JP2003306771A - Film deposition system with glove box - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a film deposition system with a glove box, which is capable of suppressing the load against the variation in process conditions of whole film deposition process and the system even when a glove box chamber is added as one of system constituents so as to prevent mixing of impurities. <P>SOLUTION: The film deposition system with the glove box has a constitution that a vacuum film deposition chamber 1 is allowed to communicate with the glove box chamber 3 through a vacuum substrate-carrying chamber 2. The glove box chamber 3 has a pass chamber 4 which can be vacuum exhausted through an auxiliary exhausting valve 13 by an auxiliary exhaust pump 19. In this case, the pass chamber 4 can be omitted when an opening/closing door 2b for taking in and out a substrate 23 is provided to the vacuum substrate- carrying chamber 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a film forming apparatus with a glove box.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in an epitaxial growth apparatus or a vapor deposition apparatus for manufacturing an organic electroluminescence element, it is required to form a fine film surface without mixing impurities such as water, oxygen or particles into a film forming material. Has been.

Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-203
In the vapor phase epitaxial growth apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 991, a glove box chamber is passed immediately before substrate loading and immediately before substrate removal in order to prevent mixing of water and oxygen and remove particles. In the glove box chamber, by filling and circulating dry nitrogen gas under atmospheric pressure,
The components such as the substrate and the mask for film formation can be easily cleaned, and it is effective for preventing the above-mentioned contamination of impurities.

[0004]

By the way, in general, the glove box chamber is used under atmospheric pressure, and the film forming apparatus is operated under high vacuum. When a substrate or the like is carried in and out, a step of temporarily returning the pressure in the film forming apparatus to the atmospheric pressure is required every time the substrate is carried in and out. That is, when the adjusted substrate is loaded into the glove box chamber, the inside of the film deposition apparatus is opened to atmospheric pressure, and then vacuum evacuation is performed until the vacuum state during operation is reached again, and film deposition is also performed during unloading. After the pressure inside the apparatus is released to the atmospheric pressure, the cleaning work is performed inside the glove box chamber in which the dry nitrogen gas is sealed or is in a circulating state. At this time, it is unavoidable that the glove box chamber and the inside of the film forming apparatus directly connected thereto interfere with each other in pressure and atmosphere.

Therefore, in order to perform vacuum evacuation operation in the film forming apparatus and to fill or distribute dry nitrogen gas in the glove box chamber, it is necessary to secure a considerable time until the steady state is reached. It becomes a factor to prolong the tact time in the film process. Further, repeating the environmental change in the film forming apparatus, which uses many precision products, between the atmospheric pressure state and the high vacuum state in a short time has a problem in the product life of the film forming apparatus.

In view of the above problems, the present invention has a glove box chamber added to the apparatus structure for preventing impurities from entering.
An object of the present invention is to provide a film forming apparatus with a glove box capable of suppressing fluctuations in process conditions of the entire film forming process and burden on the apparatus.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention comprises a vacuum film forming chamber and a glove box chamber having a front chamber capable of being evacuated, which are connected to each other through a vacuum substrate transfer chamber. ing. As a result, before performing a predetermined process such as cleaning in the glove box chamber, the substrate is once housed in a front chamber directly connected to the glove box chamber, and the front chamber is depressurized and released to the atmospheric pressure. Most of impurities such as water adsorbed on the surface can be removed. This is useful for effectively performing the subsequent cleaning operation in the glove box room.

Then, the substrate is transported to a glove box chamber, and after filling and circulating dry nitrogen gas under atmospheric pressure to clean the substrate, it is loaded into a vacuum substrate transport chamber opened to atmospheric pressure. To do. After that, the vacuum substrate transfer chamber is depressurized to a predetermined pressure close to the standby state of the vacuum film forming chamber, communicated with the vacuum film forming chamber in the standby state, and finally, the substrate is loaded into the vacuum film forming chamber. The predetermined film forming process is performed in a closed state.

The removal work of impurities in the front chamber that can be directly evacuated and directly connected to the glove box chamber is particularly stacked for several tens of sheets for batch processing, and it is easy to hold impurities such as moisture. Effective for substrates.

In this way, by gradually reducing the impurity concentration and gradually shifting the pressure state of the substrate transfer location to a good vacuum state, the takt time is lengthened and the life of the film forming apparatus is shortened. Can also prevent
It is possible to suppress variations in process conditions of the entire film forming process and a burden on the apparatus.

Further, when the vacuum film forming chamber and the glove box chamber are connected to each other through a vacuum substrate transfer chamber capable of loading and unloading substrates, the vacuum exhaust directly connected to the glove box chamber as described above. Possible vacuum chambers can be omitted and a vacuum substrate transfer chamber can be used instead. Therefore, the device configuration can be simplified, and fluctuations in process conditions can be further suppressed.

Further, when the vacuum film forming chamber and the glove box chamber with the antechamber capable of being evacuated are directly connected to each other through the mechanism for pulling out and rotating the components in the vacuum film forming chamber, for example, at the atmospheric pressure during maintenance. Parts such as the deposition preventive plate and mask in the vacuum film forming chamber opened to the outside can be easily taken out to the glove box chamber, and replacement of these in the glove box chamber or recovery of defective parts due to cracking etc. It can be done easily by hand. For this reason,
It is possible to easily reduce the load on the device during maintenance work.

[0013]

1 is a schematic sectional view showing a first mode of a film forming apparatus with a glove box according to the present invention.

In the present apparatus, a vacuum film forming chamber 1, a vacuum substrate transfer chamber 2, a glove box chamber 3 and a pass chamber (pre-chamber) 4 are constructed in a communication structure through partition valves 5, 6 and 7, respectively. There is. Further, the pass chamber 4 is provided with a substrate loading / unloading door 4a. Glove box room 3
The dry nitrogen supply pipe 9 connected to the dry nitrogen generator 8 is connected to the upper surface of the, and the dry nitrogen discharge pipe 10 is connected to the bottom surface of the glove box chamber 3, and the dry nitrogen discharge pipe 1
In the case of 0, the water content inside the tube can be measured by the water partial pressure gauge 11. In addition, the pass chamber 4, the substrate transfer chamber 2, and the vacuum film forming chamber 1 have a vent valve 12, an auxiliary exhaust valve 13, and a vent valve 1 on their bottom surfaces.
4 and auxiliary exhaust valve 15, auxiliary exhaust valve 16,
A main exhaust valve 17 and a vent valve 18 are connected. The auxiliary exhaust valves 13, 15 and 16 are
The auxiliary exhaust pumps 19, 20 and 21 are respectively connected, and the main exhaust valve 17 is connected to the cryopump 22.

The substrate 2 laminated on the carrier case is formed by using the film-forming apparatus with the glove box configured as described above.
When performing the film forming process for No. 3, first, the partition valves 5, 6, and 7 and the vent valves 12, 14 and 18 are performed.
The main exhaust valve 17 is closed. Then, the substrate 23 housed in the carrier case is carried into the pass chamber 4 through the substrate loading / unloading door 4a, and the auxiliary exhaust valve 13 and the auxiliary exhaust pump 19 assist with the inside of the pass chamber 4 being airtight. Reach exhaust pressure. At this time, most of the moisture adsorbed on the surface of the carrier case and the substrate 23 is evaporated. Further, in parallel with this, after the inside of the substrate vacuum deposition chamber 1 is made to reach the auxiliary exhaust pressure by the auxiliary exhaust valve 16 and the auxiliary exhaust pump 21, the main exhaust valve 7 and the cryopump 22 are in a standby state. To

Then, after closing the auxiliary exhaust valve 13, the vent valve 12 is gradually opened to bring the inside of the pass chamber 4 to atmospheric pressure again with dry nitrogen gas. At this time, the surface of the substrate 23 is vaporized by the adsorbed moisture as described above,
After that, the state is suitable for the cleaning process performed in the glove box chamber 3.

Next, the partition valve 7 is opened and one of the substrates 23 housed in the carrier case is carried into the glove box chamber 3 and then the partition valve 7 is closed to make the glove box chamber airtight. In this state, the dry nitrogen generator 8 is operated, and the dry nitrogen gas is circulated through the dry nitrogen supply pipe 9 and the dry nitrogen discharge pipe 10 so that the inside of the glove box chamber 3 has a sufficient nitrogen atmosphere. A cleaning operation is performed on the substrate 23. Then, the water partial pressure gauge 11 provided in the middle of the dry nitrogen discharge pipe 10 confirms that the water content in the pipe is below a predetermined pressure, and the cleaning operation of the substrate 23 is completed.

Further, in this state, the substrate 23 is transferred to the vacuum substrate transfer chamber 2 while the partition valve 6 is opened and closed, and the airtight vacuum substrate transfer chamber 2 is moved by the auxiliary exhaust valve 15 and the auxiliary exhaust pump 20. Reach auxiliary exhaust pressure.

Then, when the vacuum gauge 2a in the vacuum substrate transfer chamber 2 reaches a predetermined pressure, the partition valve 5 is opened and closed, and the substrate 23 is carried into the film forming chamber 1 in the meantime. Then, after the substrate 23 is carried in, the inside of the film forming chamber 1 is made to reach a high vacuum state for the film forming step, and in that state, an organic electroluminescence element or the like is manufactured on the substrate 23 by a film forming operation such as vapor deposition.

When carrying out the substrate 23, the steps reverse to the above-described carrying-in operation may be followed. That is, the vacuum transfer chamber 2 is maintained in a predetermined vacuum state, the partition valve 5 is opened and closed, and the substrate 23 is unloaded to the vacuum substrate transfer chamber 2 in the meantime. And
The auxiliary exhaust valve 15 is closed, and the vent valve 14 is gradually opened to bring the inside of the substrate transfer chamber 2 to atmospheric pressure with dry nitrogen gas. Further, in this state, the partition valve 6 is opened and closed, and the substrate 23 is carried out to the glove box chamber 3 in the meantime. At this time, the film-forming product can be cleaned by performing a cleaning operation on the substrate by circulating the dry nitrogen gas, if necessary.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view showing a second mode of the film forming apparatus with a glove box according to the present invention.

The difference from the film forming apparatus with a glove box of FIG. 1 is that the pass chamber (front chamber) 4 of FIG. 1 is omitted,
Instead, the vacuum substrate transfer chamber 2 is provided with an opening / closing door 2b. With such a configuration, the loading / unloading path of the substrate 23, which is linear in the film forming apparatus of FIG.
The reciprocating path is centered on the vacuum substrate transfer chamber 2, and the space occupied by the apparatus can be reduced, resulting in a compact configuration of the entire apparatus.

Further, when it is certain that the cleaned substrate 23 is sufficiently dried, or in the film forming process in which the influence of the pre-film forming environment is small, after the substrate 23 is carried into the substrate transfer chamber 2. The inside of the airtight vacuum substrate transfer chamber 2 is made to reach the auxiliary exhaust pressure by the auxiliary exhaust valve 15 and the auxiliary exhaust pump 20. Then, after that, the substrate 23 is transported into the film forming chamber 1 in the same manner as the apparatus of FIG.

On the other hand, in the case of using a substrate immediately after cleaning or in a film forming process that requires manual work before film formation, after the substrate 23 is carried into the substrate transfer chamber 2, the airtight vacuum substrate transfer chamber is introduced. The inside of 2 is made to reach the auxiliary exhaust pressure by the auxiliary exhaust valve 15 and the auxiliary exhaust pump 20. As a result, after the adsorbed water on the surface of the substrate 23 is vaporized and removed, the vent valve 14 is gradually opened to bring the atmospheric pressure to dry nitrogen gas.
3 is conveyed to the glove box chamber 3 and a cleaning operation is performed under the flow of dry nitrogen gas. Then, after that, until the film formation chamber 1 is reached via the vacuum substrate transfer chamber 2, the pressure condition of the transfer location of the substrate 23 is gradually changed to a good vacuum state to perform the film formation process.

As described above, in the apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the above-described two types of carrying forms can be carried out as required.

3 and 4 are a schematic sectional view and a perspective view showing a third embodiment of the film forming apparatus with a glove box according to the present invention.

In this apparatus, the vacuum film forming chamber 1, the glove box chamber 3 and the degassing chamber (front chamber) 4 are constructed so as to communicate with each other via a drawing / rotating mechanism 24 and a partition valve 6. A dry nitrogen supply pipe 9 connected to the dry nitrogen generator 8 is connected to the upper surface of the glove box chamber 3, and a dry nitrogen discharge pipe 10 is connected to the bottom surface of the glove box chamber 3 and a dry nitrogen discharge pipe 10 is connected. Moisture partial pressure gauge 11
Allows the water content in the tube to be measured. A vent valve 12, an auxiliary exhaust valve 13, an auxiliary exhaust valve 16, a main exhaust valve 17 and a vent valve 18 are connected to the bottom surfaces of the degassing chamber 4 and the vacuum film forming chamber 1, respectively. There is. In addition, the auxiliary exhaust valve 13
And 16 are connected to auxiliary exhaust pumps 19 and 21, respectively, and the main exhaust valve 17 is connected to a cryopump 22.

