JP2008274356A - Vapor deposition system, and method for feeding vapor deposition material - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vapor deposition system and a method for feeding vapor deposition materials for particularly feeding pellet-shaped vapor deposition materials to a storage part therefor by dropping, where the feeding is efficiently performed without clogging the fed vapor deposition materials inside a feed tube. <P>SOLUTION: In the vapor deposition system 1 comprising a storage part 7a where vapor deposition materials 23 are stored and a feeding means 9 feeding the vapor deposition materials to the storage part, the feeding means includes: a hopper part 31 provided at the upper part than the storage part and storing a plurality of vapor deposition materials having prescribed shape; a delivery means 32 dropping the vapor deposition materials from the hopper part; guiding parts 33, 41 guiding the dropped vapor deposition materials to the storage part side through the opening part 41a opened to the side part; and a cover part 42 capable of opening/closing the opening part in the guide parts and whose upper part is pivoted to the upper position of the opening part, and the cover part closes the opening part by gravity in an ordinary state and is opened by the dropping energy of the vapor deposition materials when the dropped vapor deposition materials are abutted against the cover part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vapor deposition apparatus and a vapor deposition material supply method, and more particularly, to a vapor deposition apparatus and a vapor deposition material supply method capable of supplying vapor deposition material into a crucible during vapor deposition.

In general, the vapor deposition method is a method in which a vapor deposition material accommodated in a crucible is heated and evaporated in a vacuum chamber, and the evaporated vapor deposition material is attached to a substrate or the like. Widely used as a method.
As a vapor deposition method, there are a resistance heating method, an induction heating method, an electron beam heating method, and the like, for example, in the case of a magnetic tape, when vapor-depositing a high melting point material such as cobalt or a cobalt alloy on a tape-like or film-like substrate, Usually, an electron beam heating method capable of high output heating is used.

In the case of a magnetic tape, usually, in order to improve productivity, a base film having a width of 0.3 m to 1 m and a length of 20 km or more, corresponding to a plurality of magnetic tapes, is successively successively provided in the transport direction. Although vapor deposition is performed, since this vapor deposition takes a long time of several hours, the vapor deposition material in the crucible is insufficient during vapor deposition only with the vapor deposition material previously stored in the crucible.
Therefore, it is necessary to newly supply a vapor deposition material into the crucible during vapor deposition.

  As a method of supplying the vapor deposition material, a method of providing a plurality of crucibles in a vacuum chamber, a method of continuously supplying a wire or rod-shaped vapor deposition material into the crucible, and a pellet-shaped vapor deposition material intermittently in the crucible. There is a method of dropping and supplying.

The method of providing a plurality of crucibles in a vacuum chamber requires a space for arranging the plurality of crucibles in the vacuum chamber, and a moving means for moving a new crucible to a position where an electron beam is irradiated each time the crucible is replaced. Therefore, the vapor deposition apparatus becomes larger and its mechanism becomes complicated, so that the equipment cost is increased and the improvement is desired.
Moreover, since vapor deposition stops when the crucible is replaced, improvement in productivity is also desired.

  In the method of continuously supplying the wire-like or rod-like vapor deposition material into the crucible, the vapor deposition material supply means can be made relatively small, but the wire-shaped or rod-shaped terminal portion is held by this vapor deposition material supply means. Therefore, since it is difficult to supply the vapor deposition material at the end portion into the crucible, the vapor deposition material at the end portion is wasted, and an improvement in the use efficiency of the vapor deposition material is desired.

The method of supplying the pelletized vapor deposition material by dropping it into the crucible intermittently enables the vapor deposition material supply means to be further downsized and simplified than the above two methods, and the use of the vapor deposition material. This is also an advantageous method in terms of efficiency.
An example of such a vapor deposition apparatus and a vapor deposition material supply method in which pellet-shaped vapor deposition material is intermittently dropped into a crucible and supplied is disclosed in Patent Document 1.
JP-A-5-339716

  However, in the vapor deposition apparatus and the vapor deposition material supply method for intermittently dropping the pellet-shaped vapor deposition material into the crucible and supplying the vapor deposition material as described in Patent Document 1, the hopper in which the pellet-shaped vapor deposition material is accommodated When the vapor deposition material sent out from the feed device by the dead weight slides down the supply pipe and falls into the crucible due to its own weight, the molten vapor deposition material in the crucible jumps up and adheres to the inner surface of the supply pipe near the crucible There is. This jumping of the vapor deposition material is generally referred to as splash.

