JP2007107053A - Thin film deposition device and thin film deposition method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To correctly measure the physical property value (such as film thickness) of a thin film deposited on a substrate in real time even in a state where a rotary drum is rotated at high speed. <P>SOLUTION: In the thin film deposition device 1, a rotary encoder 100 for detecting the rotary position of a substrate S is fitted to the rotary axis of a rotary drum 13, and, on the basis of the rotary position of the substrate S detected by the rotary encoder 100, a measurement control computer 96 controls timing to perform the measurement of its film physical property value by an optical measuring means 80. In this way, even to a substrate lying at a prescribed rotary position, the measurement of its physical property value is made possible for each rotation of the substrate, thus, even when the position of the substrate is varied by the rotation of the rotary drum 13, the film physical property value can be always measured on the basis of the measurement light emitted at the same incident angle to the same position in the same substrate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a thin film forming apparatus and a thin film forming method, and more particularly to a thin film forming apparatus and a thin film forming method provided with a carousel type rotation mechanism.

An optical thin film is formed on the substrate surface by physical vapor deposition such as sputtering to produce optical products such as interference filters, such as antireflection filters, half mirrors, various bandpass filters, dichroic filters, and coloring on the surface of various decorative products. In general, it is common to manufacture decorative articles having specific optical characteristics by coating.
Thin film forming apparatuses for depositing a film raw material on the substrate surface by sputtering are roughly classified into two types, a dome type and a carousel type, depending on the rotation mechanism of the substrate holding means for holding the substrate.

A dome-type thin film forming apparatus is an apparatus for manufacturing an optical product by holding a plurality of substrates on the inner surface of a dome-shaped substrate holder and attaching a film raw material to the substrate by sputtering.
In such a dome type thin film forming apparatus, the substrate holder is rotated around the rotation axis of the substrate holder while a plurality of substrates are held on the inner surface of the substrate holder, so that the substrate is rotated around the rotation axis. Is revolving. A thin film formation process such as sputtering is performed during this revolution, whereby a thin film is formed on the surface of the substrate.

Here, since the rotating shaft of the rotating holder is the center of revolution, the substrate disposed on the rotating shaft of the rotating holder remains in one place without revolving. Therefore, it is possible to measure film physical properties such as film thickness by performing optical measurement on the substrate placed at this position as a sample substrate for film thickness measurement.
In this way, in the dome type thin film forming apparatus, the sample substrate to be measured remains in one place, so there is no need to stop the rotation of the substrate holder every time the film thickness is measured, and the substrate holder is rotated. It is possible to measure film physical properties such as film thickness in real time in the same state. (For example, patent document 1).

JP 2001-133228 A

On the other hand, in a carousel-type thin film forming apparatus, a rotating drum rotates around a rotating shaft in a state where a plurality of substrates are held on the outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical rotating drum. Thus, in the carousel type thin film forming apparatus, since the substrate is held on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating drum, all the substrates revolve around the rotating shaft of the rotating drum. For this reason, unlike the dome-type thin film forming apparatus, there is no substrate that remains in one place while the rotating drum is rotating. Therefore, in order to measure physical properties such as film thickness, it is necessary to stop the rotation of the rotating drum and then perform optical measurement or the like on the substrate. In such a measuring method, the thin film forming process must be stopped every time the film thickness is measured, and thus there is a disadvantage that the thin film forming process takes time.
For this reason, in a thin film forming apparatus provided with a carousel type rotation mechanism, a thin film forming apparatus capable of measuring in real time the film physical properties of a thin film formed on a substrate has been demanded.

  When measuring the physical property value of a film formed on a substrate without stopping the rotation of the rotating drum, it is necessary to irradiate the measurement light at the same incident angle with respect to the same position of the same substrate every time the rotating drum rotates. That is, since the rotating drum rotates at high speed, if the measurement operation is not performed at an appropriate timing, the film physical property value is calculated based on the light irradiated at different positions on the substrate surface and at different incident angles, It becomes difficult to calculate the film physical property value accurately.

  For example, FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a problem when performing film thickness measurement with a conventional film thickness measuring apparatus. As shown in FIG. 16A, the film thickness measurement is performed at an appropriate timing, and when the measurement light is incident straight on the light receiver, the film thickness measurement is performed at an appropriate timing as shown in FIG. The intensity of the light received by the light receiver is different from the case where the incident angle of the measurement light incident on the light receiver is shifted without being performed. Since the film physical property value such as the film thickness is calculated based on the intensity of the light received by the light receiver, an error also occurs in the calculated film physical property value due to a difference in the received light intensity. For this reason, there is an inconvenience that it is difficult to accurately measure film physical properties.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a thin film forming apparatus and a thin film forming method capable of accurately measuring a film physical property value of a thin film formed on a substrate in real time. It is to provide.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the thin film forming apparatus according to claim 1 forms a thin film on the base by sputtering a target with a vacuum vessel, a base holding means for holding the base inside the vacuum vessel, and a target. A thin film forming apparatus comprising a sputtering means and a gas supply means for supplying a gas to the target, wherein the rotational position detecting means detects the rotational position of the substrate, and the film properties of the thin film formed on the substrate This is solved by providing an optical measurement means for measuring the value and a measurement control means for controlling the timing of measuring the film physical property value by the optical measurement means based on the rotational position.

Thus, according to the thin film forming apparatus of the first aspect, the rotational position of the substrate is detected by the rotational position detecting means, and the timing for measuring the film physical property value is controlled based on the rotational position. For this reason, even if the position of the substrate fluctuates due to the rotation of the substrate holding means, it is possible to always detect the rotation position of the substrate and measure the film physical property value of the substrate at the desired rotation position. That is, even if the rotational position of the substrate varies, the film physical property value can always be measured based on the measurement light irradiated at the same incident angle with respect to the same position of the same substrate.
Accordingly, it is possible to accurately measure the film physical property value of the thin film formed on the substrate while the substrate holding means is rotated.

  Further, as in the thin film forming apparatus according to claim 2, in addition to the requirements of claim 1, the optical measuring means is a thin film formed on a plurality of substrates held along the rotation direction of the substrate holding means. It is preferable to further include an average value calculation unit that measures the film physical property value and calculates the average value.

  Thus, according to the thin film forming apparatus of the second aspect, the film physical property value is measured for the plurality of substrates held along the rotation direction of the substrate holding means, and the film physical property value obtained as a result is measured. An average value can be acquired. That is, when measuring a film physical property value for a single substrate, it may be difficult to obtain an accurate film physical property value due to factors such as noise. By performing the measurement and calculating the average value, it is possible to reduce the noise of the measured film property value.

  Further, according to the thin film forming apparatus of claim 3, the above-mentioned problem is that, in addition to the requirements of claim 1 or 2, the gas supply means includes a gas storage means for storing gas, and a gas in the gas storage means. A gas supply path for supplying the gas to the target; and a flow rate adjusting unit for adjusting a flow rate of the gas supplied to the target based on the film property value or the average value measured by the optical measurement unit. It is solved by doing.

Thus, according to the thin film forming apparatus of the third aspect, the flow rate of the gas supplied to the target is adjusted based on the film physical property value or the average value measured by the optical measuring means. That is, by adjusting the flow rate of the gas supplied in the vicinity of the target, it is possible to adjust the film thickness by adjusting the amount of film raw material supplied to the substrate by sputtering.
As described above, in the thin film forming apparatus of the present invention, the rotation position of the substrate is detected, and the film physical property value is measured based on the rotation position. Therefore, the substrate is formed on the substrate while the substrate holding means is rotated. It becomes possible to accurately measure the film physical properties of the thin film. And it is possible to adjust the film thickness of the thin film formed in a base | substrate by adjusting the flow volume of the gas supplied to a target based on the information regarding such exact film | membrane physical property value. Therefore, since the film thickness can be adjusted strictly, an optical product having a desired film thickness can be obtained.

  Further, according to the thin film forming apparatus of claim 4, the above-mentioned problem is that, in addition to the requirements of any one of claims 1 to 3, the sputtering means includes a target and a sputtering that holds the target and supplies electric power. An electrode, a power supply for supplying power to the sputter electrode, and a power adjusting means for adjusting the amount of power supplied to the target based on the film property value or the average value measured by the optical measuring means, It is solved by having.

Thus, according to the thin film forming apparatus of the fourth aspect, the amount of electric power supplied to the target is adjusted based on the film physical property value or the average value measured by the optical measuring means. That is, by adjusting the amount of electric power supplied from the sputtering electrode to the target, it is possible to adjust the film thickness by adjusting the amount of film raw material supplied to the substrate.
In the thin film forming apparatus of the present invention, the rotational position of the substrate is detected and information on the film physical property value is measured based on the rotational position information. Therefore, the thin film forming apparatus is formed on the substrate while the substrate holding means is rotated. It is possible to accurately measure the film physical properties of the thin film. The film thickness of the thin film formed on the substrate can be adjusted by adjusting the amount of power supplied to the target based on such accurate film property values. Therefore, since the film thickness can be adjusted strictly, an optical product having a desired film thickness can be obtained.

  Furthermore, as in the thin film forming apparatus according to claim 5, in addition to the requirements of any one of claims 1 to 4, the thin film forming apparatus determines the amount of film raw material supplied from the target to the substrate. The film thickness correcting means further includes a film thickness correcting means for adjusting the film physical property value or the average value measured by the optical measuring means and a correction member disposed between the target and the substrate. Based on this, a correction member driving means for moving the correction member between the target and the substrate so as to freely move back and forth between a position where the movement of the film raw material is blocked and a position where the movement of the film raw material is not blocked. And preferably.

Thus, according to the thin film forming apparatus of claim 5, based on the film physical property value measured by the optical measuring means or the average value of the film physical property value, by advancing and retracting the correction member that shields the front surface of the target, The film thickness of the thin film formed on the substrate is adjusted by adjusting the amount of film raw material adhering to the substrate.
As described above, in the thin film forming apparatus of the present invention, the rotation position of the substrate is detected, and information on the film physical property value is measured based on the information on the rotation position. It is possible to accurately measure the film physical properties of the thin film formed on the substrate. Based on such information on accurate film property values, the correction member driving means can be controlled to adjust the film thickness of the thin film formed on the substrate. Therefore, it is possible to strictly adjust the film thickness, and an optical product having a desired film thickness can be obtained.

  According to the thin film forming apparatus of claim 6, the object is to provide a vacuum vessel, a substrate holding means installed inside the vacuum vessel to hold the substrate, a target for supplying a film raw material to the substrate, and the target A thin film forming apparatus comprising: a sputtering means for supplying electric power to the target; and a gas supply means for supplying a gas to the target, the rotational position detecting means for detecting the rotational position of the base, and the substrate holding means. A plurality of optical measuring means for measuring physical properties of thin films formed on a plurality of substrates disposed in the rotation axis direction and held in the rotation axis direction; and the optical measurement means based on the rotation position. This is solved by providing a measurement control means for controlling the timing of measuring the film physical property value.

Thus, according to the thin film forming apparatus of the sixth aspect, the film physical properties of the thin films formed on the plurality of substrates disposed in the rotation axis direction of the substrate holding means and held in the rotation axis direction are respectively determined. A plurality of optical measuring means for measuring is provided. For this reason, it is possible to acquire the film thickness distribution in the rotation axis direction of the substrate holding means.
The optical measuring means controls the timing for measuring the film property value based on the rotational position of the substrate detected by the rotational position detecting means. Therefore, it is possible to accurately acquire the film thickness distribution of the thin film formed on the substrate.

  Further, as in the thin film forming apparatus of claim 7, in addition to the requirements of claim 6, the optical measuring means is a thin film formed on a plurality of substrates held along the rotation direction of the substrate holding means. It is preferable to further include an average value calculation unit that measures the film physical property value and calculates the average value.

  Thus, according to the thin film forming apparatus of claim 7, the film physical property values are measured for a plurality of substrates along the rotation direction of the substrate holding means, and the average of the film property values obtained on the plurality of substrates is measured. An average value calculation unit for calculating values is further provided. For this reason, it becomes possible to calculate and obtain the average value of film property values obtained for a plurality of substrates. That is, when film property values are measured with a single substrate, it may be difficult to obtain accurate film property values due to noise, but film property values are measured with multiple substrates. When the average value is calculated, it is possible to obtain an accurate film property value with less noise.

  Furthermore, according to the thin film forming apparatus of claim 8, in addition to the requirements of claim 6 or 7, the gas supply means is connected to the gas storage means for storing gas, the gas storage means, and the plurality of the plurality of gas supply means A gas supply path for supplying gas to the target through a plurality of inlets formed at a position corresponding to the optical measuring means, and supply to the target based on a film physical property value or an average value measured by the optical measuring means And a flow rate adjusting means for independently adjusting the flow rate of the gas to be introduced for each of the plurality of inlets.

As described above, the thin film forming apparatus according to claim 8 includes a gas supply path for supplying gas to the target through a plurality of inlets formed at positions corresponding to the plurality of optical measurement means, and a film measured by the optical measurement means. A flow rate adjusting means is provided for independently adjusting the flow rate of the gas supplied to the target for each of a plurality of inlets based on the physical property value or the average value. For this reason, the film physical property value is measured by a plurality of optical measuring means, and the flow rate of the gas supplied to the target from the inlet corresponding to the optical measuring means is independently adjusted for each inlet according to the film physical property value. It becomes possible to do. That is, by locally adjusting the flow rate of the gas supplied to the target in accordance with the film thickness distribution acquired by the optical measuring means, it is possible to feedback control the film formation based on the film thickness distribution.
Accordingly, it is possible to make the film thickness distribution of the thin film formed on the substrate uniform or have desired variations.

  Furthermore, according to the thin film forming apparatus of claim 9, in addition to the requirements of any one of claims 6 to 8, the thin film forming apparatus determines the amount of film raw material supplied from the target to the substrate. The film thickness correcting means further includes a plurality of correction pieces arranged between the target and the substrate, and the film physical property value or average value measured by the optical measuring means. And a plurality of corrections for moving the plurality of correction pieces movably between a position where the movement of the film raw material is prevented between the target and the base and a position where the movement of the film raw material is not blocked. Member moving means.

Thus, in the thin film forming apparatus according to the ninth aspect, the plurality of correction pieces are provided between the target and the substrate, and the correction piece driving means is based on the film property value or the average value measured by the optical measurement means. Thus, each of the plurality of correction pieces can be driven so as to advance and retreat. That is, by moving the position of the correction piece according to the film thickness distribution of the thin film formed on the substrate, the amount of the film raw material adhering to the substrate is adjusted, and the film formation is fed back based on the film thickness distribution. It becomes possible to control.
Accordingly, it is possible to make the film thickness distribution of the thin film formed on the substrate uniform or have desired variations.

According to the thin film forming apparatus of the tenth aspect, in addition to the requirements of the first or ninth aspect, the rotational position detecting means includes at least a rotary encoder.
Further, as in the thin film forming apparatus according to an eleventh aspect, in addition to the requirements of the tenth aspect, it is preferable that the rotary encoder is provided on a rotating shaft of the substrate holding means.
Furthermore, as in the thin film forming apparatus of claim 12, in addition to the requirements of claim 10 or 11, the rotary encoder is preferably an absolute type.

  Thus, according to the thin film forming apparatus of claims 10 to 12, the rotary encoder is used as the rotational position detecting means. When this rotary encoder is provided on the rotating shaft of the base body holding means, the rotational position of the base body holding means can be suitably detected. That is, since the substrate is held by the substrate holding means, the rotation position of the substrate can be indirectly detected by detecting the rotation position of the substrate holding means.

  According to the thin film forming method of the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thin film forming method in which a thin film is formed on a rotating base held by a base holding means by sputtering a target, and the rotational position of the base is detected. A rotational position detecting step, a timing determining step for determining a timing for measuring the film physical property value based on the rotational position, and an optical measuring step for measuring the film physical property value based on the timing determined in the timing determining step It is solved by providing.

  Thus, according to the thin film forming method of the thirteenth aspect, the rotational position of the substrate is detected, the timing for measuring the film physical property value is determined based on this rotational position, and the film physical property value is determined based on this timing. Measuring. For this reason, even if the position of the substrate fluctuates due to the rotation of the substrate holding means, the film property value can be measured based on the light irradiated at the same incident angle with respect to the same position of the substrate. Therefore, it is possible to accurately measure the film physical properties of the thin film formed on the substrate.

  Furthermore, according to the thin film forming method of the fourteenth aspect, it is preferable that the optical measurement step further includes an average value calculation step of calculating an average value of the film physical property values.

