JP2006077308A - Vacuum deposition apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vacuum deposition apparatus capable of enhancing the space utilization efficiency of a vacuum chamber, and reducing the film thickness difference between face and back sides of a work. <P>SOLUTION: A cassette holding frame 10 is rotatably supported in a vacuum chamber 1 around a horizontal rotary shaft 11, and a plurality of cassettes 16 holding a work W are rotatably supported by the cassette holding frame 10 by a cassette shaft 15. The cassette shaft 15 is held by the cassette holding frame 10 with an interval in the peripheral direction, and a pinion gear 17 engaged with a ring gear 6 fixed inside the vacuum chamber is provided on an end of the cassette shaft 15. An evaporation source 8 is inserted in the cassette holding frame 10, the space efficiency in the vacuum chamber can be enhanced because only one evaporation source 8 is necessary. Further, the film thickness difference between face and back sides of the work can be eliminated because the face and back sides of the work are simultaneously vapor-deposited while rotating or revolving the cassettes 16. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus capable of simultaneous vapor deposition on the front and back surfaces of a workpiece.

Conventionally, a vacuum deposition apparatus having a structure as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 is known. In this apparatus, a drum-shaped cassette holding frame 22 that is rotatable around a horizontal rotation shaft 21 is supported in a vacuum chamber 20 having a cylindrical cross section, and the rotation shaft 21 is disposed outside the chamber 20. The motor 23 is connected. The cassette holding frame 22 has a polygonal cylindrical shape, and a rectangular plate-like cassette 24 is attached to each surface.

The cassette 24 is formed in a frame shape, and a plurality (three in this case) of small cassettes 25 are accommodated therein as shown in FIG. In the small cassette 25, a plurality of workpieces W (eight in this case) are stored as deposition objects. Both front and back surfaces of the workpiece W are exposed to the outside through window holes 25 a provided on both surfaces of the small cassette 25 and window holes 24 a provided on both surfaces of the cassette 24.

A pair of electrode rods 26 is fixed to the side wall opposite to the side wall of the vacuum chamber 20 that supports the rotating shaft 21, and two upper and lower horizontal support rods 26 a and 26 b are fixed to the electrode rod 26. Boards 27 and 28 made of a high melting point material are supported on the support rods 26a and 26b, respectively, and a metal material as a vapor deposition material is accommodated in the recesses of the boards 27 and 28, respectively, although not shown. The upper support bar 26 a and the board 27 are inserted into the cassette holding frame 22, and the lower support bar 26 b and the board 28 are arranged outside the cassette holding frame 22. The electrode rod 26 is connected to a power source 29, and by flowing a high current through the boards 27 and 28, the metal material can be evaporated by the generated heat.

When the power supply 29 is connected to the electrode rod 26 while rotating the cassette holding frame 22 by the motor 23, a thin film of metal material heated by the upper board 27 is formed on one surface of the work W exposed to the inside of the cassette holding frame 22. A thin film of a metal material heated by the lower board 28 is deposited on the other surface of the work W exposed to the outside of the cassette holding frame 22. Thus, a metal thin film is vapor-deposited simultaneously on the front and back of the workpiece | work W hold | maintained at cassette 24,25.

In the case of the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus having the above-described structure, it is necessary to arrange the boards 27 and 28 as evaporation sources at two locations inside and outside the cassette holding frame 22, and the vapor evaporated from each board 27 and 28 is the surface of the work W. Since the back surface is vapor-deposited independently, the vapor deposition conditions differ between the front and back surfaces of the workpiece W, and a difference in film thickness between the front and back surfaces is inevitable.
Further, it is necessary to provide a space for disposing the lower board 28 outside the cassette holding frame 22, and the diameter of the cassette holding frame 22 must be made considerably smaller than the inner diameter of the vacuum chamber 20 (about 80% or less). I don't get it. Therefore, the number of cassettes 24 that can be held in the cassette holding frame 22, that is, the number of workpieces W is reduced, and there is a problem that the space utilization efficiency of the vacuum chamber 20 is poor.