  Moreover, in the said vapor deposition apparatus and the supply method of vapor deposition material, the vapor deposition material which vaporized or the vapor deposition material which scattered by bumping may adhere to the inner surface of a supply pipe | tube.

  When the pelletized vapor deposition material is fed from the hopper with the feeding device while the vapor deposition material is adhered to the inner surface of the supply pipe, the pelletized vapor deposition material that has slid down the supply pipe adheres to the inner surface of the supply pipe There is a case where the material stops in the supply pipe, resulting in a problem that the vapor deposition material cannot be supplied into the crucible.

  Further, since the vapor deposition material in the crucible at the time of vapor deposition is heated to a temperature of, for example, 1500 ° C. or higher, the inner surface of the supply pipe near the crucible is heated by the radiant heat, and the vapor deposition material adhering to the inner surface becomes a semi-molten state. Therefore, there is a high possibility that the supply vapor deposition material that has slid down the supply pipe will be stopped.

  Normally, the inside of the hopper is connected to the vacuum chamber via a supply pipe and a delivery device, so the inside of the hopper is also in a vacuum state during vapor deposition, so that the supply vapor deposition material is clogged in the supply pipe Unless the vapor deposition operation is stopped, it is difficult to remove the clogged vapor deposition material.

  Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is, in particular, a vapor deposition apparatus and a vapor deposition material supply method for intermittently dropping a pellet-shaped vapor deposition material into a crucible and supplying the vapor deposition material in the supply pipe. An object of the present invention is to provide a vapor deposition apparatus and a vapor deposition material supply method capable of efficiently supplying the vapor deposition material into the crucible without clogging.

In order to solve the above problems, each invention of the present application has the following means.
1) In a vapor deposition apparatus having a housing part (7a) in which a vapor deposition material (23) is housed and a supply means (9) for supplying the vapor deposition material to the housing part, the supply means is located above the housing part. A hopper portion (31) for accommodating a plurality of the vapor deposition materials having a predetermined shape, a delivery means (32) for dropping the vapor deposition material from the hopper portion, and the dropped vapor deposition material, Guide portions (33, 41) for guiding the housing portion side through an opening portion (41a) opened to the side, and the upper portion of the guide portion is positioned above the opening portion so that the opening portion can be closed and opened. A lid part (42) that is pivotally supported, and the lid part normally closes the opening part by its own weight, and when the deposited material that has been dropped comes into contact with the lid part, Depending on the fall energy of the deposition material Is a vapor deposition apparatus (1), which is a made configurations.
2) In the vapor deposition material supply method for supplying the vapor deposition material to the accommodating portion (7a) in which the vapor deposition material (23) is accommodated, dropping the vapor deposition material having a predetermined shape from a position above the accommodating portion. And guiding the dropped deposition material to the housing part side through an opening (41a) opened to the side, and closing the opening of the deposition material guided to the housing part side. The upper part of the upper part is pivotally supported at a position above the opening part, and a normal part makes contact with the lid part (42) which closes the opening part by its own weight, and the vapor deposition material abutted on the lid part A method of supplying a vapor deposition material, characterized in that the lid portion is opened by the dropping energy and dropped into the housing portion.

  According to the present invention, in the vapor deposition apparatus and the vapor deposition material supply method, the vapor deposition material for supply can be efficiently fed into the crucible without clogging the supply pipe.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
1-4 is a figure for demonstrating the vapor deposition apparatus of this invention, and the supply method of vapor deposition material.

<Example>
Here, a so-called magnetic tape vapor deposition apparatus and vapor deposition material supply method for vapor deposition of a vapor deposition material such as cobalt or a cobalt alloy on the base film will be described as an example.

