JP2007239071A - Vacuum vapor deposition apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily realize a thick vapor deposition film, a multi-layered structure, and a large vapor deposition area, and to easily control the temperature of an evaporation source when depositing a layer of a radial image converter by a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: First evaporation cells 14a which are respectively arranged on four parts Pa facing each vicinity of four corners of a vapor deposition area 12, and second evaporation cells 14b, 14c arrayed at the equal spacing on the parallel lines including the position of each first evaporation cell 14a are provided on an evaporation source table 13 arranged in the same plane facing the vapor deposition area 12. Evaporation cells are dispersively arranged on every arrangement position Pa of the evaporation sources for obtaining the most uniform vapor deposition film to the vapor deposition area 12, and vapor deposition is simultaneously performed by using the plurality of evaporation cells. The evaporation source tables 13 are moved along a guide rail 19, and the evaporation cells 14 arranged on the evaporation source table are successively fed to the arrangement positions Pa of the evaporation sources to perform the multi-layered vapor deposition. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vacuum evaporation apparatus for evaporating a film forming material by heating and evaporating it on a substrate in a vacuum evaporation tank.

  An apparatus for depositing a film forming material on a substrate by vacuum deposition is used in various fields, but in recent years, a radiation solid state detector using a photoconductor sensitive to radiation such as X-rays has been used for medical radiography. As a result, vacuum detectors were used to manufacture the detector.

  This radiation solid detector uses a photoconductor sensitive to radiation, such as selenium, as a photoconductor to reduce the radiation exposure received by the subject and improve diagnostic performance. The charge is accumulated in the charge accumulation layer, and the charge is electrically read out. This type of radiation solid state detector has been patented and widely known for several years. For example, in Patent Document 1, a multilayer structure using a plurality of materials is used to improve the response and reading efficiency of the detector. Radiation image detectors have been proposed. This includes a first electrode layer that is transmissive to recording radiation or light emitted by radiation excitation, and a recording photoconductivity that exhibits conductivity when irradiated with the recording radiation or the light. A recording photoconductive layer that exhibits conductivity when irradiated with an electromagnetic wave for reading, and a second electrode layer that is transparent to the electromagnetic wave for reading in this order. A conductive member for outputting an electrical signal of a level corresponding to the amount of latent image charge accumulated in the power storage unit formed between the layer and the reading photoconductive layer is provided in the second electrode layer or the first electrode layer. It is provided between the electrode layer and the second electrode layer, and is formed by forming a large number of layers on the substrate.

  In order to manufacture such a radiation solid detector formed by depositing a large number of various layers of materials on a substrate, a multilayer film forming apparatus is required. As a multilayer film forming apparatus, for example, as shown in Patent Document 2, a plurality of small second rotary tables are provided on the same circumference around the rotation axis of a large first rotary table. There is known a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus that sequentially moves a plurality of evaporation cells arranged on a second rotary table to an evaporation position by a combination of rotations of a first rotary table and a second rotary table. This device can be equipped with a number of evaporation cells that can handle a large number of evaporation materials so that all evaporation processes can be completed while maintaining a vacuum state. Suitable for multilayer film formation.

Patent Document 3 describes a multilayer film forming apparatus that performs deposition while rotating a large area substrate at a fixed position and moving a plurality of evaporation sources in parallel therewith.
JP 2000-284056 A Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-30155 JP 2004-353030 A

  By the way, in chest X-ray examinations and the like, it is desired to capture a wide range of images at once using a large radiation image conversion panel. Furthermore, in order to increase the quantum efficiency with respect to radiation and increase the sensitivity of the radiation detector, it is desired to increase the thickness of the radiation image conversion layer. Therefore, in order to manufacture a large radiation image conversion panel used for chest X-ray examination or the like, it is necessary to deposit a large number of film forming materials on a large substrate such as 17 inches, for example. The amount of film forming material used for the process is greatly increased as compared with the prior art. As described above, in a multilayer film forming apparatus for manufacturing a large radiation image conversion panel, it is required to perform a vapor deposition process using a large amount of various kinds of vapor deposition materials.

