JP2011153340A - Apparatus for treatment of flexible board - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for treatment of a flexible board, capable of easily executing a treatment for preliminary heating, degassing and material reforming of a flexible board in a small space, and controlling the temperature and the treatment conditions with high accuracy and responsiveness. <P>SOLUTION: In the apparatus for treatment of the flexible board 1 for executing the surface treatment of the flexible board 1 to be conveyed along the longitudinal direction, an unwinding roll 6 is arranged in the unwinding chamber 3 of the flexible board 1, and the roll core heater 11 of a heating mechanism for executing the preliminary heating and the degassing is provided to the core of the unwinding roll 6. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a processing apparatus for efficiently performing preheating, degassing, and material modification on a flexible substrate that performs surface treatment such as film formation.

As a thin film laminated substrate such as a semiconductor thin film, a highly rigid substrate is usually used. On the other hand, the substrate of the photoelectric conversion element used for solar cells, for example, is made of a resin sheet or stainless steel for the convenience of being lightweight and easy to handle, and for cost reduction by increasing the area and mass production. A flexible substrate such as a thin plate is also used.
As an apparatus for manufacturing a thin film laminate using such a flexible substrate, there are mainly a roll-to-roll system and a stepping roll system. The roll-to-roll manufacturing device is a device that continuously forms a plurality of layers on a flexible substrate that moves continuously in a plurality of film forming chambers. The apparatus temporarily stops the flexible substrate in the deposition chamber, deposits the film on the substrate, and then sends the flexible substrate portion on which deposition has been completed from the deposition chamber to the next deposition chamber. is there.

In such a type of surface treatment apparatus, it is necessary to heat a flexible substrate before treatment and remove impurity components such as water molecules adsorbed on the substrate. In order to shorten the processing time, it is necessary to raise the temperature of the flexible substrate to the processing temperature in advance.
As such a control device, a heat treatment mechanism that performs preheating and degassing processing while transporting a flexible substrate is used as disclosed in Patent Document 1.
In this heat treatment mechanism, a heating chamber (degassing chamber) is provided in front of the film forming chamber, and preheating and degassing are performed while the flexible substrate is conveyed before film formation.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-195035

However, in such a conventional heat treatment mechanism, it is necessary to provide a large heating chamber in the vacuum vessel in order to perform necessary and sufficient preheating, degassing and material reforming processes. There is a problem in that the volume of the chamber is increased, and the equipment is increased in size and the cost is increased.
Further, the flexible substrate has a problem that wrinkles are generated when the temperature is rapidly increased after being unwound from the unwinding chamber, and the quality is deteriorated.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to be able to efficiently perform preheating, degassing, and material modification of a flexible substrate in a small space. Another object of the present invention is to provide a flexible substrate processing apparatus capable of controlling temperature and processing conditions with high accuracy and responsiveness.

  In order to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, the present invention provides a flexible substrate processing apparatus for performing a surface treatment of a flexible substrate transported along a longitudinal direction. An unwinding roll is disposed in the chamber, and a heating mechanism is provided in the core of the unwinding roll for performing preheating, degassing, and material modification.

In the present invention, the following configuration is particularly preferable.
(1) A non-contact heating mechanism for heating the flexible substrate is disposed outside the unwinding roll.
(2) The non-contact type heating mechanism includes a driving unit that reciprocates the non-contact type heating mechanism, and the driving unit sets the non-contact type heating mechanism to a winding diameter of the flexible substrate wound on the unwinding roll. It is configured to move in conjunction.

(3) A temperature measuring device for measuring at least one of the temperature of the flexible substrate and the core temperature of the unwinding roll is disposed in the unwinding chamber, and the temperature measuring device includes the heating mechanism and the non-heating device. It is electrically connected to temperature control means for controlling the output of the contact heating mechanism.
(4) A gas concentration measuring device for measuring the impurity gas concentration in the indoor atmosphere is arranged in the unwinding chamber, and the gas concentration measuring device is a gas concentration monitoring means for monitoring the impurity gas concentration in the indoor atmosphere. Is electrically connected.
(5) The unwinding roll includes a rotation driving unit that rotationally drives the unwinding roll, and the rotation driving unit and the driving unit of the non-contact type heating mechanism include a rotation speed of the unwinding roll and the non-contact type heating mechanism. It is electrically connected to a drive control means for controlling the movement distance.
(6) The temperature control means, the gas concentration monitoring means, and the drive control means are electrically connected to each other via a main control device.