[Vapor deposition equipment]
First, the Example of the vapor deposition apparatus of this invention is described using FIGS. 1-3.
1 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining an embodiment of the vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view when viewed from the arrow S1 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 (a) is in FIG. Fig. 3 (b) is a plan view of the openable / closable lid as viewed from the arrow S2 in Fig. 3 (a).

  As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the vapor deposition apparatus 1 mainly includes a feed roll 2 in which one end side of a base film 21 that is a base of a magnetic tape is wound around an axis 22 a, a feed roll 2, and a base. A delivery roll holding means 3 for delivering the film 21 and a cooling means for preventing the base film 21 delivered from the delivery roll 2 from coming into contact with the outer peripheral surface and preventing the temperature of the base film 21 from rising due to heat during vapor deposition. The cooling can roll 4 provided, the winding roll 5 in which the other end side of the base film 21 is held by the shaft core 22 b, and the winding for holding the winding roll 5 and winding the base film 21 around the winding roll 5. A roll provided with a take-up roll holding means 6 and an accommodating portion 7a in which cobalt or a cobalt alloy as the vapor deposition material 23 is accommodated. An electron gun 8 for irradiating an electron beam 8a to the vapor deposition material 23 in the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7, the vapor deposition material supply means 9 for supplying a new vapor deposition material 23 into the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7, These delivery roll 2, delivery roll holding means 3, cooling can roll 4, take-up roll 5, take-up roll holding means 6, crucible 7 and electron gun 8 are housed in vacuum chamber 10 from atmospheric pressure. And decompression means 11 such as a vacuum pump for decompressing to a predetermined pressure.

  The base film 21 is made of a plastic material such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PEN (polyethylene naphthalate), and aramid (sometimes referred to as polyamide), and has a thickness of 4 μm to 7 μm.

  The cooling can roll 4 has a predetermined base film 21 by heat at the time of vapor deposition, that is, heat from the vapor deposition material 23 deposited on the base film 21 and radiation heat generated when the vapor deposition material 23 in the crucible 7 is heated. It is cooled to 0 ° C. to − (minus) 40 ° C. at least at the time of vapor deposition so as not to rise above the temperature, and is centered on the axis in accordance with the traveling direction and traveling speed of the base film 21 sent out. Rotate.

The crucible 7 is made of high-purity magnesia, and the accommodating portion 7a has a substantially rectangular opening 7b whose longitudinal direction is the front-back direction in FIG.
The length of the opening 7b in the longitudinal direction is set according to the width of the base film 21 (the length in the front-back direction in FIG. 1).

The electron gun 8 emits an electron beam 8 a that can heat the vapor deposition material 23 in the housing portion 7 a of the crucible 7 to a temperature at which a predetermined vapor deposition rate can be obtained, and the electron beam 8 a emitted from the electron gun 8. Is provided with electron beam deflecting means capable of scanning in the longitudinal direction of the opening 7b or in the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction. The deflection of the electron beam 8a is performed electrically or magnetically.
According to this electron gun 8, since the electron beam 8a can be applied to a wide range on the surface of the vapor deposition material 23 in the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7, the vapor deposition material 23 can be efficiently evaporated.

  In the embodiment, in order to efficiently cool the base film 21 with the cooling can roll 4, the base film 21 is rotatably held so that the contact area between the base film 21 and the cooling can roll 4 is increased. Base film holding means 12 are provided at two locations in the vacuum chamber 10, respectively.

In the embodiment, the shielding plate 13 that partially covers the base film 21 is provided in a range where the base film 21 is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the cooling can roll 4.
Since the deposition angle of the vapor deposition material 23 with respect to the base film 21 can be controlled by the shielding plate 13, the crystal growth direction of the vapor deposition material 23 vapor deposited on the base film 21 can be managed within a predetermined range. .

