JP2002001099A - Method and apparatus for plasma treatment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for plasma treatment adapted so as to prevent thermal damage to a substrate during consecutive plasma treatments to prevent it from being deformed or from being adversely affected in its properties. SOLUTION: A rise in the temperature of the surface of a substrate 5 can be prevented by indirectly cooling the surface of the substrate 5 by providing a cooling holder 11 in the position opposite to the substrate 5 during consecutive plasma treatments and sealing a gas having a high heat conductivity in the space between the substrate 5 and the holder 11 spaced therefrom.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus and method, such as a sputtering apparatus, for forming a thin film of a target material on a substrate in a vacuum vessel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a sputtering apparatus, a target and a substrate are arranged to face each other, a gas for plasma generation is introduced between them, and a high frequency or DC voltage is applied to a cathode portion on which the target is arranged to generate plasma. Then, ions accelerated by a magnetic field are made to collide with a target, and a material is skipped from the target and deposited on a substrate.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of a conventional sputtering apparatus. In FIG. 3, 21 is a vacuum vessel, 22 is a cathode section, and a power supply 23 is connected.
Reference numeral 24 denotes a target, which is a deposition material, disposed on the cathode unit 22, reference numeral 25 denotes a substrate disposed opposite the target 24, reference numeral 26 denotes a gas introduction unit, and reference numeral 27 denotes an exhaust port.

In such a configuration, the gas introduction section 26
A plasma generating gas such as argon is introduced into the vacuum chamber 21 and exhausted from the exhaust port 27 so as to have a predetermined sputtering pressure. In this state, the power supply 23 is connected to the cathode section 22.
When a high frequency or DC voltage is applied from the substrate, a plasma is generated between the substrate 25 and the target 24, and argon ions in the plasma are accelerated by the magnetic field and
The target material is hit and jumps into the vacuum. Then, the substrate 25 mounted on the holder 28
This substance adheres to the surface to form a thin film.

In addition, a multi-layered film is formed by attaching many kinds of the target materials to the substrate 25 continuously.

FIG. 4 is a view showing the substrate surface temperature when performing continuous film formation. For example, when continuously laminating on a resin material such as polycarbonate, even if the temperature of the plasma treatment in each layer is suppressed to about 60 ° C., if the plasma treatment interval is within about 5 seconds, the previous plasma Since the temperature due to the processing cannot be lowered and the next plasma processing is performed, the temperatures are integrated, and the maximum temperature eventually exceeds 60 degrees.

[0007]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional sputtering apparatus, when a target material is adhered to a substrate in a process in which many types of continuous and high-speed tact are required, the temperature of the substrate surface increases rapidly. As a result, thermal damage or deformation of the substrate affects subsequent processes, and the like, and there is a limit to stable production.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to provide a plasma processing method and apparatus capable of suppressing a rise in the temperature of the substrate surface.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a plasma processing method and apparatus for continuously laminating a surface of a substrate disposed in a vacuum vessel. During this process, the surface of the substrate is cooled, whereby the influence on the subsequent process due to thermal damage or deformation of the substrate can be suppressed.

A cooling holder having a gap between the substrate and the substrate is provided on the opposite side of the substrate, and a gas having high thermal conductivity is sealed in the gap to indirectly cool the substrate surface so that the film is not in contact with the film forming surface. Can be realized.

By adjusting the cooling temperature of the substrate, an optimum temperature for the process can be selected.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the sputtering apparatus of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a sputtering apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a vacuum vessel, 2 denotes a cathode unit, 3 denotes a power supply connected to the cathode unit 2, and 4 denotes a target which is a deposition material disposed on the cathode unit 2. Reference numeral 5 denotes a substrate disposed to face the target 4, and reference numeral 7 denotes an exhaust port at an arbitrary position in the vacuum vessel 1. Reference numeral 8 denotes a substrate holder on which the substrate 5 is mounted, 9 denotes a turning drive unit that turns the substrate holder 8, and 18 denotes a drive shaft that moves the substrate holder 8 back and forth. The cooling station 11 is a cooling holder, and 10 is an introduction path for a gas having high thermal conductivity such as He.

Note that the target 4 is the target presser 1
2 is attached to the cathode section 2 via a water cooling plate 13 and is cooled by cooling water 14. The vacuum vessel 1 is grounded, and the cathode part 2 is
Insulated by 15 is an earth shield, 17 is a magnet.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, after the inside of the vacuum vessel 1 is evacuated to a predetermined degree of vacuum, a plasma generating gas such as an argon gas is introduced into the vacuum vessel 1 from the gas introduction unit 6 and the gas is exhausted from the exhaust port 7 at a predetermined sputtering pressure. .