As described above, the flexible substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention performs a surface treatment of the flexible substrate conveyed along the longitudinal direction, and is wound around the flexible substrate unwinding chamber. A heating mechanism for preheating, degassing, and material modification is provided in the core of the unwinding roll and a large heating chamber is not added to the vacuum vessel. In addition, the flexible substrate can be preheated before film formation in the state of being wound around the core of the unwinding roll, and impurity components such as water molecules adsorbed on the flexible substrate can be removed. Can be removed.
Therefore, according to the flexible substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the size of the apparatus as compared with the conventional heat treatment mechanism, and it is possible to realize effective use of installation space and cost reduction. . In addition, according to the processing apparatus of the present invention, a high-quality surface treatment having stable characteristics can be applied to the flexible substrate in a shorter time than the conventional apparatus.

In the processing apparatus of the present invention, a non-contact type heating mechanism for heating the flexible substrate is disposed outside the unwinding roll, so that the flexible substrate is effectively preheated. , Treatment for degassing and material modification can be performed.
Moreover, in the processing apparatus of the present invention, the non-contact heating mechanism includes a drive unit that reciprocates the flexible contact mechanism, and the flexible non-contact heating mechanism is wound around the unwinding roll by the drive unit. The flexible substrate is configured to move in conjunction with the winding diameter of the flexible substrate, so that the flexible substrate can be preheated, degassed, and material-modified at a constant speed more quickly and efficiently. Can be processed.

  Furthermore, in the processing apparatus of the present invention, a temperature measuring device that measures at least one of the temperature of the flexible substrate and the core temperature of the unwinding roll is disposed in the unwinding chamber, Since it is electrically connected to the temperature control means for controlling the outputs of the heating mechanism and the non-contact type heating mechanism, the temperature of the flexible substrate and the core temperature of the unwinding roll are monitored, and the temperature control means is used. By performing feedback control, the output of the heating mechanism can be changed, and the temperature of the flexible substrate and the core temperature of the unwinding roll can be controlled with high accuracy.

  In the processing apparatus of the present invention, a gas concentration measuring device for measuring an impurity gas concentration in the indoor atmosphere is disposed in the unwinding chamber, and the gas concentration measuring device measures the impurity gas concentration in the indoor atmosphere. Since it is electrically connected to the gas concentration monitoring means to be monitored, the impurity gas concentration in the atmosphere in the unwind chamber is monitored, and feedback control is performed via the gas concentration monitoring means, so that the output of the heating mechanism or the like can be output. This makes it possible to change the processing conditions and control the processing conditions with high accuracy.

  Furthermore, in the processing apparatus of the present invention, the unwinding roll includes a rotation driving unit that rotationally drives the unwinding roll, and the rotation driving unit and the driving unit of the non-contact type heating mechanism include a rotation speed of the unwinding roll and Since it is electrically connected to the drive control means for controlling the moving distance of the non-contact heating mechanism, the temperature of the flexible substrate and the core temperature of the unwinding roll are monitored, and feedback control is performed via the drive control means. By changing the rotation speed of the unwinding roll and the moving distance of the non-contact type heating mechanism, it is possible to adjust the conveyance speed and heating temperature of the flexible substrate, and it is necessary for the flexible substrate. Sufficient heat treatment can be performed.

  In the processing apparatus of the present invention, the temperature control means, the gas concentration monitoring means, and the drive control means are electrically connected to each other via the main control device, so that control with excellent responsiveness is realized. can do.