In the embodiment, a shutter 14 capable of covering or opening the opening of the shielding plate 13 is provided.
As a preparatory stage before vapor deposition, the vapor deposition material 23 starts to evaporate before reaching the predetermined temperature in the process of raising the vapor deposition material 23 in the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7 to the predetermined temperature. 23 and the base film 21 are thermally damaged by the radiant heat accompanying the heating.
Therefore, it is usually necessary to run the base film 21 in the temperature raising process, and the base film 21 in the range that has been run in the temperature raising process is wasted.
Therefore, since the thermal damage to the base film 21 can be prevented by covering the opening of the shielding plate 13 with the shutter 14 in the temperature rising process, it is not necessary to keep the base film 21 running. The waste of the base film 21 can be eliminated.

Here, the vapor deposition material supply means 9 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 2, the vapor deposition material supply means 9 mainly includes a hopper portion 31 in which a plurality of pellet-like vapor deposition materials 23 are accommodated, and the pellet-like vapor deposition material 23 accommodated in the hopper portion 31, for example, 1 Feeding means 32 that feeds out one by one and guides the deposition material 23 so that one end of the deposition material 32 is connected to the feeding means 32 and the deposition material 23 fed from the hopper 31 by the feeding means 32 falls into the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7. The supply pipe 33 and the splash protection section 40 detachably provided on the other end side of the supply pipe 33, that is, on the crucible 7 side.

  Further, the delivery means 32 side, delivery means 32, and hopper 31 in the supply pipe 33 are arranged outside the vacuum chamber 10, and the splash protection part 40 side and the splash protection part 40 in the supply pipe 33 are arranged in the vacuum chamber 10, respectively. The vacuum chamber 10 and the supply pipe 33 are joined without a gap.

The hopper 31 mainly includes a main body 31a, an opening 31b for supplying the pellet-shaped deposition material 23 to the main body 31a from the outside, and covers the opening 31b so that the main body 31a is exposed to the outside. And a lid 31c that can be sealed.
When the inside of the vacuum chamber 10 is decompressed by the decompression means 11, the main body 31a is sealed from the outside by the lid 31c. Therefore, when the inside of the vacuum chamber 10 is depressurized, the insides of the hopper 31, the delivery means 32, the supply pipe 33, and the splash protection unit 40 are also depressurized in the same manner as in the vacuum chamber 10.

The falling speed of the vapor deposition material 23 into the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7 can be adjusted by the height difference between the delivery means 32 and the crucible 7 and the inclination angle θa of the supply pipe 33 and the splash protection portion 40 with respect to the gravity direction. .
That is, the drop speed of the vapor deposition material 23 can be increased by increasing the height difference between the delivery means 32 and the crucible 7, and the drop speed of the vapor deposition material 23 can be decreased by reducing the height difference. .
Further, the falling speed of the vapor deposition material 23 can be increased by decreasing the inclination angle θa, and the falling speed of the vapor deposition material 23 can be decreased by increasing the inclination angle θa.

  Further, since the vapor deposition material 23 evaporated from the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7 adheres to the surface of the crucible 7 accommodating portion 7a side in the openable / closable lid 42, which will be described later, this vapor deposition material 23 Since the openable / closable lid 42 is difficult to open according to the amount of adhesion, the height difference, the inclination angle θa, and the material and thickness of the openable / closable lid 42 are set in advance, assuming the amount of deposition of the vapor deposition material 23. It is desirable to keep it.

  Here, the splash protection unit 40 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the splash protector 40 mainly includes a first opening 41a on the end surface A41 on the crucible 7 (see FIG. 2) side and a first on the opposite end surface B41. A body portion 41 having a substantially cylindrical shape with two opening portions 41b, an openable / closable lid 42 that covers the first opening portion 41a in an openable / closable manner, and an openable / closable lid 42 provided on the main body portion 41 so as to be swingable. And a support portion 43 that supports the above.

In the main body 41, the end surface A41 is formed substantially along the direction of gravity, and the end surface B41 side is detachably connected to the supply pipe 33 (see FIG. 2).
In the embodiment, the end surface B41 side of the main body 41 is detachably connected to the supply pipe 33 so that the inner surface of the main body 41 and the outer peripheral surface of the supply pipe 33 are in contact with each other.

