JP2002241937A - Film deposition system and method for thin film-coated article - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vacuum film deposition system and method for making a reduced pressure chamber smaller and obviating a dust-proofing means for substrates before loading the substrates into a film deposition line. SOLUTION: In a system 202 and a method for depositing a thin film coating on substrates 31, a plurality of reduced pressure chambers 5 to 13 are used in order to perform a plurality of treatment processes required for deposition of the thin film. The substrates 31 produced at intervals of prescribed time with a substrate manufacturing device 2 are sequentially loaded into the line directly or indirectly. The loaded substrates 31 are transported so that they are processed one by one in the reduced pressure chambers 5 to 13 and pass the plurality of reduced pressure chambers 5 to 13 in accordance with the treatment process.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system and a method for forming a thin film coating, and more particularly to a system using a reduced pressure chamber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some articles are formed by forming a thin film on a base material. For example, in a reflector for a headlamp of an automobile, an aluminum thin film is formed on an inner surface of a base made of a bowl-shaped glass plate, and a transparent thin protective film made of a plastic resin is formed thereon.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of a film forming system for this headlamp reflector. As shown in FIG. 5, a film forming system 101 for a reflector for a headlamp.
Downstream of the injection molding machine 2
6, vacuum chamber 102, aluminum coating chamber
103, a protective film coating chamber 104, an open-to-air chamber 105, and a product carrying belt conveyor 26 are arranged in this order. In the film forming system 101 configured as described above, the base material 31 injection-molded by the injection molding machine 2 is used.
Are placed on the substrate carrying belt conveyor 106 by a robot (not shown), and the placed substrate 31 is placed on the substrate carrying belt conveyor 106, the belt conveyors 107 to 110 installed in each chamber, and the product unloading. Each of the chambers is sequentially passed through the belt conveyor 26, whereby an aluminum thin film and a protective film are formed on the substrate 31. Reference numeral 32 denotes a gate for opening and closing the chamber while maintaining the airtightness between the chamber and the outside and between the chambers.

[0004]

By the way, in the film forming system 101, the base material 31 is produced by the injection molding machine 2 at predetermined time intervals. In order to ensure the above performance, it is necessary to continuously form a film on the base material 31 immediately after production.
Therefore, the film needs to be formed at a speed that matches the production speed of the base material 31. On the other hand, in each of the chambers 102 to 105, the chamber is sealed, and the inside of the sealed chamber is maintained in a predetermined atmosphere with reduced pressure, and the substrate 31 is processed in the atmosphere. For this reason, in each of the chambers 102 to 105, it is difficult to continuously process the base material 31, so that a batch process must be performed. In order to perform the batch processing, the base material 31 supplied from the upstream at the predetermined time interval during the processing time, that is, the tact time, may be stored in an appropriate place and processed at a time. In this case, the tact times in the chambers 102 to 105 are generally different from each other. In addition, since the processing in each of the chambers 102 to 105 needs to be performed sequentially, it is not preferable to store the base material 31 between the chambers. Therefore, in the above conventional example, the number of bases 31 obtained by dividing the tact time by the predetermined time interval is stored in front of the film forming line in accordance with the chamber having the longest tact time. A film forming process is being performed. In the illustrated example, the tact time of the protective film coating chamber 104 is the longest and is three times the predetermined time interval (production interval) of the base material 31. I am giving. That is, three base materials 31 taken out from the injection molding machine 2 are stored on the carry-in belt conveyor 106,
For each of the three base materials 31 that have accumulated, each chamber 102 to 105
Are sequentially and intermittently moved, thereby making it possible to form a film on the substrate 31 at a speed corresponding to the production speed of the substrate 31.