  Thus, according to the thin film forming method of the fourteenth aspect, it is possible to calculate the average value of the film physical property values. For this reason, it is possible to measure and obtain the film physical property value with a plurality of substrates and obtain the average value. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain an accurate film property value with less noise.

  According to the thin film forming method of claim 15, the thin film forming step determines the film thickness of the thin film formed on the substrate based on the film physical property value or the average value measured in the optical measurement step. It is preferable to further include a film thickness adjusting step to adjust.

  Thus, in the thin film forming method according to claim 15, in order to detect the rotational position of the substrate and measure the information on the film physical property value based on the information on the rotational position, the substrate holding means remains in the rotated state. It becomes possible to accurately measure the film physical properties of the thin film formed on the substrate.

  The thin film forming method according to claim 16 is a thin film forming method in which a thin film is formed on a rotating substrate held by a substrate holding means by sputtering a target, and a rotational position detection for detecting a rotational position of the substrate. And a timing determining step for determining a timing for measuring the film physical property value based on the rotational position, and in accordance with the timing, measurement of the film physical property value is started at a plurality of positions in the rotational axis direction of the substrate holding means. This is solved by providing an optical measurement step and a film thickness distribution adjusting step of adjusting the film thickness distribution of the thin film formed on the substrate based on the film property values measured at the plurality of positions.

Thus, in the thin film forming method according to the sixteenth aspect, the rotational position of the substrate is detected, the timing for measuring the film physical property value is determined based on the rotational position, and the optical measurement step is performed according to this timing. . In this optical measurement step, film physical property values are measured at a plurality of positions in the rotation axis direction of the substrate holding means. For this reason, in this optical measurement step, it is possible to acquire a film thickness distribution depending on the position of the substrate surface between a plurality of substrates or even a single substrate.
Thus, according to the thin film forming method of the present invention, the timing for measuring the film physical property value is controlled based on the detected rotational position of the substrate. Therefore, it is possible to accurately acquire the film thickness distribution of the thin film formed on the substrate.
In the present invention, the film thickness distribution of the thin film formed on the substrate is adjusted based on the film thickness distribution obtained in such a process. Accordingly, it is possible to make the film thickness distribution of the thin film formed on the substrate uniform or have desired variations.

  According to the thin film forming method of the seventeenth aspect, it is preferable that the optical measurement step further includes an average value calculating step of calculating an average value of the film physical property values.

  Thus, in the thin film forming method according to the seventeenth aspect, it is possible to calculate the average value of the film physical property values. For this reason, it is possible to obtain an accurate film property value with less noise by measuring the film property value with a plurality of substrates and calculating and obtaining the average value.

  According to the thin film forming apparatus and the thin film forming method of the present invention, the rotational position of the substrate is detected, and the film physical property value is measured based on the rotational position. For this reason, even if the position of the substrate fluctuates due to the rotation of the substrate holding means, it is possible to detect the rotation position of the substrate and measure the film physical property value of the substrate at the desired rotation position. That is, even if the position of the substrate fluctuates, the film physical property value can always be measured based on the measurement light irradiated at the same incident angle with respect to the same position of the same substrate. Accordingly, it is possible to accurately measure the film physical property value of the thin film formed on the substrate while the substrate holding means is rotated.

  Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that members, arrangements, and the like described below do not limit the present invention, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made in accordance with the spirit of the present invention.

  1 to 6 are explanatory views of the thin film forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view of the thin film forming apparatus according to the first embodiment as viewed from above. FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the thin film forming apparatus according to the first embodiment as viewed from the side, FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the periphery of the film forming process region of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a direction of arrow A in FIG. FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view showing the periphery of the reaction process region in FIG. 1 and FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of the thin film forming apparatus according to the first and second embodiments. .

  In this embodiment, a thin film forming apparatus that performs magnetron sputtering, which is an example of sputtering, is used as the thin film forming apparatus. However, the thin film forming apparatus of the present invention is not limited to such a magnetron sputtering, and uses a magnetron discharge. It is also possible to use another known thin film forming apparatus that performs sputtering such as bipolar sputtering.

In the thin film forming apparatus of this embodiment, a sputtering process for depositing a thin film considerably thinner than the target film thickness on the substrate surface, and a plasma process for converting the composition of the thin film by performing a process such as oxidation on the thin film An intermediate thin film is formed on the substrate surface in accordance with the process, and the final thin film having the desired film thickness is formed on the substrate surface by repeating this sputtering treatment and plasma treatment a plurality of times.
Specifically, by repeating the process of forming an intermediate thin film with an average film thickness of about 0.01 to 1.5 nm on the substrate surface after composition conversion by sputtering treatment and plasma treatment each time the rotary drum rotates. The final thin film having a target film thickness of several nm to several hundred nm is formed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the thin film forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes a vacuum vessel 11, a rotating drum 13, a sputtering unit 20, and a plasma generation unit 60 as main components.

  The vacuum container 11 is a hollow body made of stainless steel, which is usually used in a known thin film forming apparatus, and has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. As shown in FIG. 1, the inside of the vacuum vessel 11 is divided into a thin film forming chamber 11A and a load lock chamber 11B by a door 11C as an opening / closing door of the present invention. A door storage container (not shown) for storing the door 11C is connected above the vacuum container 11, and the door 11C opens and closes by sliding between the interior of the vacuum container 11 and the interior of the door storage chamber. .

The vacuum vessel 11 is provided with a door 11D that partitions the load lock chamber 11B and the outside of the vacuum vessel 11. The door 11D opens and closes by sliding or rotating. An exhaust pipe 16a-1 is connected to the thin film forming chamber 11A inside the vacuum vessel 11, and a vacuum pump 15a for exhausting the inside of the vacuum vessel 11 is connected to the pipe 16a-1. An opening is provided in the pipe 16a-1, and this opening is disposed between the film forming process region 20A and the reaction process region 60A in the vacuum vessel 11. As a result, the film raw material scattered in the film forming process region 20A can be sucked by the vacuum pump 15a, and the film raw material scattered from the film forming process region 20A enters the reaction process region 60A and the substrate surface or plasma. Prevents contamination of the generating means.
Further, an exhaust pipe 16b is connected to the load lock chamber 11B inside the vacuum container 11, and a vacuum pump 15b for exhausting the inside of the vacuum container 11 is connected to the pipe 16b.

Since the thin film forming apparatus of the present embodiment includes such a load lock chamber 11B, it is possible to carry in and out the substrate while maintaining the vacuum state in the thin film forming chamber 11A. Therefore, it is possible to save the trouble of degassing the vacuum container and bringing it into a vacuum state every time the substrate is carried out, and the film forming process can be performed with high work efficiency.
In addition, although the vacuum vessel 11 of this embodiment employ | adopts the load lock system provided with the load lock chamber 11B, it is also possible to employ | adopt the single chamber system which does not provide a load lock chamber. It is also possible to employ a multi-chamber system that includes a plurality of vacuum chambers and can form a thin film independently in each vacuum chamber.

The rotating drum 13 is a member for holding the substrate S on the surface of which a thin film is to be formed, in the vacuum vessel 11, and corresponds to the substrate holding means of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the rotary drum 13 includes a plurality of substrate holding plates 13a, a frame 13b, and a fastener 13c for fastening the substrate holding plate 13a and the frame 13b as main components.
The substrate holding plate 13a is a flat plate member made of stainless steel, and is provided with a plurality of substrate holding holes for holding the substrate S in a row at the center of the plate surface along the longitudinal direction of the substrate holding plate 13a. The substrate S is accommodated in the substrate holding hole of the substrate holding plate 13a, and is fixed to the substrate holding plate 13a using a screw member or the like so as not to drop off. Further, screw holes through which fasteners 13c described later can be inserted are provided on the plate surfaces near both ends in the longitudinal direction of the substrate holding plate 13a.

  The frame 13b is made of stainless steel, and is composed of two annular members arranged vertically. Each annular member of the frame 13b is provided with a plurality of screw holes at positions facing the screw holes of the substrate holding plate 13a. The board holding plate 13a and the frame 13b are fixed using a fastener 13c made of bolts and nuts. Specifically, it is fixed by inserting a bolt into the screw holes of the substrate holding plate 13a and the frame 13b and fixing with a nut. The rotating drum 13 in this embodiment has a polygonal column shape with a polygonal cross section because a plurality of flat substrate holding plates 13a are arranged. The rotating drum 13 has such a polygonal shape. It is not limited to a columnar shape, and may be a hollow cylindrical shape or a conical shape.

  The substrate S corresponds to the substrate of the present invention. In this embodiment, the substrate S is a disk-shaped member made of glass, and a thin film is formed on the surface by a thin film forming process, but the substrate of the present invention is limited to a disk-shaped substrate as in this embodiment. However, a lens-like thing, a tubular thing, etc. can also be used. Further, the material of the substrate S is not limited to glass as in the present embodiment, and may be plastic or metal.

  The rotary drum 13 installed in the vacuum vessel 11 is configured to be able to move between the thin film forming chamber 11A and the load lock chamber 11B shown in FIG. In this embodiment, a rail (not shown) is installed on the bottom surface of the vacuum vessel 11, and the rotary drum 13 moves along this rail. The rotary drum 13 is disposed in the vacuum vessel 11 such that the cylindrical axis of rotation Z (see FIG. 2) is in the vertical direction of the vacuum vessel 11. When the substrate holding plate 13a is attached to the frame 13b or removed from the frame 13b, the rotary drum 13 is transported to the load lock chamber 11B and locked in a rotatable state within the load lock chamber 11B. On the other hand, during film formation, the rotary drum 13 is transported to the thin film forming chamber 11A and locked in a rotatable state in the thin film forming chamber 11A.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the center part of the lower surface of the rotary drum 13 is shaped to engage with the upper surface of the motor rotating shaft 18a. The rotating drum 13 and the motor rotating shaft 18a are positioned so as to coincide with the center axis of the motor rotating shaft 18a and the center axis of the rotating drum 13, and are connected by engaging both. A surface of the lower surface of the rotary drum 13 that engages with the motor rotation shaft 18a is formed of an insulating member. As a result, abnormal discharge in the substrate can be prevented. In addition, an air-tightness is maintained between the vacuum vessel 11 and the motor rotating shaft 18a by an O-ring.

  The motor rotating shaft 18a rotates by driving the motor 17 provided in the lower part of the vacuum vessel 11 while maintaining the vacuum state in the vacuum vessel 11. With this rotation, the rotating drum 13 connected to the motor rotating shaft 18a rotates around the rotating axis Z. Since each board | substrate S is hold | maintained on the rotating drum 13, when the rotating drum 13 rotates, it revolves around the rotating axis Z as a revolution axis.

  A drum rotating shaft 18 b is provided on the upper surface of the rotating drum 13, and the drum rotating shaft 18 b is also rotated as the rotating drum 13 rotates. A hole is provided in the upper surface of the vacuum vessel 11, and the drum rotation shaft 18 b passes through this hole and communicates with the outside of the vacuum vessel 11. A bearing is provided on the inner surface of the hole so that the rotating drum 13 can rotate smoothly. In addition, an air-tightness is maintained between the vacuum vessel 11 and the drum rotation shaft 18b by an O-ring.

  Next, the film forming process region 20A and the reaction process region 60A for forming a thin film on the surface of the substrate S will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, partition walls 12 and 14 are erected on the inner wall of the vacuum vessel 11 toward the rotary drum 13. The partition walls 12 and 14 in this embodiment are the same stainless steel members as the vacuum vessel 11. The partition walls 12 and 14 are provided in a state of enclosing four sides from the inner wall surface of the vacuum vessel 11 toward the rotary drum 13.

The side wall of the vacuum vessel 11 has a convex cross section projecting outward, and a sputtering means 20 is provided on the projecting side surface. The film forming process area 20 </ b> A is formed in an area surrounded by the inner wall surface of the vacuum vessel 11, the partition wall 12, the outer peripheral surface of the rotating drum 13, and the sputtering means 20. In the film forming process region 20A, a sputtering process for forming a thin film on the surface of the substrate S is performed.
On the other hand, the side wall of the vacuum vessel 11 that is 90 ° apart from the film forming process region 20A about the rotation axis of the rotary drum 13 also has a convex cross section protruding outward, and plasma is generated on the protruding side surface. Means 60 are provided. The reaction process region 60 </ b> A is formed in a region surrounded by the inner wall surface of the vacuum vessel 11, the partition wall 14, the outer peripheral surface of the rotary drum 13, and the plasma generating means 60. In the reaction process region 60A, plasma processing is performed on the thin film on the substrate S.

  When the rotating drum 13 is rotated by the motor 17 shown in FIG. 2, the substrate S held on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating drum 13 is revolved, so that the position facing the film forming process area 20A and the reaction process area 60A shown in FIG. It will move repeatedly between the facing positions. As the substrate S revolves in this manner, the sputtering process in the film forming process region 20A and the plasma process in the reaction process region 60A are sequentially repeated to form a thin film on the surface of the substrate S. .

(Deposition process area 20A)
The film forming process area 20A of the present invention will be described below. As shown in FIG. 3, the sputtering means 20 is installed in the film forming process region 20A of the present invention. In the figure, the sputtering means 20 is shown surrounded by a dotted line.
The sputtering means 20 includes a pair of magnetron sputtering electrodes 21a and 21b that hold the targets 22a and 22b, an AC power supply 24 that supplies power to the magnetron sputtering electrodes 21a and 21b, and a transformer 23 as power control means. The wall surface of the vacuum vessel 11 protrudes outward, and magnetron sputter electrodes 21a and 21b are disposed on the inner wall of the protruding portion so as to penetrate the side wall. The magnetron sputter electrodes 21a and 21b are fixed to the vacuum vessel 11 at the ground potential via an insulating member (not shown).

  The magnetron sputter electrodes 21a and 21b have a structure in which a plurality of magnets are arranged in a predetermined direction. The magnetron sputter electrodes 21a and 21b are connected to an AC power source 24 via a transformer 23, and are configured so that an alternating electric field of 1 to 100 kHz can be applied to both electrodes. Targets 22a and 22b are held on the magnetron sputter electrodes 21a and 21b, respectively. As shown in FIG. 3, the shapes of the targets 22 a and 22 b in this embodiment are flat, and the surfaces of the targets 22 a and 22 b are held so as to be perpendicular to the rotation axis Z of the rotary drum 13.

  The targets 22a and 22b in this example are formed by forming a film raw material into a flat plate shape so as to face a substrate and have a predetermined area, and magnetron sputter electrodes 21a and 21b so as to face the side surface of the rotary drum 13. Are held respectively. As the target material, any material suitable for the purpose of the optical product to be manufactured, for example, silicon, niobium, titanium, aluminum, germanium, or the like can be used.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, two types of gas supply means 30 are provided around the film forming process region 20A, that is, a sputtering gas supply means and a reactive gas supply means. In the figure, the gas supply means 30 is shown surrounded by a one-dotted line.
The sputter gas supply means includes a sputter gas cylinder 32 as a sputter gas storage means, pipes 35a and 35c as gas supply paths, and a mass flow controller 31 as a flow rate adjusting means for adjusting the flow rate of the sputter gas. It has as.
The reactive gas supply means includes a reactive gas cylinder 34 as a reactive gas storage means, pipes 35a and 35d as gas supply paths, and a mass flow controller 33 as a flow rate adjusting means for adjusting the flow rate of the reactive gas. Are provided as main components.

  The sputtering gas cylinder 32, the reactive gas cylinder 34, and the mass flow controllers 31 and 33 that constitute the gas supply means 30 are all provided outside the vacuum vessel 11. The mass flow controller 31 is connected to a single sputter gas cylinder 32 that stores argon gas as a sputter gas via a pipe 35c. The mass flow controller 33 is connected to a single reactive gas cylinder 34 that stores oxygen gas as a reactive gas via a pipe 35d.

The mass flow controller 31 and the mass flow controller 33 are connected by a Y-shaped pipe 35a, and one end of the pipe 35a extends through the side wall of the vacuum vessel 11 to the side of the target 22b in the film forming process region 20A ( 3 and 4). An inlet 35b is formed at the tip of the pipe 35a.
The introduction port 35b is disposed at a predetermined position below the side portion of the target 22b. The gas supplied through the pipes 35a, 35c, and 35d is introduced into the front surfaces of the targets 22a and 22b from the introduction port 35b provided in the pipe 35a.

  In the present embodiment, the piping for introducing the sputtering gas to the target and the piping for introducing the reactive gas to the target are used in common, and the mixed gas of both gases is introduced to the target. However, the gas supply path is not limited to the one in which the sputtering gas supply path and the reactive gas supply path are shared, and a sputtering gas introduction pipe and a reactive gas introduction pipe are provided separately. Thus, the respective gases may be introduced to the front surface of the target through separate pipes.