  However, the conventional multilayer film forming apparatus described in Patent Document 2 has a structure in which all film forming materials are arranged only on one evaporation source table, so that the vapor deposition film is thickened and the vapor deposition area is large. In order to cope with the amount and number of evaporation sources that have increased in quantity due to the increase in size, there is a problem that the evaporation source table is enlarged and the installation space of the entire apparatus becomes very large. This is because if a plurality of evaporation cells are arranged adjacent to each other, the adjacent evaporation cells interfere with each other and the purity of the deposited film is impaired. It is necessary to arrange.

  In general, when vapor deposition is performed on a large-area substrate, the influence of the film thickness distribution that appears radially from the evaporation source is increased, and the uniformity of the film is more easily impaired than when vapor deposition is performed on a small-area substrate.

  In the conventional apparatus described in Patent Document 2, vapor deposition is performed using one evaporation source at a time. Therefore, in order to form a uniform film over the entire large substrate surface, it is necessary to rotate or linearly move the substrate. The temperature control of the substrate is not easy. In particular, the thicker the deposited film, the higher the temperature of the substrate, and the properties of the deposited film tend to become non-uniform, and it is extremely difficult to perform precise temperature control while moving the substrate. In this type of radiation detector, uniformity is an extremely important characteristic in order to improve the diagnostic performance of medical images used for diagnosis, and film thickness uniformity is impaired if temperature control during deposition is not sufficient. As a result, the image quality is lowered and the diagnostic performance is lowered.

  In addition, in the heat evaporation of the evaporation source, generally, the evaporation cell container is heated to melt and evaporate the film forming material in the container, but when the temperature inside the solution becomes higher than the melt surface of the film forming material, The occurrence of bumping causes fluctuations on the evaporation surface and causes defects on the evaporation surface. Therefore, temperature control of the film forming material and the evaporation cell is extremely important. However, in the above conventional apparatus, since evaporation is performed using one evaporation source at a time, the evaporation cell increases in proportion to the increase in the thickness of the evaporation film and the increase in the evaporation area. Temperature control of the membrane material becomes even more difficult.

  In addition, since the apparatus of Patent Document 3 performs vapor deposition using a plurality of evaporation sources at the same time, vapor deposition onto a large area substrate is possible, but the temperature adjustment is still difficult because the evaporation source moves. Moreover, since many kinds of vapor deposition materials cannot be arranged, it is not suitable for many kinds of vapor deposition.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus that easily achieves thickening of various types of vapor deposition layers and an increase in vapor deposition area in a radiation image converter, and also enables space saving of the apparatus. It is intended to do.

  The vacuum vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention is a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus that heats and evaporates the film forming material in the evaporation cell in a vacuum deposition tank and deposits it on the substrate disposed in the vapor deposition area, the same surface facing the vapor deposition area 4 first evaporation cells respectively arranged at positions facing the four corners of the vapor deposition area and four parallel straight lines including the positions of the respective first evaporation cells at equal intervals. An evaporation source table in which one or more second evaporation cells arranged are arranged is provided, and a guide is provided so that the evaporation source table can be moved in the linear direction. Is.

  Also, by moving the evaporation source table along the guide, the evaporation cell used as the evaporation source can be moved to the predetermined position.

Here, “positions facing the periphery of the four corners of the vapor deposition area in the same plane facing the vapor deposition area” means an evaporation source that can obtain the most uniform vapor deposition film by simultaneously using a plurality of vapor deposition sources for the vapor deposition area. It means a position opposite to the arrangement position. Also, “arranged at equal intervals” means that each of the four straight lines in which the first evaporation cell and the second evaporation cell are arranged This means that the corresponding evaporation cells on a straight line are arranged at equal intervals. That is, when the evaporation source table is moved, the corresponding evaporation cells on each straight line are always arranged so as to be moved to the “positions facing the four corners of the vapor deposition area”. However, the interval between the plurality of evaporation cells arranged on one straight line may not be constant.

  Moreover, it is desirable that the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention further includes an entry / exit means for taking the evaporation source table in and out of the vapor deposition tank.