The openable / closable lid 42 mainly includes a lid portion 42a having a larger area than the first opening portion 41a so that the first opening portion 41a is completely covered, and a supported portion 42b supported by the support portion 43. Consists of.
In the embodiment, through holes 42c are provided at predetermined two locations of the supported portion 42b of the openable / closable lid 42, through holes 43c are provided at predetermined locations of the support portion 43, and the ring 43b includes the through holes 42c and 43c, respectively. It was set as the structure penetrated.
With this configuration, the openable / closable lid 42 is swingably supported by the support body 43 with the center of the ring 43b as a substantial fulcrum.

  In the embodiment, each component of the splash protection unit 40 is made of stainless steel (SUS304), the main body 41 has an inner diameter of 39 mm, a thickness of 2 mm, an inclination angle θa of 45 degrees, and a lid 42a of the openable / closable lid 42. Was an elliptical plate having a major axis of 66 mm, a minor axis of 49 mm, and a thickness of 1 mm.

[Vapor deposition material supply method]
Next, a method for supplying a vapor deposition material to be supplied to the above-described vapor deposition apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 4 is a process flow diagram for explaining an embodiment of the vapor deposition material supply method of the present invention.

First, the inside of the vacuum chamber 10 is in an atmospheric pressure state, the delivery roll 2 is attached to the delivery roll holding means 3, and the base film 21 is in contact with the outer peripheral surfaces of the cooling can roll 4 and the base film holding means 12, respectively. The other end side of the base film 21 is attached to the take-up roll 5 (P1).
In addition, after opening the lid portion 31c of the hopper portion 31 and supplying a plurality of pelletized vapor deposition materials 23 for supply into the main body portion 31a from the opening portion 31b, the lid portion 31c is closed to bring the hopper portion 31 to the outside. Seal (P2).
In the Example, the said vapor deposition material 23 was made into the same composition as the vapor deposition material 23 in the accommodating part 7a of the crucible 7, and was made into the pellet form whose diameter is 10 mm and whose length is 26 mm.
In addition, the order of P1 process and P2 process is not limited, P2 process may be performed after performing P1 process, and conversely, P1 process may be performed after performing P2 process.

Next, the decompression means 11 starts decompressing the vacuum chamber 10 (P3).
Since the vapor deposition material supply unit 9 is connected to the inside of the vacuum chamber 10, the insides of the splash protection unit 40, the supply pipe 33, the delivery unit 32, and the hopper unit 31 in the vapor deposition material supply unit 9 are decompressed together with the inside of the vacuum chamber 10. Is done.

  Thereafter, when the inside of the vacuum chamber 10 reaches a predetermined first pressure, cooling of the cooling can roll 4 is started (P4).

Further, the vacuum in the vacuum chamber 10 and the cooling of the cooling can roll 4 are advanced, the inside of the vacuum chamber 10 reaches a predetermined second pressure lower than the first pressure, and the cooling can roll 4 has a predetermined temperature. Then, the electron gun 8 is irradiated with the electron beam 8a toward the vapor deposition material 23 accommodated in the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7 (P5).
When irradiating the electron beam 8a, the opening of the shielding plate 13 is covered with the shutter 14, so that the base film 21 can be prevented from being thermally damaged by the evaporated deposition material 23 and the radiant heat accompanying the heating.

  After a predetermined time, that is, after the evaporation material 23 is melted and its evaporation rate is stabilized, the delivery roll 2, the cooling can roll 4, and the take-up roll 5 are each rotated in a predetermined direction (arrow direction in FIG. 1), The base film 21 starts to travel (P6).

  When the traveling speed of the base film 21 reaches a predetermined speed, the shutter 13 is opened to open the opening of the shielding plate 12, and the vapor deposition operation for continuously depositing the vapor deposition material 23 on the traveling base film 21 is started ( P7).

  In the vapor deposition process, since the vapor deposition material 23 in the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7 decreases with the amount of evaporation, the hopper portion 31 of the vapor deposition material supply means 9 corresponds to the decrease amount of the vapor deposition material 23 in the accommodating portion 7a. The vapor deposition material 23 for supply accommodated in the inside is supplied to the accommodating portion 7a (P8).

