JP2000119848A - Vacuum film forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vacuum film forming device which is compact in size, inexpensive in manufacture and excellent in productivity. SOLUTION: In a vacuum film forming device comprising a vacuum treatment chamber to perform film forming treatment on a substrate 10 and a feeding/ taking-out chamber which is provided with a cooling means 13 to cool the substrate and an exhausting means and carries the substrate from the outside in the atmospheric pressure in/our of the vacuum treatment chamber, a substrate heating means 17 is provided in the feeding/taking-out chamber. A cooling means comprising a plate 13a controlled at a low temperature is provided on the lower part inside the feeding/taking-out chamber, and a substrate heating means provided with a heater plate 16 opposite to the cooling means at an interval 19 with the cooling means is provided on the upper part inside the feeding/taking-out chamber and an elevating/lowering device 21 to move the substrate carried in the interval to the position close to or in contact with the plate and the raising position 30 is provided. Alternatively, the inside of the feeding/taking-out chamber is demarcated in two chambers, the cooling means comprising a plate controlled at a low temperature may be provided in one of them and the substrate heating means may be provided in the other.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a vacuum film forming apparatus for forming various thin films such as a liquid crystal thin film on a substrate in a vacuum by a film forming method such as sputtering or CVD.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a single-wafer sputtering apparatus as shown in FIG. 1 has been known as a typical example of this type of vacuum film forming apparatus. This apparatus comprises two feeding chambers c and d for taking in and out a substrate b such as a glass substrate around a substantially hexagonal vacuum transfer chamber a, and a heating chamber e provided with heating means for heating the substrate b. And vacuum processing chambers f, g, and h for performing film forming processing such as etching and sputtering on the substrate b. The transfer arm i provided inside the transfer chamber a allows the transfer chamber c or d to move therefrom. The substrate b prepared in the above is taken out and carried into the heating chamber e. After being heated to a target temperature in the heating chamber e, the wafers are sent to the vacuum processing chambers f, g, and h by the transfer arm i, and a film is formed on the substrate b in these chambers. It is returned to the loading / unloading chamber c or d at i, cooled to a predetermined temperature, and taken out to the atmosphere.

[0003]

Since the conventional vacuum film forming apparatus has an independent heating chamber, there is a problem that the entire film forming apparatus becomes large and the apparatus price becomes expensive. In addition, there is a disadvantage in that the time required to carry the substrate in and out of the heating chamber and the time required to heat the substrate are required, so that the tact time is reduced and productivity is poor.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a vacuum film forming apparatus which can be manufactured in a small size at low cost and has good productivity.

[0005]

According to the present invention, a vacuum processing chamber for forming a film on a substrate, a cooling means for cooling the substrate, and an exhaust means are provided so that the substrate can be removed from the atmosphere at atmospheric pressure. In a vacuum film forming apparatus provided with a charging / discharging chamber for loading / unloading the substrate, the above object is achieved by providing a substrate heating means in the charging / discharging chamber. The object of the present invention is to provide the cooling means comprising a low-temperature controlled plate below the inside of the loading and unloading chamber and the heater plate above the inside and opposed to the cooling means at a distance from the cooling means. By providing a heating means, and by providing a lifting device for moving a substrate carried in at the interval between a position approaching or in contact with the plate and a floating position, or two chambers in the charging / discharging chamber. This can be achieved more precisely by providing a cooling means comprising a plate controlled at a low temperature in one of the sections and a substrate heating means in the other section. Further, the above object can also be achieved by forming the cooling means by a plate having a fluid passage therein, and circulating a heating fluid through the fluid passage to serve as a substrate heating means.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a transfer chamber of a vacuum film forming apparatus having a hexagonal planar shape, and reference numerals 2 and 3 denote the same. A loading / unloading chamber connected to the side of the transfer chamber 1 via a door valve 4, and reference numerals 5 to 8 denote an etching apparatus and a sputtering apparatus for film formation connected to the other side of the transfer chamber 1 via the door valve 4. 1 shows a vacuum processing chamber containing a known film forming apparatus. These chambers are evacuated to an appropriate pressure by a vacuum pump, and a transfer arm 9 having an articulated up-and-down telescopic arm is provided in the transfer chamber 1.