The mass flow controllers 31 and 33 are devices for adjusting the flow rate of the gas, and include an inflow port through which the gas from the gas cylinder flows in, an outflow port through which the gas flows out to the vacuum vessel 11 side, a sensor that detects the mass flow rate of the gas, The main components are a control valve that adjusts the gas flow rate, a sensor that detects the mass flow rate of the gas flowing in from the inlet, and an electronic circuit that controls the control valve based on the flow rate detected by the sensor. (Both not shown). A desired flow rate can be set to the electronic circuit from the outside.
In the present embodiment, each of the mass flow controllers 31 and 33 is electrically connected to a sputtering control device 50 described later, and adjusts the gas flow rate in response to a flow rate setting instruction from the sputtering control device 50.

  The mass flow rate of the gas sent into the mass flow controllers 31 and 33 from the inflow port is detected by a sensor. A control valve is provided downstream of the sensor, and the control valve compares the flow rate detected by the sensor with a set reference value, and opens and closes the control valve so that the gas flow rate approaches the reference value. Thus, the flow rate is controlled.

The inert gas from the sputter gas cylinder 32 is introduced into the pipe 35 a with the flow rate adjusted by the mass flow controller 31. On the other hand, the reactive gas from the sputter gas cylinder 32 is introduced into the pipe 35 a with the flow rate adjusted by the mass flow controller 33. The inert gas and the reactive gas that have flowed into the pipe 35a become a mixed gas, and are introduced from the introduction port 35b of the pipe 35a to the front surfaces of the targets 22a and 22b disposed in the film forming process region 20A.
Examples of the sputtering gas include inert gases such as argon and helium. Examples of the reactive gas include oxygen gas, nitrogen gas, fluorine gas, and ozone gas.

  When an alternating electrode is applied from the AC power source 24 to the magnetron sputter electrodes 21a and 21b in a state where the sputtering gas is supplied to the film forming process region 20A and the periphery of the targets 22a and 22b is in an inert gas atmosphere, Part of the sputtering gas around 22a and 22b emits electrons and is ionized. Since a leakage magnetic field is formed on the surfaces of the targets 22a and 22b by the magnets arranged on the magnetron sputter electrodes 21a and 21b, the electrons circulate in a magnetic field generated near the target surface while drawing a toroidal curve. A strong plasma is generated along the electron trajectory, and ions of the sputtering gas are accelerated toward the plasma, and metal atoms on the target surface are knocked out by colliding with the targets 22a and 22b. Some of these metal atoms react with the reactive gas in the plasma, and are converted into incomplete reactants or complete reactants. These metal atoms, incomplete reactants of metal atoms, and complete reactants of metal atoms correspond to the film raw material of the present invention, and become a raw material for forming a thin film by adhering to the surface of the substrate S.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, film thickness correcting means 40 for correcting the film thickness is provided on both sides of the film forming process region 20A. In the drawing, the film thickness correcting means 40 is shown surrounded by a two-dot line.
The film thickness correction means 40 includes, as main components, film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b as correction members, and correction plate drive motors 42a and 42b that drive the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b so as to advance and retract. . The thin film forming apparatus of the present invention thus includes movable film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b on the front surface of the target, and moves the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b forward and backward in the center direction of the targets 22a and 22b. Thus, the amount of the film raw material adhering to the substrate surface is adjusted to manufacture a substrate having a uniform film thickness.
In the present embodiment, a fixed film thickness correction plate 41c is disposed at a position facing the center of the targets 22a and 22b.

  The film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b are respectively disposed on the front surfaces of the targets 22a and 22b with a predetermined distance from the targets 22a and 22b. As shown in FIG. 3, the film thickness correction plate 41a is arranged in a direction parallel to the width direction of the target 22a, and is a plate member that shields mainly the film raw material flying from the target 22a from adhering to the substrate S. Have. A bent portion that is bent in a direction perpendicular to the plate surface is formed at an end portion of the plate member, and a helical thread groove is formed in the bent portion in a direction parallel to the plate surface. A screw groove of a spiral rod 44a described later is screwed into the screw groove. Similarly, a bent portion and a thread groove are formed in the film thickness correction plate 41b, and a thread groove of a spiral rod 44b described later is screwed.

  The film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b can be driven in the center direction of the targets 22a and 22b by correction plate drive motors 42a and 42b as correction member moving means, respectively. The correction plate drive motors 42a and 42b are connected to driving shafts 43a and 43b having bevel gears, and the driving shafts 43a and 43b are further connected to spiral rods 44a and 44b having the same bevel gears. The output shafts of the correction plate drive motors 42a and 42b are coaxially connected to the drive shafts 43a and 43b. When the correction plate drive motors 42a and 42b rotate, the drive shafts 43a and 43b also rotate.

  Bevel gears are fixed to the tips of the drive shafts 43a and 43b, and the bevel gears of the spiral rods 44a and 44b are engaged with the bevel gears. The spiral bars 44 a and 44 b penetrate the wall surface of the vacuum vessel 11. The spiral rods 44a and 44b are formed with screw grooves, and the screw grooves are respectively screwed with the screw grooves of the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b as described above.

  When the rotation shafts of the correction plate drive motors 42a and 42b rotate, the rotation is transmitted to the spiral rods 44a and 44b via the drive shafts 43a and 43b. When the spiral rods 44a and 44b rotate, the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b slide in the center direction of the target by this rotation. When the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b move toward the center of the target to increase the area for shielding the front surface of the target, the amount of film raw material that reaches the substrate S decreases, and the film formation rate decreases. On the other hand, when the area where the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b move in the direction opposite to the center direction of the target and the front surfaces of the targets 22a and 22b are reduced, the amount of film raw material reaching the substrate S increases. The film formation rate increases.

  The correction plate drive motors 42 a and 42 b are electrically connected to the sputtering control device 50, and both are controlled by the sputtering control device 50. That is, when the sputter control device 50 instructs to move the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b toward the center of the target, the correction plate drive motors 42a and 42b rotate in one direction, and the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b 41b is moved toward the center of the target. On the other hand, when the sputter controller 50 instructs the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b to move in the direction opposite to the center direction of the target, the correction plate drive motors 42a and 42b rotate in the opposite direction. The film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b are moved away from the center direction of the target.

  Stoppers 45a and 45b are provided on the inner wall of the vacuum vessel 11, respectively. Each of the stoppers 45a and 45b is formed of a flat plate-like member, and has an end portion bent in the vertical direction. The end surfaces of the plate-like regions of the stoppers 45 a and 45 b are fixed to the wall surface so as to be substantially perpendicular to the inner wall of the vacuum vessel 11. The end surfaces of the bent portions of the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b are in contact with the plate surfaces of the stoppers 45a and 45b, and the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b are rotated with the rotation of the spiral rods 44a and 44b. Slides on the plate surfaces of the stoppers 45a, 45b. Since the stoppers 45a and 45b are provided with bent portions, even if the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b move toward the center of the target, the bent portions of the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b and the bent portions of the stoppers 45a and 45b. Therefore, the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b do not fall off.

In the thin film forming apparatus of this embodiment, as a film thickness adjusting method, a method of adjusting the amount of electric power supplied to the magnetron sputtering electrodes 21a and 21b, and a gas supplied to the film forming process region 20A by the mass flow controllers 31 and 33 are used. The film thickness can be adjusted by simultaneously using three kinds of film thickness adjustment methods: a method of adjusting the flow rate and a method of moving the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b by controlling the rotation direction of the correction plate drive motors 42a and 42b. Although the adjustment is performed, the film thickness may be adjusted using any one or two film thickness adjusting methods.
In addition, the thin film forming apparatus of the present invention does not have to adjust the film thickness by all of these three types of film thickness adjusting methods, and the film thickness may be adjusted only by any one or two methods.

(Reaction process area 60A)
Subsequently, the reaction process region 60A will be described. As described above, in the reaction process region 60A, the film raw material formed on the substrate surface in the film formation process region 20A is oxidized to form a thin film made of a complete oxide.

  As shown in FIG. 5, an opening for installing the plasma generating means 60 is formed on the wall surface of the vacuum vessel 11 corresponding to the reaction process region 60A. In addition, a piping 68 for introducing a reactive gas in the reactive gas cylinder 67 is connected to the reaction process region 60A via a mass flow controller 66.

  The wall surface of the partition wall 14 facing the reaction process region 60A is covered with a protective layer made of pyrolytic boron nitride (Pyrolytic Boron Nitride). Further, a protective layer made of pyrolytic boron nitride is also coated on the inner wall surface of the vacuum vessel 11 facing the reaction process region 60A. The pyrolytic boron nitride is coated on the partition wall 14 and the inner wall surface of the vacuum vessel 11 by a thermal decomposition method using a chemical vapor deposition method.

  The plasma generating means 60 is provided facing the reaction process region 60A. The plasma generating means 60 of this embodiment includes a case body 61, a dielectric plate 62, an antenna 63, a matching box 64, and a high frequency power supply 65. In the figure, the plasma generating means 60 is surrounded by a dotted line.

  The case body 61 has a shape for closing the opening 11a formed on the wall surface of the vacuum vessel 11, and is fixed so as to close the opening 11a of the vacuum vessel 11 with a bolt (not shown). By fixing the case body 61 to the wall surface of the vacuum vessel 11, the plasma generating means 60 is attached to the wall surface of the vacuum vessel 11. In the present embodiment, the case body 61 is made of stainless steel.

The dielectric plate 62 is formed of a plate-like dielectric. In the present embodiment, the dielectric plate 62 is made of quartz, but the material of the dielectric plate 62 is not limited to such quartz, but may be made of a ceramic material such as Al ₂ O ₃ . The dielectric plate 62 is fixed to the case body 61 with a fixing frame (not shown). By fixing the dielectric plate 62 to the case body 61, an antenna accommodating chamber 61 </ b> A is formed in a region surrounded by the case body 61 and the dielectric plate 62.

  The dielectric plate 62 fixed to the case body 61 is provided facing the inside of the vacuum vessel 11 (reaction process region 60A) through the opening 11a. At this time, the antenna accommodating chamber 61 </ b> A is separated from the inside of the vacuum container 11. That is, the antenna accommodating chamber 61 </ b> A and the inside of the vacuum container 11 form an independent space in a state of being partitioned by the dielectric plate 62. Further, the antenna accommodating chamber 61 </ b> A and the outside of the vacuum container 11 form an independent space in a state of being partitioned by the case body 61. In the present embodiment, the antenna 63 is installed in the antenna accommodating chamber 61A formed as an independent space in this way. The antenna housing chamber 61A and the inside of the vacuum vessel 11 and between the antenna housing chamber 61A and the outside of the vacuum vessel 11 are kept airtight by O-rings, respectively.

  In the present embodiment, an exhaust pipe 16a-2 is connected to the antenna accommodating chamber 61A in order to evacuate the inside of the antenna accommodating chamber 61A to be in a vacuum state. A vacuum pump 15a is connected to the pipe 16a-2. In the present embodiment, the pipe 16 a-2 communicates with the inside of the vacuum vessel 11.

  Valves V <b> 1 and V <b> 2 are provided in the piping 16 a-1 at positions where the vacuum pump 15 a communicates with the inside of the vacuum vessel 11. The pipe 16a-2 is provided with valves V1 and V3 at positions where the vacuum pump 15a communicates with the inside of the antenna accommodating chamber 61A. By closing either one of the valves V2 and V3, gas movement between the inside of the antenna accommodating chamber 61A and the inside of the vacuum vessel 11 is prevented. The pressure inside the vacuum vessel 11 and the pressure inside the antenna housing chamber 61A are measured by a vacuum gauge (not shown).

  In the present embodiment, the thin film forming apparatus 1 includes a control device (not shown). The output of the vacuum gauge is input to this control device. The control device has a function of adjusting the degree of vacuum inside the vacuum container 11 and inside the antenna accommodating chamber 61A by controlling the exhaust by the vacuum pump 15a based on the input measurement value of the vacuum gauge. In the present embodiment, the control device controls the opening and closing of the valves V1, V2, and V3, so that the inside of the vacuum vessel 11 and the inside of the antenna accommodating chamber 61A can be exhausted simultaneously or independently.

  The antenna 63 is supplied with electric power from the high frequency power supply 65, generates an induction electric field inside the vacuum vessel 11 (reaction process region 60A), and generates plasma in the reaction process region 60A. The antenna 63 of the present embodiment includes a tubular main body portion made of copper, and a covering layer made of silver covering the surface of the main body portion. In order to reduce the impedance of the antenna 63, it is preferable to form the antenna 63 with a material having low electrical resistance. Therefore, by utilizing the characteristic that high-frequency current concentrates on the surface of the antenna, the main body of the antenna 63 is formed into a circular tube with copper that is inexpensive and easy to process and has low electrical resistance. It is coated with silver, which has a lower electrical resistance than copper. With this configuration, the impedance of the antenna 63 with respect to the high frequency is reduced, and the efficiency of generating plasma is increased by allowing current to flow efficiently through the antenna 63.

The antenna 63 is connected to a high frequency power supply 65 via a matching box 64 that houses a matching circuit. A variable capacitor (not shown) is provided in the matching box 64.
The antenna 63 is connected to the matching box 64 via a conducting wire part. The conductor portion is made of the same material as that of the antenna 63. The case body 61 is formed with an insertion hole for inserting the conductor portion, and the antenna 63 inside the antenna accommodation chamber 61A, the matching box 64 outside the antenna accommodation chamber 61A, and the high frequency power supply 65 are formed in the insertion hole. It connects through the conducting wire part penetrated. A seal member is provided between the conductor portion and the insertion hole, and airtightness is maintained inside and outside the antenna accommodating chamber 61A.

  Reactive gas supply means is provided around the reaction process region 60A. The reactive gas supply means includes a reactive gas cylinder 67, a mass flow controller 66 for adjusting the flow rate of the reactive gas, and a pipe 68 for introducing the reactive gas into the reaction process region 60A as main components. As the reactive gas cylinder 67 and the mass flow controller 66 in the reaction process region 60A, it is possible to employ the same devices as the reactive gas cylinder 34 and the mass flow controller 33 in the film forming process region 20A. Also, as the reactive gas, a known gas such as oxygen gas can be employed as in the film forming process region 20A.

  When the reactive gas is introduced from the reactive gas cylinder 67 through the pipe 68 into the reaction process region 60A, when power is supplied to the antenna 63 from the high-frequency power supply 65, the region in the reaction process region 60A facing the antenna 63 is formed. Plasma is generated. Electrons are emitted from the plasma, and the metal atoms in the thin film formed on the surface of the substrate S and the incomplete oxide of the metal atoms are oxidized by the electrons to become a complete oxide of metal atoms.

  Next, the optical measuring means according to the present invention will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the optical measuring means 80 of the present invention includes a light projecting sensor head 81, an optical fiber 82, a light source 83, a condenser lens 85, a light receiving sensor head 91, and a light. A fiber 92 and an optical detection device 93 are provided as main components. The light projecting sensor head 81, the optical fiber 82, the light source 83, and the condenser lens 85 constitute a light projecting unit of the optical measuring unit 80. Further, the light receiving sensor head 91, the optical fiber 92, the condensing lens 85, and the optical detection device 93 constitute a light receiving portion of the optical measuring means 80.

  The light source 83 is a device that emits white light using electric power supplied from the power source 84. In this embodiment, a halogen lamp is used. A halogen lamp is a quartz glass tube in which a halogen substance such as iodine is sealed together with a rare gas, and emits white light when a voltage is applied thereto. However, the light source is not limited to the halogen lamp, and for example, a semiconductor laser or the like can be used. A semiconductor laser is an apparatus that has an element in which a single crystal film of a thin film is grown on a single crystal substrate of gallium / arsenic or the like, and oscillates laser light by passing a current through the element. Further, for example, a device that emits monochromatic light by polarizing light of a xenon lamp with a polarizing filter can be used.

  One end of an optical fiber 82 is connected to the light source 83. A projecting sensor head 81 is provided at the other end of the optical fiber 82. The light projecting sensor head 81 has a structure in which the end of the optical fiber 82 is housed in a cylindrical member, and the side wall of the vacuum vessel 11 is substantially perpendicular to the side surface of the rotary drum 13. It is attached to the side wall of the vacuum vessel 11 in a state of penetrating through. The light emitted from the light source 83 enters from one end of the optical fiber 82, transmits through the inside of the optical fiber, and exits from the light projecting sensor head 81 provided at the other end toward the rotating drum 13. The measurement light emitted from the light projecting sensor head 81 is condensed by the condenser lens 85 and irradiated onto the surface of the substrate S. Since the light emitted from the light projecting sensor head 81 spreads over a wide angle, a condensing lens 85 is provided to converge the light. The measurement light that has passed through the condenser lens 85 is projected toward the substrate S.