It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram which shows the structure of the processing apparatus of the flexible substrate which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the control method of the processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, the processing apparatus of the flexible substrate which concerns on this invention is demonstrated in detail based on the embodiment.
Here, FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the configuration of a processing apparatus for a flexible substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a control method for the processing apparatus in FIG.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment when the flexible substrate 1 is continuously conveyed by a roll-to-roll method. In FIG. 1, the processing apparatus of the present embodiment includes a vacuum vessel 2 that extends along the conveyance direction of the flexible substrate 1, and the vacuum vessel 2 extends from the upstream side to the downstream side (the left side in the figure). The unwinding chamber 3, a plurality of film forming chambers 4 (only one is shown in FIG. 1), and the winding chamber 5 are provided from the right side to the right side. In general, as the flexible substrate 1, an insulating plastic such as PET, PEN, PES, acrylic, or aramid, or a stainless steel material is used.
An unwinding roll 6 and a guide roll 7 for feeding the flexible substrate 1 are arranged in the unwinding chamber 3, and a winding roll for winding the flexible substrate 1 is placed in the unwinding chamber 5. 8 and a guide roll 7 are arranged.
The flexible substrate 1 is configured to continuously move from the unwinding roll 6 through the guide roll 7, through the film forming chamber 4, and further through the guide roll 7 to the winding roll 8. Yes.

In the film forming chamber 4, a high-frequency electrode (RF electrode) 9 to which high-frequency power (RF power) is supplied from an external high-frequency power source through a matching circuit of a matching circuit unit and a cable, and the high-frequency electrode 9 are opposed to each other. The ground electrode 10 is disposed at the position. The high-frequency electrode 9 includes a shower head electrode plate having a large number of gas outlets for discharging a film forming gas (raw material gas) in a shower shape on the surface side, and is transported into the ground electrode 10. A heater for heating the flexible substrate 1 is incorporated.
When a high-frequency voltage is applied to the high-frequency electrode 9, plasma is generated in the discharge space between the high-frequency electrode 9 and the ground electrode 10, and the film forming gas is decomposed and reacted to be transported between the electrodes. A thin film is formed on the surface of the coming flexible substrate 1.

  On the other hand, the core (winding core) of the unwinding roll 6 in the processing apparatus of the present embodiment is provided with a roll core heater 11 of a heating mechanism that performs processing for preheating, degassing, and material modification. The roll core heater 11 has a structure capable of raising and keeping the temperature of the unwinding roll 6 to a predetermined temperature. Specifically, it is configured by installing a heater inside a roll core made of a stainless steel material or an aluminum material, and is heated from the inside of the core. As the roll core heater 11, a sheathed heater, an element heater, or a cartridge heater is used, and electric power is supplied through a feedthrough. Note that, depending on the material of the flexible substrate to be processed and the apparatus configuration, the heater itself having a cylindrical shape can be used as the roll core.

In addition, an arc-shaped non-contact heating mechanism that heats the flexible substrate 1 from the outer peripheral side is provided around the outside of the unwinding roll 6 in order to be able to cope with a case where a high temperature treatment higher than a predetermined level is required. These non-contact heaters 12 are arranged at a predetermined interval. Examples of the non-contact heater 12 include a far-infrared heating lamp heater. The far-infrared heating lamp heater has a low reflectance, that is, a heating efficiency with respect to a substance having a low emissivity, and therefore, it is necessary to use the far-infrared heating lamp heater depending on the processing state of the flexible substrate 1 to be used. A substance having a large absorption on the long wavelength side, such as water molecules, is suitable for degassing because of its high heating efficiency.
As an example of the heating efficiency, a solar cell film-forming substrate having a length of 300 m, which is formed by depositing 200 to 1000 nm of Ag on a polyimide film having a thickness of 50 to 500 μm by a sputtering method, and having a 160 mm diameter aluminum core When the film is wound around the film, the temperature of the film surface is kept at about 250 ° C. by keeping the core temperature at 300 ° C. in a vacuum. By raising the temperature to 250 ° C., water molecules and the like adhering to the substrate surface are desorbed, and the temperature is lowered to a level that does not cause a problem in the subsequent processing.

  Moreover, the non-contact heater 12 includes a drive unit (not shown) such as an actuator that reciprocates the heater, and has a movable structure. That is, the non-contact heater 12 is configured to move in conjunction with the winding diameter of the flexible substrate 1 wound around the unwinding roll 6 by the driving unit, and the non-contact heater during the processing. The distance between the flexible substrate 1 and the flexible substrate 1 is kept constant, so that the flexible substrate 1 is maintained at a desired temperature.