Specifically, the height of the surface of the vapor deposition material 23 in the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7 is detected over time, and when the height of the surface of the vapor deposition material 23 is lowered to a predetermined height, the vapor deposition material supply means 9 is used. The vapor deposition material 23 in the hopper part 31 is fed one by one toward the supply pipe 33 by the feed means 32, and the vapor deposition material 23 is supplied when the height of the surface of the vapor deposition material 23 rises to a predetermined height. Stop.
The height of the surface of the vapor deposition material 23 can be detected by using an existing height detector or by visual observation by an operator.

  The delivered vapor deposition material 23 slides down the inner surface of the supply pipe 33 by its own weight and reaches the splash protection unit 40, and the openable lid 42 of the splash protection unit 40 itself by the fall energy of the vapor deposition material 23 at this time. Is opened and falls into the accommodating portion 7 a of the crucible 7.

  Further, when the vapor deposition material 23 falls into the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7, a so-called splash may occur in which the molten vapor deposition material 23 in the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7 jumps up. Since 42 has already covered the first opening 41a of the main body 41 in the splash protection unit 40 by its own weight, the splashed deposition material 23 adheres to the surface of the openable / closable lid 42 on the crucible 7 side. The openable / closable lid 42 can prevent the vapor deposited material 23 from sticking to the inner surface of the main body 41 of the splash protection unit 40 or the inner surface of the supply pipe 33.

  Further, the openable / closable lid 42 can prevent the vapor deposition material 23 evaporated from the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7 from being deposited on the inner surface of the main body portion 41 of the splash protection portion 40 and the inner surface of the supply pipe 33, and to each inner surface. The influence of radiant heat can be reduced.

  Therefore, as described above, the openable / closable lid 42 can prevent the vapor deposition material 23 from adhering to the inner surface of the main body 41 of the splash protection unit 40 and the inner surface of the supply pipe 33 and reduce the temperature rise of each inner surface due to vapor deposition. Therefore, the vapor deposition material can be efficiently supplied into the crucible housing portion without clogging the supply vapor deposition material in the supply pipe or the splash protection portion.

  Thereafter, vapor deposition is continued while supplying the vapor deposition material 23 into the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7 by the above-described vapor deposition material supply method. After the vapor deposition material 23 is vapor deposited to the vicinity of the end of the base film 21, the electron beam 8a Irradiation is stopped and the opening of the shielding plate 13 is covered with the shutter 14, and the traveling of the base film 21 is stopped (P9).

  After a predetermined time or after the temperature of the vapor deposition material 23 in the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7 becomes equal to or lower than the predetermined temperature, the decompression means 11 is stopped and the atmosphere is introduced into the vacuum chamber 10 so that the inside of the vacuum chamber 10 is maintained. Set to atmospheric pressure (P10).

Thereafter, the take-up roll 2 and the take-up roll 5 around which the base film 21 on which the vapor deposition material 23 is deposited are taken out from the vacuum chamber 10 (P11).
Moreover, since the splash protection part 40 is detachable with respect to the supply pipe | tube 33, for example, when vapor deposition material adheres to the surface of the openable / closable lid 42 by vapor deposition over a long period of time, the splash protection part 40 May be replaced with a new one.
Moreover, the splash protection unit 40 to which a large amount of vapor deposition material has adhered can be repeatedly used by selectively removing the deposited vapor deposition material using a chemical solution or the like.

  Furthermore, a plurality of vapor deposition tapes are obtained by performing a predetermined post-process such as cutting the base film 21 on which the vapor deposition material 23 is vapor-deposited into a predetermined width and length (P12).

  The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the configuration and procedure described above, and it goes without saying that modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

  For example, the configuration of the splash protection unit 40 is not limited to the embodiment, and the deposition material for supply pushes and opens the openable / closable lid 42 of the splash protection unit 40 by its drop energy. 7a, the shape of the vapor deposition material, the height difference between the delivery means 32 and the crucible 7, the inclination angle θa of the supply pipe 33 and the splash protector 40 with respect to the direction of gravity, the material of the openable / closable lid 42, What is necessary is just to set a shape etc. suitably, respectively.