  The measurement light projected onto the substrate S is partially transmitted and partially reflected at the interface between the surface of the substrate S and the deposited thin film. That is, since the substrate S and the thin film are made of different materials, the refractive index with respect to light is different. Further, the refractive index is different between the substrate S and the atmosphere. For this reason, a part of the measurement light is reflected at the interface between the substrate S and the thin film and the surface of the substrate S. A specific method for measuring the film thickness from the reflected light will be described later.

  The reflected light reflected from the substrate S is converged by the condenser lens 85 and enters the light receiving sensor head 91. One end of an optical fiber 92 is connected to the light receiving sensor head 91. Similar to the light projecting sensor head 81, the light receiving sensor head 91 has a structure in which the tip end portion of the optical fiber 92 is housed inside the cylindrical member, and is vertically directed toward the side surface of the rotating drum 13. It is attached to the side wall of the vacuum vessel 11 adjacent to the light projecting sensor head 81 in a state of penetrating the side wall of the vacuum vessel 11. The other end of the optical fiber 92 is connected to the optical detection device 93. The reflected light incident on the light receiving sensor head 91 is transmitted through the optical fiber 92 and incident on the optical detection device 93.

The optical detection device 93 is a device that measures the intensity of light transmitted from the optical fiber 92. The optical detection device 93 includes a collimator 93a, a grating 93b as a spectroscopic element, a photodiode 93c as a light receiving element, an A-D conversion unit 93d, a CPU (not shown) as a calculation means, and a storage means. Memory and a hard disk (both not shown) as main components.
The reflected light incident on the optical detection device 93 passes through the collimator 93a. The collimator is a flat plate member provided with a plurality of thin slits, and deflects the reflected light transmitted from the optical fiber into a bundle of parallel light beams. The reflected light that has passed through the collimator 93a is applied to the grating 93b.

  The grating 93b includes a diffraction grating and has a function of emitting only light having a predetermined wavelength out of light incident from the collimator 93a. The grating 93b has a rotation axis, and the wavelength of the emitted light can be changed by changing the relative angle between the light incident on the grating 93b and the grating 93b. The light emitted from the grating 93b is applied to the photodiode 93c.

The photodiode 93c is a light receiving element that detects light reflected from the substrate S. In the present embodiment, a photodiode is used as the light receiving element. A photodiode is a combination of p-type and n-type semiconductors. When light hits the junction surface, a current corresponding to the intensity of the light is generated. The current is output to the AD converter 93d.
The AD converter 93d has a function of converting the electrical signal output from the photodiode 93c into a digital signal and outputting the digital signal. That is, the A-D converter 93d converts the intensity of light received by the photodiode 93c into a digital signal and outputs it. The digital signal output from the AD converter 93d is processed by the CPU as a film property value.

  The CPU calculates the film thickness based on the film property value transmitted from the A-D converter 93d. Here, the principle of calculating the film thickness by the optical detection device 93 will be described. The measurement light converged by the condenser lens 85 is constantly irradiated onto the substrate S on which the thin film is formed. The measurement light irradiated on the substrate S causes interference between the light reflected from the surface of the film and the light reflected from the boundary between the thin film and the substrate, and the overall energy reflectivity changes depending on the film thickness.

  When a thin film is formed on a transparent substrate having such a refractive index ns, the extremum may be expressed periodically as the amount of measurement light reflected from or transmitted through the substrate and the geometric film thickness d of the thin film increase. Are known. That is, as shown in FIG. 9, assuming that the refractive index of the thin film is n and the wavelength of the measuring light is λ, the amount of light periodically changes every time the optical film thickness nd of the formed thin film is an integral multiple of λ / 4. Extreme values appear. By calculating the value of the optical film thickness nd based on this extreme value, the geometric film thickness d can be measured.

  More specifically, the light amount is calculated by first integrating the light intensity at a predetermined time based on the light intensity reflected from the substrate. Next, A is the difference between the average value of the light quantity in the vicinity of the extreme value of the measurement light measured after the start of sputtering and the light quantity before the start of sputtering, and the light quantity at an arbitrary point after the extreme value and the light quantity in the vicinity of the extreme value. B / A is calculated with B being the difference from the average value. On the other hand, the B / A value of a substrate having a predetermined film thickness is measured in advance for a plurality of substrates having different film thicknesses, and optical detection is performed using the correlation between the B / A value and the film thickness as a function. It is stored in the memory of the device 93. Then, in the film forming process, the amount of light is sampled at a predetermined timing to calculate an actual measurement value of B / A. Based on this calculated result and the function of the B / A value stored in advance, the film thickness of the thin film formed on the substrate is calculated by the CPU which is the film thickness calculation unit. The calculated film thickness value is stored in a memory or a hard disk which is a film thickness storage unit of the optical detection device 93.

The optical detection device 93 samples the measurement light out of the reflected light reflected from the substrate S at the timing instructed by the measurement control computer 96, and calculates the film thickness based on the sampled measurement light. The instruction from the measurement control computer 96 is based on the rotational position detected by the rotary encoder 100 as will be described later.
The measured film thickness value is output to the measurement control computer 96 and can be displayed on the display. The operator can confirm the progress of the film forming process by confirming the film thickness value displayed in real time on the display.

  The optical detection device 93 is configured to calculate the film thickness for a single substrate S as described above, but the film thickness is measured for a plurality of substrates along the rotation direction of the rotary drum 13 and the average is obtained. It is good also as a structure provided with the average value calculating part which calculates a value. FIG. 6 shows an optical detection device 93 including an average value calculation unit. The average value calculation unit stores the average value calculation software in the storage unit of the optical detection device 93 in advance, and calculates the average value by sequentially averaging the film thicknesses calculated by the CPU based on the average value calculation software. Processing can be performed. By providing an average value calculation unit in this way, it is possible to measure the film thickness of a plurality of substrates and calculate and obtain the average value. Is possible. The film thickness measurement and film thickness control based on the average value will be described in detail in a second embodiment described later.

As shown in FIG. 6, the measurement control computer 96 includes a CPU as arithmetic means, a hard disk and semiconductor memory as storage means, a plurality of input terminals, and a plurality of output terminals as main components. Yes. A keyboard and mouse as input means are connected to the input terminal, and a display as output means is connected to the output terminal. A measurement control computer 96 is electrically connected to another input terminal of the optical detection device 93. An absolute position signal generator 111 connected to a rotary encoder 100 described later is electrically connected to another input terminal of the measurement control computer 96.
On the other hand, the sputtering control device 50 is electrically connected to another output terminal of the measurement control computer 96. The sputter control device 50 is a device that performs overall control of the thin film forming apparatus 1 such as start and stop of sputtering and adjustment of the film forming rate.

  Next, the rotation position detection means for detecting the rotation position of the rotary drum 13 will be described. FIG. 7 is a perspective partial sectional view of a rotary encoder 100 as an example of the rotational position detecting means of the present invention. The rotary encoder 100 includes a housing 101 (not shown in FIG. 7), a rotary encoder rotating shaft 102, a rotating slit plate 103, a fixed slit plate 104, a light emitting element 105, and a light receiving element 106.

The rotary encoder 100 has a function of converting the rotation angle (analog amount) of the rotary drum 13 into a pulse signal (digital amount). In the present embodiment, an absolute type rotary encoder is used as the rotary encoder 100. The absolute type rotary encoder outputs the current rotational position as absolute position information regardless of the presence or absence of rotation. For this reason, even when the rotating drum 13 is stopped, the absolute position information of the rotating drum 13 can always be acquired.
The rotary encoder 100 of the present invention detects the rotational position of the rotary drum 13. A substrate S is held on the outer peripheral surface of the rotary drum 13. Therefore, the thin film forming apparatus of the present invention can indirectly detect the rotational position of the substrate S by detecting the rotational position of the rotary drum 13 with the rotary encoder 100.

  Although not shown in FIG. 7, the housing 101 is a case that houses the rotary encoder rotating shaft 102, the rotating slit plate 103, the fixed slit plate 104, the light emitting element 105, and the light receiving element 106. As shown in FIG. 2, the housing 101 is fixed to the upper surface of the vacuum vessel 11 using a fixing member 101a.

  The rotary encoder rotating shaft 102 is connected to the drum rotating shaft 18b via the coupling 110. Both the rotary shafts are fixed by joining the end face of the rotary encoder rotary shaft 102 and the end face of the drum rotary shaft 18b and fixing the periphery of the joint surface with a coupling. A motor 17 is connected to the bottom surface of the rotating drum 13, and the rotating drum 13 is rotated by driving the motor 17. The rotation is transmitted to the rotary encoder rotating shaft 102 via the drum rotating shaft 18b and the coupling 110, and the rotary encoder rotating shaft 102 rotates.

  Returning to FIG. 7, the rotary slit plate 103 is attached to the end surface of the rotary encoder rotary shaft 102 so that the central axis of the rotary slit plate 103 and the rotary encoder rotary shaft 102 are coaxial. The rotary slit plate 103 rotates with the rotary encoder rotary shaft 102 as a rotary shaft in accordance with the rotation of the drum rotary shaft 18b.

  The rotary slit plate 103 is a disk-shaped member made of an epoxy resin or the like, and a plurality of slits 103a are provided on the plate surface. A plurality of tracks including a plurality of slits are provided on the plate surface of the disk-shaped member. Each track is arranged concentrically from the center of the disk-shaped member. The slits 103a arranged on the same track have the same shape and are arranged at equal intervals. In addition, the slits 103a arranged in different tracks have different shapes.

  The fixed slit plate 104 is a flat plate member provided with a plurality of lattice slits 104a. The fixed slit plate 104 is provided in parallel to the rotary slit plate 103 at a predetermined interval. The fixed slit plate 104 is fixed to the housing 101. For this reason, even if the rotary encoder rotating shaft 102 rotates, the fixed slit plate 104 does not rotate.

  In the housing 101, a plurality of light emitting elements 105 and a plurality of light receiving elements 106 are provided. The light emitting element 105 and the light receiving element 106 are arranged to face each other with the rotating slit plate 103 and the fixed slit plate 104 interposed therebetween. As the light emitting element 105, a known element such as a light emitting diode is used. A known element such as a phototransistor is used as the light receiving element 106. The light emitting elements 105 and the light receiving elements 106 are provided in the same number as the number of tracks of the rotary slit plate 103, respectively.

  The light emitted from the light emitting element 105 is detected by the light receiving element 106 when it passes through both the slits 103 a of the rotating slit plate 103 and the lattice slits 104 a of the fixed slit plate 104. When the rotary encoder rotating shaft 102 rotates to rotate the rotary slit plate 103 and the optical path is blocked between the slits of the rotary slit plate 103, the light receiving element 106 does not detect light.

  The plurality of light receiving elements 106 detect light passing through the slit 103a in different tracks. Since the shape and arrangement of the slits 103 a are different for each track, the combination of the light receiving elements 106 that receive light differs depending on the rotational position of the rotary slit plate 103. Conversely, the rotational position of the rotating drum 13 can be determined based on the combination of the light receiving elements 106 that receive light.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the light receiving element 106 of the rotary encoder 100 is electrically connected to the absolute position signal generation device 111. The absolute position signal generator 111 outputs the rotational position of the rotary drum 13 as an absolute value. The absolute position signal generation device 111 includes an A / D conversion unit 111a and an absolute position signal generation unit 111b.

  The A-D conversion unit 111a is electrically connected to the light receiving element 106 of the rotary encoder 100, converts the electrical signal output from the light receiving element 106 into a digital signal, and outputs the digital signal. That is, the light / dark information detected by the light receiving element 106 is waveform-shaped and output as a rectangular pulse signal. Thereby, the rotation position of the rotary drum 13 which is an analog amount can be converted into a digital signal.

  The absolute position signal generation unit 111b calculates the absolute position information of the rotary drum 13 based on the digital signal output from the A / D conversion unit 111a. In the absolute position signal generation unit 111b, the rotational position of the rotary drum 13 is uniquely determined from the combination of the light receiving elements 106 that receive the light from the light emitting elements 105. The rotational position of the rotary drum 13 is output to the measurement control computer 96 as binary data.

  The rotational position input to the measurement control computer 96 is processed by the CPU of the measurement control computer 96 and converted into a real value. Since the resolution of the rotary encoder 100 used in this embodiment is 16 bits, the rotational position of the rotary drum 13 is converted into numerical information from “1” to “65536”. Hereinafter, the rotational position of the rotary drum 13 is referred to as “address”. The address information is held in the storage means of the measurement control computer 96.

  The rotary encoder 100 used in this embodiment has a 16-bit resolution. That is, a change in the rotation angle of (360/65536) ° can be detected. However, the resolution of the rotary encoder used in the present invention is not limited to this, and even if the resolution is lower than 16 bits, it can be used as long as the rotational position of the rotary drum 13 can be sufficiently detected. Of course, a rotary encoder having a resolution higher than 16 bits can also be used.

The rotary encoder 100 used in the present embodiment is an optical type using an optical element. However, a magnetic material is arranged at regular intervals on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating disk, and changes in magnetism due to the rotation of the disk are detected. It may be magnetic. The rotary encoder 100 used in this embodiment employs an absolute type, but may be an incremental type that outputs a rotational position only when the rotary shaft is rotating.
However, the rotary encoder 100 is preferably an absolute type that can always detect the rotational position regardless of the presence or absence of rotation.

The measurement control computer 96 controls the measurement timing of the optical detection device 93 based on the address information generation unit that converts the rotational position detected by the rotary encoder 100 into address information, and the rotational position detected by the rotary encoder 100. A determination unit is provided. In the address information generation unit, based on the rotation position detected by the rotary encoder 100, the CPU of the measurement control computer 96 converts the rotation position into address information. The timing determination unit determines the timing for sampling the reflected light in the optical detection device 93 based on the address information generated by the address information generation unit. Specifically, a sampling start signal is generated at a predetermined address (for example, address 199), and this sampling start signal is transmitted to the optical detection device 93. When a predetermined address (for example, address 201) is reached, a sampling stop signal is generated and transmitted to the optical detection device 93.
The measurement control computer 96 corresponds to the measurement control means of the present invention.

  The optical detector 93 starts sampling the reflected light in response to the received sampling start signal. When sampling is started, the light quantity data of the reflected light received by the photodiode of the optical detection device 93 is stored in the memory. Sampling is performed in synchronization with the internal clock of the optical detection device 93 and is continued until a sampling stop signal from the measurement control computer 96 is received. When the sampling stop signal is received, the optical detection device 93 stops sampling the light amount data. Then, the B / A value is calculated by the CPU based on the integrated value of the amount of light received after the sampling start signal is received and before the sampling stop signal is received. Further, the CPU calculates the film thickness based on the actual measurement value of the B / A value.

  As described above, according to the thin film forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the timing at which the film thickness is measured by the optical detection device 93 is determined based on the rotation position detected by the rotary encoder 100. The film thickness can be measured on the substrate S at the rotational position. That is, even if the position of the substrate S fluctuates due to the rotation of the rotating drum 13, the film thickness can always be measured based on the measurement light irradiated at the same incident angle on the same position of the same substrate. Therefore, the film thickness can be accurately measured.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, the measurement control computer 96 is electrically connected to the sputtering control device 50. The sputter control device 50 includes a film thickness control signal generation unit, adjusts the film formation rate based on the film thickness data input from the measurement control computer 96, and generates a film thickness control signal for controlling the film thickness. .

Further, the sputtering control device 50 is electrically connected to a transformer 23 that supplies power to the magnetron sputtering electrodes 21 a and 21 b, and can transmit a film thickness control signal to the transformer 23. The transformer 23 that has received the film thickness control signal can adjust the amount of power supplied to the magnetron sputtering electrodes 21a and 21b in response to the film thickness control signal. As described above, in the thin film forming apparatus of this embodiment, the film forming rate, that is, the amount of the film raw material supplied to the substrate S is adjusted by controlling the transformer 23 to thereby form the thin film formed on the substrate S. The thickness can be adjusted.
Specifically, when the amount of electric power supplied to the magnetron sputtering electrodes 21a and 21b is increased, the amount of sputtering of the targets 22a and 22b increases, and the amount of film raw material adhering to the substrate S increases. Conversely, when the amount of power supplied to the magnetron sputtering electrodes 21a and 21b is reduced, the amount of sputtering of the targets 22a and 22b is reduced, and the amount of film raw material adhering to the substrate S is reduced.