However, in the film forming system 101, since a plurality of (three in the illustrated example) substrates 31 are put into each of the chambers 102 to 105 for processing, a large chamber is required, and a large power is required for evacuation. Is required. In addition, since a predetermined number of the base materials 31 are stored before being put into the film forming line, it is necessary to provide dustproof means to prevent them from being stained.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and provides a vacuum film forming system and method which require a small decompression chamber and do not require dust-proofing means for a substrate before the line is introduced. It is intended to provide.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a thin-film coating film forming system and method according to the present invention are provided. A method, wherein a plurality of decompression chambers are used to perform a plurality of processing steps required for forming the thin film, and the base material produced at predetermined time intervals by a base material manufacturing apparatus is directly or indirectly sequentially taken in. The loaded base material is processed one by one in each of the decompression chambers, and is conveyed so as to sequentially pass through the plurality of decompression chambers in accordance with the processing steps. Here, in this specification, a decompression chamber refers to a chamber whose inside can be decompressed to an atmospheric pressure or less.

[0008] With this configuration, the base material to be processed exists in each of the decompression chambers one by one.
As compared with the case where a plurality of substrates are batch-processed, the decompression chamber can be made smaller, and as a result, the time and power for evacuation can be reduced as much as the chamber becomes smaller. Further, since the base materials produced by the base material manufacturing apparatus are sequentially processed, dustproof means for the base materials before the film forming line is introduced is not required.

In this case, the plurality of decompression chambers are constituted by the number of decompression chambers such that the product of the number of decompression chambers and the predetermined time interval is equal to or longer than the execution time of each processing step for each processing step. (Claim 2,
6).

With this configuration, in each processing step, the base material as an object to be processed can undergo a required process for a required time, so that a thin film can be suitably formed.

Further, the plurality of decompression chambers belonging to the same processing step may be constituted by the same one (claims 3 and 7).

With this configuration, the number of decompression chambers can be changed only by adding or removing chambers having the same structure, so that a film forming system having different execution times for each processing step can be easily constructed. .

Further, all of the decompression chambers may have the same main body.
8).

With this configuration, the main body of the decompression chamber for all the processing steps is shared, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a manufacturing system of a thin film coating incorporating a film forming system for a thin film coating according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIG. It is a table | surface which shows the tact time of a process and the number of decompression chambers.

In this embodiment, as a thin film coating and a manufacturing system therefor, the reflector for a headlamp of an automobile and a manufacturing system thereof described in the related art are exemplified.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the head lamp reflector manufacturing process includes an injection molding process A, an undercoating process B, an ultraviolet drying process C, a transport process X from a pretreatment process to a film formation process, Vacuum evacuation step D, aluminum coating step E, protective film coating step F, hydrophilic processing step G, open air step H, and a film-formed product (hereinafter, referred to as
(Hereinafter simply referred to as a product).

In FIG. 1, a thin-film coating production system 1 for performing the above-described production process includes a substrate production apparatus 2, a pre-processing system 201, a film formation system 202, and a line control apparatus 20.
3 is the main component.

The substrate manufacturing apparatus 2 here is constituted by an injection molding machine, and produces the substrate 31 at regular time intervals by injection molding.

The pre-processing system 201 pre-processes the base material 31 produced by the base material manufacturing apparatus 2, and is an undercoating apparatus arranged so as to be successively connected to the base material removal side of the base material manufacturing apparatus 2. 3 and an ultraviolet drying device 4. A belt conveyor 15 is provided in both devices 3 and 4 so as to penetrate them. The base material 31 produced by the injection molding machine 2 is placed on the belt conveyor 15 by a robot (not shown). Undercoating equipment 3
Forms an underlayer on the surface of the base material 31 moving on the belt conveyor 15, and the ultraviolet drying device 4 hardens and drys the formed underlayer with ultraviolet light. Thereby, pre-processing is performed.

The film forming system 202 includes the pretreated base material 31.
A plurality of decompression chambers 5 to 13 for performing processing necessary for film formation
And transport means for transporting the base material 31 so as to sequentially pass through the plurality of decompression chambers 5 to 13.