Each of the loading / unloading chambers 2 and 3 has an opening 11 through which a substrate 10 to be subjected to a film forming process is taken in and out of the room into the atmosphere, and an opening 1 through which a substrate 10 is taken in and out of the transfer chamber 1 from the room.
3, an approaching or contact-type cooling means 13 composed of a cooling plate 13a is fixed to the lower bottom surface of each chamber with its plate surface facing upward, and Has a halogen lamp 14 and a reflector 15
Heating means 1 constituted by a heater and a heater plate 16
7 was fixed with a support 18. Each of the openings 11 and 12 is closed by closing the door valve 4, and the inside thereof is controlled to a vacuum pressure and an atmospheric pressure by vacuum exhaust means connected to a vacuum pump from a vacuum exhaust port 31 and introduction of the atmosphere by a leak valve. Is done.

The plate surface of the cooling plate 13a and the plate surface of the heater plate 16 are opposed to each other with a space 19 therebetween, and the substrate 10 is moved to the space 19 via the opening 11 or 12 by the transfer arm 9 or It is carried in and out by a known loading device (not shown). On the plate surface of the cooling plate 13a, there is provided an elevating device 21 composed of pins that can move in and out for transferring and transferring the substrate 10 and adjusting the temperature of the substrate 10, and to the space 19, the transfer arm 9 or the loading device. When the substrate 10 is loaded and loaded, the elevating device 21 moves up to move the substrate 10 to the transfer arm 9.
And lifted up from the floating arm 21 and received at the floating position.
The substrate 10 is positioned at a position where the substrate 10 is in contact with the upper surface or a position close to the heater plate 16 by, for example, several mm, and the substrate temperature is adjusted. When the temperature adjustment is completed, the lifting device 21
Rises and descends to transfer the substrate 10 to the transfer arm 9 or a loading device, and the transfer arm 9 or the like takes out the substrate 10 into the transfer chamber 1 or the outside atmosphere. If the substrate 10 or a film formed thereon is expected to be damaged by rapid cooling or the like, the substrate 10 is brought close to the cooling plate 13a, otherwise, it is brought into contact with the cooling plate 13a and cooled.

The substrate 10 is heated to a predetermined temperature of, for example, about 250.degree. C. prior to vacuum film formation on the substrate 10, and after the film is formed, is cooled to, for example, about 50.degree. Further, when the substrate 10 is carried into the loading / unloading chambers 2 and 3 from the outside of the atmospheric pressure, the loading / unloading chambers 2 and 3
Is exhausted from atmospheric pressure to vacuum pressure. In the present invention, the heating of the substrate 10 is performed by utilizing the time for exhausting from the atmospheric pressure to the vacuum pressure by the substrate heating means 17 provided in the charging and discharging chambers 2 and 3. The substrate 10 heated to a predetermined temperature in 2 and 3 can be directly carried into the vacuum processing chamber 5 or the like by the transfer arm 9 to perform a film forming process, and an independent chamber for heating the substrate 10 is not required. Therefore, the vacuum film forming apparatus can be made compact, and if necessary, a vacuum processing chamber can be added as shown.