  In the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention, it is desirable that the above-mentioned entry / exit means is for taking in and out the evaporation source table from the vapor deposition tank along the guide.

  According to the vacuum deposition apparatus of the present invention, the first evaporation cell disposed at positions facing the periphery of the four corners of the vapor deposition area in the same plane facing the vapor deposition area, and the position of each first vaporization cell are included. Since the evaporation source table is provided with one or more second evaporation cells arranged at equal intervals on four parallel straight lines, a plurality of evaporation sources can be used simultaneously while stationary This makes it possible to form a uniform vapor deposition film on a large-area substrate, so that the generation of bumps and fluctuations of the evaporation surface caused by moving the evaporation cell can be greatly reduced, and the evaporation cell and evaporation cell The temperature of the film forming material inside can be easily adjusted.

  In addition, by including a guide installed so that the evaporation source table can be moved in four parallel linear directions including the position of each of the first evaporation cells, by moving the evaporation source table along the guide, Since vapor deposition can be performed by sequentially moving the plurality of evaporation cells to the vapor deposition position, it is possible to finish the vapor deposition treatment of all the various kinds of vapor deposition materials according to a desired vapor deposition treatment while maintaining the vacuum.

  In addition, if the evaporating source table is further provided with an entry / exit means for taking the evaporating source table out and in, the replenishment of the film forming material and the maintainability of the evaporating source are improved. The more materials used, and the thicker the film to be deposited, the more deposited or melted film material that accumulates around the evaporation cell during deposition. Can always be performed with high purity.

  Further, when the evaporation source table can be taken in and out of the vapor deposition tank along the guide, it is not necessary to provide a new means for taking in and out, and the apparatus becomes simple and easy to use.

  Hereinafter, a first embodiment of a vacuum evaporation apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus shown in FIG.

  In the vacuum deposition apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, a plurality of evaporation cells 14, 14 in a vacuum deposition tank 11, and the film forming material 15 therein are evaporated by heating and deposited on a substrate 12 a disposed in a deposition area 12. The first evaporation cells 14a arranged at four locations Pa facing the vicinity of the four corners of the vapor deposition area 12 and the parallel lines including the positions of the first evaporation cells 14a are arranged at equal intervals. The second evaporation cells 14 b and 14 c are provided on an evaporation source table disposed in the same plane facing the vapor deposition area 12.

  The arrangement position Pa of the evaporation source in the evaporation source table 13 arranged in the same plane facing the vapor deposition area 12 was obtained by a method such as numerical calculation so that the most uniform vapor deposition film was obtained with respect to the vapor deposition area 12. Although it is an arrangement position, the number and position of the optimum arrangement positions of the evaporation source differ depending on conditions such as the size and shape of the vapor deposition area 12 and the distance from the vapor deposition source to the vapor deposition area. As shown in FIG. 1, there are four locations Pa near the four corners of the vapor deposition area 12, as shown in FIG. 1.

  A pair of guide rails 19, 19 are provided below the evaporation source table 13, and moving means is provided so that the evaporation source table 13 can reciprocate along the guide rails 19, 19. FIG. 3 is a side view showing the moving means of the evaporation source table 13 as seen from the direction A of FIG. 1 as an example. This moving means is provided with connecting portions 17 at a total of four locations near the respective guide rails 19 in the lower part of the evaporation source table 13 and along the guide rails 19 on both side surfaces of each connecting portion 17. Two pairs of rolling wheels 18 and 18 are attached, and the evaporation source table 13 can be reciprocated along the guide rails 19 and 19.