That is, at the rear end of the pre-processing system 201,
Loading belt conveyor 16, vacuum chamber 5, aluminum coating chamber 6, first to third protective film coating chambers 7 to 9, first to third hydrophilic processing chambers 10 to 12, open to atmosphere The chambers 13 are arranged in this order. An unloading belt conveyor 26 is provided so as to be continuous with the open-to-atmosphere chamber 13 which is the rear end of the film forming system 201. In each of the chambers 5 to 13, individual belt conveyors 17 to 25 are arranged between the carry-in belt conveyor 16 and the carry-out belt conveyor 26 so as to be adjacent to each other and to be continuous in a row. A communication passage (not shown) through which the base material 31 can pass and which is airtight to the outside is formed in a portion of the side wall of each of the chambers 5 to 13 located between the individual belt conveyors 17 to 25. A gate 32 is provided to open and close the communication passage. In addition, the base material is disposed between the carry-in belt conveyor 16 and the individual belt conveyor 17 on the front wall of the vacuum chamber 5 and the portion between the individual belt conveyor 25 and the carry-out belt conveyor 26 on the rear wall of the atmosphere opening chamber 13. Through holes (not shown) through which 31 can pass are provided, and gates 32 are provided so as to open and close the through holes. These conveyor belt conveyors
16, individual belt conveyor 17-25, unloading belt conveyor 2
6, and the gate 32 constitute the above-mentioned transport means.

The pretreated base material 31 is taken out of the ultraviolet drying device 4 and placed on the carry-in belt conveyor 16 by a robot (not shown).

The vacuum chamber 5 is used to reduce the pressure of the substrate 31 to the same pressure as the aluminum coating chamber 6 in advance, and to feed the substrate 31 to the next step of the aluminum coating chamber 6 under the condition.

The aluminum coating chamber 6 is for forming a thin film made of aluminum on the base layer of the pretreated base material 31. This thin film formation may be performed in a substantially vacuum state in the chamber, and techniques such as ion plating, gasless ion plating, sputtering, and CVD can be applied. The aluminum coating chamber 6 is provided with a mechanism required for forming a thin film, such as an evaporation source and an electrode, according to the applied thin film forming method.

The first to third protective film coating chambers 7 to 9 are for forming a transparent thin protective film made of a plastic resin on the thin film of the base material 31 on which the thin film is formed. It consists of the same thing. Here, the protective film is formed by CVD. Therefore,
The formation of the protective film is performed under a substantially vacuum state.
The first to third protective film coating chambers 7 to 9 include:
A mechanism required for forming the protective film is provided.

The first to third hydrophilic processing chambers 10 to 12
This is for applying hydrophilic processing to the surface of the protective film of the base material 31 on which the protective film is formed, and both are made of the same material. The first to third hydrophilic processing chambers 10 to 12 are provided with mechanisms necessary for hydrophilic processing. This hydrophilic processing is also performed under a substantially vacuum state.

The atmosphere opening chamber 13 is for reducing the pressure inside the chamber to the same degree of vacuum as the third hydrophilic processing chamber 12 in advance, and receiving the substrate 31 subjected to hydrophilic processing from the third hydrophilic processing chamber 12 in this state. Things.

The carry-out belt conveyor 26 is for carrying the product sent out from the open-to-atmosphere chamber 13 through the packaging process Y.

The line controller 203 carries out the belt conveyor 26 carried out from the base material manufacturing apparatus 2 of the thin film coating manufacturing system 1.
To control the devices 2 to 13, 15 to 26, and 32 belonging to the production line.

Next, the manufacturing process of the headlamp reflector and the relationship between the tact time of each process and the number of decompression chambers will be described.

1 and 2, the takt time of the injection molding step A is 10 seconds. That is, the substrate manufacturing apparatus 2
The base material 31 is produced at intervals of 10 seconds. Therefore, in order to prevent the base material 31, which is the object to be processed, from staying on the way, the base material 31 must be moved at intervals of 10 seconds between the steps downstream of the injection molding step A. On the other hand, since the takt time of each step is different, in each step, the base material 31 must remain in that step during the tact time. Therefore, in order to satisfy both requirements, in the present embodiment, specially in the film forming step, that is, in the vacuuming step D, the aluminum coating step E, the protective film coating F, the hydrophilic processing step G, and the atmosphere opening step H, in particular. Has been devised.

