CN113337809A

CN113337809A - Thin film forming apparatus

Info

Publication number: CN113337809A
Application number: CN202010092653.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 长江亦周; 宫内充祐; 高坂佳弘; 青山贵昭; 远藤光人
Original assignee: New Cologne Corp
Current assignee: New Cologne Corp; Shincron Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-02-14
Filing date: 2020-02-14
Publication date: 2021-09-03
Also published as: TWI756807B; TW202130848A

Abstract

The application discloses low refractive index film forming apparatus includes: a vacuum film forming chamber for accommodating the substrate; an introducing mechanism for introducing a gas into the vacuum film forming chamber; a plasma source for forming a plasma in the vacuum film forming chamber; the plasma source is capable of plasma chemical vapor deposition film formation on the substrate using the gas. The thin film forming apparatus disclosed in the present application can manufacture a low refractive index thin film that is practical and cost-effective over a large area.

Description

Thin film forming apparatus

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of optical film formation, and more particularly, to a film forming apparatus.

Background

CCD and CMOS, which are image sensing devices, are liable to generate flare and ghost images because light reflection on the surface thereof is stronger than that of silver salt photographic films. Further, in a flat panel display such as an LCD, reflection of external light or the like due to reflection of light on a display surface is problematic. Therefore, this requires implementing an antiglare treatment.

However, as the display density increases, diffuse reflection is easily formed on the surface of the light subjected to the anti-glare treatment, which hinders the improvement of the image resolution. In order to reduce reflection on the substrate surface of various optical products, it is necessary to efficiently form a surface layer of low refractive index. However, in the conventional technique, it is difficult to manufacture a low refractive index film having a low cost and being put into practical use over a large area.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the disadvantages of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a thin film forming apparatus capable of manufacturing a low refractive index thin film having a low cost and being put to practical use over a large area.

In order to achieve the purpose, the application provides the following technical scheme:

a thin film forming apparatus comprising:

a vacuum film forming chamber for accommodating the substrate;

an introducing mechanism for introducing a gas into the vacuum film forming chamber;

a plasma source for forming a plasma in the vacuum film forming chamber; the plasma source is capable of forming a low refractive index film on the substrate by plasma chemical vapor deposition using the gas.

As a preferred embodiment, the plasma source includes: the antenna is arranged outside the vacuum film forming chamber; the antenna is disposed outside the vacuum deposition chamber via a dielectric portion; the antenna has a connection portion to which high-frequency power is applied.

In a preferred embodiment, the antenna has two spiral coils connected in parallel.

In a preferred embodiment, the power of the plasma source is adjustable.

As a preferred embodiment, the introduction mechanism includes: the CVD apparatus comprises a first introducing part for introducing CVD raw material gas into the vacuum film forming chamber, and a second introducing part for introducing oxygen and/or argon into the vacuum film forming chamber.

As a preferred embodiment, the CVD raw material includes at least one of TEOS, HDMS4, HMDSO, SiH4, SiH2, Si (OC2H5), SiHCL 3.

As a preferred embodiment, the introducing mechanism is arranged to introduce gas with adjustable parameters; the introduced gas parameters include: gas type, gas flow rate.

As a preferred embodiment, the thin film forming apparatus includes:

a conveying mechanism for conveying the substrate;

a loading chamber for exhausting to form a vacuum environment;

an unloading chamber for unloading the substrate after film formation; the vacuum film forming chamber is positioned between the loading chamber and the unloading chamber; the carrying mechanism carries the substrate to sequentially pass through the loading chamber, the vacuum film forming chamber and the unloading chamber.

In a preferred embodiment, the conveying mechanism includes a conveying roller or a conveyor belt.

In a preferred embodiment, the low refractive index film has a refractive index of 1.5 or less.

Has the advantages that:

the present application provides a thin film forming apparatus provided with a plasma source for forming plasma and an introducing mechanism capable of introducing gas, wherein argon, oxygen and CVD raw materials are introduced through the introducing mechanism so that a substrate is positioned in a gas phase environment, and a chemical vapor deposition film is formed under the plasma action of the plasma source, so that a practical dielectric film can be formed in a large area.

Specific embodiments of the present invention are disclosed in detail with reference to the following description and drawings, indicating the manner in which the principles of the invention may be employed. It should be understood that the embodiments of the invention are not so limited in scope.

Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments, in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

It should be emphasized that the term "comprises/comprising" when used herein, is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps or components.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to these drawings without inventive exercise.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of a thin film forming apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the vacuum film forming chamber of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the plasma source of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is SiO obtained using FIG. 1₂Film to glass substrate reflectance curve contrast plot;

FIG. 5 is SiO obtained using FIG. 1₂A graph comparing the transmittance curves of the film and the glass substrate;

FIG. 6 is the SiO obtained in FIG. 1₂Cross-cut test results of the film are shown.

Detailed Description

In order to make those skilled in the art better understand the technical solutions in the present application, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "disposed on" another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. When an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. The terms "vertical," "horizontal," "left," "right," and the like as used herein are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent the only embodiments.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The terminology used herein in the description of the invention is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Please refer to fig. 1 to 3. The embodiment of the application provides a low refractive index thin film forming device for forming a film by plasma CVD. Specifically, the thin film forming apparatus includes: a vacuum film forming chamber 300, an introducing mechanism, and a plasma source 10. The vacuum film forming chamber 300 is used for accommodating the substrate 40. The introducing mechanism is used for introducing gas into the vacuum film forming chamber 300. The plasma source 10 is used to form plasma in the vacuum film forming chamber 300. The plasma source 10 is capable of forming a low refractive index thin film on the substrate 40 by plasma chemical vapor deposition using the gas.

The thin film forming apparatus according to the present embodiment can form a low refractive index thin film having a refractive index of 1.5 or less. In this embodiment, the refractive index may be the refractive index of the outer surface of the thin film. Of course, in some embodiments, the refractive index may also be the average refractive index of the film.

In the present embodiment, a thin film forming apparatus is provided with a plasma source for forming plasma and an introduction mechanism capable of introducing gas, and argon, oxygen and CVD raw materials are introduced through the introduction mechanism so that a substrate 40 is placed in a gas phase atmosphere, and a chemical vapor deposition film is formed by plasma of the plasma source 10, so that a practically usable dielectric film can be formed over a large area.

In the embodiment of the present application, the plasma source 10 includes: a housing 1 installed outside the vacuum film forming chamber 300, and an antenna 2 located inside the housing; the antenna 2 is disposed outside the vacuum film forming chamber 300 via a dielectric portion 5; the antenna has a connection portion 3 to which high-frequency power is applied. Wherein the antenna 2 has two

spiral coils

2a, 2b connected in parallel.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3. Specifically, the housing 1 may be fixed to the housing 1 so as to close an opening formed in the wall 20 of the vacuum deposition chamber 300 from the outside. Specifically, the housing 1 may be an integrally molded quartz glass housing 1. The dielectric portion 5 may be fixed to the front surface of the housing 1 (the front-back direction is before the vacuum deposition chamber 300 and after the vacuum deposition chamber 300), so that the antenna housing chamber 4 for housing the antenna is formed in the region surrounded by the housing 1 and the dielectric portion 5. Specifically, the dielectric portion 5 may be formed of, for example, plate-shaped quartz having a predetermined thickness, and may be fixed to the surface of the housing 1 facing the vacuum deposition chamber 300, and in one embodiment, the dielectric portion 5 is a rectangular plate.

In the present embodiment, the antenna is located in the housing 1, specifically, is accommodated in the antenna housing chamber 4. The antenna housing chamber 4 is separated from the inside of the vacuum film forming chamber 300. That is, the antenna housing chamber 4 and the vacuum deposition chamber 300 form independent spaces with the dielectric portion 5 therebetween. The antenna housing chamber 4 and the vacuum deposition chamber 300 are separated from each other by the casing 1 to form an independent space. The antenna housing chamber 4 may be connected to a vacuum pump (not shown) via a line, and the inside of the antenna housing chamber 4 is evacuated by the vacuum pump, so that the antenna housing chamber 4 can be brought into a vacuum state and the antenna can be placed in a vacuum environment.

The antenna 2 has a separate connection portion 3 to which high-frequency power is applied. The antenna 2 is capable of receiving power supply from the ac power supply 7 through the connection unit 3, and generates an induced electric field in the vacuum chamber 30, thereby generating plasma. In one embodiment, each antenna 2 may be connected to an ac power supply 7 via a matching unit 6 housing a matching circuit. A variable capacitor capable of changing the power supplied from the ac power supply 7 to the antenna 2 may be provided in the matching unit 6. By providing the matching box 6, the film forming conditions can be set according to the parameters of the desired target film, thereby achieving the purpose of forming a practical dielectric film in a large area.