Further, the sputtering control device 50 is electrically connected to the mass flow controllers 31 and 33, and can transmit a film thickness control signal to the mass flow controllers 31 and 33. The mass flow controllers 31 and 33 that have received the film thickness control signal can control the flow rate of the gas passing through the mass flow controllers 31 and 33 in response to the film thickness control signal.
Specifically, the sputtering control device 50 transmits the flow rate of the gas passing through the mass flow controllers 31 and 33 as a flow rate setting value, and stores it as a flow rate setting value in an electronic circuit in the mass flow controllers 31 and 33. The mass flow controllers 31 and 33 adjust the flow rate by opening and closing the control valve so that the flow rate of the passing gas approaches this set value. As the gas flow rate increases, the amount of sputtering gas supplied to the targets 22a and 22b increases. Therefore, since the amount of sputtering increases, the film formation rate increases and the film thickness increases. Conversely, when the gas flow rate decreases, the amount of sputtering gas supplied to the targets 22a and 22b decreases. Accordingly, since the amount of sputtering is reduced, the film formation rate is lowered.

Furthermore, the sputtering control device 50 is electrically connected to the correction plate driving motors 42a and 42b, and can transmit a film thickness control signal to the correction plate driving motors 42a and 42b. The correction plate drive motors 42a and 42b that have received the film thickness control signal can adjust the movement amounts of the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b in response to the film thickness control signal.
Specifically, when the correction plate driving motors 42a and 42b are driven so that the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b are directed toward the center of the targets 22a and 22b, the sputtering controller 50 covers the front surfaces of the targets 22a and 22b. As the areas of the thickness correction plates 41a and 41b increase, the amount of film raw material adhering to the substrate S decreases. Conversely, when the correction plate drive motors 42a and 42b are driven so that the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b are separated from the center direction of the targets 22a and 22b, the areas of the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b covering the front surfaces of the targets 22a and 22b. Decreases, and the amount of film raw material adhering to the substrate S increases. By performing such control, the film thickness formed on the substrate S can be adjusted to a desired film thickness.

  As described above, the thin film forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment adjusts the amount of power supplied to the targets 22a and 22b by the sputtering controller 50, adjusts the flow rate of the gas supplied to the target, and the film thickness correction plate. Although it is configured to be able to perform three adjustments of adjustment of the movement amount, only one of these or any two of them may be adjusted.

  In the thin film forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the timing at which the optical detection device 93 measures the film thickness is determined based on the rotational position detected by the rotary encoder 100, and thus the film thickness is accurately measured as described above. It becomes possible. Since the film formation rate is adjusted by the sputtering control device 50 based on such accurate film thickness information, the film thickness can be adjusted strictly, and an optical product having a desired film thickness can be obtained. Can do.

Next, a method for manufacturing a thin film using the thin film forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to two embodiments for manufacturing a thin film in which silicon oxide (SiO ₂ ) is laminated. The formation of the thin film is performed in the order of a step of preparing the thin film formation, a step of forming the silicon oxide thin film, and a step of finishing the thin film formation.
In the thin film forming apparatus 1 of this embodiment, silicon is used as the targets 22a and 22b, argon gas is used as the sputtering gas introduced into the film forming process region 20A, and oxygen gas is used as the reactive gas introduced into the film forming process region 20A. The oxygen gas is used as the reactive gas introduced into the reaction process region 60A.

(First embodiment)
The flow of the thin film formation processing process which concerns on 1st embodiment in this invention is shown. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a thin film forming process according to the first embodiment. In the present embodiment, the film thickness is measured for each rotation of the substrate S whose rotational position of the rotary drum 13 is at address 200. In actual measurement, the total amount of light received by the optical detection device 93 between address 199 and address 201 is acquired and used for the calculation of the film thickness.

  Step 1 (SA1) is a step of setting an address for measuring the film thickness and a film thickness at which sputtering is terminated. An operator inputs desired conditions from the keyboard of the measurement control computer 96. In the present embodiment, the film thickness is set to be measured for the substrate S whose rotational position is at the address 200. At this address 200, it has been confirmed in advance that the light reflected from the substrate to be measured is incident on the light receiving sensor head 91 in parallel. Further, the operator sets a desired film thickness after the sputtering from the keyboard. The input end film thickness is converted into a B / A value in the measurement control computer 96.

Step 2 (SA2) is a step of starting the thin film formation preparation process. First, the targets 22a and 22b are held on the magnetron sputter electrodes 21a and 21b. In the present embodiment, silicon (Si) is used as the material for the targets 22a and 22b. With the door 11C closed, the vacuum pump 15a is operated to evacuate, and the thin film forming chamber 11A is brought to a vacuum state of about 10 ⁻² Pa to 10 Pa. At this time, the valves V1, V2, and V3 are opened, and the antenna accommodating chamber 61A is exhausted at the same time.

Thereafter, the substrate holding plate 13a holding the substrate S is attached to the rotating drum 13 with the rotating drum 13 locked at the position of the load lock chamber 11B. Subsequently, the vacuum pump 15b is operated with the door 11D closed, and the load lock chamber 11B is evacuated to a vacuum state of about 10 ⁻² Pa to 10 Pa. Further, the door 11C is opened and the rotating drum 13 is moved to the thin film forming chamber 11A. After the rotary drum 13 is moved to the thin film forming chamber 11A, the door 11C is closed again. The inside of the vacuum vessel 11 and the inside of the antenna housing chamber 61A are depressurized to the above-described predetermined pressure. Thereafter, after the pressure inside the vacuum container 11 and the inside of the antenna housing chamber 61A is stabilized, the pressure in the film forming process region 20A is adjusted to 1.0 × 10 ⁻¹ Pa to 1.3 Pa.

  Step 3 (SA3) is a step for starting the rotation of the rotary drum 13. The rotation of the rotary drum 13 is started when the operator presses a drum rotation switch provided on an operation panel (not shown) of the thin film forming apparatus 1. When the drum rotation switch is pressed, the motor 17 is activated and the rotary drum 13 is rotated. Further, the rotational position (address information) of the rotary drum 13 is output from the rotary encoder 100 to the measurement control computer 96. The measurement control computer 96 also calculates the rotational speed of the rotary drum 13 based on the detected address information and the internal clock of the measurement control computer 96. When the rotation speed of the rotary drum 13 becomes substantially constant, the process proceeds to the next step.

  In the thin film forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, a thin film is formed on the surface of the substrate S in the film forming process region 20A, and an intermediate thin film is formed on the substrate surface by performing an oxidation treatment on the thin film in the subsequent reaction process region 60A. . For this reason, if the rotation of the rotary drum 13 is slow, the thin film formed in the film forming process region 20A becomes thick, and it becomes difficult to completely oxidize the film in the reaction process region 60A. There is a disadvantage that a thin film is formed.

  In the oxidation process performed in the reaction process region 60A, the thin film expands due to the oxidation reaction of the thin film. Such an increase in volume generates a compressive stress inside the thin film. When the thickness of the thin film formed in the film forming process region 20A is large, the generated thin film has a gap structure between the thin films and has a thin film structure in which silicon oxide is densely aggregated. In such a thin film, the influence of volume expansion due to the oxidation reaction in the reaction process region 60A is large. On the other hand, when the thin film formed in the film forming process region 20A is thin, the generated thin film has many gap structures formed between the thin films. When the volume expands in such a thin film, the increased volume is absorbed by the gap structure, so that compressive stress is hardly generated inside the thin film.

  Further, when the rotating drum 13 is rotating at a low speed, the rotational fluctuation is large, and it is difficult to accurately measure the film thickness and control the thin film forming process. On the other hand, when the rotational speed of the rotating drum 13 is high, the centrifugal force generated in the rotating portion of the rotating shaft is large, and a stable rotation with little shaking is obtained.

As described above, various problems occur when the rotation speed of the rotary drum 13 is low. In order to avoid such a problem, the rotation speed of the rotary drum 13 is preferably higher in the thin film forming process, and particularly preferably 20 rpm or more.
Since the thin film forming apparatus of the present invention detects the rotational position of the substrate using the rotary encoder 100 and performs thin film measurement based on this rotational position, the rotating drum 13 is rotated at such a high speed. The film thickness can be measured in real time.

Step 4 (SA4) is a step for starting light projection. In the present embodiment, since continuous light is emitted, light projection is started when an operator turns on a switch (not shown) of the light source 83. The operator does not start the projection manually. For example, when the light source 83 is electrically connected to the measurement control computer 96 and a predetermined condition is met, the projection is automatically performed according to an instruction from the measurement control computer 96. May be performed.
When the light source switch is turned on, the light source 83 emits white light by the power supplied from the power source 84. Light from the light source 83 is transmitted through the optical fiber 82 and is irradiated onto the surface of the substrate S from the end of the light projecting sensor head 81. In the present embodiment, the light projecting step is started after the drum rotating step (S3), but may be started during the drum rotating step (S3) or the thin film formation preparing step (S2).

  Step 5 (SA5) is a step in which the rotational position of the rotary drum 13 is checked to determine whether or not it is the first address. If the current address is address 1, the thin film forming process is started (step 6). If it is not the first address, the process waits without starting the thin film forming process until the first address is reached.

  Step 6 (SA6) is a step of starting the thin film forming process. The thin film forming process is performed in the film forming process region 20A and the reaction process region 60A. In the film formation process region 20A, sputtering is performed on the targets 22a and 22b, and a thin film made of silicon or an incomplete reaction product of silicon is formed on the surface of the substrate S. In the subsequent reaction process region 60A, an oxidation process is performed on the thin film formed in the film formation process region 20A, thereby forming an intermediate thin film mainly composed of a complete reaction product of silicon.

A sputtering start instruction is given from the measurement control computer 96 to the sputtering controller 50, and the thin film forming process is started. Receiving the sputtering start instruction, the sputtering control device 50 instructs the AC power supply 24 and the high frequency power supply 65 to apply an AC voltage to the transformer 23 and the matching box 64, respectively. In response to this sputtering start instruction, sputtering is started in the thin film forming apparatus 1.
Note that a shielding member is provided between the targets 22a and 22b and the substrate S and shields the front surfaces of the targets 22a and 22b. When a sputtering start instruction is given, the shielding members are placed on the front surfaces of the targets 22a and 22b. It may be configured so that the film raw material can reach the substrate S from the targets 22a and 22b.

  When an alternating electric field is applied to the targets 22a and 22b according to the sputtering start instruction, the targets 22a and 22b alternately become an anode and a cathode, and plasma is formed in the film forming process region 20A. Sputtering is performed on the targets 22a and 22b on the cathode by this plasma.

  Subsequently, as the rotary drum 13 rotates, the substrate S is transferred from a position facing the film forming process area 20A to a position facing the reaction process area 60A. Oxygen gas is introduced as a reactive gas from the reactive gas cylinder 67 into the reaction process region 60A.

In the reaction process region 60 </ b> A, a high frequency voltage of 13.56 MHz is applied to the antenna 63, and plasma is generated in the reaction process region 60 </ b> A by the plasma generating means 60. The pressure in the reaction process region 60A is preferably maintained at 0.7 × 10 ^{−1 to} 1.0 Pa. In addition, at least during the generation of plasma in the reaction process region 60A, the pressure inside the antenna accommodating chamber 61A is maintained at 10 ⁻³ Pa or less.

Then, the rotating drum 13 rotates and the substrate S on which a thin film made of silicon, incomplete silicon oxide (SiOx ₂ (0 <x ₂ <1)), or a complete oxide of silicon (SiO ₂ ) is reacted. It is conveyed to a position facing the process area 60A. In the reaction process region 60A, the step of oxidizing the silicon or incomplete silicon oxide among the film raw materials constituting the thin film by plasma treatment is performed. That is, the plasma of oxygen gas generated in the reaction process region 60A by the plasma generating means 60 causes silicon and incomplete silicon oxide to undergo an oxidation reaction to be converted into silicon complete oxide or silicon incomplete oxide.

  In the present embodiment, silicon or an incomplete oxide of silicon is oxidized in the reaction process region 60A out of the thin film formed in the film formation process region 20A, and an intermediate thin film made of only silicon complete oxide or desired An intermediate thin film having silicon (Si) or an incomplete oxide of silicon is formed at a ratio of

In the film composition conversion step in the reaction process region 60A, the film thickness of the thin film formed in the film formation process region 20A is thicker than the film thickness of the intermediate thin film obtained by film composition conversion in the reaction process region 60A. That is, expansion of the thin film by converting silicon or incomplete oxide of silicon into incomplete oxide of silicon or complete oxide of silicon among the film raw materials constituting the thin film formed in the film forming process region 20A Occurs and the film thickness is increased.
Thereafter, each time the rotary drum 13 rotates, the sputtering process in the film forming process area 20A and the oxidation process in the reaction process area 60A are repeated. Thereby, the final thin film having a desired film thickness is formed by laminating the intermediate thin film a plurality of times on the surface of the substrate.

  Step 7 (SA7) is a step of checking the current address detected by the rotary encoder 100 and determining whether or not the address is 199 (corresponding to the rotational position detecting step of the present invention). If the current address is address 199, the measurement control computer 96 transmits a light amount Rt sampling start signal to the optical detection device 93, and the process proceeds to step (S8) of starting the light amount Rt sampling (in the present invention). This corresponds to the timing determination step). If the current address is not 199, the process waits without sampling the light amount Rt until it reaches 199.

  Step 8 (SA8) is a step of sampling the light amount data of the reflected light received by the optical detection device 93. In the present embodiment, the measurement light is always applied to the surface of the substrate S, and when the measurement light is reflected by the substrate S, the optical detection device 93 always receives the reflected light. The amount of light Rt detected by the photodiode 93 c of the optical detection device 93 is sequentially stored in the memory of the optical detection device 93.

Step 9 (SA9) is a step in which the current address detected by the rotary encoder 100 is checked to determine whether the address is 201 or not. If the current address is address 201, the sampling of the light amount data is terminated, and the process proceeds to the subsequent film thickness calculation step (step S10). If the address is not 201, the sampling of the light amount data is continued. In the measurement control computer 96, the light intensity Rt is calculated by integrating the intensity of the light received between 199 and 201.
As described above, according to the thin film forming method of the present embodiment, the film thickness is always calculated based on the measurement light at the same address every rotation, so that the film thickness can be accurately acquired. Yes.

  Step 10 (SA10) is a step of performing film thickness calculation based on the light amount Rt of the measurement light received by the optical detection device 93 (corresponding to the optical measurement step of the present invention). In this step, the film thickness is calculated based on the light amount Rt obtained in the steps from Step 7 to Step 9. The method for calculating the film thickness is as already described in the description of the optical detection device 93.

  Step 11 (SA11) is a step for adjusting the film thickness. In this step, based on the film thickness information acquired in step 10, the correction plate drive motor that drives the transformer 23 of the sputtering unit 20, the mass flow controllers 31, 33 of the gas supply unit, and the film thickness correction plates 41a, 41b. The film thickness is adjusted by controlling at least one of 42a and 42b.

  That is, the measurement control computer 96 acquires the film thickness measured by the optical detection device 93 and instructs the sputtering control device 50 to adjust the film thickness based on this film thickness. Specifically, when the film thickness measured by the optical detection device 93 is smaller than the target film thickness, the measurement control computer 96 makes a thin film in the direction of increasing the film formation rate with respect to the sputtering control device 50. An instruction is given to control the forming apparatus 1. Upon receiving an instruction to increase the film formation rate, the sputtering control device 50 increases the power supplied to the magnetron sputtering electrodes 21a and 21b or controls the mass flow controllers 31 and 33 to be supplied to the film formation process region 20A. Or at least one of driving the correction plate driving motors 42a and 42b to move the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b away from the center of the target. As a result, the film formation rate is increased.

On the other hand, when the film thickness acquired by the measurement control computer 96 is thicker than the target film thickness, the measurement control computer 96 moves the thin film forming apparatus in a direction so as to decrease the film forming rate with respect to the sputtering control apparatus 50. Instruct to control 1 The sputtering control device 50 that has been instructed to decrease the deposition rate reduces the power supplied to the magnetron sputtering electrodes 21a and 21b or controls the mass flow controllers 31 and 33 to be supplied to the deposition process region 20A. Or at least one of moving the film thickness correction plates 41a and 41b toward the center of the target by driving the correction plate drive motors 42a and 42b. Reduce the deposition rate.
Thus, according to the thin film forming apparatus of the present invention, the film thickness is measured in real time while the rotating drum 13 is rotated, and the film forming rate is adjusted based on this film thickness. It is possible to manufacture an optical product having

  Step 12 (SA12) is a step of determining whether or not the current film thickness is the end film thickness set in S1. Whether the film thickness is the end film thickness is determined by comparing the film thickness measured by the optical detection device 93 with the preset end film thickness. When the measured value of the film thickness is equal to or greater than the end film thickness, the process proceeds to step 13 (S13) for determining whether or not the thin film forming process is stopped.

