation floor area of the apparatus can be reduced.

Further, since it is possible to apply the atomized or gaseous raw material to both sides of the substrate a in the same manner, the film forming chamber having the raw material inlet 27 and the raw material outlet 29 on both sides of the substrate transport path 4. By providing 2, it is possible to form thin films of substantially the same quality on both sides of the substrate a at the same time.

[0011]

【Example】

 Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. A thin film forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. In this apparatus, a substrate transfer path 4 is installed vertically, and a substrate a that forms a thin film is sequentially transferred along the substrate transfer path 4 from the top to the bottom in the direction of the arrow. Note that, conversely, the substrate a may be conveyed while being pushed up from below. The substrate transport path 4 is formed in a guide groove shape for holding and guiding both sides of the substrate a. The film forming chambers 2 are formed on both sides of the substrate a conveyed along the substrate carrying path 4, and the upper and lower ends of the film forming chamber 2 introduce the substrate a into the film forming chamber 2 and discharge it. A substrate inlet 32 and a substrate outlet 12 are provided.

Heaters 13, 23, and 33 are respectively provided on the walls of both film forming chambers 2 and 2 facing the surface of the substrate a in the substrate transport path 4, and the heaters 13, 23, and 33 are provided along the substrate transport path 4 at a predetermined speed. The moving substrate a is heated from both sides according to a predetermined temperature change. Raw material supply ducts 20 and 20 for introducing gas or atomized raw material into the film forming chamber 2 from raw material supply sources 26 and 26 provided outside the film forming chambers 2 and 2, and exhausting the raw material from the film forming chamber 2. Exhaust ducts 28, 28 for squeezing are provided, and their inlet 27 and outlet 29 are open above and below the wall of the film forming chamber 2, respectively. In the illustrated example, the inlet 27 of the raw material supply duct 20, 20 is opened downward, and the outlets 29, 29 of the exhaust ducts 28, 28 are opened upward, but the reverse is also possible. .

In this thin film forming apparatus, when the substrate a moved along the substrate transfer path 4 is introduced into the film forming chamber 2, the heaters 33, 23, 13 provided therein heat the substrate a. Be done. The substrate a is heated according to a predetermined temperature change as it is transported through the substrate transport path 4 at a predetermined speed.

The atomized or gaseous raw material introduced into the film forming chambers 2, 2 from the raw material supply sources 26, 26 through the raw material supply ducts 20, 20 is indicated by an arrow along the surface of the substrate a. Thus, the gas is discharged from the exhaust ports 29, 29 to the outside of the film forming chambers 24, 24 through the exhaust ducts 28, 28. During this time, in the film forming chambers 2 and 2 on both sides of the substrate a, the gas or atomized raw material comes into contact with both sides of the heated substrate a. Then, for example, the raw material is decomposed by the heat held by the base plate a, and further reacts with oxygen in the air to form a thin film of oxide or the like on the film forming surface of the substrate a.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2 will be described. In this embodiment, the substrate transfer paths 4 and 4 are vertically arranged in two rows, and the substrate transfer paths 4 and 4 are A heater 25 that heats the substrates a and a is disposed between the substrates a and a that are transported along the substrate 4. For the heater 25, it is desirable to arrange at least three heaters including a preheating unit, a film forming unit, and a cooling unit for temperature control, but one continuous heater may be used. A film forming chamber 2 is formed outside both substrates a, and an inlet 27 of the material supply duct 20, 20 for introducing a mist or gaseous material into the film forming chamber 2 and the film forming chamber 27. The exhaust ducts 28, 28 for exhausting the raw material from the chamber 2 and the exhaust port 29 of the chamber 28 are open on the wall surface facing the substrates a, a. Further, here, the substrates a and a are conveyed while being pushed up from below along the substrate conveying paths 4 and 4. With this thin film forming apparatus, it is possible to simultaneously form substantially homogeneous thin films on the outer surfaces of the two rows of substrates a, a.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 3 will be described. In this embodiment, the substrate transfer paths 4 and 4 are vertically arranged in two rows, and the substrate transfer paths 4 and The heaters 25 for heating the substrates a, a are arranged on both sides of the substrates a, a conveyed along the line 4. For the heater 25, it is desirable to arrange at least three heaters including a preheating unit, a film forming unit, and a cooling unit for temperature control, but one continuous heater may be used. A film forming chamber 2 is formed between both substrates a, and an inlet 27 of the raw material supply ducts 20, 20 for introducing a gas or atomized raw material into the film forming chamber 2 is provided in the film forming chamber 2. At the lower end of the film forming chamber 2, exhaust ducts 28, 28 for exhausting the raw material from the film forming chamber 2 are opened at the upper end of the film forming chamber 2, respectively.

In this thin film forming apparatus, it is possible to form thin films of substantially the same quality at the same time on one surface of two rows of substrates a, which face each other. If the film forming chambers 2 and 2 are formed outside the substrate a as shown in FIG. 1, thin films can be simultaneously formed on both surfaces of the two rows of substrates a and a. However, in this case, since the material inlet 27 and the outlet 29 are slightly different on the inside and the outside of the substrate a, the thin films formed on both surfaces of the substrate a are slightly different in terms of film quality and film thickness. .

[0018]

[Effect of device]

 As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to increase the yield of a thin film with respect to a raw material, to form a defect-free thin film, and to form a uniform thin film on both sides of a substrate at the same time. It is possible to provide a thin film forming apparatus that requires a small floor installation area of the entire apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical sectional side view showing a thin film forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical sectional side view showing a thin film forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional side view showing a thin film forming apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic vertical sectional side view showing a thin film forming apparatus according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 film forming chamber 4 substrate transfer path 13 heater 23 heater 33 heater 25 heater 27 raw material inlet port 29 raw material discharge port a substrate

Claims (2)

[Reference number] 0040947-01 [Claims for utility model registration] 1. A substrate transfer path (4) for transferring a substrate (a) on which a thin film is formed, and a film forming chamber () formed on the front surface side of the substrate (a) transferred by the substrate transfer path (4). 2) and heaters (13), (23), (3) for heating the substrate (a) passing through the film formation chamber (2) along the substrate transfer path (4).
3), an inlet (27) for introducing the atomized or gaseous thin film raw material into the film forming chamber (2), and an outlet (29) for discharging the raw material from the film forming chamber (2). In the thin film forming apparatus having the thin film forming apparatus, the substrate transfer path (4) is formed along the same direction so as to transfer the substrate (a) in a vertical direction. 2. The film forming chamber (2) according to claim 1, which has a raw material inlet (27) and a raw material outlet (29) on both sides of the substrate (a) transported by the substrate transport path (4). A thin film forming apparatus comprising: