JP2005076089A - Film deposition method and film deposition system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a film deposition method and a film deposition system with which a mask can be repeatedly used and stable film deposition quality can be obtained. <P>SOLUTION: In a stocking chamber 10, a substrate 1 is placed on a mask 2, thereafter, the the substrate 1 and the mask 2 are heated by a heater 3 while performing evacuation in a heating chamber 11, and a vapor deposition source 4 is heated so as to be vapor-deposited in a film deposition chamber 12. Thereafter, the substrate 1 and the mask are separated in an unload lock chamber 134, and the substrate 1 is conveyed to the following stage. the mask 2 passes through a return chamber 14, and is immersed into the washing tank 5 of a washing chamber 15 so as to remove a thin film on the surface of the mask 2. Further, the mask 2 is washed in a water-washing chamber 16, and is finally dried in a drying chamber 17 so as to be made repeatedly usable. In these stages, the process of removing the thin film from the mask 2 within the washing chamber 15, water-washing chamber 16 and drying chamber 17 is performed per film deposition of 1 to 100 times. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for forming a functional thin film, such as manufacturing an optical thin film.

  As a conventional apparatus, for example, one disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known.

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional film forming apparatus. The substrate A stands by on a transfer stage 107 in the substrate transfer chamber 101, and is transferred to the film formation chamber 102 by the transfer mechanism 106. 105. The film formation stage 105 on which the substrate A is placed is slid by the stage sliding mechanism 103 of the support column 104 and is stopped by bringing the process sensing unit 110 and the mask frame 108 installed in the mask frame 108 into contact with the substrate A. To do. Then, the deposited film B is deposited on the substrate A from the window 109 of the mask frame 108 by the film forming mechanism of the film forming chamber 102.

Since the film formation stage 105 is covered with the substrate A and the mask frame 108, the deposition film B is formed on the mask frame 108 in addition to the substrate A. The deposited film B does not adhere to the back surface of A.
JP-A-6-2136

  However, the conventional method shown in FIG. 5 has a problem that the mask (frame) cannot be used repeatedly, that is, a film is deposited on the mask and particles are generated. Further, generally, when the mask is returned from the vacuum film formation chamber to the atmosphere, the film deposited on the mask adsorbs water vapor or carbon dioxide in the air and changes the gas partial pressure in the vacuum film formation chamber. there were.

  In view of the above-described conventional problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a film forming method and a film forming apparatus capable of repeatedly using a mask and obtaining stable film forming quality.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that a mask is placed on the film formation object in order to form a film on an arbitrary region of the film formation object, and the film formation object and the mask are arranged. In the film forming method in which the film is formed on the film formation object, the film formation object is separated from the mask after the film formation is completed, and the mask is used for another film formation object. The thin film adhering to the mask is removed every time the film formation object is used a predetermined number of times. With this configuration, by removing the thin film adhering to the mask every predetermined number of times, it becomes possible to use the mask without particles, and it is adsorbed by the mask in the atmosphere and brought into the film forming chamber. The amount of gas can be reduced.

  The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention according to claim 1, the thin film attached to the mask is removed by washing with an aqueous solution and then dried. With this configuration, it is possible to use the same mask for the next substrate deposition process.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 2, characterized in that the aqueous solution used for cleaning is any one of sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and hydrochloric acid. With this configuration, it is possible to suppress a pressure change when the thin film on the mask surface is removed.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an installation unit for installing a mask on the film formation object in order to form a film on an arbitrary region of the film formation object, and a heating unit for heating the film formation object and the mask. A film forming unit that forms a film on the film-forming object, a separation unit that separates the film-forming object and the mask after film formation, and a thin film removing unit that removes a thin film attached to the mask It is provided with. With this configuration, by removing the thin film adhering to the mask every predetermined number of times, it becomes possible to use the mask without particles, and it is adsorbed by the mask in the atmosphere and brought into the film forming chamber. The amount of gas can be reduced.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 4, wherein the thin film removing unit includes a cleaning unit for cleaning the mask with an aqueous solution, and a drying unit for drying the cleaned mask. With this configuration, it is possible to use the same mask for the next substrate deposition process.

  According to the present invention, by removing the thin film adhering to the mask every predetermined number of times, generation of particles can be suppressed and the amount of gas adsorbed in the atmosphere and brought into the film forming chamber can be reduced. The mask can be used repeatedly, and stable film formation quality can be obtained.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a film forming method and a film forming apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a device configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, after placing the substrate 1 on the mask 2 in the preparation chamber 10, the substrate 1 and the mask 2 are heated by the heater 3 while evacuating (not shown) in the heating chamber 11. Thereafter, the vapor deposition source 4 is heated by an energy source such as an electron gun (not shown) in the film forming chamber 12 to perform vapor deposition. At this time, the vapor deposited material adheres not only to the substrate 1 but also to the mask 2. It becomes like this. Thereafter, the substrate 1 and the mask 2 are separated in the unload lock chamber 13, and the substrate 1 is transferred to the next process. On the other hand, the mask 2 conveys the next substrate through the return chamber 14, but a thin film is adhered to the surface of the mask 2, and when the next film formation is performed as it is, it reacts with gas in the atmosphere and As a result, water vapor or carbon dioxide gas is brought into the deposition chamber.