The film forming apparatus with a glove box having such a structure is mainly used for maintenance. That is,
When performing maintenance work on the deposition-inhibitory plate 25 in the film forming chamber 1, first,
With the auxiliary exhaust valve 16 and the main exhaust valve 17 closed, the vent valve 18 is gradually opened to bring the inside of the film forming chamber 1 to atmospheric pressure with dry nitrogen gas.

On the other hand, the dry nitrogen generator 8 is operated, and the dry nitrogen gas is circulated through the dry nitrogen supply pipe 9 and the dry nitrogen discharge pipe 10 so that the glove box chamber 3 has a sufficient nitrogen atmosphere. Keep it. In this state, the pull-out / rotation mechanism 24 is operated to convey the deposition-inhibitory plate 25 and the like into the glove box chamber 3 and, if necessary, perform manual maintenance and cleaning work, and return it to the film forming chamber 1 again. . When the replacement is required, the partition valve 6 is opened and closed, and the deposition preventive plate 25 is transferred to the degassing chamber 4 and taken out during that period. Then, a new deposition preventive plate is transferred to the degassing chamber 4, and the inside of the degassing chamber 4 in an airtight state is made to reach a predetermined pressure by the auxiliary exhaust valve 13 and the auxiliary exhaust pump 19, and then the degassing step is performed. In order to maintain a good environment for a new film forming process. Thereafter, the vent valve 12 is gradually opened to bring the degassing chamber 4 to the atmospheric pressure by using dry nitrogen gas, and the degassing chamber 4 is conveyed again to the glove box chamber 3 as in the above case.
After such work, the maintenance work time can be minimized by returning the deposition-inhibitory plate that has undergone the maintenance work, the new deposition-inhibition plate 25, and other components in the deposition chamber to the deposition chamber 1. It is possible.

Further, in the present embodiment, the deposition preventive plate 2
Although it is assumed that maintenance and replacement work such as 5 is performed, for example, when there is sufficient space in the glove box chamber 3, prepared cleaned replacement parts and the like are prepared here, and damaged parts and used parts are used. It may be a work process for exchanging parts and the like.

In the present embodiment, the apparatus configuration of the film forming apparatus is changed for each embodiment. For example, in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the film forming chamber 1 and the glove box chamber 3 are not shown. It may be directly connected by the pull-out / rotation mechanism of. Only during maintenance, the film deposition chamber components such as the deposition preventive plate 25 are transported into the glove box chamber 3 through the directly connected pull-out / rotation mechanism directly coupled mechanism as described above, so that the deposition process and maintenance can be performed. The device can be used properly according to the purpose of use during the process.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment,
In each of the embodiments, the water partial pressure gauge 11 provided in the middle of the dry nitrogen discharge pipe 10 was used for confirmation of the cleaning work, but in addition to this, it is also useful to use the oxygen partial pressure gauge similarly installed. .

[0033]

As is apparent from the above description, in the film forming apparatus of the present invention, a glove box chamber is added to the apparatus structure to prevent impurities from being mixed, the impurity concentration is gradually reduced, and the substrate transfer location is set. By gradually changing the pressure state of 1 to a good vacuum, it is possible to prevent the takt time from being lengthened and the life of the film forming apparatus from being shortened. Therefore,
It is possible to suppress variations in process conditions of the entire film forming process and a burden on the apparatus.

Further, the maintenance and replacement work of the film-forming chamber components during the maintenance are easy, which is effective in shortening the maintenance time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a first aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a second aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a third aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Vacuum deposition chamber 2 Vacuum substrate transfer chamber 2b open / close door 3 glove box room 4 Front chamber (pass chamber, degassing chamber) 13 Auxiliary exhaust valve 19 Auxiliary exhaust pump 23 board 24 Drawer / rotation mechanism 25 Adhesion-preventing plate (components in film forming equipment)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A film forming apparatus with a glove box, wherein a vacuum film forming chamber and a glove box chamber with a front chamber that can be evacuated are connected via a vacuum substrate transfer chamber. 2. A vacuum film forming chamber and a glove box chamber,
A film forming apparatus with a glove box, which communicates with a vacuum substrate transfer chamber capable of loading and unloading substrates. 3. A film formation with a glove box, wherein a vacuum film formation chamber and a glove box chamber with a front chamber capable of being evacuated are directly connected via a mechanism for pulling out and rotating components in the vacuum film formation chamber. apparatus.