In this state, when a high frequency or DC voltage is applied to the cathode unit 2 from the power supply 3, plasma is generated between the substrate 5 and the target 4, and argon ions in the plasma are accelerated by the magnetic field and applied to the target 4. Collide,
The target material is hit and jumps into the vacuum. And
A target material is adhered to the substrate 5 mounted on the substrate holder 8 to form a thin film.

After a predetermined film is formed, the substrate is moved to the next cooling station by the swivel drive unit 9, the substrate holder 8 is moved forward by the drive unit 18,
gas such as e is introduced between the substrate 5 and the cooling holder 11,
Indirectly cooling the substrate surface.

By repeating the above contents, a multilayer film is formed continuously.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the substrate surface temperature when a substrate cooling station is provided during continuous film formation. For example, when continuously laminated on a resin material such as polycarbonate, in a process in which the temperature due to the plasma processing in each layer is suppressed to about 60 ° C., even if the interval between the plasma processing is within about 5 seconds, By lowering the temperature, even if the next plasma processing is performed, the temperature effect can be canceled in the substrate cooling station, so that the temperature is not integrated and the maximum temperature can be suppressed to 60 degrees. The maximum temperature of the substrate is set in consideration of thermal damage and deformation of the substrate.

Further, by adjusting the cooling temperature of the cooling holder 11 by the temperature adjusting section 19, an optimum temperature for the process can be selected according to the characteristics of the material of the substrate 5, and the conditions can be easily set. It becomes possible.

Further, if the substrate is made of a material having low heat conductivity, such as polycarbonate or ceramic, it is more effective to cool directly from the substrate surface than to cool from the back surface of the substrate.

According to the present embodiment configured as described above, by cooling the substrate surface during continuous lamination by plasma processing, the influence on the subsequent process due to thermal damage or deformation to the substrate can be reduced. A plasma processing method and apparatus that can be suppressed can be realized.

In the above embodiment, the sputtering apparatus has been described. However, a process in which plasma processing is continuously performed at a high speed tact, or a method in which a substrate is subjected to plasma processing,
The present invention can be effectively applied to various plasma processing apparatuses that require cooling.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a plasma processing method and apparatus for continuously laminating the surface treatment of a substrate placed in a vacuum vessel, the plasma processing method and the apparatus can be used to perform continuous lamination by plasma processing. This cools the surface of the substrate, thereby suppressing the influence on the subsequent process due to thermal damage or deformation of the substrate.

A cooling holder having a gap between the substrate and the substrate is provided on the opposite side of the substrate, and a gas having high thermal conductivity is filled in the gap to indirectly cool the surface of the substrate so that the surface of the film is not contacted. Can be realized.

Further, by adjusting the cooling temperature of the substrate, the optimum temperature for the process can be easily selected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional front view showing a schematic configuration of a sputtering apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a temperature of a substrate surface during film formation in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional sputtering apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a temperature of a substrate surface during film formation in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vacuum container 5 Substrate 8 Substrate holder 11 Cooling holder

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Takahiro Kitai 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kazuma, Osaka Prefecture F-term in Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (reference) 4G075 AA24 BC02 BD14 CA03 CA47 CA65 DA02 EA05 EB01 EB42 EC21 ED09 4K029 BB02 CA05 DA00 DC16 EA08 JA02

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A plasma processing method for generating plasma in a vacuum vessel and continuously laminating surface treatment of a substrate disposed in the vacuum vessel, wherein the substrate surface is cooled during lamination by plasma processing. A plasma processing method. 2. A cooling holder having a gap with the substrate provided on the opposite surface of the substrate, and indirectly cooling the surface of the substrate by filling a gas having a high thermal conductivity from a gas introduction path into the gap. The plasma processing method according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The plasma processing method according to claim 1, wherein the cooling is performed such that a maximum temperature of the substrate that rises in the next plasma processing is equal to or lower than a predetermined value. . 4. The plasma processing method according to claim 1, wherein a cooling temperature of the substrate is adjusted. 5. A plasma processing apparatus for generating plasma in a vacuum vessel and continuously laminating the surface treatment of a substrate placed in the vacuum vessel, wherein the substrate is provided with a surface opposite to a surface on which the surface treatment is performed. A plasma processing apparatus characterized in that a cooling holder provided with a gap between the cooling chamber and a gas having high thermal conductivity is sealed in the gap. 6. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a temperature controller for adjusting a cooling temperature of the substrate.