In other words, in these steps, since the chamber is sealed, the inside of the sealed chamber is maintained in a predetermined atmosphere with reduced pressure, and the substrate 31 is processed in the atmosphere, so that the batch processing is not performed. I can't get it. However, in the present embodiment, unlike the conventional example, in each process, a number of chambers are arranged in series such that the product of the number and the tact time of the injection molding process A exceeds the tact time of the process. ing. Specifically, the tact times of the evacuation step D, the aluminum coating step E, the protective film coating step F, the hydrophilic processing step G, and the atmosphere opening step H are 10 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 30 seconds, respectively. And 10 seconds, the number of chambers in each process is 1
One, three, three, and one. That is, in the evacuation step D, the aluminum coating step E, the protective film coating step F, the hydrophilic processing step G, and the air release step H, one vacuum evacuation chamber 5, one aluminum coating chamber 6, Three chambers consisting of first to third protective film coating chambers 7 to 9;
Three chambers including third hydrophilic processing chambers 10 to 12 and one open-to-atmosphere chamber 13 are arranged.
The transporting means is configured to transport the base material 31 by intermittent operation so as to sequentially pass through the plurality of chambers thus arranged one by one. Thereby, in each step, the base material 31 can be subjected to each processing for a necessary time. For example, evacuation process D,
In the aluminum coating step E, the protective film coating step F, the hydrophilic processing step G, and the open-to-atmosphere step H, the base material 31 is equal to each tact time,
Each process can be received for seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 30 seconds, and 10 seconds. Moreover, in each chamber, the base material 31 is batch-processed one by one, so that each chamber can be made smaller than in the case where a plurality of base materials 31 are batch-processed. As a result, the time and power for evacuation can be reduced as much as the chamber becomes smaller. In addition, since the base material 31 produced by the base material manufacturing apparatus 2 is sequentially processed, dustproof means for the base material before the film forming line is introduced is not required.

On the other hand, since the undercoating step B and the ultraviolet drying step C can be continuously performed, the belt conveyor 15 is operated continuously, and the lengths of the undercoating apparatus 3 and the ultraviolet drying apparatus 4 are respectively
The number of base materials 31 obtained by dividing each tact time by the production interval of the base materials 31 can be accommodated. Here, since the takt times of the undercoating step B and the ultraviolet drying step C are both 15 minutes, the lengths of the undercoating apparatus 3 and the ultraviolet drying apparatus 4 are both long enough to accommodate 90 base materials 31. It has become. As a result, the base material 31 can be subjected to each processing for a time corresponding to each tact time in each process while moving on the belt conveyor 15.

Next, the configuration of the chamber will be described.
In the present embodiment, as described above, a plurality of chambers belonging to the same processing step, that is, the first to third protective film coating chambers 7 to 9 and the first to third hydrophilic processing chambers 10 to 12 , Respectively, are constituted by the same components. By the way, the tact time of each step differs depending on the structure of the thin film formed on the base material 31 and the film forming conditions. Therefore, in such a case, it is necessary to change the number of chambers in each process according to the difference in the tact time. For example, when the tact time of each process is such that the one shown in FIG. 2 is changed to 30 seconds and 50 seconds for the aluminum coating process E and the protective film coating process F, respectively, it is shown in FIG. Thus, the aluminum coating process E needs to be configured with three chambers 6, 51, 52, and the protective film coating process F needs to be configured with five chambers 7, 8, 9, 53, 54. Even in such a case, if a plurality of chambers belonging to the same processing step are constituted by the same one, the number of chambers can be changed only by adding or removing (here, simply adding) chambers having the same structure. . Therefore, it is possible to easily construct a film forming system having different tact times in each processing step. Here, the case where the number of the protective film coating chambers and the number of the hydrophilic processing chambers are plural and the number of the chambers is increased has been described. However, the same applies to the case where the number of the other chambers is plural and the number of the chambers is increased or decreased.