When the power supply 7 is turned on, the antenna 2 can perform ICP discharge to generate plasma, thereby generating an induced electric field. For the purpose of facilitating the connection to the power supply 7, the antenna 2 has connection portions 3, by means of which connection portions 3 the antenna 2 can be connected to a respective high-frequency power supply 7. In the present embodiment, the antenna 2 has two

spiral coils

2a, 2b connected in parallel. The longitudinal direction of the antenna 2 is the arrangement direction of the two

spiral coils

2a and 2 b. As shown in fig. 1, the two

spiral coils

2a and 2b are arranged in the left-right direction when facing fig. 1 (of course, the two

spiral coils

2a and 2b may be arranged vertically in the horizontal direction in actual use), and thus, a large film formation area can be formed by a single antenna 2.

Wherein each of the spiral coils 2a or 2b in the antenna 2 is formed by winding one turn. One terminal side of each of the two

spiral coils

2a and 2b is grounded, and the other terminal side of each of the two

spiral coils

2a and 2b is connected to the matching box 6 and connected in parallel to the high-frequency power supply 7, respectively, so that high-frequency power is applied thereto.

Of course, the two

spiral coils

2a and 2b are not limited to be arranged left and right, but may be arranged up and down, obliquely arranged, and the like, and the length direction of the antenna 2 may be a length direction visually reflected. The antenna 2 is not limited to the two

spiral coils

2a and 2b arranged in a certain direction, and may be formed by overlapping two spiral coils, such as a large spiral coil in which a small spiral coil is disposed substantially concentrically.

In this embodiment, the introduction mechanism includes: a first introduction part for introducing a CVD source gas into the vacuum film forming chamber 300, and a second introduction part for introducing oxygen and/or argon into the vacuum film forming chamber 300. The CVD material may include at least one of TEOS, HDMS4, HMDSO, SiH4, SiH2, Si (OC2H5), and SiHCL 3. Specifically, the CVD raw gas may be hexamethyldisiloxane gas.

The introducing mechanism is configured to introduce gas with adjustable parameters. The introduced gas parameters include: gas type, gas flow rate. The introducing means communicates with the vacuum film forming chamber 300 through the

pipes

60 and 70, and the

pipes

60 and 70 may be provided with a flow valve for controlling the flow rate of the introduced gas.

Specifically, the first introduction part and the second introduction part may each include a gas source container that contains a CVD raw material gas under a certain pressure or an oxygen gas and/or an argon gas under a certain pressure. The gas source container is communicated with the vacuum film forming chamber 300 through the pipe 60 or the pipe 70. The control of the gas supply is achieved by controlling the flow valves on the

lines

60, 70.

In this embodiment, to realize low-cost and high-throughput film formation, the low refractive index thin film forming apparatus includes: a conveyance mechanism 80 for conveying the substrate 40; a loading chamber 200 for exhausting to form a vacuum environment; and an unloading chamber 400 for unloading the substrate 40 after film formation.

Wherein the vacuum film forming chamber 300 is located between the loading chamber 200 and the unloading chamber 400. The transfer mechanism 80 transfers the substrate 40 sequentially through the loading chamber 200, the vacuum film forming chamber 300, and the unloading chamber 400. Therefore, the assembly line type operation can be realized, the substrate 40 is continuously added in the loading chamber 200, and the coated substrate 40 is collected in the unloading chamber 400, so that the purpose of continuously forming the film is achieved.

The loading chamber 200, the vacuum film forming chamber 300, and the unloading chamber 400 may be sequentially arranged in a horizontal direction, and the three may be located on the same support base. The loading chamber 200, the vacuum film forming chamber 300, and the unloading chamber 400 are arranged in this order from left to right while the reader faces fig. 1. The conveying mechanism comprises a conveying roller or a conveying belt.

A substrate placing area 100 may be provided upstream of the loading chamber, and the substrate 40 may be placed in the substrate placing area 100 and the substrate 40 may be transferred into the loading chamber 200. Loading of the substrate 40, specifically, loading of the substrate 40 on the susceptor 50 is performed in the loading chamber 200. The loading chamber 200 is evacuated and then transferred to the vacuum deposition chamber 300 via a conveyor belt or a transfer roller to perform CVD film deposition. And then conveyed into an unloading chamber 400 through a conveyor belt or a conveying roller for unloading, thereby completing the film coating.

When HMDSO (hexamethyldisiloxane) is used and a thin film is formed using the thin film forming apparatus provided in the examples shown in fig. 1 to 3 under the film forming conditions shown in table 1 below, the following table 1 (film forming conditions and evaluation results), table 2 (refractive index test results of thin films) and fig. 4 and 5 can be referred to for the corresponding evaluation results.