In the unwinding chamber 3 of this embodiment, for example, a non-contact type temperature measuring device that measures at least one of the temperature of the flexible substrate 1 and the core temperature of the unwinding roll 6 (both in the present embodiment). 13 is arranged. The temperature measuring device 13 is electrically connected to temperature control means 14 that controls the outputs of the roll core heater 11 and the non-contact heater 12.
In the unwinding chamber 3 of the present embodiment, a gas concentration measuring device 15 for measuring the impurity gas concentration in the indoor atmosphere is disposed. For example, a quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMASS) is used as the gas concentration measuring device 15, and the gas concentration measuring device 15 is used as gas concentration monitoring means 16 for monitoring the impurity gas concentration in the indoor atmosphere. Electrically connected.

Furthermore, the unwinding roll 6 of this embodiment is provided with a rotational drive unit (not shown) such as a motor that rotationally drives the roll, and the rotational drive unit adjusts the rotational speed of the unwinding roll 6. Thus, the conveyance speed of the flexible substrate 1 can be changed. The rotation driving unit of the unwinding roll 6 and the driving unit of the non-contact type heater 12 are electrically connected to drive control means 17 for controlling the rotation speed of the unwinding roll 6 and the moving distance of the non-contact type heater 12, respectively. ing.
Moreover, the temperature control unit 14, the gas concentration monitoring unit 16, and the drive control unit 17 are electrically connected to each other via the main controller 18.

Next, a control method of the processing apparatus for the flexible substrate 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the control flow of FIG.
First, the gas concentration measuring device 15 measures the impurity gas concentration in the indoor atmosphere in the unwinding chamber 3, and monitors whether the impurity gas concentration has increased (step S1). When the impurity gas concentration exceeds the specified threshold value, the temperature measuring device 13 measures the temperature of the flexible substrate 1 and the core temperature of the unwinding roll 6, and the roll core heater 11 and the non-contact heater 12. Is also monitored whether it is equal to or lower than the heat-resistant temperature of the flexible substrate 1 (step S2).

As a result of monitoring, if the output is below the upper limit of the output of the roll core heater 11 and the non-contact heater 12 and below the heat resistance temperature of the flexible substrate 1, the temperature control means 14, the gas concentration monitoring means 16 and Feedback control is performed via the main controller 18, and the outputs of the roll core heater 11 and the non-contact heater 12 are increased (step S3).
On the other hand, as a result of monitoring, if the outputs of the roll core heater 11 and the non-contact heater 12 are at the upper limit, or the heat resistant temperature of the flexible substrate 1 is likely to be reached, the rotational speed of the unwinding roll 6 is decreased. Then, it is determined whether or not such a change as to reduce the conveyance speed of the flexible substrate 1 and extend the heating time is possible (step S4). As a result, when it is possible to change so as to reduce the conveyance speed of the flexible substrate 1, feedback control is performed via the drive control means 17 and the main control device 18 to reduce the rotation speed of the unwinding roll 6. (Step S5). As a result, the flow returns to step 3. However, if it is impossible to change the conveyance speed of the flexible substrate 1, an error is output, the operation of the processing apparatus is stopped, and the operator can remove impurities in the indoor atmosphere in the unwind chamber 3. The gas concentration is confirmed, and it is determined whether to continue the operation of the processing apparatus or to stop the operation (step S6).

Next, the impurity gas concentration in the indoor atmosphere in the unwind chamber 3 is measured by the gas concentration measuring device 15 to monitor whether or not the impurity gas concentration is lowered (step S7). As a result of monitoring, when the impurity gas concentration is equal to or lower than the specified threshold value, the control is finished (step S8), and the desired surface treatment is sequentially performed on the surface of the flexible substrate 1 sent to the film forming chamber 4, Thereafter, the flexible substrate 1 is wound around the winding roll 8 in the winding chamber 5.
On the other hand, if the impurity gas concentration exceeds the specified threshold value as a result of monitoring, the same operation as step S6 is performed (step S9).

  In the method for controlling the processing apparatus for the flexible substrate 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the impurity gas concentration is lower than the specified threshold as a result of the monitoring in step S1, the control flow shown in FIG. Thus, the output of the roll core heater 11 and the non-contact heater 12 can be reduced, or the rotation speed of the unwinding roll 6 can be increased to increase the conveyance speed of the flexible substrate 1. According to this, the operating cost of the processing apparatus is reduced, the processing capability of the processing apparatus is increased, and the productivity of the flexible substrate 1 can be improved.