  With the above configuration, during vapor deposition, the evaporation source table 13 is moved along the guide rail by a driving means (not shown) with respect to the substrate 12a that is stationary or rotates in the same plane, and the evaporation source table 13 The four first evaporation cells 14a used as the first evaporation source among the twelve evaporation cells 14 arranged in (1) are moved to the arrangement position Pa, stopped, and the first evaporation material is deposited. Next, the evaporation source table 13 is moved in the A direction until the second evaporation cell 14b adjacent to the first evaporation cell 14a reaches the arrangement position Pa, and is stopped to deposit the second evaporation material. In this manner, by sequentially moving the evaporation source table 13 in the A direction, a plurality of evaporation cells arranged on the evaporation source table 13 according to a desired vapor deposition process while maintaining the vacuum state of the vapor deposition tank 11. It is possible to perform a continuous film forming process on all of one or more kinds of film forming materials in the film 14. In this embodiment in which twelve evaporation cells 14 are arranged on the evaporation source table 13, four evaporation cells 14 are used at a time, so that a film can be formed using a maximum of three types of film forming materials 15. .

  Further, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIGS. 1 and 2, the evaporation means table 13 can be taken in and out of the evaporation tank 11 along the guide rail 19 by the moving means. Maintenance can be facilitated.

  In addition, although the vapor deposition area 12 made into object in the said 1st Embodiment is a rectangle close | similar to a square like illustration, this may be a square. In particular, in the case of a square shape, it is possible to form a film with a favorable uniform film thickness by disposing the four evaporation cells 14 at equal positions near the four corners, that is, the apexes of the vapor deposition area 12.

  Next, a second embodiment of the vacuum evaporation apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view of a vacuum deposition apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  In this embodiment, a plurality of evaporation cells 24, 24 in a vacuum deposition tank 21, and a film deposition material 25 in the vacuum evaporation apparatus 20 are heated and evaporated to deposit on a substrate 22 a disposed in a deposition area 22. The first evaporation cells 24a respectively disposed at four positions Pb facing the vicinity of the four corners of the vapor deposition area 22 and the parallel lines including the positions of the first evaporation cells 24a are arranged at equal intervals. The second evaporation cells 24 b, 24 c, 24 d, and 24 e are provided on the evaporation source table 23 disposed on the same plane facing the vapor deposition area 12.

  The evaporation source arrangement position Pb in the evaporation source table 23 arranged in the same plane facing the vapor deposition area 22 is obtained by using a plurality of evaporation sources simultaneously with respect to the vapor deposition area 22 to obtain the most uniform vapor deposition film. In this embodiment, since the four parallel straight lines including the respective evaporation source placement positions Pb are set so as not to overlap each other, the evaporation cells on the other straight lines are arranged. Therefore, only the evaporation cells used at one of the four positions Vb of the evaporation source can be arranged in the space on the straight line.

  Further, a pair of guide rails 29 and 29 are provided below the evaporation source table 23, and moving means is provided so that the evaporation source table 23 can reciprocate along the guide rails 29 and 29. is there.

  With the above-described configuration, during evaporation, the evaporation source table 23 is moved along the guide rails 29 and 29 by driving means (not shown) with respect to the substrate 22 that is stationary or rotates in the same plane, and the evaporation source Of the 20 evaporation cells 24 arranged on the table 23, four evaporation cells used as evaporation sources can be sequentially moved to the arrangement position Pa, and the vacuum state of the vapor deposition tank 21 is maintained. Depending on the desired vapor deposition process, it is possible to perform a continuous film deposition process on all of one or more film deposition materials in the plurality of evaporation cells 24 arranged on the evaporation source table 23. In this embodiment in which twelve evaporation cells 24 are arranged on the evaporation source table 23, four evaporation cells 24 are used at a time, so that film formation can be performed using a maximum of five kinds of film forming materials 25. .

  In addition, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 4, the evaporation means table 23 can be taken in and out of the evaporation tank 21 along the guide rail 29 by the moving means, and the evaporation source or the evaporation source table can be maintained. Can be easily.

  Next, a third embodiment of the vacuum evaporation apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a plan view of a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

  In the present embodiment, a plurality of evaporation cells 34, 34, and the film forming material 35 in the evaporation tank 31 in a vacuum state are heated and evaporated to be deposited on a substrate 32 a disposed in a rectangular deposition area 32. , The first evaporation cells 34a respectively disposed at the two positions Pc facing the vicinity of both ends of the vapor deposition area 32 and the parallel lines including the positions of the first evaporation cells 34a are arranged at equal intervals. The second evaporation cells 34 b and 34 c thus obtained are provided on an evaporation source table disposed on the same plane facing the substrate 32.