  In step 13 (SA13), the current address of the rotary drum 13 is checked. If the rotational position is the first address, the thin film forming process is stopped (S14). If the address is not 1, the thin film forming process is continued until the address 1 is reached, and the thin film forming process is stopped when the address 1 is reached. As a result, it is possible to stop the thin film formation process at a film thickness substantially equal to the end film thickness set by the operator, and a substrate having a desired film thickness can be obtained.

  In the present embodiment, the thin film forming process is started and stopped based on the rotational position of the rotary drum 13. That is, in step 4, the thin film forming process is started when the rotational position of the rotary drum 13 is the first address, and in step 13, the thin film forming process is stopped at the same address as the starting address. For this reason, all the substrates held on the rotating drum 13 are rotated the same number of times, and the thin film forming process is performed the same number of times for all the substrates. If the thin film forming process is stopped without strictly controlling the drum stop position, a substrate having a small number of rotations for one rotation may be generated depending on the rotation position on the drum. If the number of rotations is small for one rotation, the thin film forming process is not performed for one rotation. The difference in film thickness by one rotation is, for example, about 0.5 nm when the thin film formation rate is 0.5 nm / s and the rotation speed is 60 rpm.

  As described above, according to the thin film forming apparatus of the present embodiment, the thin film forming process is completed at the same position as the position where the thin film forming process is started. It is possible to obtain a substrate having a uniform film thickness for all the substrates.

  Step 14 (SA14) is a step of stopping the sputtering process. As described above, since the position at which the sputtering process is stopped is strictly set, there is no difference in film thickness between the substrates due to the difference in the number of rotations. To stop the sputtering process, a sputter stop instruction is sent from the measurement control computer 96 to the sputter control device 50.

  Receiving the sputtering stop instruction, the sputtering control device 50 stops the supply of power from the AC power supply 24 to the transformer 23. Further, the supply of power from the high frequency power supply 65 to the matching box 64 is stopped. As a result, both the thin film forming process in the film forming process region 20A and the oxidizing process in the reaction process region 60A are stopped, and the sputtering process is completed.

  Step 15 (SA15) is a step of stopping the light projection. In this step, the light source is stopped and the projection of the measurement light is finished. The light source 83 is stopped when the operator turns off the light source 83. This step may be performed after the next drum stop step is completed. Further, the operation for stopping the light projection may be automatically performed by a film thickness measuring device or the like instead of being manually performed by the operator.

  Step 16 (SA16) is a step of stopping the rotation of the rotary drum 13. The rotation drum 13 is stopped by the operator pressing a drum stop switch provided on the operation panel of the thin film forming apparatus 1. When the drum stop switch is pressed, the driving of the motor 17 is stopped and the rotation of the rotary drum 13 is stopped. When the drum rotation speed displayed on the measurement control computer 96 becomes 0 rpm and the rotation drum 13 is completely stopped, the next thin film formation end process is performed.

  Step 17 (SA17) is a step for performing thin film formation termination processing. When the rotation of the rotating drum 13 stops, the engagement between the rotating drum 13 and the motor 17 is released. Subsequently, the rotating drum 13 is placed on a rail provided on the lower surface of the vacuum vessel 11, and is transported from the thin film forming chamber 11A to the load lock chamber 11B. Thereafter, the door 11C is closed and the thin film forming chamber 11A is kept in a vacuum state to prepare for the next film forming process.

  Subsequently, the driving of the vacuum pump 15b provided in the load lock chamber 11B is stopped, and the inside of the load lock chamber 11B is gradually released to atmospheric pressure. A vacuum gauge (not shown) provided in the load lock chamber 11B is confirmed, and when the atmospheric pressure is reached, the door 11D is opened, and the substrate holding plate 13a is removed from the frame 13b. The substrate S is collected from the substrate holding plate 13a, and a series of thin film forming steps is completed.

  The thin film formation process according to the present embodiment has been described in detail above. In the present invention, the rotational position of the substrate S is accurately detected to measure the film thickness. For this reason, it is possible to accurately measure the film thickness in real time even when the rotating drum 13 is rotated at a rotation speed of 20 rpm or more.

(Second embodiment)
Next, the flow of the film thickness measurement process according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be shown. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of a thin film forming process according to the second embodiment. In the present embodiment, an example in which the film thickness is measured in a drum including 32 substrate holding plates 13a will be described.

As shown in FIG. 6, the optical detection device 93 of this embodiment is provided with an average value calculation unit, and the average value is calculated.
The difference between the present embodiment and the first embodiment is that, in the present embodiment, light amount data is acquired for a plurality of substrates held along the rotation direction of the rotary drum 13 and the average of the optical detection device 93 is obtained. The average value of the light amount is calculated by the value calculation unit, and this is used for the film thickness calculation. That is, in the present embodiment, first, the light amount Rt (n) is measured for each of the substrates held on the 32 substrate holding plates 13a along the rotation direction of the rotary drum 13, and a total of 32 substrates are obtained in one rotation. Measure the light intensity. Next, an average value of the light amount is obtained for the 32 substrates by an average value calculation unit. Based on this average light quantity Rave, the average film thickness is calculated. Thus, in this embodiment, since the film thickness is calculated based on data obtained from a plurality of substrates, the S / N (signal / noise) ratio is large and accurate film thickness information can be obtained.

  Step 1 (SB1) is a step of setting an address for measuring the film thickness and a film thickness for terminating the sputtering. An operator inputs desired conditions from the keyboard of the measurement control computer 96. Here, the film thickness is measured for the substrate S at address (2048 × n) (n is an integer). At the first address 2048, it is confirmed in advance that the light reflected from the substrate to be measured enters the light receiving sensor head 91 in parallel.

The rotary drum 13 has 32 substrate holding plates 13a radially attached around the rotation axis Z, and its transverse cross-sectional shape is a regular thirty square. For this reason, when the light reflected from the substrate at the address 2048 is incident on the light receiving sensor head 91 in parallel, the light reflected from the substrate is similarly applied to the light receiving sensor head 91 at the address (2048 × 2). Incident in parallel. That is, at the address (2048 × n), the light reflected from the substrate enters the light receiving sensor head 91 in parallel. As described above, in the thin film forming step in the present embodiment, when the drum rotates once, the film thickness is measured for 32 substrates provided on the circumference.
Further, the operator sets a desired film thickness after the sputtering from the keyboard. The input end film thickness is converted into a B / A value in the measurement control computer 96.

  Since Step 2 (SB2) to Step 6 (SB6) are the same processes as Step 2 (SA2) to Step 6 (SA6) in the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted here. In step 6 (SB6), the counter n is initialized immediately before starting the sputtering process.

  Step 7 (S7) is a step in which the current address detected by the rotary encoder 100 is checked to determine whether or not it is (2048 × n) -1 address (n is an integer). When the current address is (2048 × n) −1, a sampling start signal of the light amount Rt (n) is transmitted from the measurement control computer 96 to the optical detection device 93, and the light amount Rt (n) of step 8 is transmitted. The process proceeds to step 8 where sampling is started. When the current address is not (2048 × n) −1, the process waits without sampling the light amount Rt (n) until it reaches (2048 × n) −1.

  Step 8 (SB8) is a step of sampling the light amount data of the reflected light received by the optical detection device 93. In the optical detection device 93 of the present embodiment, the measurement light is always applied to the substrate, and the reflected light incident on the light receiving device side is always received by the photodiode 93c. Only the reflected light received at a predetermined timing is sampled and used for the film thickness calculation. The amount Rt (n) of the reflected light sampled and detected by the photodiode 93 c of the optical detection device 93 is sequentially stored in the memory of the optical detection device 93. Sampling is continued until a sampling end signal described later is transmitted from the measurement control computer 96.

  Step 9 (SB9) is a step in which the current address detected by the rotary encoder 100 is checked to determine whether it is (2048 × n) +1 address. If the current address is (2048 × n) +1, an instruction to end the sampling of the light amount data is transmitted from the measurement control computer 96 to the optical detection device 93, and the process proceeds to the next film thickness calculation step (step S10). If it is not (2048 × n) +1, the capturing of the light amount Rt (n) is continued. In this way, the integrated value of the amount of light Rt (n) received between the three addresses from (2048 × n) −1 to (2048 × n) +1 is calculated by the optical detection device 93. The obtained value of Rt (n) is stored in a memory or hard disk, which is a film thickness storage unit of the optical detection device 93. Each step from step 7 to step 9 corresponds to a step of determining whether or not the rotational position is a predetermined position in the present invention.

  Step 10 (SB10) is a step of incrementing the counter n. In this embodiment, the counter value is incremented every 2048 addresses. That is, the counter value increases each time a single substrate is measured.

  Step 11 (SB11) is a step of determining whether the value of the counter n is 32 or not. When n = 32, it means that the data of the light amount Rt (n) has been taken in for all the substrates for one rotation held on the rotary drum 13. In this case, the process proceeds to the next average light quantity calculation step. If the counter n is not 32, the steps 7 to 10 are continued until n reaches 32, and the light quantity Rt (n) value is stored in the memory of the measurement control computer 96.

このステップは、本発明において、光の特性値の平均値を算出する工程に該当する。また、このステップでは、カウンタｎを再び初期化する。 Step 12 (SB12) is a step of calculating the average value of the light amount Rt (n) for 32 substrates measured during one rotation of the rotary drum 13. An equation for calculating the average light amount Rave is as follows.

This step corresponds to the step of calculating the average value of the characteristic values of light in the present invention. In this step, the counter n is initialized again.

  Step 13 (SA13) is a step for calculating the film thickness. In this step, the optical detection device 93 calculates the film thickness using the average value of the light amount Rt obtained in step 12. The method for calculating the film thickness is as already described in the description of the optical detection device 93.

  For Step 14 (SB14) to Step 20 (SB20), the same processing as Step 11 (SA11) to Step 17 (SA17) in the first embodiment is performed. Therefore, the description is omitted here.

  As described above, in the thin film forming apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the light quantity values obtained from the plurality of substrates are averaged, and the film thickness is calculated based on the average value. Therefore, compared to the case where the film thickness is calculated from the amount of light obtained with one substrate, it is less susceptible to noise and a stable film thickness can be obtained.

(Third embodiment)
Subsequently, a thin film forming apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. The thin film forming apparatus of the present embodiment is a case where a local variation occurs in the film forming rate locally in the film forming process region, and as a result, a difference occurs in the film thickness of the thin film formed on the substrate. In addition, it is possible to obtain information on the difference in real time as a film thickness distribution, and further provide a substrate having a uniform film thickness by locally adjusting the film formation rate based on the film thickness distribution. It is possible.

  Such local fluctuations in the film forming rate in the film forming process region are caused by local differences in the erosion region of the target due to the non-uniform distribution of the density of the plasma generated in the vicinity of the target surface. This occurs due to factors such as a difference in the density of the sputtering gas generated near and far from the inlet of the film, or due to the fact that the film raw material adheres to the rotating drum drive mechanism in the vacuum apparatus and the rotational speed changes over time.

Below, the thin film formation apparatus of this embodiment is demonstrated. 11 is a side view of the thin film forming apparatus according to the third embodiment, FIG. 12 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the periphery of the film forming process region of the present embodiment, and FIG. 13 is from the direction of arrow B in FIG. FIG. 14 is a front view of the target as seen from the direction of arrow C in FIG. The thin film forming apparatus of this embodiment includes an optical measurement unit that can measure the film thickness on a plurality of substrates simultaneously. The optical measuring means includes a plurality of light projecting units arranged in a direction perpendicular to the rotation direction of the substrate, and a plurality of light receiving units that receive light projected from each light projecting unit and reflected from the substrate surface. It is characterized by that. Based on the reflected light received by the plurality of light receiving portions, the film forming rate is locally adjusted in the film forming process region 20A to adjust the film thickness of the thin film formed on the substrate surface.
The arrangement of the film forming process region 20A, the reaction process region 60A, and the optical measuring means 180 in the present embodiment is the same as that in the embodiment shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 11, the optical measuring means 180 of the present invention includes a light projecting sensor head 181-1 to 181-5, an optical fiber 182, a light source 183, a power source 184, and a condenser lens 185-1. 185-5, light receiving sensor heads 191-1 to 191-5, an optical fiber 192, an optical detection device 193, and a measurement control computer 196 are provided as main components. The light projecting sensor heads 181-1 to 181-5, the optical fiber 182, the light source 183, the power source 184, and the condensing lenses 185-1 to 185-5 constitute a light projecting unit. In addition, the condensing lenses 185-1 to 185-5, the light receiving sensor heads 191-1 to 191-5, the optical fiber 192, and the optical detection device 193 constitute a light receiving unit.
The difference between this embodiment and the first and second embodiments described above is that, in this embodiment, a plurality of light projecting units and a plurality of light projecting units are arranged along the rotation axis direction of the rotary drum 13 (the axial direction indicated by Z in FIG. The light receiving unit is provided.

As the light source 183, the same device as the light source 83 in the first embodiment described above can be used. An optical fiber 182 is connected to the light source 183. The optical fiber 182 is branched into a plurality of parts, and light projecting sensor heads 181-1 to 181-5 are connected to the branched ends. The light projecting sensor heads 181-1 to 181-5 have a structure in which the respective leading ends of the optical fibers 182 branched into the cylindrical member are accommodated, and are substantially perpendicular to the side surface of the rotating drum 13. It is attached to the side wall of the vacuum vessel 11 in a state of penetrating the side wall of the vacuum vessel 11. Further, the light projecting sensor head 181-1～181-5 is disposed to face the substrate _S 1 to S _5, respectively.

Light emitted from the light source 183 is incident from one end of the optical fiber 182, transmitted through the optical fiber, and emitted from the light projecting sensor heads 181-1 to 181-5 provided at the other end toward the rotary drum 13. . Measurement light emitted from the light projecting sensor heads 181-1 to 181-5 is collected by the condenser lens 185 and irradiated onto the surfaces of the substrates S _{1 to} S ₅ , respectively. Since the light emitted from the light projecting sensor heads 181-1 to 181-5 spreads at a wide angle, condensing lenses 185-1 to 185-5 are provided to converge the light.

The reflected light reflected from the substrates S _{1 to} S ₅ is converged by the condenser lenses 185-1 to 185-5, and is incident on the light receiving sensor heads 191-1 to 191-5, respectively. The ends of a plurality of optical fibers 192 are connected to the light receiving sensor heads 191-1 to 191-5. The light receiving sensor heads 191-1 to 191-5 have a structure in which the end portion of the optical fiber 192 is accommodated inside a cylindrical member, similarly to the light projecting sensor heads 181-1 to 181-5. The light projecting sensor heads 181-1 to 181-5 are adjacent to the side wall of the vacuum vessel 11 in a state of passing through the side wall of the vacuum vessel 11 so as to be vertically positioned toward the side surface of the rotary drum 13. It is attached. The other end of the optical fiber 192 is connected to the optical detection device 193. The reflected light incident on the light receiving sensor heads 191-1 to 191-5 is transmitted through the optical fiber 192 and incident on the optical detection device 193.

  The optical detection device 93 is a device that measures the intensity of light received by the plurality of light receiving sensor heads 191-1 to 191-5. The optical detection device 193 of the present embodiment includes a plurality of photodiodes that can simultaneously measure the intensity of light. The principle of measuring the film thickness based on the intensity of light received by the plurality of light receiving sensor heads 191-1 to 191-5 by the optical detection device 193 is the same as the optical detection device 93 in the first embodiment described above. Therefore, details are omitted here.

Since the optical detection device 193 can measure the film thicknesses of the plurality of substrates S _{1 to} S ₅ along the rotation axis direction of the rotary drum 13, based on the film thicknesses of the plurality of substrates, in the rotation axis direction. It is possible to acquire the difference in film thickness that occurs between the substrates along the line as information on the film thickness distribution.

Information regarding the film thickness distribution acquired by the optical detection device 193 is transmitted to the measurement control computer 196. The measurement control computer 196 can use the same device as the measurement control computer 96 in the first embodiment. The measurement control computer 196 can adjust the film thickness distribution via the sputtering control device 150 based on the film thickness distribution acquired by the optical detection device 193.
That is, the thin film forming apparatus of the present embodiment is a thin film having a uniform film thickness among a plurality of substrates by locally adjusting the film formation rate based on the film thickness distribution acquired by the optical detection device 193. Can be formed, and the film thickness distribution can have a desired variation or inclination. The means for adjusting the film formation rate will be described below.