Thus, in the processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, the roll core heater 11 is provided in the core of the unwinding roll 6 installed in the unwinding chamber 3, and the non-contact heater 12 is provided around the outside of the unwinding roll 6. Therefore, there is no need to provide a large heating chamber or the like for heating the flexible substrate 1 as in the prior art, and the flexible substrate 1 can be preheated before the film formation process. Impurity components such as water molecules on the flexible substrate 1 can be reliably removed.
Further, a temperature measuring device 13 and a gas concentration measuring device 15 are arranged in the unwinding chamber 3 of the processing apparatus of the present embodiment, and these temperature measuring device 13 and gas concentration measuring device 15 are temperature control means 14 and gas concentration monitoring. Since it is electrically connected to the means 16, feedback control can be performed, and the heating conditions of the flexible substrate 1 can be set with high accuracy by changing the outputs of the roll core heater 11 and the non-contact heater 12. Can be controlled. In addition, since the rotation drive unit of the unwinding roll 6 is electrically connected to the drive control means 17, it is possible to perform feedback control, and the flexible substrate can be changed by changing the rotation speed of the unwinding roll 6. By adjusting the conveyance speed of 1, the processing time for preliminary heating, degassing, and material modification of the flexible substrate 1 can be secured sufficiently.

While the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, a roll-to-roll processing apparatus that continuously forms a film on the flexible substrate 1 that continuously moves in the film formation chamber 4 has been described. Then, the flexible substrate 1 transported into the film forming chamber 4 is temporarily stopped, and after forming the film in this state, the flexible substrate portion after film formation is transferred from the film forming chamber 4 to the next film forming chamber. It is also possible to apply to a processing apparatus of a stepping roll system that feeds out to 4.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the non-contact heater 12 that heats the flexible substrate 1 from the outer peripheral side is disposed around the outer side of the unwinding roll 6. It is also possible that only the heater 11 is provided and the non-contact heater 12 is not arranged.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Flexible substrate 2 Vacuum container 3 Unwinding chamber 4 Film forming chamber 5 Winding chamber 6 Unwinding roll 8 Winding roll 9 High frequency electrode 10 Ground electrode 11 Roll core heater (heating mechanism)
12 Non-contact heater (non-contact heating mechanism)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 Temperature measuring device 14 Temperature control means 15 Gas concentration measuring device 16 Gas concentration monitoring means 17 Drive control means 18 Main controller

Claims (7)

In a flexible substrate processing apparatus that performs surface treatment of a flexible substrate conveyed along a longitudinal direction,
An unwinding roll is disposed in the unwinding chamber of the flexible substrate, and a heating mechanism is provided in the core of the unwinding roll for performing preheating, degassing, and heat treatment for material modification. An apparatus for processing a flexible substrate.   The flexible substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a non-contact heating mechanism for heating the flexible substrate is disposed outside the unwinding roll.   The non-contact type heating mechanism includes a drive unit that reciprocates the non-contact type heating mechanism, and the non-contact type heating mechanism is interlocked with the winding diameter of the flexible substrate wound around the unwinding roll by the drive unit. The apparatus for processing a flexible substrate according to claim 2, wherein the apparatus is configured to move.   The unwinding chamber is provided with a temperature measuring device for measuring at least one of the temperature of the flexible substrate and the core temperature of the unwinding roll, and the temperature measuring device includes the heating mechanism and the non-contact heating. 4. The flexible substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flexible substrate processing apparatus is electrically connected to temperature control means for controlling the output of the mechanism.   The unwinding chamber is provided with a gas concentration measuring device for measuring the impurity gas concentration in the indoor atmosphere, and the gas concentration measuring device is electrically connected to a gas concentration monitoring means for monitoring the impurity gas concentration in the indoor atmosphere. The flexible substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flexible substrate processing apparatus is connected to the substrate.   The unwinding roll includes a rotation driving unit that rotationally drives the unwinding roll, and the rotation driving unit and the driving unit of the non-contact type heating mechanism include a rotation speed of the unwinding roll and a moving distance of the non-contact type heating mechanism. The flexible substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the flexible substrate processing apparatus is electrically connected to a drive control unit that controls the substrate.   The flexibility according to claim 4, wherein the temperature control unit, the gas concentration monitoring unit, and the drive control unit are electrically connected to each other via a main control device. Substrate processing equipment.

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