  The arrangement position Pc of the evaporation source in the evaporation source table 33 arranged in the same plane facing the vapor deposition area 32 is obtained by a method such as numerical calculation so that the most uniform vapor deposition film can be obtained with respect to the vapor deposition area 32. As shown in FIG. 5, the evaporation source arrangement position Pc, which is the arrangement position and is obtained by numerical calculation for the relatively elongated rectangular vapor deposition area 32 of the present embodiment, is two. It is a place.

  Further, a pair of guide rails 39, 39 are provided below the evaporation source table 33, and moving means is provided so that the evaporation source table 33 can reciprocate along the guide rails 39, 39. is there.

  With the above configuration, during vapor deposition, the evaporation source table 33 is moved along the guide rail by a driving means (not shown) with respect to the substrate 32 that is stationary or rotates in the same plane, and the evaporation source table 33 is It is possible to sequentially move two evaporation cells used as the evaporation source among the six evaporation cells 34 arranged at the position to the arrangement position Pc, and the desired vapor deposition while maintaining the vacuum state of the vapor deposition tank 31. Depending on the process, it is possible to perform a continuous film formation process on all of one or more film formation materials in the plurality of evaporation cells 34 arranged on the evaporation source table 33. In this embodiment in which six evaporation cells 34 are arranged on the evaporation source table 33, two evaporation cells 34 are used at a time, so that film formation can be performed using a maximum of three kinds of film formation materials 35. .

  Further, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 5, it is possible to move the evaporation source table 33 in and out of the vapor deposition tank 31 along the guide rail 39 by the moving means, and the evaporation source or the evaporation source table can be maintained. Can be easily.

  In each of the above embodiments, when performing a multi-layer deposition process in which a plurality of evaporation cells on the evaporation source table are continuously used, the evaporation cells arranged on the evaporation source tables 13, 23, 33 used for the deposition process. There is no restriction | limiting in particular in the order used for the number of 14,24,34, the combination of a magnitude | size, and vapor deposition.

  Moreover, although the board | substrates 12a, 22a, 32a distribute | arranged to each vapor deposition area 12, 22, 32 are provided so that it may correspond with vapor deposition area 12, 22, 32, this is each vapor deposition from which a uniform vapor deposition film is obtained. Any shape such as a circle may be used as long as it fits within the same plane of the areas 12, 22, and 32.

The top view of the vacuum evaporation system of 1st Embodiment by this invention The front view which shows schematic structure of the vacuum evaporation system shown in FIG. The side view which shows the moving means of the evaporation source table seen from A direction of FIG. The top view of the vacuum evaporation system of 2nd Embodiment by this invention The top view of the vacuum evaporation system of 3rd Embodiment by this invention

Explanation of symbols

10, 20, 30 Vacuum deposition apparatus 11, 21, 31 Deposition tank 12, 22, 32 Deposition area 12a, 22a, 32a Substrate 13, 23, 33 Evaporation source table 14, 24, 34 Evaporation cell 15, 25, 35 Film formation Material 19, 29, 39 Guide rail (guide)
Pa, Pb, Pc Evaporation source location

Claims (3)

A vacuum deposition apparatus for evaporating a film forming material in an evaporation cell in a vacuum deposition tank by heating and evaporating it on a substrate disposed in a deposition area,
Four first evaporation cells arranged at positions facing the periphery of the four corners of the vapor deposition area in the same plane facing the vapor deposition area, and four parallel cells including the positions of the first vaporization cells. An evaporation source table in which one or more second evaporation cells arranged at equal intervals on a straight line are arranged;
A vacuum deposition apparatus comprising: a guide installed so as to move the evaporation source table in the linear direction.   2. The vacuum vapor deposition apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an entry / exit means for taking in and out the evaporation source table from a vacuum chamber.   The vacuum deposition apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the access means is configured to take in and out the evaporation source table from the deposition tank along the guide.

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