  As shown in FIG. 12, in the film forming process region 20A of the present invention, a pair of magnetron sputtering electrodes 21a and 21b and an AC power source 24 connected via a transformer 23, as in the first embodiment, Targets 22a and 22b and gas supply means 130 are disposed. In addition, about the magnetron sputter electrodes 21a and 21b, the transformer 23, the AC power supply 24, and the targets 22a and 22b, since the same apparatus as 1st embodiment can be used, description is abbreviate | omitted.

Two types of gas supply means 130, that is, a sputtering gas supply means and a reactive gas supply means, are provided around the film forming process region 20A of the thin film forming apparatus of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 12, pipes 135a, 135c, 135d, mass flow controllers 131-1 to 131-5, 133-1 to 133-5, a sputter gas cylinder 132, A gas supply means 130 comprising a reactive gas cylinder 134 is provided. The gas supply means 130 includes a sputtering gas supply means for supplying a sputtering gas and a reactive gas supply means for supplying a reactive gas.
In this figure, the mass flow controllers 131-1 to 131-5 are the mass flow controller 131, the mass flow controllers 133-1 to 133-5 are the mass flow controller 133, and the pipes 135 a-1 to 135 a-5 are It is described as a pipe 135a.

As shown in FIG. 13, the sputter gas supply means includes a single sputter gas cylinder 132, a plurality of pipes 135a-1 to 135a-5, 135c, a pipe 135a-1 to 135a-5, and a pipe 135c. A plurality of mass flow controllers 131-1 to 131-5 that are provided and adjust the flow rate of the sputtering gas are provided as main components.
The reactive gas supply means is provided between the single reactive gas cylinder 134, the plurality of pipes 135a-1 to 135a-5, 135d, the pipes 135a-1 to 135a-5, and the pipe 135d. A plurality of mass flow controllers 133-1 to 133-5 for adjusting the flow rate of the property gas are provided as main components.
The pipes 135a-1 to 135a-5, 135c, and 135d correspond to supply paths in the present invention.

  The sputter gas cylinder 132, the reactive gas cylinder 134, and the plurality of mass flow controllers 131-1 to 131-5, 133-1 to 133-5 are all provided outside the vacuum vessel 11. In the present embodiment, a total of ten mass flow controllers, mass flow controllers 131-1 to 131-5 and 133-1 to 133-5, are provided.

The mass flow controllers 131-1 to 131-5 are respectively connected to a single sputter gas cylinder 132 that stores argon gas as an inert gas via a pipe 135c. The mass flow controllers 133-1 to 133-5 are respectively connected to a single reactive gas cylinder 134 that stores the reactive gas via a pipe 135 d.
The plurality of mass flow controllers 131-1 to 131-5 function as sputtering gas flow rate adjusting means, and the plurality of mass flow controllers 133-1 to 133-5 function as reactive gas flow rate adjusting means.

  The mass flow controller 131-1 and the mass flow controller 133-1 are connected by a Y-shaped pipe 135a-1, and one end of the Y shape of the pipe 135a-1 penetrates the side wall of the vacuum vessel 11 to form a film forming process region 20A. An inlet 135b-1 is formed at the side of the target 22b. Similarly, the mass flow controllers 131-2 to 131-5 and the mass flow controllers 133-2 to 133-5 are connected by Y-shaped pipes 135a-2 to 135a-5, respectively. Each of the pipes 135a-2 to 135a-5 penetrates the side wall of the vacuum vessel 11 and is positioned on the side of the target 22b in the film forming process region 20A to form a single inlet 135b-2 to 135b-5, respectively. ing.

The introduction ports 135b-1 to 135b-5 are respectively formed at positions of the film forming process region 20A facing the light receiving sensor heads 191-1 to 191-5 with the targets 22a and 22b interposed therebetween. That is, the inlets 135b-1 to 135b-5 are respectively formed at positions of the film forming process region 20A corresponding to the light receiving sensor heads 191-1 to 191-5 which are light receiving portions.
The gas supplied through the pipe 135a-1 is introduced into the front surfaces of the targets 22a and 22b from an inlet 135b-1 provided in the pipe 135a-1. Similarly, the gas supplied through the other pipes 135a-2 to 135a-5 is supplied to the front surfaces of the targets 22a and 22b from the inlets 135b-2 to 135b-5 formed in the respective pipes.
In the present embodiment, five pipes 135a-1 to 135a-5 and five mass flow controllers 131 and 133 are provided, but the number of these members is not limited to five, and any number may be used. It is possible to set.

  In this embodiment, the pipe for introducing the sputtering gas to the target and the pipe for introducing the reactive gas to the target are made common as the pipe 135a, and both gases are mixed in the pipe 135a and introduced as a mixed gas to the target. However, the supply path of the present invention is not limited to such a common one, and a sputter gas introduction pipe and a reactive gas introduction pipe are provided separately, and each gas is separately supplied. It is good also as a structure introduced into a target.

  The mass flow controllers 131-1 to 131-5, 133-1 to 133-5 are devices that adjust the flow rate of the gas, and include an inflow port through which the gas from the gas cylinder flows in and an outflow port through which the gas flows out to the vacuum vessel 11 side. And a sensor for detecting the mass flow rate of the gas, a control valve for adjusting the gas flow rate, a sensor for detecting the mass flow rate of the gas flowing in from the inlet, and a control valve control based on the flow rate detected by the sensor And an electronic circuit for performing the above (not shown). A desired flow rate can be set to the electronic circuit from the outside.

  The mass flow rate of the gas sent into the mass flow controllers 131-1 to 131-5, 133-1 to 133-5 from the inflow port is detected by a sensor. A control valve is provided downstream of the sensor. The control valve compares the flow rate detected by the sensor with the set reference value, and opens and closes the control valve so that the gas flow rate approaches the reference value. Then, the flow rate is controlled.

The flow rate of the inert gas from the sputtering gas cylinder 132 is adjusted by the mass flow controller 131-1, and flows into the pipe 135a-1. On the other hand, the reactive gas from the sputtering gas cylinder 132 is adjusted in flow rate by the mass flow controller 133-1 and flows into the pipe 135a-1. The mixed gas of the inert gas and the reactive gas that has flowed into the pipe 135a-1 is introduced from the introduction port 135b-1 of the pipe 135a-1 to the front surface of the target 22b disposed in the film forming process region 20A.
Similarly, a mixed gas of an inert gas whose flow rate is adjusted by the mass flow controllers 131-2 to 131-5 and a reactive gas whose flow rate is adjusted by the mass flow controllers 133-2 to 131-5 is a pipe 135a-2. Are introduced into the film forming process region 20A from the inlets 135b-2 to 135b-5.
Examples of the inert gas include argon and helium. Examples of the reactive gas include oxygen gas, nitrogen gas, fluorine gas, and ozone gas.

Next, the film thickness correcting unit 140 that is one of the features of the present embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 12, the thin film forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment further includes a film thickness correcting unit 140 having a plurality of correction pieces.
As shown in FIG. 14, flat correction pieces 141a-1 to 141a-5 are arranged in a line along the longitudinal direction of the target 22a on the front surface on the right side of the target 22a. Further, correction pieces 141b-1 to 141b-5 are arranged in a line along the longitudinal direction of the target 22b on the front surface of the left side surface of the target 22b. As shown in FIG. 12, each of the correction pieces is between the targets 22a and 22b and the rotary drum 13 and introduces inlets 135b-1 to 135b-5 (in FIG. 12, as the inlet 135b). It is disposed closer to the rotating drum 13 than shown).
In the present embodiment, a fixed film thickness correction plate 141c is disposed at a position facing the center of the targets 22a and 22b.

The correction small pieces 141a-1 to 141a-5 are disposed so as to be positioned on the front surface of the target 22a at a predetermined interval from the target 22a. The correction small pieces 141a-1 to 141a-5 are arranged in a direction parallel to the width direction of the target 22a, and have plate members that shield the film raw material flying from the target from adhering to the substrate S. Similarly, the correction small pieces 141b-1 to 141b-5 are also arranged at a predetermined distance from the target 22b so as to be positioned on the front surface of the target 22b.
A bent portion that is bent in a direction perpendicular to the plate surface is formed at an end portion of the plate member, and a helical thread groove is formed in the bent portion in a direction parallel to the plate surface. The screw grooves of spiral rods 144a-1 to 144a-5 described later are screwed into the screw grooves, respectively. Similarly, the correction small pieces 141b-1 to 141b-5 are also formed with bent portions and screw grooves, and screw grooves of spiral rods 144b-1 to 144b-5 described later are respectively screwed together.

  The correction pieces 141 a-1 to 141 a-5 and 141 b-1 to 141 b-5 are installed so as to be driven in the center direction of the targets 22 a and 22 b by the correction piece driving means attached to the vacuum vessel 11. The correction small piece driving means of this embodiment includes correction small piece drive motors 142a-1 to 142a-5, 142b-1 to 142b-5 for driving the correction small pieces 141a-1 to 141a-5, 141b-1 to 141b-5, respectively. And driving shafts 143a-1 to 143a-5, 143b-1 to 143b-5 having bevel gears, and spiral rods 144a-1 to 144a-5, 144b-1 to 144b-5 having bevel gears. Has been. The output shafts of the correction small piece drive motors 142a-1 to 142a-5, 142b-1 to 142b-5 are connected so that the axial directions thereof coincide with the driving shafts 143a-1 to 143a-5 and 143b-1 to 143b-5. As the correction small piece drive motors 142a-1 to 142a-5, 142b-1 to 142b-5 rotate, the driving shafts 143a-1 to 143a-5 and 143b-1 to 143b-5 also rotate. Move.

  Bevel gears are fixed to the tips of the driving shafts 143a-1 to 143a-5, 143b-1 to 143b-5, and the driving shafts 143a-1 to 143a-5, 143b-1 to 143b-5 are rotated. Each bevel gear rotates. The bevel gears mesh with the bevel gears of the spiral rods 144a-1 to 144a-5 and 144b-1 to 144b-5. The spiral rods 144 a-1 to 144 a-5 and 144 b-1 to 144 b-5 penetrate the wall surface of the vacuum vessel 11. The spiral rods 144a-1 to 144a-5, 144b-1 to 144b-5 are formed with screw grooves, and as described above, the screw grooves are corrected small pieces 141a-1 to 141a-5, 141b-1. ˜141b-5 are threadedly engaged with each other.

  When the rotation shafts of the correction small piece drive motors 142a-1 to 142a-5, 142b-1 to 142b-5 are rotated, the rotation is spiraled through the drive shafts 143a-1 to 143a-5, 143b-1 to 143b-5. The signals are transmitted to the bars 144a-1 to 144a-5 and 144b-1 to 144b-5. When the spiral rods 144a-1 to 144a-5 and 144b-1 to 144b-5 are rotated, the correction small pieces 141a-1 to 141a-5 and 141b-1 to 141b-5 are advanced and retracted by the rotation. When the correction pieces 141a-1 to 141a-5 and 141b-1 to 141b-5 move toward the center of the target and the area that shields the front surface of the target increases, the amount of film raw material that reaches the substrate S decreases. As a result, the film formation rate decreases. Conversely, when the correction pieces 141a-1 to 141a-5 and 141b-1 to 141b-5 move in the direction opposite to the center direction of the target and the area for shielding the front surface of the target becomes small, the film reaching the substrate S is reduced. The amount of raw material increases, and the film formation rate increases.

  The corrected small piece drive motors 142 a-1 to 142 a-5, 142 b-1 to 142 b-5 are electrically connected to the sputter control device 150 and controlled by the sputter control device 150. That is, when the sputter controller 150 instructs the corrected small piece drive motors 142a-1 to 142a-5, 142b-1 to 142b-5 to move toward the center of the target, the corrected small piece drive motors 142a-1 to 142a. -5, 142b-1 to 142b-5 rotate in one direction to move the correction small pieces 141a-1 to 141a-5 and 141b-1 to 141b-5 in the center direction of the target, respectively. On the other hand, when the sputter controller 150 instructs to move the correction small pieces 141a-1 to 141a-5, 141b-1 to 141b-5 in the direction opposite to the center direction of the target, the correction small piece drive motors 142a-1 to 142a-1 are used. 142a-5, 142b-1 to 142b-5 rotate in the opposite direction, and the correction pieces 141a-1 to 141a-5 and 141b-1 to 141b-5 are moved away from the center direction of the target, respectively. Let

  In this embodiment, a motor is used as the moving means of the correction small pieces 141a-1 to 141a-5, 141b-1 to 141b-5. However, the correction small piece driving means of the present invention uses such a motor. For example, a configuration may be adopted in which a plurality of hydraulic cylinders are provided outside the vacuum vessel 11 and each correction piece is advanced and retracted toward the center of the target by hydraulic pressure.

  The thin film forming apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a gas supply unit provided with a plurality of inlets as described above, and a film thickness correction unit including a plurality of correction pieces, and the film thickness acquired by the optical measurement unit. Based on the distribution, by adjusting the flow rate of the gas introduced from the predetermined inlet or by moving the predetermined correction piece back and forth locally, the film formation rate can be adjusted locally between the plurality of substrates. It is possible to form a thin film having a uniform film thickness. Hereinafter, a method for adjusting the film forming rate based on the film thickness distribution acquired by the optical measuring unit 180 will be described in detail.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the measurement control computer 196 is electrically connected to the sputtering control device 150. The sputter controller 150 is electrically connected to the mass flow controllers 131-1 to 131-5 and 133-1 to 133-5, and the correction small piece drive motors 142a-1 to 142a-5, 142b-1 to 142b-5. ing. The sputter control device 150 controls the mass flow controllers 131-1 to 131-5 based on the film thickness distribution acquired by the optical detection device 193, and sputters introduced from predetermined inlets 135b-1 to 135b-5. The film forming rate is locally adjusted by adjusting the gas flow rate.

More specifically, for example, when the thickness of the substrate S ₁ is thinner than the other substrate, the flow rate of sputtering gas supplied from the inlet 135b-1 that is provided at a position corresponding to the substrate S ₁ on the target front face A control signal is transmitted from the measurement control computer 196 to the sputter controller 150 so as to increase. In response to this signal, the sputtering controller 150 controls the mass flow controller 131-1 to increase the flow rate of the gas supplied to the targets 22 a and 22 b through the pipe 135 a-1. As a result, the number of sputtered atoms that collide with the targets 22a and 22b increases, and the amount of film source material knocked out of the target increases. Film raw material was beat out from the target are attached much to the substrate S _1. Therefore, the deposition rate of the substrate S ₁ is increased than the film formation rate of the other substrate.

Conversely, when the thickness of the substrate S ₁ is thicker than the other substrate, reducing the flow rate of the sputtering gas is supplied from the inlet 135b-1 that is provided at a position corresponding to the substrate S ₁ on the target front face Thus, the mass flow controller 131-1 is controlled. As a result, the number of sputtered atoms that collide with the targets 22a and 22b is reduced, and the amount of film source material knocked out of the target is reduced. Film raw material was beat out from the target are attached much to the substrate S _1. Therefore, the deposition rate of the substrate S ₁ is also lowered than the film formation rate of the other substrate.

Similarly, the film formation rate is locally adjusted by controlling the other mass flow controllers 131-2 to 131-5 based on the film thickness distribution acquired by the optical detection device 193. This makes it possible to form a thin film having a uniform film thickness on the plurality of substrates S _{1 to} S ₅ .

Note that the film thickness can be adjusted by controlling the mass flow controllers 133-1 to 133-5 to adjust the flow rate of the reactive gas supplied to the film forming process region 20 </ b> A. That is, by increasing the amount of reactive gas supplied, the film thickness is increased by generating more reactants of the film source material, and conversely, by reducing the amount of reactive gas supplied, the reactant of the film source material is increased. Therefore, the film thickness is not increased so much.
In the present embodiment, it is possible to adjust the film thickness in a complex manner by controlling not only the mass flow controllers 131-1 to 131-5 but also the mass flow controllers 133-1 to 133-5.

Further, based on the film thickness distribution acquired by the optical detection device 193, the deposition rate is locally adjusted by driving the correction small piece drive motors 142a-1 to 142a-5, 142b-1 to 142b-5. You may do it. More specifically, for example, when the thickness of the substrate S ₁ is thinner than the other substrate, by driving the correction pieces drive motor 142a-1,142b-1, provided at a position corresponding to the substrate S ₁ By moving the correction small pieces 141a-1 and 141b-1 in the opposite direction from the target center direction, the area shielding the front surface of the target is reduced. As a result, the amount of film raw material adhering to the substrate S1 from the target increases. Therefore, the deposition rate of the substrate S ₁ is increased than the film formation rate of the other substrate.