In Patent Document 1, vanes as deposition objects are radially attached to the outer periphery of a rod-shaped jig, and the jig is moved around the vapor deposition source while revolving and rotating to form a vapor deposition film on the surface of the vane. A vapor deposition apparatus is disclosed. In this case, since the deposition object is attached radially to the jig, the space utilization efficiency is good.
JP 7-41945 A

However, in Patent Document 1, since the jig is arranged vertically and the deposition target is radially attached to the outer peripheral portion thereof, the vapor evaporated from the evaporation source rises and is evenly distributed on the deposition target. There is a problem that it does not adhere.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum deposition apparatus that can improve the space utilization efficiency of a vacuum chamber and reduce the difference in film thickness between the front and back surfaces of a workpiece.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 holds a plurality of cassettes containing a vapor deposition material evaporation source, a work on which vapor deposition material is deposited on the front and back surfaces, and a plurality of cassettes in a vacuum chamber. In the vacuum deposition apparatus comprising a drum-shaped cassette holding frame, the cassette holding frame is supported in a vacuum chamber so as to be rotatable about a horizontal rotation axis, and the cassette is located at the center of both ends of the cassette. A cassette shaft that is rotatably supported by a holding frame protrudes in the horizontal direction, and the cassette shaft is held by the cassette holding frame at a circumferential interval around the rotating shaft, and is disposed at an end of the cassette shaft. Is provided with a pinion gear, which meshes with a ring gear fixed inside the vacuum chamber, and the cassette rotates and revolves as the cassette holding frame rotates. It is configured so that, the evaporation source to provide a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus characterized in that it is inserted into the cassette holding frame.

In the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention, a plurality of cassettes are held on the drum-shaped cassette holding frame at intervals in the circumferential direction, and the cassette is rotated while rotating with the rotation of the cassette holding frame by meshing with the ring gear and the pinion gear. It is something to be made. The evaporation source is inserted into the cassette holding frame. Since the cassette revolves while rotating as the cassette holding frame rotates, both sides of all the cassettes can face the inside and outside of the cassette holding frame for an equal amount of time. Although the steam generated from the metal material rises upward, the steam rotates and revolves, so that the steam is agitated and adheres to the front and back surfaces of all workpieces with a uniform thickness.
Since only one evaporation source is required in this way, the space efficiency in the vacuum chamber can be increased, and the front and back surfaces of the work are simultaneously vapor deposited while rotating and revolving the cassette, eliminating the difference in film thickness between the front and back surfaces. be able to.

The ring gear includes an outer peripheral gear portion and an inner peripheral gear portion on an outer peripheral surface and an inner peripheral surface thereof, and the pinion gears of the cassette arranged in the circumferential direction are the outer peripheral gear portion and the inner peripheral gear portion. The cassettes are configured to rotate alternately in the opposite direction as the cassette holding frame rotates, and adjacent cassettes are fixed to the cassette holding frame so that the cassettes do not interfere with each other. It is preferable that the angle is supported with a phase difference.
When the pinion gears of all the cassettes arranged in the circumferential direction are engaged with only one of the outer peripheral gear portion and the inner peripheral gear portion of the ring gear, all the cassettes rotate in the same direction. When cassettes that rotate in the same direction are arranged in the circumferential direction, adjacent cassettes are likely to interfere with each other if the interval between adjacent cassette shafts is made shorter than the width of the cassette. On the other hand, when the pinion gear of the cassette is alternately engaged with the outer peripheral gear portion and the inner peripheral gear portion of the ring gear, the cassette rotates alternately in the opposite direction. In this case, if the adjacent cassettes are supported with a phase difference by a predetermined angle with respect to the cassette holding frame, the cassettes can be prevented from interfering with each other even if the interval between the adjacent cassette shafts is shorter than the width of the cassette.
That is, even if a cassette holding frame having the same diameter is used, the number of cassettes that can be held there can be increased, or the width dimension of one cassette can be increased. As a result, the number of workpieces that can be held in the cassette holding frame can be increased, and the work efficiency can be improved accordingly.
In this case, the number of cassettes held in the cassette holding frame needs to be an even number.

As described above, according to the present invention, the plurality of cassettes held at intervals in the circumferential direction on the drum-shaped cassette holding frame are revolved while rotating along with the rotation of the cassette holding frame, and the evaporation source is Since it is inserted into the cassette holding frame, only one evaporation source is required, the space efficiency in the vacuum chamber can be increased, the workability of placing the metal material on the board is improved, and the maintainability is also improved.
Also, since the evaporation front and back of the workpiece are vapor-deposited simultaneously using one evaporation source and rotating and revolving the cassette, the deposition conditions are the same on the front and back of the workpiece, eliminating the difference in film thickness between the front and back surfaces. it can.
Further, since the evaporation source is inserted into the cassette holding frame, it is not necessary to provide a space for arranging the evaporation source outside the cassette holding frame, and the space efficiency of the vacuum chamber can be increased.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to examples.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part of a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are sectional views of the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus.
The vacuum vapor deposition apparatus of the present embodiment includes a vacuum chamber 1 having a sealed structure, and the inside is kept in a vacuum by exhausting from the exhaust port 2. A drum-shaped cassette holding frame 10 is supported in the vacuum chamber 1 so as to be rotatable about a horizontal rotation shaft 11. The rotary shaft 11 passes through one side wall 3 of the vacuum chamber 1 so as to be rotatable, and the rotary shaft 11 is driven to rotate in a fixed direction by a motor 4.