  In the embodiment, the openable / closable lid 42 is supported by the support 43 using the ring 43b. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the openable / closable lid 42 can open and close the first opening 41a. Any structure may be used.

  In the embodiment, each component of the splash protection unit 40 is made of stainless steel (SUS304). However, the present invention is not limited to this, and heat resistance against the heat from the vapor deposition material and the radiant heat from the crucible described above. Any material that has

  In the embodiment, in the vapor deposition process, the height of the surface of the vapor deposition material 23 in the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7 is detected over time, and the height of the surface of the vapor deposition material 23 is lowered to a predetermined height. Then, the supply vapor deposition material 23 is supplied into the accommodating portion 7a, and the supply of the vapor deposition material 23 is stopped when the height of the surface of the vapor deposition material 23 rises to a predetermined height. It is not limited.

  For example, the supply amount of the vapor deposition material 23 with respect to the height difference of the surface of the vapor deposition material 23 in the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7 is calculated in advance, and the surface of the vapor deposition material 23 is lowered to a predetermined height in the vapor deposition process. Sometimes, an amount of the vapor deposition material 23 corresponding to the height difference may be supplied into the accommodating portion 7a of the crucible 7 with the supply time interval adjusted, or the crucible 7 with respect to the vapor deposition time may be supplied in advance. The consumption amount of the vapor deposition material 23 in the housing part 7a may be calculated, and a predetermined amount of the vapor deposition material 23 may be supplied into the housing part 7a of the crucible 7 every predetermined time in the vapor deposition process.

It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating the vapor deposition apparatus of this invention, and the supply method of vapor deposition material. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating the vapor deposition apparatus of this invention, and the supply method of vapor deposition material. It is a typical sectional view and a top view for explaining a vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention and a supply method of vapor deposition material. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the supply method of the vapor deposition material of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Evaporation apparatus, 2 Sending roll, 3 Sending roll holding means, 4 Cooling can roll, 5 Winding roll, 6 Winding roll holding means, 7 Crucible, 7a Accommodating part, 7b, 31b, 41a, 41b Opening part, 8 Electron Gun, 8a Electron beam, 9 Vapor deposition material supply means, 10 Vacuum chamber, 11 Pressure reducing means, 12 Base film holding means, 13 Shield plate, 14 Shutter, 21 Base film, 22a, 22b Shaft core, 23 Vapor deposition material, 31 Hopper part 31a, 41 body part, 31c lid part, 32 delivery means, 33 supply pipe, 40 splash protection part, 42 openable / closable lid, 42a lid part, 42b supported part, 42c, 43c through-hole, 43 support part, S1, S2 arrow view, A41, B41 end face

Claims (2)

In a vapor deposition apparatus having a housing portion in which a vapor deposition material is housed and a supply unit that supplies the vapor deposition material to the housing portion,
The supply means includes
A hopper that is provided above the accommodating portion and accommodates a plurality of the vapor deposition materials having a predetermined shape;
A delivery means for dropping the vapor deposition material from the hopper,
A guide part for guiding the dropped deposition material to the housing part side through an opening part opened to the side;
A lid part whose upper part is pivotally supported at an upper position of the opening part so that the opening part in the guide part can be opened and closed;
Have
The lid is configured to close the opening by its own weight in a normal state, and to be opened by the falling energy of the vapor deposition material when the dropped vapor deposition material comes into contact with the lid. A vapor deposition apparatus characterized. In the vapor deposition material supply method of supplying the vapor deposition material to the accommodating portion in which the vapor deposition material is accommodated,
Dropping the vapor deposition material of a predetermined shape from a position above the accommodating portion;
Guiding the deposited material that has been dropped to the accommodating portion side through an opening that is open to the side;
The vapor deposition material guided to the container side is supported by a lid that closes the opening by its own weight while the upper part is pivotally supported above the opening so that the opening can be closed and opened. A contact step;
The vapor deposition material abutted on the lid part, the lid part is opened by its drop energy, and dropped into the accommodating part;
A method for supplying a vapor deposition material, characterized in that the procedure has the following.

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