In the present embodiment, all the chambers 5 to 13 have the same main body. That is, since each of the chambers 5 to 13 has a mechanism for exerting its function, it is different from that in that respect,
Both are common in that the pressure can be reduced and the substrate 31 can be moved through the front and rear side walls. Therefore, the chamber main body, that is, the housing thereof can be shared, and thus the configuration is made as described above. With such a configuration, the main body of the chamber for all processing steps is shared, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Next, the operation (method of manufacturing a thin film coating) of the system for manufacturing a thin film coating configured as described above will be described. The operation of the following thin film coating production system is realized by the control of the line control device 203.

In FIG. 1, in the substrate manufacturing apparatus 2, the substrate 31 is produced at intervals of 10 seconds. Then, the produced base material 31 is sequentially placed on the belt conveyor 15 by the robot. Hereinafter, the operation of the thin film coating production system will be described, focusing on any one of the substrates 31 that are sequentially placed.

The base material 31 placed on the belt conveyor 15
Is an undercoating device 3 and an ultraviolet drying device 4
, And an underlayer is formed thereon, followed by drying with ultraviolet light. Thereby, the pretreatment of the base material 31 is performed.

Next, the pretreated base material 31 is placed on the carry-in belt conveyor 16 by the robot and carried into the vacuum chamber 5. Here, the delivery of the base material 31 between adjacent ones of the belt conveyors 16 to 26 is performed by running both belts in the same direction. At the time of loading, in the evacuation chamber 5, first, the downstream gate 32 is opened and the previous substrate 31 is sent out to the aluminum coating chamber 6, then the gate 32 is closed, and then the upstream gate 32 is opened. Is opened and the substrate 31 is carried in, and then the gate is closed. Next, the pressure in the chamber is reduced to a predetermined degree of vacuum.

Next, the substrate 31 subjected to the reduced pressure treatment is introduced into the aluminum coating chamber 6. At this time, in the aluminum coating chamber 6, both the upstream side gate 32 and the downstream side gate 32 are simultaneously opened, and the previous base material 31 is sent out to the protective film coating chamber 7, and at the same time, the base material 31 is introduced therein. Thereafter, both gates 32 close. Next, the inside of the chamber is shifted to a predetermined atmosphere,
A thin film is formed on the underlayer 31.

Thereafter, the base material 31 on which the thin film is formed is the first base material.
To the third protective film coating chambers 7 to 9 and the first
Through the third hydrophilic processing chambers 10 to 12, during which a protective film is formed on the thin film, and then the protective film is subjected to hydrophilic processing. These protective film formation and hydrophilic processing,
Each of the first to third protective film coating chambers 7
-9, and the first through third hydrophilic processing chambers 10-12, respectively, about 1/3 each. In addition, transport means between them, that is, the gate 32 and the individual belt conveyor
The operations 18 to 25 are the same as in the case of the aluminum coating chamber 6.

Next, the final hydrophilically processed substrate 31
From the third hydrophilic processing chamber 12 to the atmosphere opening chamber 13
Introduced within. At this time, in the open-to-atmosphere chamber 13, first, the gate 32 on the downstream side is opened and the previous base material 31 is sent out to the conveyor belt conveyor 26, and then the gate 32 is closed, and then the inside of the chamber has a predetermined vacuum degree. The pressure is reduced until
Then, after the upstream gate 32 is opened and the substrate 31 is carried in, the gate is closed. Thereafter, in the next cycle, the gate 32 on the downstream side is opened, and the substrate 31 is sent out to the conveyor belt conveyor 26.