The cassette holding frame 10 includes a disk-shaped base plate 13 to which the rotating shaft 11 is connected, a ring-shaped support frame 14 disposed at a position away from the base plate 13 in the axial direction, and a base plate 13. A plurality of cassette shafts 15 are rotatably provided between the support frame 14 and the support frame 14. The cassette shaft 15 is held in the cassette holding frame 10 at intervals in the circumferential direction around the rotation shaft 11 and is held so that the radial distances R1, R2 from the rotation shaft 11 are alternately different (see FIG. 3). A cassette 16 is attached to each cassette shaft 15. The cassette 16 has the same structure as the conventional cassettes 24 and 25 shown in FIG. 7, and a description thereof is omitted here. The cassette shaft 15 protrudes in the horizontal direction from the center of both ends in the length direction of the cassette 16.

A pinion gear 17 is fixed to an end portion of the cassette shaft 15 penetrating the support frame 14, and the pinion gear 17 meshes with a ring gear 6 fixed to the side wall 5 of the vacuum chamber 1. The ring gear 6 has an outer peripheral gear portion 6a and an inner peripheral gear portion 6b. As described above, the radial distances R1 and R2 from the rotation axis 11 of the cassette shaft 15 are alternately different, and the pinion gear 17 is alternately engaged with the outer peripheral gear portion 6a and the inner peripheral gear portion 6b of the ring gear 6. As a result, as the cassette holding frame 10 rotates, the adjacent cassette shaft 15, that is, the cassette 16, rotates in the reverse direction.

As shown in FIG. 3, the interval S between the adjacent cassette shafts 15 is set to be narrower than the width dimension D2 of the cassette 16, and the adjacent cassettes 16 are supported by the cassette holding frame 10 with a predetermined angle difference from each other. Yes. Here, it is supported with a phase difference of 90 °. Therefore, when the cassette 16 rotates as the cassette holding frame 10 rotates, adjacent cassettes 16 do not interfere with each other.

A pair of electrode rods 7 are attached to the side wall 5 of the vacuum chamber 1 to which the ring gear 6 is fixed, and these electrode rods 7 are horizontally inserted into the cassette holding frame 10. Boards 8 made of a plurality of high melting point materials are bridged and supported between the electrode rods 7, and metal materials are accommodated in the recesses of these boards 8 (not shown). The electrode rod 7 is connected to a power source (not shown).

Next, the operation of the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus having the above configuration will be described.
First, when the motor 4 is driven and the cassette holding frame 10 is rotated in a certain direction, when the pinion gear 17 engaged with the outer peripheral gear portion 6a of the ring gear 6 rotates clockwise, the inner peripheral gear portion 6b of the ring gear 6 is moved to the inner peripheral gear portion 6b. The meshed pinion gear 17 rotates counterclockwise. Therefore, the cassette 16 attached to the cassette holding frame 10 in the circumferential direction revolves while rotating alternately in the opposite direction.
On the other hand, when the board 8 which is an evaporation source inserted into the cassette holding frame 10 is heated, the metal material accommodated in the recess of the board 8 is melted and evaporated, and the work held in the cassette 16 by the vapor. W is deposited. Since the cassette 16 revolves while rotating as the cassette holding frame 10 rotates as described above, the evaporated metal material adheres evenly to the front and back surfaces of the workpiece W. Therefore, a metal thin film having no film thickness difference is deposited on the front and back surfaces of the workpiece W.
Further, since the cassettes 16 held in the cassette holding frame 10 with a phase difference rotate alternately in the opposite direction, the interval S between the adjacent cassette shafts 15 can be set shorter than the width dimension D2 of the cassette 16, and one cassette can be held. A large number of cassettes 16 can be held in the frame 10 at a high density. Ideally, the width D2 of the cassette 16 can be expanded to a range that does not reach the adjacent cassette shaft 15. As a result, the number of cassettes 16 that can be held in one cassette holding frame 10 can be increased, or the width dimension D2 of one cassette 16 can be increased, the space utilization efficiency in the vacuum chamber 1 is increased, and the production efficiency is increased. improves.
Further, the vapor of the metal material becomes an upward air flow and moves upward. However, since the cassette 16 held by the cassette holding frame 10 revolves while rotating, the vapor can be stirred and the surface of the workpiece W held by the cassette 16 can be stirred. The probability of contact with steam increases. Therefore, the vapor is not biased to a part in the vacuum chamber 1, and an uniform thin film can be formed.