TABLE 1 film Forming conditions and evaluation results

TABLE 2 refractive index test results for films

	Inner part	Mean value of	Exterior part
				Refractive index @550nm	1.50	1.42	1.35

As can be seen from table 1, the light transmittance of the film formed in the examples of the present application was 92.8% and the reflectance was 6.5% at a wavelength of 550nm, and the film obtained in the examples of the present application functioned as an antireflection film. Further, as can be seen from FIG. 6, the anti-reflection film can pass the cross-cut test and its strength is sufficient for practical use.

Referring to table 2, it can be seen that the thin film formed in the examples of the present application can form a SiOx film with an average refractive index of 1.42 and an outer surface refractive index of 1.35. The film has a bulk refractive index of 1.5 or less.

As can be seen from fig. 4 and 5, the reflectance of the film is lower than that of the original glass substrate as a whole, and the transmittance thereof is higher than that of the original glass substrate at most wavelengths.

As can be seen from the above evaluation results, the thin film forming apparatus provided in this example can manufacture a low refractive index thin film that is practical and low in cost over a large area.

Any numerical value recited herein includes all values from the lower value to the upper value, in increments of one unit, provided that there is a separation of at least two units between any lower value and any higher value. For example, if it is stated that the number of a component or a value of a process variable (e.g., temperature, pressure, time, etc.) is from 1 to 90, preferably from 20 to 80, and more preferably from 30 to 70, it is intended that equivalents such as 15 to 85, 22 to 68, 43 to 51, 30 to 32 are also expressly enumerated in this specification. For values less than 1, one unit is suitably considered to be 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1. These are only examples of what is intended to be explicitly recited, and all possible combinations of numerical values between the lowest value and the highest value that are explicitly recited in the specification in a similar manner are to be considered.

Unless otherwise indicated, all ranges include the endpoints and all numbers between the endpoints. The use of "about" or "approximately" with a range applies to both endpoints of the range. Thus, "about 20 to about 30" is intended to cover "about 20 to about 30", including at least the endpoints specified.

The term "consisting essentially of …" describing a combination shall include the identified element, ingredient, component or step as well as other elements, ingredients, components or steps that do not materially affect the basic novel characteristics of the combination. The use of the terms "comprising" or "including" to describe combinations of elements, components, or steps herein also contemplates embodiments that consist essentially of such elements, components, or steps. By using the term "may" herein, it is intended to indicate that any of the described attributes that "may" include are optional.

A plurality of elements, components, parts or steps can be provided by a single integrated element, component, part or step. Alternatively, a single integrated element, component, part or step may be divided into separate plural elements, components, parts or steps. The disclosure of "a" or "an" to describe an element, ingredient, component or step is not intended to foreclose other elements, ingredients, components or steps.

It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. Many embodiments and many applications other than the examples provided will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the above description. The scope of the present teachings should, therefore, be determined not with reference to the above description, but should instead be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. The disclosures of all articles and references, including patent applications and publications, are hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes. The omission in the foregoing claims of any aspect of subject matter that is disclosed herein is not intended to forego such subject matter, nor should the inventors be construed as having contemplated such subject matter as being part of the disclosed subject matter.

Claims

1. A thin film forming apparatus, comprising:

a vacuum film forming chamber for accommodating the substrate;

2. The thin film forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the plasma source includes: the antenna is arranged outside the vacuum film forming chamber; the antenna is disposed outside the vacuum deposition chamber via a dielectric portion; the antenna has a connection portion to which high-frequency power is applied.

3. The thin film forming apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein: the antenna has two spiral coils connected in parallel.

4. The thin film forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the power of the plasma source is adjustable.

5. The thin film forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the introduction mechanism includes: the CVD apparatus comprises a first introducing part for introducing CVD raw material gas into the vacuum film forming chamber, and a second introducing part for introducing oxygen and/or argon into the vacuum film forming chamber.

6. The film forming apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein: the CVD raw material comprises at least one of TEOS, HDMS4, HMDSO, SiH4, SiH2, Si (OC2H5) and SiHCL 3.

7. The thin film forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the leading-in mechanism is set to lead in gas parameters to be adjustable; the introduced gas parameters include: gas type, gas flow rate.

8. The thin film forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the thin film forming apparatus includes:

a conveying mechanism for conveying the substrate;

a loading chamber for exhausting to form a vacuum environment;

9. The film forming apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein: the conveying mechanism comprises a conveying roller or a conveying belt.

10. The film forming apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein: the low refractive index film has a refractive index of 1.5 or less.