The base material 31 sent out on the conveyor belt conveyor 26 is subjected to packaging or the like in a packaging step Y. Embodiment 2 FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a manufacturing system of a thin film coating incorporating a thin film coating deposition system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 4, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same or corresponding parts. This embodiment is the same as Embodiment 1 except that there is no pretreatment step and no hydrophilic processing step. With this configuration, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

In the first and second embodiments, the case where the present invention is applied to the manufacture of a reflector for a headlamp of an automobile has been described. However, the manufacture of a thin film coating in which a thin film is formed using a decompression chamber is described. The present invention can be applied in the same manner as described above.

[0047]

The present invention is embodied in the form described above and has the following effects. (1) The decompression chamber can be made smaller than in a case where a plurality of base materials are batch-processed, and as a result, the time and power for evacuation can be reduced as much as the chamber becomes smaller. In addition, dustproof means for the base material before the film forming line is introduced is not required. (2) The plurality of decompression chambers are constituted by the number of decompression chambers such that the product of the number of decompression chambers and the production interval of the base material is equal to or longer than the execution time of each processing step for each processing step. Then, a thin film can be suitably formed. (3) If a plurality of decompression chambers belonging to the same processing step are constituted by the same one, it is possible to easily construct a film forming system in which the execution time of each processing step is different. (4) If all the decompression chambers are configured to have the same main body, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a thin film coating production system incorporating a thin film coating deposition system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a table showing a manufacturing process of a thin film coating, a tact time of each process, and the number of decompression chambers.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example in a case where tact times of processes of a film forming system are different.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a manufacturing system for a thin film coating incorporating a thin film coating system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a conventional film forming system for a headlamp reflector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Thin film coating production system 2 Substrate production device 3 Undercoating device 4 UV drying device 5 Vacuum chamber 6 Aluminum coating chamber 7-9 First-third protective film coating chamber 10-12 First-third Hydrophilic processing chamber 13 Open-to-atmosphere chamber 15 Belt conveyor 16 Carry-in belt conveyor 17-25 Individual belt conveyor 26 Carry-out belt conveyor 32 Gate 201 Pretreatment system 202 Thin film coating system 203 Line control device A Base material manufacturing process B Under coating Step C UV drying step D Vacuum drawing step E Aluminum coating step F Protective film coating step G Hydrophilic processing step H Atmospheric release step X Transport step from pretreatment step to film formation step Y Packaging step

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A thin film coating system comprising a thin film formed on a substrate, comprising: a plurality of decompression chambers for performing a plurality of processing steps required for forming the thin film; The base material produced at predetermined time intervals by the manufacturing apparatus is sequentially or directly taken indirectly, and the taken-in base material is processed one by one in each of the decompression chambers, and the plurality of decompression chambers are sequentially processed in accordance with the processing steps. A film forming system for a thin film coating, comprising: a conveying unit configured to convey the film to pass therethrough. 2. The plurality of decompression chambers are constituted by a number of decompression chambers such that the product of the number of decompression chambers and the predetermined time interval is equal to or longer than the execution time of each processing step for each processing step. The thin film coating system according to claim 1. 3. The thin film coating system according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of said decompression chambers belonging to the same processing step are constituted by the same one. 4. The thin film coating system according to claim 1, wherein all of the decompression chambers have the same main body. 5. A method for forming a thin film coating comprising a thin film formed on a base material, the method comprising using a plurality of decompression chambers to perform a plurality of processing steps required for forming the thin film. The base material produced at predetermined time intervals by the material manufacturing apparatus is directly or indirectly sequentially taken in, the taken-in base material is processed one by one in each decompression chamber, and the plurality of decompression chambers are processed in accordance with the processing steps. A method of forming a thin film coating material that is conveyed sequentially. 6. The plurality of decompression chambers are constituted by the number of decompression chambers such that the product of the number of decompression chambers and the predetermined time interval is equal to or longer than the execution time of each processing step for each processing step. The method for forming a thin film coating according to claim 5. 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of decompression chambers belonging to the same processing step are constituted by the same one. 8. The method for forming a thin film coating according to claim 5, wherein all the decompression chambers have the same main body.