Here, the space utilization efficiency of the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 3 and the conventional vacuum vapor deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 6 will be compared.
In the conventional example, for example, when the inner diameter of the vacuum chamber is 100, the circumferential distance at which the cassette can be arranged is π × 80≈251, and if eight cassettes are arranged on this circumference, the width of one cassette is D1. = 251 / 8≈31.
On the other hand, in the present invention, the diameter of the envelope outer circumference of the eight rotating cassettes is about 96, the inner circumference is about 30, and the diameter of the cassette shaft is π × (96 + 30) / 2≈196.
Here, since the adjacent cassettes are rotated in the reverse direction with a phase difference, the cassette width can be expanded to a range not reaching the adjacent cassette shaft. If the cassette width is reduced by 15% in order to avoid interference with the cassette shaft 15, the cassette width of one sheet becomes D2 = 196 × 0.85 / 4≈42, which is about 35% compared to the conventional (= 31). The work efficiency can be improved by that amount.

In the above embodiment, an example in which adjacent cassettes rotate in the reverse direction has been described, but it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, only one of the outer peripheral gear portion and the inner peripheral gear portion may be provided in the ring gear, and the pinion gear fixed to the cassette shaft may be engaged with the gear portion. In this case, adjacent cassettes can rotate in the same direction. At this time, by providing a phase difference between the adjacent cassettes, the interval between the adjacent cassette shafts 15 can be set shorter than the width dimension of the cassette 16 as in the above embodiment.
The cassette is not limited to the structure in which the small cassette 25 is accommodated in the large cassette 24 as shown in FIG. 7, and a plurality of workpieces W may be directly accommodated in the cassette 24.
The connection structure between the cassette and the cassette shaft is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, when the cassette has rigidity, an ear-shaft-shaped cassette shaft may protrude from both ends thereof.

It is a perspective view which shows the internal structure of 1st Example of the vacuum evaporation system concerning this invention. It is sectional drawing of 1st Example of the vacuum evaporation system concerning this invention. It is the sectional view on the AA line of FIG. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows the internal structure of the conventional vacuum evaporation system. It is sectional drawing of the conventional vacuum evaporation system. FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 5. (A) is an exploded perspective view of a cassette, (b) is a perspective view of the state which accommodated the workpiece | work in the cassette.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vacuum chamber 4 Motor 6 Ring gear 6a Outer periphery gear part 6b Inner periphery gear part 8 Board (evaporation source)
10 Cassette holding frame 11 Rotating shaft 15 Cassette shaft 16 Cassette 17 Pinion gear

Claims (2)

In a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus comprising an evaporation source of vapor deposition material, a plurality of cassettes containing workpieces on which vapor deposition material is deposited on the front and back surfaces, and a drum-shaped cassette holding frame for holding the plurality of cassettes in a vacuum chamber ,
The cassette holding frame is supported in a vacuum chamber so as to be rotatable about a horizontal rotation axis,
At the center of both ends of the cassette, a cassette shaft that is rotatably supported by the cassette holding frame protrudes in the horizontal direction,
The cassette shaft is held in the cassette holding frame at a circumferential interval around the rotation shaft,
A pinion gear is provided at the end of the cassette shaft,
The pinion gear meshes with a ring gear fixed inside the vacuum chamber, and the cassette is configured to revolve while rotating as the cassette holding frame rotates.
The vacuum evaporation apparatus, wherein the evaporation source is inserted into the cassette holding frame. The ring gear includes an outer peripheral gear portion and an inner peripheral gear portion on its outer peripheral surface and inner peripheral surface,
The pinion gears of the cassette arranged in the circumferential direction alternately mesh with the outer peripheral gear portion and the inner peripheral gear portion,
Each cassette is configured to rotate alternately in the opposite direction as the cassette holding frame rotates.
The vacuum deposition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein adjacent cassettes are supported with a phase difference by a predetermined angle with respect to the cassette holding frame so that the cassettes do not interfere with each other.

Images