  Therefore, the thin film on the surface of the mask 2 is removed by immersing the mask 2 in the cleaning tank 5 of the cleaning chamber 15. In order to remove the aqueous solution and the like attached to the mask 2 by this cleaning, the mask 2 is immersed in the washing tank 6 of the washing chamber 16 for cleaning, and finally the dryer 7 is removed in the drying chamber 17 to remove the moisture attached to the mask 2. Is used to dry the mask 2. By adopting the manufacturing process as described above, the film forming process can be performed without being affected by the thin film adhering to the surface of the mask 2 even if the mask 2 is repeatedly used.

  In this embodiment, a counter (not shown) for counting the number of film formations is provided, and the counter is counted up every time film formation is performed. Normally, when the mask 2 from which the substrate 1 has been separated in the unload lock chamber 13 passes through the cleaning chamber 15, the rinsing chamber 16, and the drying chamber 17, the preparation chamber is left as it is without processing the mask 2. Returning to 10, a new substrate 1 is placed and a film forming process is performed. When the counter counts a preset number, the cleaning chamber 15, the rinsing chamber 16, and the drying chamber 17 are operated, and the thin film adhering to the mask 2 is removed and returned to the preparation chamber 10. At this time, the count number of the counter is reset to perform a new count.

  FIG. 2 shows the presence or absence of an operation for removing the thin film attached to the mask when magnesium oxide is used as a deposition material in the apparatus configuration shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the result of having compared how the pressure of a film-forming chamber changes, (a) shows the change at the time of no removal, (b) shows the change at the time of removal. In the case of no removal, the pressure in the film formation chamber during the treatment gradually increased, but in the case of removal, almost no change in the pressure in the film formation chamber was observed. This is because in the case of no removal, the thickness of the thin film that gradually adheres to the mask increases, so the pressure increases because the amount of gas brought into the film formation chamber from the atmosphere increases. In this case, it is considered that the carry-in of gas is suppressed by removing the adhered thin film.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a pressure change when the thin film adhering to the mask is removed at a rate of once for a predetermined number of film formations in the same case as FIG. 2, and FIG. FIG. 3 (b) shows the case of cleaning once, FIG. 3 (c) shows the case of cleaning 50 times, FIG. 3 (d) shows the case of cleaning 100 times, and FIG. 3 (e) shows the case of cleaning every 500 times. It is.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (d), when the film was formed 100 times, the pressure increase width was small and the thin film could be removed. However, in the removal every 500 times shown in FIG. 3 (e), the pressure increased greatly, and the film formation rate became unstable. From this, it is considered appropriate to remove the thin film adhering to the mask every 1 to 100 times.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a comparison of pressure changes when the thin film on the mask surface is removed by changing the type of the aqueous solution in the cleaning tank in the same case as FIG. 2, and FIG. When used, FIG. 4 (b) uses sulfuric acid, FIG. 4 (c) uses nitric acid, FIG. 4 (d) uses acetic acid, and FIG. 4 (e) uses pure water. It shows the case where there was. Here, in the case other than pure water, the concentration of each acid was 1 mol%.

  As is clear from FIG. 4, when hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, or nitric acid was used, the pressure was hardly increased.

  However, acetic acid showed an increase in pressure, and a significant increase in pressure was observed when washed with pure water. From this, it is considered desirable to use any one of hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, and nitric acid as the aqueous solution used in the cleaning tank.

  In the present embodiment described above, only the case of magnesium oxide has been described as the film forming material. However, other materials have strong gas adsorption in the atmosphere and have the same reactivity with acids. It goes without saying that the same effect can be obtained by removing the thin film attached to the mask if it is a basic substance.

Explanatory drawing which shows the apparatus structure of one Embodiment of this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows the pressure change by the presence or absence of the operation | work which removes the thin film adhering to the mask in the apparatus structure shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a change in pressure when the thin film adhering to the mask is removed at a rate of once per predetermined number of film formations in the same case as FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a comparison of pressure changes when the thin film on the mask surface is removed by changing the type of the aqueous solution in the cleaning tank in the same case as FIG. Explanatory drawing which shows schematic structure of the conventional film-forming apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2 Mask 3 Heater 4 Deposition source 5 Washing tank 6 Flushing tank 7 Dryer 10 Preparation chamber 11 Heating chamber 12 Deposition chamber 13 Unload lock chamber 14 Return chamber 15 Washing chamber 16 Flushing chamber 17 Drying chamber 101 Substrate transport chamber 107 Transport Stage 106 Transfer mechanism 102 Film forming chamber 105 Film forming stage 104 Support column 103 Stage sliding mechanism 108 Mask frame 110 Process sensing part A Substrate B Deposited film

Claims (5)

  In order to form a film in an arbitrary region of the film formation object, a mask is placed on the film formation object, the film formation object and the mask are heated, and the film formation is performed on the film formation object. After the film is finished, in the film forming method in which the deposition object and the mask are separated and the mask is used for another deposition object, the mask is applied to the mask every time the mask is used for the deposition object. A film forming method comprising removing an attached thin film.   2. The film forming method according to claim 1, wherein the thin film adhering to the mask is removed by washing with an aqueous solution and then dried.   3. The film forming method according to claim 2, wherein the aqueous solution used for cleaning is any one of sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and hydrochloric acid.   An installation part for installing a mask on the film formation object in order to form a film on an arbitrary region of the film formation object, a heating part for heating the film formation object and the mask, and the film formation object A film forming unit that forms a film, a separation unit that separates the deposition target and the mask after film formation, and a thin film removal unit that removes a thin film attached to the mask Deposition device.   5. The film forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the thin film removing unit includes a cleaning unit that cleans the mask with an aqueous solution, and a drying unit that dries the cleaned mask.

Images