In the loading / unloading chambers 2 and 3 having the structure shown in FIG.
When the substrate 10 is carried in from the outside of the atmospheric pressure, the substrate 10 is raised to the floating position 30 by the elevating device 21, and the inside of the loading / unloading chambers 2 and 3 is sealed while operating the heating means 17 to reduce the atmospheric pressure. The substrate 10 is evacuated to a vacuum pressure.
When the temperature reaches a predetermined temperature, the lifting / lowering device 21 descends, and the substrate 10 is placed on the transfer arm 9 that has entered the room through the opening 12.
, And the transfer arm 9 carries the substrate 10 to the processing chamber 5 where the first film forming process is performed. Thereafter, the transfer arm 9 is transferred from the processing chamber 5 to another processing chamber in accordance with the film forming process, and the substrate 10 is returned to the loading / unloading chambers 2 and 3 when the film formation is completed. The substrate 10 on which the film has been formed is cooled because it is at a high temperature and is taken out into the atmosphere. However, the cooling device 13 descends after receiving the substrate 10 from the transfer arm 9 for cooling. When the temperature has reached a predetermined low temperature, the lifting / lowering device 21 rises to transfer the substrate 10 to the loading device, and after the inside of the loading / unloading chambers 2 and 3 is brought to the atmospheric pressure, the loading device enters the room. The substrate 10 on which the film formation has been completed is carried out to the atmosphere.

The example shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is an example of a vacuum film forming apparatus provided with only one vacuum processing chamber 22. In this case, the apparatus is connected to one charging / discharging chamber 23 via the transfer chamber 1. The processing chamber 22 is connected in series, and the inside of the charging and discharging chamber 23 is
As shown in FIG. 7, the heating chamber 17 is divided into a charging chamber section 23a and an unloading section 23b, and the heating section 17 is provided in the charging section 23a, and a support 24 for receiving the substrate 10 is provided in the unloading section 23b. The loading / unloading chamber 23 is connected to a known loading device 25 having a vertically movable belt conveyor, and the transfer arm 9 transfers the substrate 10 from a stock table 26 provided beside the loading device 25 to the processing chamber 22. The substrate 10 on which the film was fed and formed was sent out onto the other stock table 27.

The loading / unloading chamber 32 shown in FIG. 7 is provided with a plate 29 provided with a fluid passage 28. The temperature of the plate 29 is controlled by using the fluid flowing through the fluid passage 28 as a heating fluid or a low-temperature fluid. Substrate 1 contacting or approaching
0 was given either heating or cooling.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, a substrate heating means is provided in a loading / unloading chamber of a vacuum film forming apparatus provided with a cooling means for cooling a substrate to be subjected to a film forming process and an exhaust means. Therefore, the substrate can be heated during the film formation by using the time for evacuating the chamber for charging and discharging, thereby reducing the tact time and improving the productivity. Therefore, it is possible to manufacture a small-sized and inexpensive film-forming apparatus, and if necessary, it is possible to increase the number of processing chambers for film-forming.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall plan view of a conventional vacuum film forming apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a main part showing the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 transfer room, 2.3 preparation take-out room, 5.6, 7.8
Vacuum processing chamber, 10 substrates, 13 cooling means, 13a
Cooling plate, 16 heater plate, 17 substrate heating means, 19 interval, 21 elevating device, 23a / 23b
Compartment, 28 fluid passages, 29 plates, 30 floating position,

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hiroki Ozora 2500 Hagizono, Chigasaki-shi, Kanagawa F-term in Japan Vacuum Engineering Co., Ltd. 4K029 CA05 DA08 DC00 EA08 KA01 KA09

Claims (4)

[Claims] A vacuum processing chamber for forming a film on a substrate; a cooling means for cooling the substrate; and an exhaust means for loading and unloading the substrate from outside the atmospheric pressure into and out of the vacuum processing chamber. In a vacuum film forming apparatus having a chamber, a substrate heating means is provided in the charging / unloading chamber. 2. The cooling means comprising a low-temperature controlled plate below the inside of the charging / discharging chamber, and a heater plate opposed to the cooling means at a distance above the inside of the cooling means. 2. The vacuum film forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a substrate heating means, and an elevating device for moving the substrate carried in the gap to a position approaching or in contact with the plate and a floating position. . 3. The interior of the charging / unloading chamber is divided into two chambers, one of which is provided with cooling means comprising a plate controlled at a low temperature, and the other of which is provided with substrate heating means. The vacuum film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The vacuum forming device according to claim 1, wherein said cooling means is constituted by a plate having a fluid passage therein, and a heating fluid is circulated through said fluid passage to serve as a substrate heating means. Membrane equipment.