Conversely, when the thickness of the substrate _{S 1} is thicker than the other substrate, by driving the correction pieces drive motor 142a-1,142b-1, correction piece 141a provided at a position corresponding to the substrate _{S 1} The area that shields the front surface of the target is increased by moving −1, 141b-1 toward the center of the target. As a result, the amount of film raw material adhering to the substrate S1 from the target is reduced. Therefore, the deposition rate of the substrate S ₁ is also lowered than the film formation rate of the other substrate.

Similarly, based on the film thickness distribution acquired by the optical detection device 193, the other correction small piece drive motors 142a-2 to 142a-5 and 142b-2 to 142b-5 are controlled, so that the film forming rate is locally set. To adjust. This makes it possible to form a thin film having a uniform film thickness on the plurality of substrates S _{1 to} S ₅ .

In the thin film forming apparatus of the present embodiment, based on the film thickness distribution acquired by the optical detection device 193, the mass flow controllers 131-1 to 131-5 and the corrected small piece drive motors 142a-2 to 142a-5, 142b-1 to 142b. Although the film formation rate is adjusted by controlling both −5, it is possible to adjust the film formation rate by adjusting one of them.
Further, in the thin film forming apparatus of this embodiment, as the film formation rate adjusting means, the mass flow controllers 131-1 to 131-5 and the correction small piece drive motors 142a-2 to 142a-5, 141b-2 to 141b-5 are used. Although the adjustment means of a kind are provided, it is good also as a structure by providing only either one and adjusting this.

  As described above, according to the thin film forming apparatus of the present embodiment, film thickness measurement can be performed on a plurality of substrates at the same time, so that the film formation process region is caused by factors such as target erosion and rotation drum drive mechanism contamination. Even when the film forming rate fluctuates locally at 20A and as a result, a difference occurs in the film thickness of the thin film formed on the substrate, the film thickness distribution can be observed.

  Furthermore, according to the thin film forming apparatus of this embodiment, it is possible to locally adjust the film forming rate based on the measured film thickness distribution. For example, for a substrate having a lower deposition rate than other substrates, a flow rate of gas introduced from an inlet formed at a position corresponding to the substrate, or a correction piece disposed at a position corresponding to the substrate is used. By driving, the amount of film source material supplied to the substrate can be made larger than the amount of film source material supplied to another substrate. As a result, it is possible to manufacture an optical product having a thin film having a uniform film thickness on a plurality of substrates. On the contrary, it is possible to give a desired variation in film thickness to each substrate.

  As described above, the example of measuring the film thickness as the film physical property value has been described with reference to a plurality of embodiments. However, the film physical property value that can be measured based on the gist of the present invention is not limited to the film thickness, and the refractive index and extinction coefficient. Other film property values such as can be measured in real time by the same method. Then, it is possible to measure the film thickness distribution based on these film property values, or to obtain a substrate having a desired film thickness by adjusting the film formation rate.

In each of the above embodiments, the light amount is calculated from the intensity of the received light, the film thickness is calculated based on the light amount, and the film formation rate is adjusted based on the film thickness. The film physical property value is not limited to such a film thickness, and it is also possible to adjust the film formation rate based on the intensity and the amount of light received.
That is, the parameter of the present invention is not limited to parameters other than film thickness, such as light intensity, light quantity, refractive index, and extinction coefficient, as long as it is a parameter that reflects film thickness. Corresponds to physical property value.

  In each embodiment of the present invention, a reflection type measuring apparatus that detects reflected light reflected from the substrate surface is described. However, film physical property values may be measured using transmitted light that passes through the substrate. Is possible. Specifically, for example, a light receiving sensor head is arranged at a position facing the light projecting sensor head across the substrate in the rotary drum 13, and the measurement light is irradiated from the light projecting side and transmitted through the substrate. The film physical property value may be measured by detecting light on the light receiving side.

  Furthermore, in each embodiment of the present invention, the timing for sampling the light amount data measured by the optical detection device is determined based on the rotational position of the rotary drum 13, but the gist of the present invention is not limited to this, and the film Any method may be used as long as the timing of measuring the thickness is determined based on the rotational position. For example, by providing a light source with a shutter that blocks light to the optical fiber, or by providing a shutter that blocks measurement light between the projection sensor head for projection and the substrate, except for the target address The configuration is such that the measurement light is not irradiated, the measurement light is irradiated to the substrate S when the target address is reached, and the amount of reflected light at the address is detected by the optical detection device. Also good.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the sputtering process is stopped when the film thickness reaches a predetermined thickness as an embodiment for controlling the thin film forming process. As an example of controlling the thin film forming process, such a sputtering process is used. It is not limited to stopping. For example, when the thin film formed on the substrate surface has a predetermined film thickness or transmittance, the operation of the plasma generating means is stopped so that the oxidation reaction is not performed, and a large amount of silicon or incomplete silicon oxide is contained. It is also possible to intentionally form a thin film.

  As described above, in the thin film forming apparatus of the present invention, the film thickness can be accurately measured even when the rotational speed of the rotary drum 13 is high. In the thin film forming apparatus in which the intermediate thin film is formed by the thin film forming process and then the final thin film is formed by oxidation treatment, it is necessary to increase the rotation speed of the rotary drum 13, but the thin film forming apparatus of the present invention has the rotating drum. This is particularly effective for such an apparatus.

  The thin film forming apparatus of the present invention can measure the film thickness of the thin film formed on the substrate in real time with the rotating drum 13 rotated as described above. It is also possible to measure the film thickness by stopping the rotation of the drum 13. In this case, since the rotation position of the substrate can be detected by a rotary encoder, the rotary drum 13 is not carried out of the vacuum vessel 11 and is formed on the surface of the substrate while being installed inside the vacuum vessel 11. It becomes possible to measure the film thickness of the thin film.

Further, the rotational position information acquisition means is not limited to the rotary encoder, and other rotational position acquisition means may be used. For example, as shown in FIG. 15, a reflective position sensor 201 having a light projecting element and a light receiving element is installed on the side wall of the vacuum vessel 11, and a reflecting mirror 202 is provided at one place on the side surface of the rotary drum 13. Alternatively, the rotational position of the rotary drum 13 may be detected by detecting the light that is projected from and reflected back to the reflecting mirror. In this case, if a reflecting mirror is provided for each substrate holding plate that holds each substrate, it is possible to detect the rotational positions of a plurality of substrates arranged in the circumferential direction.
Further, even if a barcode or the like is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the rotary drum 13, a barcode detector is installed on the side surface of the vacuum vessel 11, and the rotational position of the rotary drum 13 is acquired by detecting the barcode. Good (not shown).

It is the fragmentary sectional view which looked at the thin film formation apparatus concerning a first embodiment from the upper surface. It is the fragmentary sectional view which looked at the thin film forming apparatus concerning a first embodiment from the side. FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the periphery of a film forming process region in FIG. It is a front view of the target seen from the arrow A direction of FIG. It is the expanded sectional view which expanded and showed the reaction process area | region periphery of FIG. It is a functional block diagram of the thin film forming apparatus which concerns on 1st and 2nd embodiment. It is a perspective fragmentary sectional view of a rotary encoder. It is a flowchart which shows the thin film formation process process which concerns on 1st embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the relationship between an optical film thickness and a relative light quantity. It is a flowchart which shows the thin film formation process process which concerns on 2nd embodiment. It is a side view of the thin film forming apparatus which concerns on 3rd embodiment. It is the expanded sectional view which expanded and showed the film-forming process field periphery of a third embodiment. It is a front view of the target seen from the arrow B direction of FIG. It is a front view of the target seen from the arrow C direction of FIG. It is the fragmentary sectional view which looked at the thin film formation apparatus concerning the modification of the present invention from the side. It is explanatory drawing explaining the subject at the time of measuring a film thickness with the conventional film thickness measuring apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Thin film forming apparatus 11 Vacuum container 11a Opening 11A Thin film forming chamber 11B Load lock chamber 11C Door 11D Door 12 Partition wall 13 Rotating drum (base holding means)
13a Substrate holding plate 13b Frame 13c Fastener 14 Partition wall 15a Vacuum pump 15b Vacuum pump 16a-1 Piping 16a-2 Piping 16b Piping 17 Motor 18a Motor rotating shaft (rotating shaft)
18b Drum rotation axis (rotation axis)
20 Sputtering means 20A Deposition process region 21a Magnetron sputtering electrode (sputtering electrode)
21b Magnetron sputtering electrode (sputtering electrode)
22a target 22b target 23 transformer (power control means)
24 AC power supply 30 Gas supply means 31 Mass flow controller (flow rate adjustment means)
32 Sputter gas cylinder (gas storage means)
33 Mass flow controller (flow rate adjusting means)
34 Reactive gas cylinder (gas storage means)
35a Piping (gas supply path)
35b Inlet 35c Piping (gas supply path)
35d piping (gas supply path)
40 Film thickness correcting means 41a Film thickness correcting plate (correcting member)
41b Film thickness correction plate (correction member)
41c Film thickness correction plate 42a Correction plate drive motor (correction member moving means)
42b Correction plate drive motor (correction member moving means)
43a prime shaft 43b prime shaft 44a spiral rod 44b spiral rod 45a stopper 45b stopper 50 sputter controller 60 plasma generating means 60A reaction process region 61 case body 61A antenna housing chamber 62 dielectric plate 63 antenna 64 matching box 65 high frequency power supply 66 mass flow controller 67 Reactive gas cylinder 68 Piping 80 Optical measuring means 81 Light emitting sensor head 82 Optical fiber 83 Light source 84 Power supply 85 Condensing lens 91 Light receiving sensor head 92 Optical fiber 93 Optical detector 93a Collimator 93b Greating 93c Photodiode 93d A- D converter 96 Measurement control computer (measurement control means)
100 Rotary encoder (rotation position detection means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Housing 101a Fixed member 102 Rotary encoder rotating shaft 103 Rotary slit plate 103a Slit 104 Fixed slit plate 104a Lattice slit 105 Light emitting element 106 Light receiving element 110 Coupling 111 Absolute position signal generation device (measurement control means)
111a A-D converter 111b Absolute position signal generator 130 Gas supply means 131, 131-1 to 131-5 Mass flow controller (flow rate adjusting means)
132 Sputter gas cylinder (gas storage means)
133, 133-1 to 133-5 Mass flow controller (flow rate adjusting means)
134 Reactive gas cylinder (gas storage means)
135a, 135a-1 to 135a-5 Piping (gas supply path)
135b, 135b-1 to 135b-5 Inlet 135c Piping (gas supply path)
135d Piping (gas supply path)
140 Film thickness correction means 141a, 141a-1 to 141a-5 Correction small piece 141b, 141b-1 to 141b-5 Correction small piece 141c Film thickness correction plate 142a, 142a-1 to 142a-5 Correction small piece drive motor (correction small piece drive means )
142b, 142b-1 to 142b-5 correction small piece drive motor (correction small piece drive means)
143a, 143a-1 to 143a-5 prime shafts 143b, 143b-1 to 143b-5 prime shafts 144a, 144a-1 to 144a-5 Spiral rods 144b, 144b-1 to 144b-5 Spiral rod 150 Sputter control device 180 Optical Measuring means 181-1 to 181-5 Projection sensor head 182 Optical fiber 183 Light source 184 Power supply 185-1 to 185-5 Condensing lens 191-1 to 191-5 Light receiving sensor head 192 Optical fiber 193 Optical detector 196 Measurement control computer 201 Reflective position sensor 202 Reflector S Substrate (base)
S ₁ substrate (base)
S ₂ substrate (substrate)
S ₃ substrate (base)
S ₄ substrate (base)
S ₅ substrate (substrate)
V1 Valve V2 Valve V3 Valve Z Rotation axis

Claims (17)

A vacuum vessel, a substrate holding unit that is installed inside the vacuum vessel and holds the substrate, a sputtering unit that sputters a target to form a thin film on the substrate, and a gas supply unit that supplies a gas to the target. A thin film forming apparatus comprising:
Rotational position detecting means for detecting the rotational position of the substrate;
Optical measuring means for measuring film physical properties of a thin film formed on the substrate;
Measurement control means for controlling the timing of measuring the film physical property value by the optical measurement means based on the rotational position;
A thin film forming apparatus comprising:   The optical measurement means further includes an average value calculation unit that measures the film physical property values of the thin films formed on the plurality of substrates held along the rotation direction of the substrate holding means and calculates the average value. The thin film forming apparatus according to claim 1. The gas supply means includes
Gas storage means for storing gas; and
A gas supply path for supplying the gas in the gas storage means toward the target;
A flow rate adjusting means for adjusting a flow rate of the gas supplied to the target based on the film property value or the average value measured by the optical measuring means;
The thin film forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: The sputtering means includes
Target,
A sputter electrode for holding the target and supplying power;
A power source for supplying power to the sputter electrode;
Power adjusting means for adjusting the amount of power supplied to the target based on the film property value or the average value measured by the optical measuring means;
The thin film forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: The thin film forming apparatus further includes a film thickness correcting means for adjusting an amount of a film raw material supplied from the target to the substrate,
The film thickness correcting means includes
A correction member disposed between the target and the substrate;
Based on the film property value or the average value measured by the optical measuring means, a position for preventing movement of the film raw material between the target and the substrate and a position for preventing movement of the film raw material Correction member driving means for moving the correction member forward and backward between the correction member, and
5. The thin film forming apparatus according to claim 1, comprising: A vacuum vessel, a substrate holding means installed inside the vacuum vessel to hold the substrate, a target for supplying a film raw material to the substrate, a sputtering means for supplying power to the target, and a gas to the target A thin film forming apparatus comprising:
Rotational position detecting means for detecting the rotational position of the substrate;
A plurality of optical measuring means for measuring the physical property values of the thin films formed on the plurality of bases arranged in the rotation axis direction of the substrate holding means and held along the rotation axis direction;
Measurement control means for controlling the timing of measuring the film physical property value by the optical measurement means based on the rotational position;
A thin film forming apparatus comprising:   The optical measurement means further includes an average value calculation unit that measures the film physical property values of the thin films formed on the plurality of substrates held along the rotation direction of the substrate holding means and calculates the average value. The thin film forming apparatus according to claim 6. The gas supply means includes
Gas storage means for storing gas; and
A gas supply path connected to the gas storage means and supplying gas to the target through a plurality of inlets formed at positions corresponding to the plurality of optical measurement means;
Based on the film property value or average value measured by the optical measuring means, a flow rate adjusting means for independently adjusting the flow rate of the gas supplied to the target for each of the plurality of inlets;
The thin film forming apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, further comprising: The thin film forming apparatus further includes a film thickness correcting means for adjusting an amount of a film raw material supplied from the target to the substrate,
The film thickness correcting means includes
A plurality of correction pieces disposed between the target and the substrate;
Based on the film physical property value or the average value measured by the optical measuring means, between the position where the movement of the film raw material between the target and the substrate is blocked and the position where the movement of the film raw material is not blocked. A plurality of correction member moving means for moving the plurality of correction pieces in a freely reciprocating manner;
The thin film forming apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:   The thin film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rotational position detecting unit includes at least a rotary encoder.   The thin film forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the rotary encoder is provided on a rotation shaft of the base body holding unit.   The thin film forming apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the rotary encoder is an absolute type. A thin film forming method for forming a thin film on a rotating substrate held by a substrate holding means by sputtering a target,
A rotational position detecting step for detecting the rotational position of the substrate;
A timing determining step for determining a timing for measuring the film physical property value based on the rotational position;
An optical measurement step for measuring film physical properties based on the timing determined in the timing determination step;
A thin film forming method comprising:   The thin film forming method according to claim 13, wherein the optical measurement step further includes an average value calculation step of calculating an average value of the film physical property values.   The thin film forming step further includes a film thickness adjusting step of adjusting a film thickness of the thin film formed on the substrate based on the film physical property value or the average value measured in the optical measuring step. The thin film forming method according to claim 13 or 14. A thin film forming method for forming a thin film by supplying a film raw material from a target toward a rotating substrate held by a substrate holding means,
A rotational position detecting step for detecting the rotational position of the substrate;
A timing determining step for determining a timing for measuring the film physical property value based on the rotational position;
According to the timing, an optical measurement step of starting measurement of film physical property values at a plurality of positions in the rotation axis direction of the substrate holding means;
A film thickness distribution adjusting step for adjusting the film thickness distribution of the thin film formed on the substrate based on the film property values measured at the plurality of positions;
A thin film forming method comprising:   The thin film forming method according to claim 16, wherein the optical measurement step further includes an average value calculation step of calculating an average value of the film physical property values.

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